The naming of ships

[wpngjstr]

Two parter here;
1) What are peoples observations on the old idea that "Named ships live longer"? If this has been observed to be the case (in games vice TV ) is it because you're more careful with it because it has a name?

2) For those that name ships, at what point do you stop ? At what point do you consider it exceesive effort?(for example, I have 7 named ships in my ISA (3 Victory-Terminus Est, Triumph, Shiva, 2 WS Carriers-Seven Suns, Tannhauser Gate, 2 Tara'Lin- Aza Chorn, Crana tol'Natha) plus 10 Whitestars and 12 Bluestars, which I haven't named due to limited life expectancy- just too many replacements to keep coming up with new names :wink: )

And on a related note, what themes do people use for naming?

 

[EDFDarkAngel1]

My ship's are named and stay with that name unless it's a campaign. I have a Warlock, for example, named Archangel. It got blown up in the last campaign, and the Warlock 2 came into service.

I have a name for every ship.

Dark Angel

 

[Garthim]

I think naming ships is a fun thing to do to add more fun to the game and get a few laughs. We are never more careful with these named ships. We have had a few instances where named ships have had some incredible luck/bad luck depending on what they are named. For instance, I named an Octurion the "Macross" (wanna see if anyone knows what it is from) and it has had some close calls and come out alive when it shouldn't have. Yet, I named another Octurion "Pink Monkey and Guest" and it gets blown apart every batle from something unexpected and always gets the worst criticals possible.

We stop naming ships in our fleets if we know for the fact they are going to die or we are doing a game with lots of ships on the table. We do about like you do, name the bigger ships that we know will be on the table, few in number and hopefully survive, and everything else gets a number cause it is a pain coming up with new names.

As for themes, each person in our group does different themes. I personally like names from Sci-fi. Like my Adira is named Executor after the SDD in SW. One friend goes for ships named after military historical figures like Washington, Churchill, Stalin. Another names ships after Transformers like Galvatron, Unicron, Grimlock.

 

[EDFDarkAngel1]

Funny names are epic, and lend a new angle to the game to make the everything lighter. We have a player who named his Troligan Cruiser the Don't Shoot Me.

Dark Angel

 

[wkehrman]

All of my ships have names. All of my fighter squadrons have names as well, pulled from USN squadrons (Gunfighters, Pukin' dogs, etc.). Yes, I do suffer from OCD, but I am on medication....which does not always seem to help...

Certain ships have developed a reputation, for example the EAS Texas (An Apollo class bombardment cruiser). During our Mega battle in Colorado Springs a volley from this noble ship polished off a PSI Corps Nemisis (I rolled EIGHT sixes on one critical, Catastrophic Explosion doing 24 damage and 12 crew) and a Drakh Dra'Vash Cruiser! Since then, my PSI Corps opponent (dag'karlove, BTW) has had a "special place" in his heart for the Texas.

It may deserve it's own ship insignia at this point!!!

BTW, the strike cruiser variant of this ship is the EAS Austin.

 

[silashand]

All of my ships have names. All of my fighter squadrons have names as well, pulled from USN squadrons (Gunfighters, Pukin' dogs, etc.). Yes, I do suffer from OCD, but I am on medication....which does not always seem to help...

I guess that's better than two members of my former gaming group who named their BFG ships after venereal diseases and female porn stars (Nurgle chaos and Slaanesh, respectively). ;-)

Certain ships have developed a reputation, for example the EAS Texas (An Apollo class bombardment cruiser). During our Mega battle in Colorado Springs a volley from this noble ship polished off a PSI Corps Nemisis (I rolled EIGHT sixes on one critical, Catastrophic Explosion doing 24 damage and 12 crew) and a Drakh Dra'Vash Cruiser! Since then, my PSI Corps opponent (dag'karlove, BTW) has had a "special place" in his heart for the Texas.

It may deserve it's own ship insignia at this point!!!

Yes, but the Drakh cruiser was already crippled and had lost it's GEG3 when you shot at it ;-).

BTW, the strike cruiser variant of this ship is the EAS Austin.

So... it's ship motto will then be "Austin 3:16?" ;-)

Cheers, Gary

 

[wkehrman]

Yes, but the Drakh cruiser was already crippled and had lost it's GEG3 when you shot at it ;-).

Cheers, Gary

All that matters is that one volley each from the starboard and forward batteries of the Texas I managed to kill an Armageddon and a War level ship!

In one turn!

 

[EDFDarkAngel1]

There was one battle where a Black Omega Starfury critted a mostly fresh White Star Gunship with the Vital Systems Catastrophic Explosion, and completely destroyed it.

The White Star Gunship has been re-named to The Death Star, and the fighter flight aptly renamed to Luke Skywalker.

Dark Angel

 

[dag'karlove]

Ahh the good ole Texas. Yes she did nova The (HADES) Nemesis which had been pounded on by the Excalibur, 2 Marathons, and said Texas for 3 rounds, and Then and only then did the Texas destroy the Hades on some ridiculously great dice rolling. But it was a great shot ill give it that. And yes The Texas is on my Radar every game it shows up in.

 

[wkehrman]

Ahh the good ole Texas. Yes she did nova The (HADES) Nemesis which had been pounded on by the Excalibur, 2 Marathons, and said Texas for 3 rounds, and Then and only then did the Texas destroy the Hades on some ridiculously great dice rolling. But it was a great shot ill give it that. And yes The Texas is on my Radar every game it shows up in.

As I said to silashand, what matters is that I killed it. It died.

and the Excalibur never fired at it, only the Hatalii (Warlock-class)

 

[phoenixhawk]

I name all of my ships, even going so far as to number the White Stars/Blue Stars so that each ship has its own unique identity. I try to come up with names that "sound right" for that race.

For BFG, only the capital ships are named, not the smaller escorts.

Chris

 

[Destroid]

For instance, I named an Octurion the "Macross" (wanna see if anyone knows what it is from) and it has had some close calls and come out alive when it shouldn't have.

The name is awesome and made moreso by the ship's performance!

It'd be fun making a Macross/Robotech conversion of ACtA. Just imagine how much damage a few squadrons of Valkyries could do when they're tooled up with RMS-1s! [basically uber nuclear cruise missiles] :shock:

I like to name my ships, just wish it made them more survivable

 

[dag'karlove]

Ship names:

ISA:

White Star Carriers- The De'lenn, The Ivanova, and The Sinclair (all Entil ZHA's)
White Star Gunships- The Marcus Cole, The Erickson, The Daniels, I have 4 more gunships but I have to find more names for Fallen Rangers from the series to name them.
White Stars- Squadron One: The Amy, Lisa, Heidi, and Doris (sister, wife, neice, mom)
Squadron Two: The Mira, Claudia, Tracy and Patricia(the real ladies of B5)
Squadron Three: The Brittney, Kristen, Elisha, and Jennifer (our Clubs Hooters waitresses that we always have on our twice weekly visits)

Just some ideas for you all There are many more ships and this post would be ridiculously long so ill leave it at that.

 

[Garibaldi]

Well...since I play Vree and since they are merchants...in my 1st campaign, I went with...different names.

Ones like: Zaak-Compound Interest, Zill- Rampant Inflation

Things like that! Going to do it again too...soon!!

 

[silashand]

When I get to my Gaim, my plan is to name the ships after Japanese bug names. For instance:

Gokiburi (cockroach)
Ari (ant)
Suzumebachi (wasp)
Hachi (bee)
Kamakiri (praying mantis)

etc...

Cheers, Gary

 

[l33tpenguin]

For instance, I named an Octurion the "Macross" (wanna see if anyone knows what it is from) and it has had some close calls and come out alive when it shouldn't have.

The name is awesome and made moreso by the ship's performance!

It'd be fun making a Macross/Robotech conversion of ACtA. Just imagine how much damage a few squadrons of Valkyries could do when they're tooled up with RMS-1s! [basically uber nuclear cruise missiles] :shock:

I like to name my ships, just wish it made them more survivable

Too bad for the other side, the macross fortress would be equipped with a front arc weapon that 'destroys everything in the front arc' out to 60 inches. Or, you could always just fly into the middle of an enemy fleet, turn on the 'pin point barrier' shield and wait for the incoming enemy fire to overload it and cause it to annihilate everything within about 20 inches...

As for naming, I enjoy doing it. With the exception of campaign, I don't come up with names for ships EVERY time I lose a ship in combat. The next time I play, they are all there again. Nearly all my ships have names (easily done, since they are EA) that follow the naming scheme of the show. (My Omegas are based on greek mythology, per pre Clark, not post clark 'City' naming). I'm working out a way to make changeable name plates for the flying stands, something that I can slip a piece of paper into with the ships name on it, like a changeable nameplate type thing...

 

[wkehrman]

There we go, in honor of the pasting she gave to the PSI Corps and Drakh

 

[silashand]

So what should I name my two fast destroyers that pasted your marathon in one volley in the same game? ;-)

Cheers, Gary

 

[Taran]

The name is awesome and made moreso by the ship's performance!

It'd be fun making a Macross/Robotech conversion of ACtA. Just imagine how much damage a few squadrons of Valkyries could do when they're tooled up with RMS-1s! [basically uber nuclear cruise missiles] :shock:

I like to name my ships, just wish it made them more survivable

Seriously, if you want to play Robotech, get some Aerotech and BattleSpace minis and record sheets...


As for ship names, I have named and am naming my ISA fleet with a Chinese mythology theme:
My VCDs are named the ISAS Phoenix hull number VCD-0003 (she was first off the line after the Drakh attack) and the ISAS Dragon hull number VCD-0004 (he is the phoenix's wingmate)
The Nolo'Tar is the ISAS Journey to the West
My Liandra is the ISAS Monkey King
2 of my WSs are the [Monk's Quest[/i] and Pig's Punishment
my Gunship is the Shi Zi (that's Chinese for "Fu Dog")

And that's all I've named so far. Need to research my Chinese mythology more completely...

 

[locarno24]

Funny names are epic, and lend a new angle to the game to make the everything lighter. We have a player who named his Troligan Cruiser the Don't Shoot Me.

Funny you should say that. I have played a campaign using names of Contact and Special Circumstances ships stolen from Ian Bank's Culture novels. (Scrabbles around to find campaign list)

Command Destroyer EAS No More Mr Nice Guy
Destroyer EAS Just Read The Instructions
Destroyer EAS Gunboat Diplomat
Pulse Destroyer EAS Attitude Adjuster
Dreadnought EAS Unacceptable Behaviour
Dreadnought EAS Just Passing Through
Dreadnought EAS Only Slightly Bent
Heavy Carrier EAS Ethics Gradient
Assault Cruiser EAS Arrested Development
Assault Cruiser EAS Poke It With A Stick
Corvette EAS Awkward Customer
Corvette EAS Momentary Lapse Of Sanity
Corvette EAS Hand Me The Gun And Ask Me Again
Scout EAS Cantankerous
Scout EAS Not Invented Here
Transport EAS Just Testing
Transport EAS Cargo Cult

The Poke It With A Stick racked up quite a reputation, as I recall - it was a Tantalus loaded out with breaching pods, which got on the nerves of pak'ma'ra ships no end.