A Crone by any other name
 

I have taken to using a mage's name to categorize them based on role. Do you guys do this?

For example:

Fred (Res)
Eva (Fire Gen)
Wanda (Res)
Ed (Ear-BW)
Ann (Ast-Gen)

This helps me manage mages in Dom I. Fred and Wanda are researchers, Eva is a Fire mage casing General (AI chosen) spells. Ed is a an earth mage casting Blade Wind (or whatever that spell in called). Ann is an Astral mage.. . you have the idea.

This helps me (in Dom I) manage gem distribution. I find with so many generals and mages I need help knowing who is who.

Do you guys do this too?

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

I didn't know you could change commanders' names in Dom I! How do you do that?

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

Alt-r from the unit detail screen.

[ October 02, 2003, 01:28: Message edited by: Yojinbo ]

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

Thanks - I'll give that a try.

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">r is sufficient i think

about your question : i rename them to change the stupid names they often get, like a 17th duplicate of 'Lobimag' for example, or names which dont fit with the theme, like 'Denise' for a Marignon mage (Denise is a rather deprecated female name in France).

I have a list of names, grabbed from different places. For example my Marignon Grand Masters all get a name coming after great Spanish/Portugese generals and explorers. eg, 'Alvaro de Bazan'... sound a bit more inquisitorial IMHO.

For lesser mages, I like to see them as a group of apprentices, so a Witch Hunter will be named in roman numeral, like 'XVII. Royal Sorcerers'

as you see, I like Marignon. they pack some punch when you think hard and find combos http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Yeah, so you can recall your mage "Ginette" instead ! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

or Josette, Bernadette, Germaine, Berthe http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

You can't change names in DomII...

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

Really? Bummer. I guess some stuff got lost in the shuffle.

[ October 02, 2003, 19:13: Message edited by: Yojinbo ]

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">you joke is not funny. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

it is a joke? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

No joke.

The name change in Dom I was not intended either.

It might be abused as you can rename commanders to confuse MP enemies.

My brother has suggested a solution to the naming business: adding some kind of name tag to a commander that is displayed for you only. This way you can rename your commanders without bothering other players with stupid or offensive names.

This will probably not be in the release Version, but perhaps in an early patch.

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

Add it than.

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I don't see the point - or rather argue against : it's a perfectly valid strategy to confuse or infuriate MP opponents with commanders name ! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif
Now I can't honour my generals with "Lizard bane" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif or such other triomphal name ? Not good at all .. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">You think renaming is a valid strategy, to me it is an annoying opportunity for people to gain tiny advantages by obsessing over their turns.

It originally was decided to be included after VGA planet games where opponents would field fleets with dizzying arrays of genitalia named ships. If the name tag idea is implemented you would keep your name but could add a comment afterwards, that could help you differentiate between commanders. The original rename feature of dom 1 was a left over debugging feature.

[ October 02, 2003, 20:37: Message edited by: johan osterman ]

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">you are penalizing many players for just a few ones which would names their leaders with insulting names.

Remember, your game filter most of the poorly educated players which are unable to grasp the beauty of Your Work http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

with the exception of PDF which is uneducated, but (at time) intelligent. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

just joking PDF. You are french, I'm french, so it is blatant we cant be educated http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

I'm a dope. I never used it AGAINST my enemies. Renaming helps with immersion and makes one care about one's minions.

I would never expect my enemies to use offensive nomenclature to upset me - these are not the kind of people you should play with.

I'm for free renameing but I am only one consumer (Well, I guess I'm seven consumers if you count the five copies of Dom I and 2 of Dom II I've bought).

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

I think I'd be fine without re-naming (since I didn't know you could http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ) so long as there are enough names for commanders that you don't get too many repeats. Most of the time I get names repeated, which is kind of annoying, especially when it comes to magic item assignment, or gem relocation, when all you have to go by is the name. Of course, the way you do those things is changed in Dom II and so it might not be an issue anymore.

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

Well so long as the rename only shows up as a tag for you will you be able to rename enemy commanders to help keep track of them?

Prolly not, but I figured I'd ask http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Gonna change all my commanders names to Chirac now... gotta love an all french (sauf moi) PBEM game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Now, THAT would be amusing! You could change "Xiroc" (or whatever) to "Xiroc, The $#@% Who Killed My Prophet". http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

"Xiroc, Who Will Be Next To Fall"

"Xiroc, He Who Smells Like Bad Cheese"

Yes, many possibilities here! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">never encountered a single one of these individuals in my pbem too.

Come on Kristoffer, we are not playing with Command and conquer (I played it btw http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ) pre teen which knows nothing but insults. See how our younger forum members are, they are quite polite, educated and intelligent I would say.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

Doh, I am going to miss this one, loved renaming my HoF heroes...pls reconsider.

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

You can name your ships, planets, and ship classes whatever you like in Space Empires IV (SE4), and I've never seen a profane name. The worst names I saw were my own, when I was roleplaying the EEEvil Oooze, and even those didn't get very bad. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

SE4 players _do_ use deceptive or changing names sometimes to deceive enemies, though there it's generally considered a neat feature. Renaming ships is a bit different than renaming people. On the other hand, it was fairly common historical practice to deploy decoys dressed as kings and princes to protect the real ones.

I didn't know I could rename characters in Dom I, and slightly enjoyed having to live with the names, except when they repeated. Repeats made some things kind of confusing, like the Hall of Heroes list.

Now that I know I can, I may rename or add epithets to some of my men.

It'd be interesting to be able to tag enemy units, as "licker" and Psitticine suggested.

I suppose the ability to rename could be an option which the person who creates the game can set ON or OFF.

PvK

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

I don't see why renaming (which I didn't even know about prior to this thread!) should be removed just because of a handful of idiots. As the others here pointed out, that sort of people are not very prevalent among the target audience anyway.

I'd like the renaming capability just to be able to differentiate between my 12 different idiots named Inberke (curiously enough, while this name bugged the hell out of me at first, I've sort of gotten to like it) without needing to figure what type of unit it was. It'd also enhance my immersion. I like to play thematic games, where I pick a concept pretender (useful or not) around a larger idea, and it'd be nice to be able to rename the generals to reflect the characters that go with that theme.

Pretty please, allow full renaming?

Edi

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

A compromise would be to show a leaders name when you put him in the build queue, and allow changing it there.

This gets rid of all the "gamesmanship" issues around changing names to mislead your opponent, while still retaining the usefullness. Lame name choices are still possible -- but that's already the case for Pretender names anyway.

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

>You can't change names in DomII...

Aargh, please reconsider this decision. I use to change the name of most of my commanders :
1) to avoid having 2 (or more) commanders with the same name at the same place -- it is very annoying to lose a starshine skullcap because you gave it to the first Rodoald seen in the commanders' list and you realize too late that _this_ Rodoald was a new scout and not your favorite astral mage.
2) to add flavor (I like to use Latin name for Pythium, like Cartapus, Faipalgugus, Epinedecactus etc -- those who speak French will appreciate -- or volcano names for Abysia mages).
3) to protect a physically weak pretender against Seeking Arrows or Mind Hunts (who will waste a spell to kill Gothmog the Great Sage if the Astral Window shows only a certain "Rodoald the Scout" ?), knowing that even kings could disguise themselve to deceive assassins. Of course he is unmasked in battle (the picture and use of magic unveil his true personnality then) if a battle occurs.

Cheers

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana"><snip>

3) to protect a physically weak pretender against Seeking Arrows or Mind Hunts (who will waste a spell to kill Gothmog the Great Sage if the Astral Window shows only a certain "Rodoald the Scout" ?), knowing that even kings could disguise themselve to deceive assassins. Of course he is unmasked in battle (the picture and use of magic unveil his true personnality then) if a battle occurs.

Cheers</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I agree with points 1 & 2, but not with #3. Your example would be a textbook one of the abuse of renaming pretenders to mask them, which was cited as a major reason for withdrawing renaming capability. Sure, a great sage or master druid could don a disguise, but what about the the wyrm and the dragon? Sorry, but no. There are other ways to ward against farslaying spells than just renaming with the intent to deceive. The choice to build a physically weak pretender is up to the player and this sort of things should be taken into account. Rainbow Mages tend to be physically weak, but magically powerful and flexible, whereas a physically powerful pretender usually ends up not as powerful magically, at least not across the board.

Personally, someone who would use such a cheap cheating tactic as renaming pretenders in a game against me would have to find himself somebody else to play Dominions with. Besides, isn't the whole point of the pretender's presence expanding/strengthening his dominion just undone conceptually if nobody knows they're dealing with a god? Flies against certain basic premises the game rests on.

Edi

[ October 06, 2003, 10:13: Message edited by: Edi ]

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

I think I know what to do: Add an option to the general's char sheet: rename.
Than the general will have a new random name.
There, problem solved. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

PS. The renaming by the 'hands of the players' would be better of course, but if we cannot have that, add this feature at least.

[ October 06, 2003, 11:31: Message edited by: Mortifer ]

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

I really want to be (still) able to continue to rename commanders/heroes/mages ! :cry:
I need to sort out who is doing what, and when you have 10 commanders of the same name, it's tedious !
I go so far that I name my mages "Search FBD" (Fire Blood Death) or "Research 6" to help me organise stuff...
The reason given is quite poor, you're penalizing 99% of "honest" players to prevent a lame trick used by 1%, that could easily be solved by always giving away the TYPE of unit to other players (so you'll see "JoeSmith the Scout - PRETENDER" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif )

And even if the argument stands and the solution isn't that easy, it only stands in MP, at least allow renaming for all Solo games, please ... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

In open defiance, I intend to use post-it notes on my monitor to "locally" rename my commanders in Dominions II. Take that Illwinter! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

I'm fighting for the rights of my minions to reinvent themselves!

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">True, I prefer singleplayer anyways. Multi is too slow in TB games...</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">take an afternoon with some friends, and make a blitz game, one turn every 10 minutes.

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">take an afternoon with some friends, and make a blitz game, one turn every 10 minutes.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">...or join the #dominions channel on IRCnet, the Finns here blitz a lot. If you're not afraid of playing with a 2 mins/turn timer ;-)

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

never did that, how it goes? Thats must be frantic and beyond!

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

I will play in mp with Doms 2. but I think the AI will be a good oppoment, especially on the highest level. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

Hehe, I sometimes find myself playing SP blitz games when my daughters are constantly requiring me to watch them dance/sing/jump/whatever... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

But I know that I'll play mostly SP with the odd PBEM for added value. Maybe I can convince some of my friends to try it and get some real time MP action, but I doubt it... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

LOL and do not forget about the usual thing: When you are playing against more AIs on huge maps, usually you are gang banged. [Bad luck.] -> You are barely win in those big games. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

In my past game I played on a huge map with 10 AIs....guess what, 3 AIs jumped on me, so I was dead very fast..well I started in a bad place, almost middle of the huge map. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: A Crone by any other name
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">True, I prefer singleplayer anyways. Multi is too slow in TB games...