Ship Names?

Was thinking of ships names and i like what they have proposed in the DDF, however i'd like to see paying to change a ships name as something expensive say 100,000.
My thinking being that 2nd hand ships are going to come in at some point and it would be nice to see your old ship (named the same) flying around.
New ships bought would have the option of naming straight from the factory so players who want to fly Lakons T6 and Cobras downwards would be able to name their ship by buying a new one for top money but at that cost it would put off people from renaming cheap ships.
Renaming then becomes a vanity cash sink for bigger ships and people with a large credit balance.

Like all second hand markets if you don't want to fly a hauler called 'little miss piggy' then you shop around to you find one that you will fly.
 
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I just hope the character limit isn't too short. I've always liked the bizarre long ship names in novels by Ian Banks, M. John Harrison, and Alastair Reynolds. Names like "Nostalgia for Infinity," or "VFP Outstanding Contribution To The Historical Process." Those aren't my personal candidates, but something like that. You think they'll fit in the ship ID display? :D

Edit: Ninja'd by DanTheMan

I love the names of ships in the Culture universe. Banks was great at thinking up the most wierd and wonderful names. My own personal favorites have always been the ships named 'Bad for Business' and 'Arbitrary', but many of the others are as awesome. I too hope there isn't a character limit. I often find myself unable to name ships certain things in Eve because the character limit there is too restrictive.
 
Here's an interesting snippet from an interview with Alastair Reynolds about how he names his ships, with references to Banks (and Harrison). Interviewer text in bold. Source is here:

http://www.zone-sf.com/alreynolds.html

One thing I had written down there were ship names in your books...

This is where I switch into rant mode. I have distinctive ship names and sometimes I've been taken to task for ripping off Iain Banks with these ship names because they're long and convoluted names. What I always say is that if anything was an inspiration, it was M. John Harrison, with The Centauri Device, where he had all these ships named after pre-Raphaelite paintings, or something. That's what I'm keying off from, basically. I know Banks was a fan of that book as well, so I think we are both keying off from the same source. God knows what Harrison was keying off from.

It's such a difficult thing because you can take the Navy tradition and name your space shuttles after famous ships.

Most of my ships are named after surrealist paintings and stuff like that. I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to track down which ones are which. I do have tremendous problems with character names and ship names. I hate it when I've got a good flow, I'm writing well and suddenly I have to put a character name in and suddenly everything comes to a grinding halt because I'll spend two hours trying to find the right name for this bloke who comes in with a cup of tea and walks out of the room again. It's the same with spaceship names - I do change them a lot. Sometimes I hit on one that just feels right.
 
I agree with Cosmo Bozo, about NOT making ship names unique.

This time next year I don't want to spend half an hour trying to name my ship, with numbers and X's.... If we could avoid this I'd be truly grateful.

Unique Commander names should be enough. (even then I like the idea of obligatory surnames so people can have common first names.)

xXx_Krow_xXx

;)
 
This thread inspired me to pick out some ship names, and nothing that's ever been in any sci-fi book, TV or movie I'm aware of.

So that's one solution to the unique vs. multiple name problem. Just pick a unique name that nobody else is likely to think of, and it doesn't matter what anyone else does. It only matters if you're trying to be the only person in the game flying the "Enterprise," "Serenity," or "Nostromo."

Be creative! I understand wanting to honor and represent your favorite sci-fi influences, but since none of these ships look remotely like anything outside the Elite universe anyway, then maybe it's better to create your own names? Just a thought. :)

And again, that's why I hope FD gives us long enough text fields for the ship name. It's just a short ASCII string after all. It takes nothing in data transfer or storage, and it's just a question of whether they can design the cockpit HUD to display longer names. Give us long names!

Considering we will be dying in the beginning quite often, do you give your new ship a new name, or you add a number to the name? Like "Nostromo XVIII" :)

For the inevitable ship deaths, I'm just going with one name per ship model. No Roman numerals afterwards, because that will get ridiculous on a ship that gets killed often. And I plan for my ship to get killed, often...
 
This thread inspired me to pick out some ship names, and nothing that's ever been in any sci-fi book, TV or movie I'm aware of.

So that's one solution to the unique vs. multiple name problem. Just pick a unique name that nobody else is likely to think of, and it doesn't matter what anyone else does. It only matters if you're trying to be the only person in the game flying the "Enterprise," "Serenity," or "Nostromo."

Be creative! I understand wanting to honor and represent your favorite sci-fi influences, but since none of these ships look remotely like anything outside the Elite universe anyway, then maybe it's better to create your own names? Just a thought. :)

And again, that's why I hope FD gives us long enough text fields for the ship name. It's just a short ASCII string after all. It takes nothing in data transfer or storage, and it's just a question of whether they can design the cockpit HUD to display longer names. Give us long names!



For the inevitable ship deaths, I'm just going with one name per ship model. No Roman numerals afterwards, because that will get ridiculous on a ship that gets killed often. And I plan for my ship to get killed, often...

Why you gotta cramp my style like that? :D

Fine! I will go with "A ship called Wanda" instead.
 
I think names like Enterprise, Titanic etc will be so common as to make them "old" very quickly!

After that I think will come the Planet Express Ship, Nimbus, Serenity style names.

Then will come the Roger Young, HMS Surprise, Themis, HMS retribution etc.

My own ship will be named after my rather small yacht, it has a "small" name; "Starlet" so hopefully people wont be expecting the response they will get if they DO decide to try to fire upon me :D
 
Why you gotta cramp my style like that? :D

Fine! I will go with "A ship called Wanda" instead.

That's a cool name!

My own ship will be named after my rather small yacht, it has a "small" name; "Starlet" so hopefully people wont be expecting the response they will get if they DO decide to try to fire upon me :D

Another cool name!

My last sailboat was so small it wasn't worth naming. And yeah... there is something to be said for a name that acts as a disguise. Although if you're flying around in an Anaconda named the "Shirley Temple" I don't think you'll be fooling anyone. :D
 
I agree with Cosmo Bozo, about NOT making ship names unique.

This time next year I don't want to spend half an hour trying to name my ship, with numbers and X's.... If we could avoid this I'd be truly grateful.

Unique Commander names should be enough. (even then I like the idea of obligatory surnames so people can have common first names.)

xXx_Krow_xXx

;)

I have to agree with this sentiment. I'd hate to have to think for hours to name a ship. Perhaps they should have a registration code that gets registered along side name registration. Like for example the Starship Enterprise was known as The Enterprise in daily parlance. But it was specifically registered USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C). Such a registry number mechanic allows for ships to share names, and stilll be differentiated. It would be a shame if we lived in a universe where ships names were unique and people had to resort to cheap measures such as Shipname123456 and xXshipnameXx to get the name they wanted. Seeing ships that looked like internet messenger sign on names would be immersion breaking too, I would think.
 
I'm guessing there will be a few Conda's called "Blitzspear" as I've seen a few in sigs and avs on the forum already.

I'm happy to share ship names and cultural references with people of similar interests and ilk.
 
Every time I step aboard a new class of ship, I name her. Her replacements, should it become necessary to bother the insurance co or re-achieve them after a wipe or a trade of hulls, will inherit the name. Unaltered.

So Far:
  • Sidewinder: Superstring.
  • Hauler: Ugly Sister.
  • Viper: Time's Arrow.
  • Cobra: Edge of Darkness.
  • Type 6: Fat Girl.
  • Type 9: Nile Queen.
  • Anaconda: Schwartzschild Radius.

I'll name an Eagle when I pick up the free one. Current front-runner for a name is "Mimi" as a reference to Richard and Mimi Farina's song "The Falcon" but that's not set in stone until I actually step aboard and see how she handles.
 
Not to derail, but I would really like to see a ship class abbreviation at the front of every non-fighter ship as well. It helps to differentiate it a bit, and makes it feel a little more special.

The abbreviation could be done a few different ways, either to represent the specific class (ANC xxx for Anaconda's), the specific company (LKN for Lakon's), or the ship role (FRT for cargo freighters).

Could even muddy the water and have a combination of the above, such as all Lakon Type-x vessels are LKN, but other freighters are still just FRT.

It would also help identify a vessel just by glancing at the name, which has obvious benefits both in-lore and in-game.
 
Culture names anyone?

ROU Problem Child? I think the ship names in the culture series are a hoot...
I'm sure (as the author is a brit) that they will be quite popular.
 
I know my Panther Clipper will be named 'Pink Panther'. I hope I'll get the appropriate painting...

'Sheik Yerbouti' should also be considered as a ship name.
 
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