Naming and Numbering

[Thornn]

I always name my rockets after some philospoher, astronomer, or greek god. :\

Sounds like you have good taste, I designate mine with boring old numbers

[cesarcurado]

If is an aircraft/SSTO: I use this http://www.wikihow.com/Understand-US-Military-Aircraft-Designations

It is a rocket: Define it's purpose, if it is meant land on the mun, I name it Mun Lander, for example, but it is always a temporary name, I later name it probably with whatever comes to mind.

[Frederf]

I've started to give a prefix to the name according to its phase and numbered order. It's very very helpful to have your ships listed in chronological order in the ship list with any complicated space program. I've worked out that A18 A19 and A20 craft needs to head to Duna in that order so I can work on them in any order and find them in a sensibly sorted list. I'm trying adding a letter "phase" prefix but I don't know how valuable that is.

[Motokid600]

Stars make for good space station names. I took after mass effect and naemed my first station Arcturus Station. Roll of the tongue real nice.

[Guest]

How do I name my vessels and stations? Inconsistently.

[Necandi Brasil]

The Basic rules of naming my Vessels are:

- Mission Purpose (LKO, Munar Orbiter, Munar Lander, Base, Deep Exploration vehicle , Probre , etc.)

- The name in ' '

to give an example: Munar Command Module 'Marco Polo'

Munar Command Module 'Guarani'

etc...

If I updated that vehicle I add a MkII and so on...

Munar Command Module 'Guarani MkII'

All my missions are numbered

So for example I launched today: Ressuply 'Minas' (ATV based); mission: Minas 3 and Munar Command Module 'Marco Polo' ; Mission : Marco Polo 2.

I also take note of all the Kerbals that go into orbit to make sure everyone is assigned

Edited August 3, 2013 by Necandi Brasil
My english is bad... And I should feel bad :(

[RoboRay]

I did Greek mythological names for a while, then switched to Polynesian mythology. With my current save, I'm doing birds. Each name is followed by a roman numeral to distinguish between different missions.

[Geschosskopf]

I have very little imagination so very few of my ships have names per se. I don't name rockets at all, they being mere ascent stages that disappear very quickly. I do have standard ascent stages I use all the time for payloads of various sizes but I don't use Subassembly Loader so I've never had need to give them names. I just build them from memory each time.

What I do name is payloads, and only because I have to call them something when I save them. There names, however, tend to be descriptive, like "3-Man Lander", "Exploration Jet", "MapSat 3000dV", etc. Only occasionally do I distinguish something with a true name, and then mostly because it's pretty much required to write a post about it. I think my most ambitious effort in this regard is the DORK (Duna Overflight Requiring Kethane).

[JeramyM]

I was in the Navy, and the Navy loves its acronyms. So I usually go with an acronyms, abbreviations, or a combinations of the two. Yes I learned in the Navy that you can abbreviate an acronym.

The acronym is usually what it is, either as simple as my KMS satellites. Kerbal Mapping Satellite, or KerbMapSat/MinMapSat ect. or as complex as the KPLODRS, affectionately called "The KerPloder" rhymes with exploder, yeah. Stands for Kerbish Petroleum Low Orbit Diner and Refueling Station.

After the name I usually go with a roman numeral I,II,III, IV, ect to designate either multiple identical craft around the same body, or major rebuilds of the craft. The Hitch Munar lander, HICH(Hey it could Happen) Started with the HICH I, and I think by the time I got a successful landing I was on the HICH VI.

After that it get a letter for minor changes, such as adding struts or those solar panels I forgot. So really it was the HICH VI-g.

Edited August 3, 2013 by JeramyM
cause its mine and I can.

[KC5SDY]

With me, it depends on what I am intending on the use for. The usual stuff most of the time; Orbit, Sat, etc. Numbers for the versions, lower case letters for minor changes to the version. Uppercase letters for extras, (B for boosters, D for dock, etc)

[Piggius_Max]

Acronyms+Descritions (only got a few so far):

KT 1.0

Kerbal Transport 1.0 is a craft designed specifically to carry out task impossible without a Kerbal Transport. Such as visiting an 'old long forgotten island' or 'buzzing the 'tower''.

**UPDATE: AFTER NUMEROUS TESTS AND MODIFICATIONS, THIS CRAFT WAS NOT CAPABLE OF PERFORMING A 'SAFE' LANDING CONSISTANTLY ENOUGH TO PASS SAFETY REGULATIONS**

KT 1.1

Kerbal Transport 1.1

Based on the Eurofighter, the KT 1.1 should (theoretically) be more nimble, safer, and easier to fly. The downisde to this model is it's sever shortage of crew relative to the KT 1.0.

**UPDATE: AFTER 3 TESTS, THE KT 1.1 SHOW NO FAULTS OR FLAWS, STABLE, NIMBLE, AND RUGGED; THIS AIRCRAFT IS FIT FOR FULL MISSION APPLICATION**

KT 2.0

Designed to hold signifantly more crew than it's predassecors, the KT 2.0 is heavy and rugged.

**UPDATE: AFTER TESTS, THIS AIRCRAFT HAS PASSED KERBAL 'SAFETY' REGULATIONS. TAKE CARE WHEN LANDING ON ROUGH TERRAIN **

WARNING: AIRCRAFT CANNOT LAND ON HILLY TERRAIN OF *ANY* SORT, ICE, RUNWAYS, AND FLATTENED AREAS AROUND SPACE CENTRES ONLY.

P 1.0

Probe 1.0 is the first Kerbal Spacecraft, designed to go to LKO, and no further. YOU HEAR THAT JEB? NO. FURTHER.

SL 1.0

Small lifter 1.0 is specifically designed to lift small things into space...

...like your pe-

The only issue is the lack of organisation I'm allowed in vanilla KSP, a simple folder system would suffice, doubt it'd be difficult too. Actually:

GUYS! PLEASE CAN WE HAVE A WINDOWS EXPLORER ESK FOLDER SYSTEM FOR THE ORGANISATION OF CRAFT IN GAME? THANKS, I'D REALLY REALLY APPRECIATE THAT

[Fiddlestyx]

Named based on function

Orbur the Orbiter

Rovy the Rover

Named based on destination

Munny the Lander

Sunny the Satellite

That's how I do it.

[AletzN1]

Welp, almost always it is the purpose of the craft abbreviated

I.e. -Highly Dangerous Lunar Dockable Ascent Stage - HDLDAS (almost always not that long)

"Name" of the craft, some mitological Greek, Roman, or Aztec god

I.e. Kukulcan

Model, Alphabet

I.e. C

Iteration, Roman Numerals

I.e. VII

Result:

HDLDAS "Kukulcan" C VII

[That guy who builds stuff]

Select destination

Figure out what real life planet/moon it is an analogy of

Use Greek version of whatever roman deity it's named for

Follow that by function like lander, rover ect and a number reflecting how many redesigns it went through.

So my Jool probe was named Jove Atmo Probe 1 while my Duna Rover was Ares Rover 7

Satellites, fuel tugs and stations are named things like comsat1 or fuel station alpha as they are unimportant or used in multiple mission.

The only exception to the rule is the grand tour ship Celestia

Edited August 4, 2013 by That guy who builds stuff

[Goldham]

I do a GHI-## "cool sounding Real-life Rocket/ Mythology name". my standard lanch vehicle is the GHI-02 "Falcon"

[jeti140973]

I have been looking for a good naming scheme as well. Wish the game supported some automatic format.

The system I currently use is as follows.

Prefix'es:

KSX - Kerbal Space Debris

KSP - Kerbal Space Probe

KSR - Kerbal Space Rover

KSS - Kerbal Space Ship (manned)

KST - Kerbal Space Station

KSB - Kerbal Space Base

These are used when saving ships in the editor (VAB/SPH), so they are all sorted by type. I try to distinguish my saves into prototypes (classes of craft) and mission craft, which all have the prefix MSN. Mission craft are the actual configuration used in a specific mission, often using a combination of prototypes (eg. rockets, landers & command vehicles).

Craft names are based on their intended target (main body of the mission) and intended role, as follows:

Flyby craft are all called VOYAGER (eg. Mun Voyager)

Impact craft are all called PROBE (eg. MunProbe)

Orbital craft (unmanned) are all called SAT (eg. MunSat)

Orbital craft (manned) are all called ORBITER (eg. Mun Orbiter)

Landing craft (unmanned) are all called PIONEER (eg. Mun Pioneer)

Landing craft (manned) are all called EXPLORER (eg. Mun Explorer)

Multiship craft (combi) are all called ENDEAVOUR (eg. Mun Endeavour)

Rover craft are all called SURVEYOR (eg. Mun Surveyor)

Stations are all called STATION (eg. Mun Station)

Bases are all called BASE (eg. Mun Base)

The name is then followed by a numeral (I, II, III, etc) and sometimes a designator (IIa, IIb) when necessary - for example during joint rendezvous missions. Satellites are suffixed A for equatorial orbits, B for polar orbits, and C for synchronous orbits. My satellite on solar escape mission was called Stellar Voyager.

The first satellite in orbit are always called Kermit, though. No exception ;-)

When a multiship mission splits up I rename individual parts as necessary - so a single "Mun Endeavour" ship becomes a "Mun Explorer" lander and "Mun Orbiter" command vehicle, for example.

Rocketstages are prefixed LFT and are further divided into Ascent (ASC) and Transfer (TRF) types. Have not settled on a good scheme for those, though.

[tiberius_solus]

I wanted to mythological names similar to the early space program (e.g. mercury, Gemini, and Apollo), but I didn't want to use Graeco-roman gods. I decided to use Mesopotamian deities, with each name designating the type of craft used:

Ashera series - unmanned exploration orbiters

Enlil series - Kerbin-system satellites (weather, comms, etc.)

Shamash series - single-occupant orbiters

Sin series - single-occupant landers

Anu series - multi-occupant orbiters

Marduk series - Apollo-style Mun and Minmus missions

The only ship so far that doesn't follow this pattern is the Kerbal Space Station. I think future stations will have a designation, though I don't know what to use yet.

As for numbering, any time I make a significant modification to the design I increment the number of the craft, for example, my Marduk 1 was my first attempt to do an Apollo-style mission. When I revised the design I made it Marduk 2.

[Rhyunix]

I name all my craft after their location (eg KerMun)

[csiler2]

-snip-

I love your naming concept Jeti. I think I may adapt it for my own missions

Right now, I only have a naming scheme for rocket designs, based off the numbering scheme for the Japanese H-IIA rockets. Each engine is assigned a letter and word from the NATO or British special forces spelling alphabets, which are then used as the basis for a rocket family name. e.g. rockets based around the LV-T30 are called Tango and Mainsail rockets are called Mike. Then there are up to five characters that describe the first stage, followed by a hyphen and up to two characters that describe the upper stage. The upper stage notation repeats if there is more than one upper stage.

(Rocket series)-(Liquid Booster engine type using the spelling letter)(Number of liquid boosters)(number of asparagus stages)(Number of BACC boosters)(Number of RT-10 boosters)-(Upper stage engine type using spelling letter)(Number of engines powering the upper stage)

This way, I can look at my rocket designs and know the basic configuration of each rocket without having to load it.

Foxtrot-T4200-Z1 is an LV-T45 core surrounded by LV-T30 boosters with a booster->booster->core feed design topped by an LV-909 powered upper stage. Like regular numbers, proceeding zeros are dropped out, so a basic Foxtrot with no boosters would simply be Foxtrot or Foxtrot-0-Z1 if there were an upper stage. I've considered deleting the BACC and RT-10 booster numerals, but I want flexibility if I plan to try mixtures of different boosters.

Unfortunately, this system is not designed to handle clustered engines, so I'm working on a parallel naming scheme for that.

I have no proper naming scheme for missions right now. I just type whatever makes the most sense or use a basic descriptor of the vessel. I.E. MPKV for my Orion MPCV analog.

[Cipher29]

My names vary quite a bit, but for vehicles it's usually a series of acronyms like ORS, SSM, and MEV (Orbital Refueling Station, Station Service Module, Manned Exploration Vehicle) with a I or II at the end to specify iteration.

Any modules for bases/stations are just named what they are (Station Habitation Module/Base Power Module) but I'll rename a completed base/station to usually an astronomer or rocket engineer (I just named my last station Houbolt after the person who recommended the Lunar Rendezvous System for Apollo).

[GJames]

All of my pre-0.21 craft were named after figures or deities from Greek mythology, usually based on what planetary body they were going to visit.

Example: My Duna probe orbiter is called Ares 100S1, Ares for Duna; 100 for it's orbital altitude; and S1 because it's the first satellite in Duna's SOI. Likewise, my first keosynchronous satellite was called Gaia GS1, which is fairly obvious...

Will probably change it once I start a proper new save, maybe something like tiberius_solus, only with Asian, Native American or Phoenician deities...

[Sardonyx]

I typically pick a name for a mission / ship role. Then for minor changes I typically add a letter like "Gallileo A" for example. Major revisions or redesigns that support the same mission get a Roman Number like "Gallileo II" and subsequent minor revisions get a letter e.g. "Gallileo II A."

[CalculusWarrior]

I have no naming conventions for rockets, though I do have one for planes. I name them something-Bird, and the something is a word related to the plane itself. For example, a spaceplane would be called the MunBird, a hypersonic plane that experiences a lot of shock heating is known as the FireBird, and a plane with a couple of pointy bits on the front is called the SharpBird.

[MrPopcup]

I usually make something up in my mind, for example , I have a spacestation around the mun, I simply call it J.R.S ( Jebidiah Refueling Station )

but for land things ( when you put flags ) I choose to name it on the kerbal who put it there, for example I have Shirwig Kerman - I landed on a crater on the mun, then I name it Shirwig Crater. and so on..

also depends on location/mission/spacecraft - if it's important I name it something unique and easy to remember.

[MrPopcup]

Ops sorry for double post..

Edited August 5, 2013 by MrPopcup