Forums » Suggestions

Nickname Field for Ship Descriptions

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Jan 23, 2005 DekuDekuplex link
It would be useful to have a "Nickname" field for the ship descriptions to facilitate newbies getting acquainted with the ship names.

For example, many newbies (myself included until a few days earlier) didn't know that a "bus" referred to an "EC-XX[X]"-type fighter/transport vehicle until after participating in many online discussions. I actually watched a newbie asking specifically about the definition of a "bus" during one such discussion because he/she was not able to follow the argument otherwise. In addition, I myself was once corrected for referring to a Centaur as a "Cent," when I should have known that only Centurions are commonly referred to as such.

Simply adding a "Nickname" field to the existing ship descriptions would help to alleviate this issue.

Some examples of ship/nickname pairs would be as follows:

Ship | Nickname
-------------------------
EC-XX[X] | "Bus"
Centurion | "Cent"
Warthog | "Hog"
Vulture | "Vult"
Ragnarok | "Rag"

-- DekuDekuplex Ornitier
Jan 23, 2005 roguelazer link
There are multiple nicknames for each ship, though. After all, we thought 'em up, not the devs. Although Pizza Cutter might have been a1k0n's.
Jan 23, 2005 Solra Bizna link
A few relatively obscure ones:
Weapon | Nickname
-------------------------
Neutron | Tachyon
Positron | Graviton
Mega Positron | Queengun/Negaton
-:sigma.SB
Jan 23, 2005 The Kid link
Pizza Cutter I think was Khral...
Jan 23, 2005 DekuDekuplex link
Allow me to add the following pair:

Ship | Nickname
---------------------------
Prometheus | "Prom"

-- DekuDekuplex Ornitier
Jan 23, 2005 Borb II link
Centaur | Centa
Prometheus | Prom
Valkerie | Valk
Vulture | Vult

Edit: I was too slow on the prom. ;)
Jan 23, 2005 Spider link
Prometheus: brick, lobster, spaceslug
Neutron: Tach (short form)
Positron: Gravs
Sunflare: Flare (no other kind of *flare is usable. so flare==sunflare)
Jackhammers= hammers
Gemini= seekers (the only usable s-port homers)
[OT]

There's a few other terms around too. "Jock" is rather different from most. Usually pilots who only fly either a valk (most common) or a Prom (rare, might become more common, we have yet to see). The classic valkjock is a pilot who doesnt exhibit much skill technically, but wins on the ship alone, whereas the promjock is one who's excelled with the use of a prom up until its a lethal weapon.

Why? Actually, in the past years the prom has been a mostly worthless pile of junk metal, not even seen fit for scrap pile. But for a short period of time, the Prometheus was an overpowered, thundering beast of raw power and compressed armor easily withstanding and destroying just about everything else.

During this era a few dedicated pilots latched on to the Prometheus, and learned to weild it in ways inspiring awe and destruction in the universe.

Then came the whine.
Then came the nerf.

....and the prom was useless in comparsion to other ships. After this came slight rebalances, all leaving the Prometheus at a steadily worsening state, hampered time after time by changes to the game balance. After a short while, none but the most skilled pilots could wield theese lurching beasts successfully.
Theese were the promjocks.

The valkjocks had the inverse behaviour, from the Valkyre's start as an obscure and outpowered ship, to it becoming the most wellsuited fighter in the universe. It stayed this way, each update gaining just a bit more edge over other ships, until it was virutally invincible. This lead to a situation where the most unskilled pilot in a Valk could take on more advanced and technically superiour pilots, and feel they did well, and if they do not, get away with most of their hull intact.

This has led to a distinct disdain amongst people for such players, and its a label hard to scrub away. Still today when things are approaching balance, Valkjock is an insult you'll hear in the channels, echoing the disdain of the community.
Jan 23, 2005 roguelazer link
Graviton: Blue lasers

Heh
Jan 23, 2005 Spider link
I miss the green ions... :(
Jan 23, 2005 Shapenaji link
Centaur, Nick: Bird of Prey
Jan 23, 2005 CrippledPidgeon link
I've never heard of the Centaur being called the Bird of Prey, nor the Centa... but okay.

Ship Nicknames:
EC-88: Govbus
EC series: Bus
Centurion: Cent
Itani Border Guardian Centurion: IBG
Warthog: Hog
Mineral Extractor Warthog: Miner Hog
Vulture: Vult
Serco Vulture Guardian: SVG
Centaur: Cent; apparently also: Centa, Bird-of-Prey (the Centaur is ONLY referred to as the "Cent" if it's the subject of the conversation, but if the Centurion is introduced, the Centurion becomes the "Cent")
Ragnarok: Rag
Valkyrie: Valk
Marauder: Maud
Tungska Mineral Marauder: Tungska Maud, Superhog
Prometheus: Prom
Sky Command Prometheus: SCP

Weapons Nicknames:
Goverment Plasma Cannon: Govplas
Neutron Blaster: Tach, Green lasers
Positron Blaster: Posi, Gravs, Blue lasers
Sunflares: Flares
Jackhammer: Hammer (s)
Gemini Missiles: Gems, seekers
Plasma Devastator: PlasDev, PlasmaDev, PD
Gatling Turret: AGT, Gat
Flechette: Popcorn Gun
Gatling Cannon: Popcorn Gun
Railgun: Rail
Lightning Mines: Lmines

Nation Nicknames:
Serco: Red Nation, Reds
Itani: Blue Nation, Blues
UIT: Neutral Territories, NTs, Gold Nation, Golds

Other Nicknames:
Valk Jock: derogatory term for a player who flys a Valkyrie and only wins on the ability of the ship, and not the pilot's skill.
Prom Jock: a player who's exceptionally skilled at flying the Prometheus
Swarm/Gem/Missile Spammer: derogatory term for a player who usually flies a Rag, a Centaur, or a Hog launches lots and lots of swarm missiles at extreme range and runs for the hills.
Botting the Crack: a bug exploit used to increase license levels
Wormhole: WH
Roidwarping: coming out of jump and smacking into an asteroid
Jan 23, 2005 Martin.mac.au link
Centaur is Bird Of Prey as of last night :p but I prefer the name BUFF.
Jan 23, 2005 Fuzzy901 link
This thread gave me an idea. Why not be able to name our ships? When you bought the ship, a text box would appear, and you could type in a name for your ship (like Starscreamer, USS Pharris, Enola Gay) This name would show up when selecting ships, and when people locked on to you your ship's name would show up in italics under ship model. Just a thought.
Jan 24, 2005 CrippledPidgeon link
Yea... I really want to name my ships... That'd be so cool....
Jan 24, 2005 Starfisher link
Given the frequency with which you die or switch ships, that could become annoying. If it were optional, I don't see why not.
Jan 24, 2005 Beolach link
Just reuse the same name(s) when you die...

The main thing that I REALLY want to see ship names for, is when we get player controlled capital ships. I'm thinking those shouldn't die quite so much as the ships we have now do.
Jan 24, 2005 johnhawl218 link
Only the alpha betas call the neutron cannons Tachyon or Tach, everyone else I hear calls them Neut's, Neut1, Neut2, etc.…

And who says Gravitrons? Positrons and Gravitrons are soooo different…
Jan 24, 2005 CrippledPidgeon link
Neuts were Tachs in Beta, and Posis were Gravs in Beta.
Jan 24, 2005 johnhawl218 link
and that's why I said Only Alpha's a nd Beta's call them that… =P
Jan 24, 2005 Furious link
You would have to screen the ship names to make sure no one used an offensive one.