Naming scheme for your ships! (0.24 edition)

[Duke23]

Wow, you guys make me feel uncreative. Most of mine aren't really named they are just whatever the ship is so I know what it is in the ship builder list, like Mun Rescue Vehicle and Refueling Station... Or it renames itself after docking. ''Mun Voyager'' and ''Deathwish Tanker'' were probably the only ones I ever halfway named. I do often add ''MK II'' etc for redesigns of the same platform. Oh, my first orbital ship was ''Jeb's Destiny'' and the ''Domestic Scientific Terrorist'' is my Kerbin biome hopper. Forgot about those. I do want to start giving my ships better names, I often just forget from being in a hurry to get it off the ground.

[UH60guy]

I use a lot of prefixes before ship names, with the below combinations. Usually they’re in groups of three but I don't always hold fast:

First letter:

I - interplanetary, for things specifically designed to fly to other planets (prefix left off for ships that could be used for multiple roles)

DS - Deep Space, for things specifically designed to operate high in the sun's SOI, but not head to any particular planet.

NS – Near Space, for things specifically designed to stay in the Kerbin SOI (prefix left off for ships that could be used for multiple roles)

O - Orbital, for ships and stations designed to stay in a fixed orbit for a long duration

Second letter:

A - Ascent, used for lifters or parts returning to orbit as their sole function

C - Cruise, for tugs used solely in space for long missions. Typically used as "ICS" for cruise stages for interplanetary tugs.

F – Refueler, for tender ships and stations designed to be fuel depots for other ships

L - Landing, for things that land

M - Modular, for ships built in orbit

R – Rescue, for typically high delta V ships launched for rescue missions of stranded Kerbals.

Third letter:

P - Probe

S - Stage/subcomponent of ship or space station

V - Vessel, crewed ship

So I have mission profiles like an "ICS" as interplanetary cruise stage that docks in orbit to become my "IMV" interplanetary modular vessel, fuels up at the Kerbin OFS orbital fuel station, and flies to Ike. There, the "LS" Landing and ascent stage lands, the "AS" returns to orbit. Maybe the mother ship would drop a “LP†probe lander on Duna. Then the ship would return to Kerbin, only to run out of fuel in a highly inclined orbit before landing, leading to the need for a NSRV “near space rescue vessel†flown by Jeb to come take them the rest of the way home.

Finally as for the ships themselves, I usually name them with some Kerbal-ish reference to food, or after doomed ships from real life or science fiction, or some stupid pun on the destination. Examples from my recent trip to Ike:

IMV "Kobyashi Maru"

NSRV "Event Horizon"

LS "Ike can see my house from here"

OFS "Kerbal International Space Station Bar and Grill"

from another past mission: "Laythe Ocean Base and Buffet"

Edited December 26, 2013 by UH60guy

[Astraph]

My system, while not quite formalised may be summarised as follows. Please also note that I like using Polish names to make the game sound more exotic and to show that Poland CAN and WILL into space!

1) Lifter rockets:

S + Roman numeral + suffix (A/B)

S stands for Soyuz - as my first rocket built was a rip-off of the Soyuz lookalike presented on KSP wiki. Other rockets look completely different, but I've grown quite fond on this letter, so...

Roman numral stands for payload - I is for cargo below 30 t, II is for 30-80 t, III is for 100-120 t. I am yet to design a larger rocket, if I have to build larger objects I tend to revert to modular assembly at LKO.

Suffixes are used to distinguished between lighter and heavier versions of the lifter.

So, example lifter name is S-IB, which is designed to carry payloads between 20-30 t into LKO.

2) Remote probes:

I use the name of target celestial body + Roman numeral to indicate which mission this is. I've deployed Mun X, Minimus V, Eve II and Gilly I so far.

2a) Mining probes:

The only two Kethane mining probes I've designed was named after a bloodsucking insects - Kleszcz (tick) and Komar (mosquito).

3) Landers:

Here I use names of stars, inspired by Altair design for Constellation programme. Since my interplanetary missions have been infrequent so far, I've used only two names - Betelgeza and Antares.

4) Utility tugs:

Names of strong animals - Tur (Aurochs), Żubr (Visent).

5) Space stations:

Acronyms based on their purpose, like KGB (Kerbalska Gwiezdna Baza - Kerbal Star Base) or KORA (Kethane Orbital Refining Automata)

6) Interplanetary craft:

So far I've launched but one - Faeton - but I plan to use mythological names. Including fictional ones - Alduin, Tyrael and so on.

7) Spaceplanes:

Following the scheme of B9 Aerospace mod, I'm naming my spaceplanes after sci-fi writers. So far I've designed only three spaceworthy planes (Lem, Piskorski and Zajdel).

Craft types are designated with KSP-XXX (acronym of Kerbal Space Program + Arabic numeral) in design's precedence.

Edited December 26, 2013 by Astraph

[The Error]

I tend towards alphanumeric designations for small craft, but interplanetary ships and stations are all named.

I.e. IP-N-X "Odyssey", my last IP ship. IP, for interplanetary, N, for nuclear (LV-Ns) and X for experimental.

[Lar-E]

Mun and Minmus Missions: Sandwiches (i.e. Ham & Cheese, Bologna)

Duna and Eve Missions: Flightless birds (i.e Ostrich, Emu)

Jool and other planets: Mexican food (i.e. Chimichanga, Chili Con Carne)

Other: Other (i.e. Onomatopoeia, Lumbago Bar & Grill)

Edited December 26, 2013 by Lar-E

[Mr. Me]

Here's a name generator: http://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/spaceship_namer.htm

It's for si-fi ships, but I was able to use it to base a name for an MPCV.

[Taki117]

My naming scheme is a name of a Norse God followed by the iteration of the vehicle with permanent structures being named for one of the 9 realms. (i.e Valhalla is my current space station, and Loki-1 is the first iteration of the Loki class vessels.

[InterCity]

I have developed a weird system.

TNT - A Mk1 fuselage ship, generally ships that do not reach orbit.

S - stands for "semtex", lightweight orbital craft.

C - stands for "C4", heavier orbital craft (small space station parts) or mun and minimus landers

H - stands for "Hydrogen", very heavy orbital ships (large space station parts)

N - stands for "nuke", super-heavy, super expensive, super powerful onion design ships, such as interplanetary base carriers

Besides, all spacecraft are called B-52-x , where X is serial number

Some special ships are called ICBM or IPBM ("intecontinental- or interplanetary- ballistic missile"))

This was developed by very high explosion and/or crash rate during first few flights.

[Weegee]

Upon seeing this thread, I decided it was about time I got a proper naming system.

Mine is in two parts separated by a hyphen.

First half:

Simply the name (or class, not sure which applies) of the craft and a number for if there is multiple of the same craft.

Second half:

Starts with a letter (or two) to designate where it will be operated, also includes an interplanetary (IP) tag for tugs.

Then, a few letters for its role, ex. LDR=Lander.

The final part of the second half is the version, represented as two numbers separated by a period. The first number is increased with major changes, and the second for minor ones.

So an example is the SSTO I will be posting shortly:

Defiance - KCS 1.2

This means the craft is a Kerbin-based Crew Shuttle, version 1.2, named Defiance.

Edited December 26, 2013 by Weegee

[toric5]

crazy arcronyms. LCLKORV! (Low Cost Low Kerbin Orbit Launcher) made with tier 1 parts.

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Early in career mode I've had Vulture and Raven series crafts in reference to picking up science left lying around, or picking up shiny bits of science. Also used designations like "Pioneer" or "Discovery" if it was going to be the first attempt at something I hadn't done yet, or expanding on something I'd already started. First in a design series is "I", or "MkI", followed by "II"/"MkII" etc. If the change in design is somewhat minor then it might be given a lower-case letter addendum to the designation, like the "Raven IVb". I made a design using the Raven as the bulk of it but it was going to be unmanned so I named it Scarecrow I instead of Raven-something. If the design gets changed during "testing" then I often don't change the designation.

So, I guess my names are a reference to what the craft is initially going to do or takes steps toward doing.

[Commissioner Tadpole]

I normally give my rockets the designation of Jetster, Booster and such, and I only change their numbers when I make a dramatic change to them.

I've used different names, though. For example, Duna 2, Genesis 1, CrawlerCarrier 1, Trekker 3...

[-ELF-]

While I am playing since 0.18, I had many naming schemes.

I had one that tryed to associate a spacecraft with a body it is ought to go to:

Romeo - for Jool (Juliet)

Adam - for Eve

Night - for Mun

Day - for Sun

Arrakis - for Duna and so on...

Then I had come up with idea of naming series of spaceships with some pathetic words from English:

Misfortune

Fiasco

Collapse

Discontentment

etc. (You see the point, only emotionally negative names)

Another try and I come with naming system following the Greek mythology:

Athena

Prometheus

Haron (one of best interplanetary tug ships back in 0.20)

Cerberus (three connection satelites in one vessel, launched to KSO one by one)

And so on.

And another one interesting naming scheme was using the periodic table of elements as a source for names.

Lightweight probes from light elements Hidrogen and Lithium.

Planetary stations from noble gases Helium, Argon, Krypton and Xenon.

Orbital stations from heavy unstable elements Technecium, Plutonium, Uranium.

Rovers named after precious metals Argentum, Aurum, Platinum

And so on...

Probably it was my best naming scheme, I liked it.

Now I am starting a .23... I had come to idea of Latin sayings:

The first ship was named "Per Aspera", and flew 150 meters aside from launchpad with apoapsis of 50 meters (Lithobraked successfully, Jeb survived 8) )

The second "Ad astra".

I suppose Jool mission will be named "Quon licet Iovi" in reference to Jupiter.

I will see if I can come up with something else )

Edited December 27, 2013 by [ELF]

[MGCJerry]

It looks like a cat walking across the keyboard names my ships... Plot twist, I don't have a cat.

[LethalDose]

I use names of beer for my rockets and alchol-centric terms for stations:

• Leinenkugel I-IV mun missions
  
• Guinness experimental Munar lander
  
• Bass Munar Rover
  
• Coors Tanker
  
• The Tap (my first small station in LKO)
  
• The Keg (my larger station in kerbin's orbit)
  

Some larger multi-use ships would have been named for faeries, because they would have been used as ferries for much smaller ships (landers, etc).

And "faerie" and "ferry" homonyms.

and that's hilarious.

Anyway, there were plans for the Oberon (A large ship for Kerbin-Jool transits), the Titania (A mid-size endurance craft for the inner planets) and the Aurora (a utility lander), but only the P.U.C.K. (Prototype Utility Craft for Kerbals) got built before 0.22 ate my persistence file. I haven't started a 0.23 career game yet.

[nMitch]

First I start bymaking a Lander or Probe or something and save it with a name: Emily Probe (Wife's name) Then I attach the Launch vehicle, then i strip it off and put it into sub assemblies with a name: Mary Rocket (Mom's Name[usually the name is important people in my life]) then Launch with name Emily Probe 01 (Numeric for probes & Roman for Ships) Lets say i launch it to the mun, but the same design can go to Minnmus, Then i'll Load the Emily Probe, attach a Mary Rocket and Launch with name Emily Probe 02.

So i just launched the Emily two with a Mary two rocket.

[flightmaster]

I just name mine based on what they're doing. It's actually a really boring naming convention. So for example, Dres Science or Mun Base Module Core. Just makes it easier in the tracking station for me

[Seret]

About the only thing close to a consistent naming scheme is the tendency to use the suffix "boom" for launchers. So when my Megaboom heavy launcher was developed into a reusable configuration it became the Thriftyboom, for example.

Landers tend to be given the suffix "crasher".

[EKS21]

I have no real naming scheme... It's just AAA-I, AAA-II, ect ect...

[Lionclaw]

I have pretty much an unimaginative naming scheme. LV-1, -2 etc. where LV stands for Launch Vehicle.

There's LV-2T which is a design with a tricoupler, -2TL which is a lander.

LV-Prototype # for experimental or design & testing before giving it a designation.

For example LV-Prototype 1 was the first launch in career mode, a capsule with a SRB attached to it. LV-Prototype 2 became LV-3 which is an interplanetary design for light payloads using Rockomax parts. I've only unlocked the Skipper so far, needed to do some testing to understand its capabilities.

I have an aircraft that I named Swepper, for its swept wings.

[Jafiki91]

The Naming scheme I've been using is just:

Class + Body designation + roman numeral

My 3 classes are

Genesis: Light payloads such as probes and rovers

Revelations: Kerballed missions or ones with multiple probes

Exodus: Large payloads, multiple crews, rovers, probes, etc.

For the planets/moons I use the following names

Pyrus - Moho

Amethyst - Eve

Terrox - in atmosphere on Kerbin

Aetheris - Kerbin orbital missions

Lotus - Mun

Reacher - Minmus

Dragoon - Duna

Umbra - Dres

Nimbus - Jool

Cryos - Eeloo

still haven't worked out names for all of the moons. Usually I just use the planet designation

Also, the letter Z marks experimental/extreme missions

so for example the Genesis Pyros Z IV is the 4th probe mission to the sun.

[MDZhB]

First, I come up with a mission name. For example, for my Mun missions, I named I named it Munar. Then I use roman numerals for each general design. Then, if I need to make a small change, I add a letter to the end. So, for example, I might make the Munar I for trying to just get into orbit around the Mun. Then I might realize that it works so well I just need to add legs to the top stage. So, I add legs and call it the Munar IA. Then, I may try to bring a bigger lander to the Mun, so I build one and call it the Munar II. Then I make a smallish change and call it the Munar IIA. If something is experimental then I add "X/" before the roman numerals.

[SirSnuggles]

Based on where I'm going. For example, Munar I for a mission to the Mun. If I make another, better version of the rocket, it becomes Munar II. This can be anywhere from a significant tweak to a total rebuild - whatever warrants the idea that it is a new ship.

[Luckfish]

I developed a bit of personal code for my naming convention. An example: Erasmus 3aO.II

"Erasmus" because it starts with "E", and it was the fifth mission I've launched. I increment them up alphabetically like they name hurricanes.

"3a" meaning it's intended target is the first moon around the third body from Kerbol, i.e. the Mun.

"O" meaning it's intended mission is just to orbit. "L" means lander, "B" means base, "X" means space station.

"II" means it's the second craft I've sent for this particular mission to this body.

I keep a log of all of my missions on a Google Spreadsheet, that way I can refer back to see how much deltaV I budgeted for (and spent), how many Science! points I earned, the launch date, vehicle mass, etc. I also save copies of all of my ships, and this way I can tell from the name what it was used for, as well as how early in my KSP career I launched it.

[Rhyunix]

Mine start as a mission, say Infinity. The Infinity would be a satellite program, so it would evolve

I - tester

II- corrections and additions to above

III - pinnacle of above work

IV - starting landing

V - mastered landing

VI - probably an all in one

VII - rover or something

Then the mission is finished