How do you name your freighters?

[Paris_Hilton]

By using a simple but understandable name format to name your freighters, sorting through your ships list (e.g. to replace destroyed freighters) would be much easier

My current name format is :
[SectorName] [Factory]-[alpha/beta/gamma/etc.] [Wares] [Buyer/Seller] [ShipType]

Examples :
- HerNeb SPP-a Crystal Buyer Express
- ParPrime Soyery-a ECell Buyer Hermes
- LuckPlan BioGasFac-a BoGas Seller Manta

I feel that it's kinda too long and I'd like to know how do you guys name your freighters

[Kitch]

I find condensing it further helps avoid anything having a fit over long string names... (shouldn't happen since patch 1.3, but you never know)

eg Mercury APWF1s2 = Argon Prime Wheat Farm 1 seller ship 2

[manniac]

Freighter names usually contains every info i need to identify it on spot.
EC Heron Nebula crystal alpha. EC stands for energy carrier, rest of them are self explanatory. SC, MCC , CC , ABC , etc. last letter is always C (stands for carrier, fighters get an F) while 1st set of letter stand for the product: silicon, meatsteackes cahoona, argnu beef, etc etc etc.
I use mantas exclusively, so i dont need to identify the model of ship, but in case i do, i add at the end a letter : d for dolphin, v for vulture, i for iguana , etc.
Using this system, any time i see a ship at any point in universe, i know where she comes from, what's her role.
Hope it helps...

[masterkim]

Both good ideas.

I have a problem trying to remember the codes I use!

Remember not to use 30 or more digits or the software doesn't like it
I read somewhere (and you cdt).

[Paris_Hilton]

Well, I did use long names (25 characters or so) since v1.2 for about 180+ freighters before I restarted the game and there was no CTD caused by it. Lucky me Im using that name format too in my current game

[Redjack]

I'm using a system that, in retrospect, is pretty useless for quickly figuring out any usable information from the name. Here's what I use right now:

Merchant [sector] [factory number][ship ID]

Example: Merchant Ringo Moon 3B, which designates the second transport of the third station I placed in Ringo Moon. Not amazingly helpful, huh?


I'm going to start to adopt a new system that contains actual usable information, to make replacing ships easier. Here's what I've thought up so far:

[sector] [factoryID] [productID] [role] [IDnumber]

Example: Ringo Moon QTF1 SIL Buyer 1, meaning that it's the first buyer of Silicon for the first Quantum Tube Fab in Ringo Moon. It designates the same ship as in my previous example, but as you can see, it's much more informative.

[Subjugation]

I usually use this sort of system..

[Sector initials][Factory type initials][Selling/buying][If multiple resources, resource initials after that attached with a dash][Ship model, shortened][Number of ship out of group executing that specific command]

Example - For a manta buying crystals for my SPP in Herron's Nebula..

HN SPP B MANT-1

For another Manta buying crystals for that SPP,

HN SPP B MANT-2

For a manta selling E-Cells,

HN SPP S MANT-1

Express selling E-Cells,

HN SPP S EXP-1

Et cetera. Nothing really special but gets the job done and ends up sounding cool sometimes.

[twilight_echoes]

Its actually a lot easier to name your factories.

E.g. SPP-C-Lucky Planets

Message Log "Your Boron Manta from SPP-C-Lucky was destroyed by Khaak Scout in Shore of Infinity" Not hard to look up and see what it was doing, especially when you have so many freighters that naming them all would take the same number of words as a short novel.

[Battle Pope]

I'm not far enough in my new game to have more than, say, 3 freighters, so I name mine after fast food chains. I have one (the first Merc you get) named Burger King cause when I got it it was really crappy. One named Taco Bell, and one called McDonald's.

[homersimpson]

Here's my naming convention for traders...

[class]-[homebase]-[buy/sell]-[ware]

so like..
TP-SPP01-B-Crystals
TS-SPP01-S-Energy

I have some Mk3 Traders:
TP-Mk3-{sector}-{ship name}

I also have other roles for my ships, which all get proper ship names, such as:

SV (supply vessel) - I keep these docked at various fabs and I buy weapons or shields for future use, occasionally sending them out to resupply my M6's. The M5 is great for ammo & missile runs.
SV-M5-AMMO-{ship name}
SV-M5-Wasp-
SV-TS-125MW-
SV-TP-IonD-
SV-M5-MassD-
SV-TP-bHEPT-

If the ship is an M5 escort for an M6 (like for Ecell supply):
SV-M5-{host M6 name}-{ship name}

RN (Recon's) - I keep these docked at various wharfs/shipyards so I can trade from a distance.
RN-M5-{ship name}
RNZ-M5-{ship name} This means it's a tricked out Pegasus for zipping across the universe. I also keep one at the Goner station in case I need a quick transporter device sent out.

HK - Hunter Killer, i.e. fighters. I don't have too many yet, only my first Nova, and its wingman.
HK-M3-{ship name}
HK-M4-

HKT - Turreted version, i.e an M6 (I know some M3's have turrets) - Sector defense.
HKT-M6-{ship name}

MVL-TS-{ship name} - Mining Vessel Laser
MVC-TS-{ship name} - Mining Vessel Collector
MVS-M5-{ship name} - Mining Vessel Scanner (Pegasus that I use for scanning asteroids before placing mines)

Also, I name my stations similarly:
SPP01-{station name}
CFAB04-
WHF01-
BAKE01-
and so on. The only hassle at times is finding the number of the last station of a type, so I can properly name the next one, but that's not too hard.

I like my method because it results in a clean looking ship list/sector map, and it automatically groups related ships together, due to the first few letters acting as the role code. I find who I'm looking for very quickly this way. Plus, I have all the info I need to replace a freighter embedded in it's name.

I tend not to repurpose my ships, I just buy more, so the names/roles don't often change. I don't yet have anything bigger than an M6 so I don't yet know how I'll name it.

I've also thought about including the sector that ships/stations are based in (like the M6's) but since the ship/station list is sorted by sector anyway, I felt it would just clutter it up. As a corollary, a ship/station list that could be sorted in different ways would be most excellent. Sort by: sector, ship class, race, current command, credits, and simply by name.

Just my $.02

[pjknibbs]

I tend not to run huge amounts of factories, so all my factories have a name which reflect what job they do (e.g. a Stott Spice mixery is called Masala, as in chicken tikka ). Freighters are named after their home factory and their job, so Masala Energy fetches energy cells for Masala. If Masala had a seller ship that would be called Masala Seller.

[spudoka]

1st EngSel Mercury
2nd CryBuy Express
etc. (where # is the number of my station)

[jeffb007]

Shockingly, Your Boron Dolphon, Your Boron Dolphin, Your Boron Dolphin, Your Boron Dolphin, and so on for the 100's of freighters I own. When I get round to it I name my stations JBI (Jeff Beynon Industries) and Factory type tho. I only name my big ships, m6's m2's and the occaisional m3, these are all named after roller coasters, except for my TL which is called White Giant, and is home to the mining ship Red Dwarf