How do you name your ships

[TimePeriod]

DFT- *Insert theme* *Model/Version-Block*

AKA

Drangonforge Technologies - 'Bugbear' Model 1 / Version 1 Block-A

Dragonforge Technologies is my company.

'Bugbear' is the theme which my current spaceprogram themes. Dungeons and Dragons - guess why?

Model determines major design changes or total revisions.

Version determines minor changes and revisions.

Block determines micro-changes.

I also add "mun-lander" or some such to the description to make matters simpler.

Edited March 16, 2015 by TimePeriod

[forenci]

I usually do a mix of fun Kerbal-themed (K before everything, like the Kelta IV Heavy) or, as I am an English teacher, I enjoy giving them names of authors or characters from books. One of my favorites was Bartleby Munar Rocket. The rocket definitely lived up to its name (if you have ever read the story, you would certainly relate, haha).

[Othuyeg]

I use immature and inappropriate names. It is my game and no kids will ever see my save files.

[Trann]

There's an old thread here about naming conventions and I used to go all-out with things but I'm back to basics again...

Initial launch vehicles are Capsule Mk I ... X (reused if delta-v supports other missions; have yet to pass X).

All contract vehicles are Contract Alfa ... Zulu (have yet to reach Zulu; tech tree fully unlocked).

Interplanetary vehicles are Planet Lander, Planet Drive, Planet Probe, Planet Sat (reused and renamed II, III, etc. for delta-v variations)

[Mr. Speed]

The flagships of interplanetary missions are usually named from works of fiction with the

same letter as the destination planet, and accompanied by landers named from the same

work of fiction.

Some examples:

Duna = Deckard with the Replicant lander

Jool = Jedi ship with the lightsaber spaceplane(laythe SSTO)

Eve = Eden ship with the Adam lander (adam and eve should be together)

Moho = Megatron (still under construction)

Dres = Delorean ship with the Mcfly lander (planned)

Eeloo = Enterprise ship with Sisko lander (still under construction)

Launch vehicles are either RLV or SLV indicating liquid or solid fuel, followed by tonnes

to 200km orbit and a name (like RLV-125 'Whiplash' or RLV-40 'Atlas')

I use letters to describe the type of vehicle and number them on build order and indicate

any version changes with letters. (like X-6B Millennium)

R = capsule orbiters

L = lander

P = plane

C = cargo plane

X = SSTO

A = space shuttle

WR= rover

and others..

Stations are named by the NATO phonetic alphabet followed by altitude in km.

(like Foxtrot 200 or Golf 150)

I follow this system because I have a ....load of craft files in and outside my KSP folder

and otherwise I would just spend so much time searching for the vehicle I need.

[Cooly568]

My random, early game ships are just called, whatever I feel like, "ship 1".

But my main cruisers, of which three have been created, are called "Kerbal Super Carriers."

[Mister Kingdom]

I have a sheet pinned to the underside of my shelf with different letter codes (V for Training, L for Liquid Fuel etc.), which results in a 3 letter designation, after which I give them a overall mission name and then a number. So, for example, my current project is called "TCL Ranger"; T for "Crew Transport", C for "Carrier" and L for "LF/O", which is a carrier to travel to and from the Mun. It's made of individually docked ships, which are all named "TCL Ranger (X)", where X is the position it is compared to the cockpit. I do all this because I was struggling for names, and tired of checking what each ship did when I opened the map view. It's easier to remember.

[Jarin]

Generically descriptive based on purpose. "Geosat 1" (1-3, core com network) - "Munar Explorer" (lander/hopper for multiple biome science) - "Minmus Surveyor" (scansat and resource scanning)

[impyre]

I generally try to come up with something creative, but telling of the purpose. My communications satellites are called Mercury A-B MkC, where A is the orbital group (where those with similar normals and orbital periods belong to the same group), and B is the designator for that specific satellite in its group (if more than one is present), and C is the revision number. For example, Mercury 2-1 Mk4 and 2-6 Mk4 are the two (of six) in keysynchronous orbit that have direct line of sight to the KSC. My missions put together solely for science are named something like Galileo 1. Missions primarly done for contracts are named very plainly for the mission at hand (though this doesn't happen often because I usually attempt to fit contracts in with other career mode goals).

[severedsolo]

I once tried a game where each "program" (ie - program to get into orbit, program to land on Mun) would have objectives, and all ships leading towards that goal would be called "<program name> 1... 2...3..." etc. I generated the names using some "god name generator" I found on the internet.

Long story short, 4 programs later in I went to load my standard sat for agency missions and forgot what the program was called... so I went back to the ever so descriptive name of "Agency Sat"

[AbacusWizard]

Sometimes something from mythology ("Ganymede" for a bundle of probes en route to Jool and its moons; "St. Christopher" for a rescue transport); sometimes majestic birds ("Albatross II" and "Phoenix III" were a couple of my early interplanetary ships; I later remodelled the main drive section of the Phoenix III into the "P3-class atomic drive" and built four or five of them to use as interplanetary cargo tugs); sometimes sci-fi inspired ("Starbase Alpha," "Minmus Orbital Command," "Munbase Beta," etc.); sometimes merely descriptive ("Mun Lander," "Eve Drop Probe," "Karbonite Orbital Refinery," etc.).

I also generally call "series" of similar ships by a single name but different Roman numerals, sometimes followed by a hyphen and a letter or two describing a specific purpose, such as the Rutabaga probe satellite which was then remodelled into the Rutabaga II, the Rutabaga III, and then the Rutabaga III-R, with the "R" standing for "rescue" (Jeb had run out of ∆v just short of re-entry and needed a push). Likewise if, say, the Whatever II couldn't quite get into orbit I might try redesigning the launch as the Whatever II-XB with xtra boosters; if the Stuff III needed more ∆v I might add more fuel tanks and save it as the Stuff III-XF or swap out the main engines for an ion drive and plenty of xenon tanks and call it the Stuff III-Xe.

[boxley]

usually I just name them after the kerbals who are gonna fly it

stuff like

"jebadiah cruiser"

"raylong rider"

[Vallius]

Sometimes I take inspiration from mythology. More often I use a naming scheme based on pure, unadulterated whim.

It's hard for every name to be as epic as "Odyssey" or "Prometheus" after all.

[Rath]

Naturally leads to a question... How do you name the first spacecraft in a save? Do you sacrifice kerbals so you have names available?

I usually tend to name my craft based either on what they do and versions (Superheavy Lifter MkI, Small SSTO MkIV - Cargo, Mass Relay MkVII Munar Express...), or based on something they remind me of (my small interplanetary craft looks like a chess figure and has a probe core for each part, so I named it Deep Blue, after the computer)[/quote

THey are untitled Space Craft until I have something I use more than once. Therefore all of my first career mun rockets have been the jeb express

[Slam_Jones]

I recently discovered Naming Schemes, which provides a bunch of lists of related names.

Been using it a bit, and it definitely helps conjure up unique names and naming conventions.

[SpacedCowboy]

Sometimes I take inspiration from mythology. More often I use a naming scheme based on pure, unadulterated whim.

It's hard for every name to be as epic as "Odyssey" or "Prometheus" after all.

There's nothing wrong with the mythological names. I think it's cool! Lots of different "God" names in Greek myth. Now throw in Roman and Norse, and you've got quite a lot to choose from.

[Randazzo]

Sort of depends which save I'm playing. One of them has ships all named after explorers or pioneers. Cortez, Columbus, De Champlain, Boone, etc. My planes tend to lean towards mythology. Hermes, Icarus, Phoenix and the like. In my "story" save, all vessels under a program have the same name with a Mark number indicating a step up in capability or capacity. For instance, Lancer I was for hitting 5,000m, Lancer II for 11,000, Lancer III for 22km, 33km, 56km, and escaping the atmosphere (intentionally overdesigned for the early steps), and Lancer IV was orbit capable. Century I is a mun/minmus flyby vessel, Century II is for establishing orbit, Century III is an Apollo style CSM+Lander vehicle for the Mun, Century IV is a single vessel minmus lander, and Century V is a dual module design (the landing module and return module are both delivered as a stack to orbit by a disposable transfer stage) that can land on either and deliver a rover with the lander.

I don't really have a reason for picking the program names though.

Edited March 17, 2015 by Randazzo

[loch.ness]

I'm pretty much the same as Randazzo though I have some mission names that stick through several saves:

Munatic is always the name for my Mun program (Freud CSM + Munar Adventure Lander (MAL-voilio) + Oeudipus lifter complex).

Vulcan is always the name for my Duna Mission (landers named after volcanoes, fire gods, or similar - CSMs named after Vulcans)

My Jool programs are always named Verne (Jool's Verne) but they never manage to launch... (going to change that this time).

I typically have an Asimov, Wells, and Bradbury program too - though what those programs are tend to be more random.

[Admiral-Helwyr]

WAIT: Walkers?

a mod?

Yes I use Magic smoke industries infernal robotics which adds a bunch of hinges and rotating things.

I tried making a stock walker many many times using small rockets to move the legs, I got it to walk but i had to toggle the engines for every one of the six legs separately, and it wasn't that much fun moving at 2 Ms

For the Spider mk2 I used the KAS Grappling hooks to stick to vertical surfaces.

[thylordroot]

I have no particular naming convention for my ships. A lot of the names are corruptions of their function (e.g., "Pwober MkI"), but I've been naming my launch vehicles names like "Ert" and "Bernie" lately. I just recently started working on an idea similar to the original plans for STS, and I am naming these vehicles "ITS <x>", where x is a name pulled out of my hat and that is a name that succeeds the last in alphabetical order.