Fleet Naming Strategies
 

I'm bringing my new Terror-class
Super Dreadnoughts (1,250kt) Online, in
limited rate production.

Even my new Inflexible-class
Battleships(800kt), outgun them. The
Terrors are mainly command ships for
each fleet, containing within 3,000 shield
points, 6,000 extra supplies for the fleet
(plus the SDNs reserved 2,000 supplies), and
a Repair Yard.

With the new ships coming Online, I've begun
to rationalize my fleets.

The Standard Fleet will contain:

1 Terror Class Command ship
2 Inflexible Class Battleships
5 Type IIF Light Cruisers (the 2nd ship
I built in this game, 6th retrofit -
Type I was a Frigate)

I name these fleets numerically,
such as 1st fleet, 2nd fleet, etc.

But now, when a fleet gains experience, I
rename it as a Guards fleet,
ex: 1st Guards Fleet, making it easy
for me to remember which fleets to keep,
and which are just temporary.

I only have one other fleet type, and
that's the MEU, or Marine
Expeditionary Unit. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon10.gif

MEUs contain:

1 Terror Command Ship
1 Carrier
2 Battleships
5 Light Cruisers
1 Mine/Sat Layer
2 Transports

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

I usually use either the default name or I name the fleet after its system of origin.

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

I like your system MK. I have had the frustration of moving ships between fleets and accidentally deleting a fleet that had accuired some experience. This should help avoid that.

Geo

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

I name my fleets with the name of the system they're stationed in - Task Force Cewandi, Task Force Ephandra, etc.

I'm now building "Strike Fleets" which could be termed MEU's I guess. I have them centered around my "Tarawa" Class Amphib Attack transport, which is a Large Tran with the req amount of cargo bays, several FTr Bay III's, heavy level V shields,one hvy mount PPB and several lvl V PD guns.

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

how the heck did you retrofit from a FG to a LC?

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"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

Since I only play against the AI at the moment I tend to be direct with my ships naming system. Eg. "xxx Gunnery DN y", "xxx Close Combat DN y", "xxx Missile BC y", "xxx Minesweeper CA y", "xxx Fleet Auxiliary y" etc where xxx is a three digit hull serial number and y is the class's generation number. The fleet names I use are "Alpha Fleet", "Bravo Fleet", "Charlie Fleet" etc and I don't normally care about their experience since the fleets are permanent. Every fleet has exactly the same hardware in them including a landing ship, a heavy carrier and a mobile spaceyard (with a space yard component and 5 repair bays). Once they are on the way they are fully self-sufficient (can even do ship refits underway in enemy territory between battles!). They only need a resupply of replacement troops and fighters once in a while if the mobile spaceyard can't make up the losses.


[This message has been edited by CW (edited 26 July 2001).]

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

When I'm playing against AIs, I only have three fleets:
-Alpha Fleet
-Beta Fleet
-Sleeper Fleet.

Alpha and Beta consist of a total of 6 ships which defend my empire, and the SleeperFleet is all of my old ships, mothballed at the training facilities & SpaceYard (I never throw anything out http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif)

Well, maybe a third defense fleet, if the warppoints are against me.
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[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 26 July 2001).]

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

In most games that run 300+ turns, I have several fleets. I have the Home Guards, Northern, Eastern, Western, and Southern Fleets. I then have several dozen supply and support fleets that trail behind those. I also have planetary evac fleets in every systems.

I wish that would we could specify our fleet names from a pre selected Groups. Because I have fleets in different levels. Armadas, Fleets, Battle Groups, Task Forces, Support, etc.

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------------------------------------
HADRIAN AVENTINE
pacea@solar-outpost.com
http://www.hyperionbase.com

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

In replay to Puke:

You...can't.

Where did the the thought come from? You can only retrofit within the same ship size. Unless someone has been doing some ultra-heavy modding.

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

The good fleets, with experience get outrageous names, like “Defenders of Justice” or “Children of the Nova”. The fleets that are just for convenience take the default names. That way I know which is worth keeping at a glance.

In PBE, I like to give names to my ships that will upset my opponents, like former girlfriends of theirs. Childish? Probably. Fun? Certainly. Of course, this only works for people you know well.

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

My naming strategy depends on the type of game I play.

Solo: Warships are named "[Size] [Retrofit Level]", e.g. "Destoyer A" or "Battle Cruiser C". Other ships follow a similar scheme ("SWP B", "Colony R/D", etc.). Fleets keep the default names.

PBW: I've been using the names of rock songs for my ships. It keeps the other player's guessing (lessee... is a "Mudshovel" more advanced than an "Even Flow"?). Fleets are the same.

Quikngruvn

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"That which does not kill you will make you stronger." -- Nietzsche

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

Yep, I also avoid putting names to ships that will give very much away to human players. Then again, if you were feeling nasty you could deliberately follow a simple system, then switch it around at a key point and hope they get over confident.

Oh, the Evenflow is clearly the superior ship, it obviously has advanced energy weapons while the Mudshovel still uses projectile weapons. :-)

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

I name fleets that consist of 10 or fewer non-capital ships (destroyers, frigates, escorts) 'flotilla a,' 'flotilla b,' etc.

Combat fleets containing capital ships and preparing to operate outside my empire I name '1st Banner Fleet,' '2nd Banner Fleet,' etc. Sometimes, though, I'll call them "Tumen," after the Mongol military unit.

As for ships, I call escort/scout designs "Far Star," after Hober Mallow's ship in Asimov's Foundation novel (I think it was Mallow's ship).

Frigate classes are Type I, Type II, etc, after the German U-boat types of WWII. I name frigates individually, 'Z100,' Z101,' etc, with the first digit corresponding to the class type.

I name Destroyer classes after German cities, and individual ships after German U-boat commanders, ie, IKD Hardegan ("Imperial Klingon Destroyer Hardegan").

I name Light Cruiser classes after Japanese cities, and individual ships I give Japanese family names.

Cruiser classes get Russian city names, and individual ships get Russian family names.

With bigger ships I get more flexible, partly because there are fewer of them and partly because I usually wind up surrendering before the game gets far enough to think really big. (I'm a newbie - but having fun even while losing)

My tendency is to call battleship classes after organizations in the Dune novels (Face Dancer, etc) and name individual ships after individuals in the Dune or Foundation novels ("IKB Duke Leto").

Dreadnought classes are named after types of celestial bodies ("Comet," etc). Individual Dreadnoughts get named after actual celestial bodies ("Jupiter," "Phobos," etc).

I try to be consistent so I can tell the type of any ship at a glance. Also, it makes for great sounding "press bulletins":

"Today, according to the Ministry of Defence, a task force consisting of the heavy cruiser Kirov, light cruisers Abe and Matsuoka, and frigates Z502 and Z133 delivered a heavy blow against an enemy grouping in the Proxima system..."

But there is just so *much* you can play around with; close examination of a map of west Africa reveals a *lot* of cities whose names would make great ship names.

One thing I wish the game had is a way to create and use ship name text files the way we do ship design name files. As it is, I have to keep papers next to my keyboard with all my potential ship names printed out.

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

I like to use fleet names that remind me of the fleet's intended function, and fit the theme of the race I'm roleplaying.

For example, the Tiktsin, a plantlike race, give their defensive fleets names like "Bark 1", while an attack fleet might be "Thorn 2".

The felinoid Rrurrr would use "Claw 1" and "Fang 2" for the equivalent fleets, while the lobsterish Mi-Go use "Carapace 1" and "Claw 2".

In solo games, I usually use ship names that start with the same letter as the design type: The Rrurrr's first colony ship is the Cheetah class.

In multiplayer games, I start off the same way, then make up a rule for the pattern the next name in the series follows. The Rrurrr had defense ships called Doberman, Eagle, Falcon, Gorilla, Hound, Iguana, and Jackal in my first PBW game. I haven't picked a pattern for the Rrurrr's next game yet but it'll be something different.

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Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

In solo games, I usually take the default names. In PBW games, it has not happened often to me yet that human players could see a fleet of mine long enough for me to worry, usually when they see it , it hits them the next turn http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif
Nevertheless, when I started playing PBW I was paranoid about humans figuring out by the name of the ship type what the ship did. (for instance, in solo play a minelayer would be called "Minelayer".)
I found refuge in my native tongue, Dutch. I use Dutch slang to disguise a ship function, though I still usually call them by their function, especially non-combat ships.
This makes for some odd translations of for example a Point-Defense ship. And sometimes Dutch is too similar to english. (for example, guess what a "Garage" ship does). Also, in the PBW games that I just created (see other thread) or just started playing in, I have roughly the same opponents as in my first round of PBW games. So I guess the Dutch won't work anymore.

My attack ships: I have always used the "ravager.txt" file for this, cause I like to have attack classes like "Dominator" , "Conqueror" or "Abomination". Unfortunately too many AI races use the same txt file and they use up the available names way too fast. (they won't call an upgraded BLaster a BLaster II).
I use the roman numerals for upgrades until a human player has seen what a BLaster (x) ship is, then I change names.
I don't usually name ships individually.

At the end of my Last PBW game I started using fantasy names instead, borrowed from the Jordan and Tolkien books. So I'd have Gargoyle classes, Trollocs, Draconians and Myrrdaals. Bigger hull size means bigger monster name. My single baseship was called "Dark One".

Re: Fleet Naming Strategies
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dragonlord:
In solo games, I usually take the default names. In PBW games, it has not happened often to me yet that human players could see a fleet of mine long enough for me to worry<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I dont think other players can see fleet groupings or fleet names, they should just show up as a stack of ships.

------------------
"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)