Suggestion: Naming Conventions

[Rubenio]

When two vessels are docked, the new combined vessel gets a new name (eg Combined-11) and the original names are lost (not sure if this is a feature or a bug!)

I need to go back and confirm, but I think this was not an issue in KSP1.

One of the things I love in KSP is to build Space Stations in Orbit and dock vessels to it.  I've made a modified KSS Hub with added fuel and extensions for the docking ports (to make space for larger ships!).  And it's now lost its name...

In order to understand the proposal, let's assume we have a space station (named KSS Hub) and a vessel docking to it (named Shuttle 1)

Let's think of the KSS Hub as the 'dockee' and Shuttle 1 as the 'docker'

My suggestion would be to adopt the following naming convention:

1.  The vessel that is being docked to, should keep its name - in other words the dockee keeps its name.   Therefore, once Shuttle 1 docks to KSS Hub the new combined vessel is still named KSS Hub
2.  When the vessels are undocked, the original names are kept (eg Shuttle 1 gets its name back).
   • I would propose to 'keep' the Shuttle 1 name in the vessel being docked to a new field (eg Old_Name) so that when undocked this could be captured

How to determine which is which?  I think the active ship in the docking sequence should be the 'docker'.

Edited July 12, 2023 by Rubenio

[whatsEJstandfor]

This all sounds perfectly reasonable to me; seconded!

[KUAR]

Thirded

[AngryBaer]

KSP1 solved this with name priorities. Another way to do this could be keeping a docking order history or having parts grouped automatically by what's between docking ports. instead of essentially fusing the added pieces into a new craft.

I'd also love to have a "dock manager" where you could select the craft/group you want to undock or transfer resources to instead of relying on staging or part-by-part selection. How many times have I undocked from the wrong side of the node and ended up having to cycle through to the craft I just detached...

While this is a reasonable method I wonder how that would work if there are eventually grabbing units that "dock" with asteroids and debris. Now your craft is named after the piece of rock you grabbed or the part you want to recover?

[DoCDoC]

maybe the one that has more mass keeps its name as default, and when docking a dialog comes up asking to pick or specify new vehicle name.

[Poppa Wheelie]

3 hours ago, AngryBaer said:

KSP1 solved this with name priorities.

This is what I want - name priorities. 

For example:  In KSP1 I might have a mothership, with a lander, all docked to a station.  I might give the station naming priority 20, the mothership naming priority 10, and the lander naming priority 5.

• When the lander docks with the mothership, the combination will have the mothership's name
• When the mothership docks with the station, the combination will have the station's name
• When anything undocks, we'll see correct names for the pieces