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I kind of like the idea but I was thinking of making the mech names based around that slightly more defined, based ont following.
The name would have 3 parts:
1 - weight
2 - vague idea of what it does
3 - chassis
Such as:
Light scout arachnid
Heavy destroyer crawler
Medium RMV cruiser
These could be fairly easily coded.....
Below are coming the ideas I have so far - I'll edit these individually to update them...
Code:*I'll make these scriptable so we can add more levels/review weights later on
Weights:
Ultra Light <5 tons
Light 6-10 tons
Med 11-15
Heavy 16-20
Super Heavy 21-30
Gargantuan 31>100
# Where firepower is mentioned above it refers to the cumulative total of the damage done by all weapons aboardCode:*These will be hard coded - I can't think of a way to script them.
They are also in order, so it will scroll throught all these
and select the last one whos criteria is met
Types:
Mech - Default
Lancer - Speed > 10
Thunderbolt - Speed >20
LongTom - 1 weapon & firepower > 20
Mauler - 4 weapons & firepower > 40
RMV - Is an RMV...
Code:*2 new fields we be added to the chassis script containing descriptive words for the units chassis
Chassis:
Arachnid / Spider - Light six leg
Biped / Walker - Light 2 leg
Vehicle / Jeep - Light wheels
Crawler / Tank - Light treads
Hovercraft / Skimship - Light hover
Boat / Coastal - Light boat
Cruiser / Dreadnought - Heavy boat
The only thing that irks me is the first section - I think the weights are going to sound far too repetitive, as the majority are likely to fall in one or two weight categories.
Can you think of any way around this?
Minor amendment to the above - the firepower of a mech is now the total might of all the weapons and ammo carried (as weapons can have different ammo types - as I just remembered)
Code:*I'll make these scriptable so we can add more levels/review weights later on
Weights:
Ultra Light <5 tons
Light 6-10 tons
Med 11-15
Heavy 16-20
Super Heavy 21-30
Gargantuan 31>100
*These will be hard coded - I can't think of a way to script them.
They are also in order, so it will scroll throught all these
and select the last one whos criteria is met
Types:
Mech - Default
'Weapon Name' - Only one weapon
Lancer - Speed > 10
Cannon Fodder - Defence > 40 & firepower = 0
Scout - View range > 114
Observer - View range > 171
Witness - View range > 228
Thunderbolt - Speed >20 & firepower > 20
Guardian - Defense >15 & firepower > 15
Sentinal - Defense > 20 & firepower > 20
Long Tom - 1 weapon & firepower > 20
Mauler - 4 weapons & firepower > 40
Transport - Carries troops
Suicide - Contains explosive packs
RMV - Is an RMV...
# Where firepower is mentioned above it refers to the cumulative might of the damage done by all weapons aboard
# Where defense is mentioned above it refers to the cumulative might of the armour and shielding
*2 new fields we be added to the chassis script containing descriptive words for the units chassis
Chassis:
Arachnid / Spider - Light six leg
Biped / Walker - Light 2 leg
Vehicle / Jeep - Light wheels
Crawler / Tank - Light treads
Hovercraft / Skimship - Light hover
Boat / Coastal - Light boat
Cruiser / Dreadnought - Heavy boat
Glider / Flyer - Light Aircraft
Chopper / Rotary - Light Helicopter thingy
Rover / xxx - Medium Wheels
This would generate names such as:
Extra Light Laser Jeep
Medium Long Tom Cruiser
Heavy Sentinal Biped
Clean Fungicidal Formers D'OH!!!
Light Scout Rover
Medium RMV Arachnid
Heavy Transport Chopper
a sentinel would also be determined by a big view range.
Ok, you want feedback-
The three part name sounds clumsy, i really dislike it.
We can attribute names from the list to represent things like chassis, weight, arsenal.
eg.
weight>20 & weaponnumber>2 & chassis=land then mechforename="behemoth"
then perhaps append a reference ID
thus my army may consist of
Behemoth 021A
Behemoth 044D
Colossus 494B
Skyclaw 227J
etc.
Perhaps we could incorporate weapons into it, but I don't like using the raw names.
eg Nautilus Gunship would be a nautilus mech including a big gun.
Thanks for the sensible feedback - perhaps if I'd had this when you posted your one line wonder I wouldn't have coded it the other way.
Anyway, ignore my bitching, I'm just being an arse again.
I actually quite like the three part name thing, it give variation and retains meaning.
Where's this reference ID come from?
I was thinking about the player getting an at-a-glance look at the unit from its name and telling roughly what the unit did...
its not really important where the number comes from, just that its generated to diferentiate two mechs of similar construction. Perhaps its the reference of the constituent components and the game turn and construction yard it came from?
The 3 part name is clumsy and ugly. Sorry, thats my opinion. Its also a little bit too close to SMAC for my liking.
It's important to me where the number comes from as I have to write the code to generate it.
If I simply select a 3 digit number and add a random letter, then it may be duplicated across mechs with different components and mechs with the same components would have different numbers.
I'm also not keen on it as it gives you no idea what the mech does.
Quote:
Originally posted by Behemoth
...Perhaps its the reference of the constituent components and the game turn and construction yard it came from?...
Don't repeat what you've already said you prat, I've read it and still asked the question.
What reference of constituent components?
If we include the game turn, then two mechs the same will not have the same name
If we include the construction yard, then two mechs the same but built at different places will not have the same name.
This is like pulling teeth - please explain yourself fully.
that would make it unique, no?
Yes it would, but it would be even more ugly than a three part name - please see above post if you missed it.
A handful of letters and numbers is not a particularly attractive way of naming a mech.
for ****s sake, its childishly simple.
if my mech is born on turn 4 at construction yard 2, no other mechs can be referred to as 4.2 can they? it is a unique reference.
I with you thus far - I don't you follow me.
If you build EXACTLY THE SAME MECH at a different place the next turn it will have a different name.
Even though it's the same type.
Also the turns can go into the three figures and buildings can get into 5 figures (theoretically).
A mech build on turn 105 at building 204 would be
Behemoth 105204.
What a lovely name, though I much prefer Arnold.
Look, all the units in the game have a Sentience assigned unique reference anyway in the form of an integer number.
We don't want a unique reference we want something that is unique (or pretty close to) the mech build.
I clearly don't understand where you're coming from so I'll say the following:
I initially posted my idea for mech naming and got no complaint other than and additional idea for the Sentinel mech, so I coded those routines.
Now, if you want something different, then I'm all ears, but I'm a little irritated you didn't mention before. So, as I'm not grasping what you're trying to get across then pseudo code the whole lot so I can call it with the phrase
Player(currplayer).mech(currmech).name = Assignname (currplayer, currmech)
Once you've psuedo coded it, I can't go wrong understanding it can I?
Now - I have to go - so I'll catch you later. Have fun driving around.
If I don't get the pseudo code, I'll assume I'm ok to proceed with the code I've already written.
surely its better not to heve exactly the same name, otherwise it might get confusing. If it isn't necessary to have a unique label, then **** it off altogether :rolleyes:
What arb is saying is that two differnt Extra Light Laser Jeep will have unquie names: 1) Extra Light Laser Jeep 1, 2) Extra Light Laser Jeep 2. Therefore, a mech named Belothmoth 10534502 1 doesn't tell you much about the mech. (by the way, the number is turn 105, building 34502) Which of those two names tells you more? Belothmoth 10534502 1 or Extra Light Laser Jeep 1?
And anyways, I like think the Extra Light Laser Jeep 1 looks better.
I do fell that for unknown mechs (ones with out a templete) to use the Extra Light Laser Jeep ##0, but for known mechs (ones with a templete), to use a name defined in the templete (such as Belothmoth ##0). The #'s are a numeric place holder, and the 0's are 0's or # (no space). Both are the same as in the VB format command.
Ok, we're crossing wires here. I thought it would be necessary to uniquely identify the unit to the player, but since this is apparently not the case, I retract the appending a unique ID. However, I still think the 3 part names are ugly. We're gonna have to come to some sort of compromise.
1) Establish whether the chassis is land, sea or air based
2) Establish whether the chassis is light or heavy
3) Establish which weight bracket the mech fits into
4) Select a name prefix from the list available that conforms to points 1-3.
5) Establish how many weapons the mech carries
6) Establish how much firepower the mech carries
7) Establish which the dominant weapon type is (bullet, beam, rocket)
8) Establish whether mech has a different purpose than combat (spotter, scout, RMV)
9) Select a name suffix from the list available that conforms to points 5-8
Chassis designations
Balrog / Beelzebub Class
Colossus Class
Jackal Class
Mule Class
Minesweeper Class
Scorpion Class
Taurus Class
Jaguar Class
Tyrant Class
Jackhammer / Sledgehammer Class
Odin Class
LAND
superheavy
Demigod
Behemoth
Juggernaut
Titan
heavy
Emperor
Mammoth
Rhino
Executioner
Manitou
medium weight
Basilisk
Chymaera
Justice
Broadsword
Reaver
Nightmare
Beowulf
Sentinel
light
Witness
Hobbit
Hermit
Cleaver
Samurai
SEA
superheavy
Leviathan
Dreadnaught
heavy
Nautilus
Posiedon
Hydra
medium weight
Buccaneer
Manowar
light
AIR
superheavy
Astarte
Cyclone
Horus
heavy
Phoenix
Typhoon
Wraith
Tomahawk
medium weight
Ghost
Arbiter
Skyclaw
Overlord
light
Councillor
Hermes
Skyhook
Hornet
phew...I'm getting tired and theres LOADS of land based ones...this is going to take a bit of work...
[edit]
ill add any additional ideas i get here...
Excalibur
Aegis
Draconis
purpose designations
PROJECTILE
gunship
firebase
MISSILE
artillery
ENERGY
laser platform
SPOTTER
observer
witness
sentinel
perhaps some of the chassis designations need tidying up, ill keep working on it.
keep throwing ideas at me, but thus far this allows us to create such wondrous units as:
Leviathan artillery
Basilisk Firebase
Cyclone laser platform
Hornet Sentinel
etc.
I suppose its very similar to your original idea, but it amalgamates purpose an weapon together, and makes the name much neater.
BTW, I have little enough time to download and test a new code drop every day, not to mention disk space. I still haven't installed VB, so its pointless throwing code at me without at least describing what new and wonderful stuff I'm looking at. I appreciate the effort that you put in, but if the mail has no content but an attachment, im inclined to ignore it.
I don't want you to think I'm not grateful, I just don't have the time for a 20 minute download every day, and I don;t want you to waste your time. I'd probably get to check it out about twice a week if I was sufficiently organised.
About the naming - I'll give it some proper thought tomorrow. I see what you're saying and prefer it a lot to the Behemoth 3513501351.51035103513841.543 method.
About the code - they're not there for you to test on a daily basis, merely there for backup. You can regressively delete old ones as and when you get a new one, but please always keep the last one.
If you want to look at the code, then feel free - but I'm only copying you in for backup purposes. :)
I still fell it would be nice to have preset names (like Behemoth was saying at first) for mechs that have templets.
Morning chief,
Busy busy today, may not be able to post (gotta go pick up my spare wheel at lunch), but I'll keep thinking about those names. Obviously we want to steer away from a Sentinel sentinel or a Dreadnaught dreadnaught.
The name sets should be exclusive. A name that occurs in the first tier should not occur in the second.
Let me read through these posts again and see.
Gaming,
We are going with the auto name if templated, but we're trying to figure out how to name mechs automatically that don't have a template....
You know, looking at it - I still prefer the three part name.
You make a wheeled chassis with no guns and beefed sensors.
Following mine you get a name of:
Light Scout Rover
Following yours (using the first name on each list) you get a:
Witness Observer.
Missile mech with an aircraft chassis gives you:
Heavy Thunderbolt Glider
or
Ghost Artillery
These are just random examples, but as a general rule I prefer the three part name. It normally gives a better idea of what the mech does.
That said, some of the names generated by your sound well cool, but if we're using all the cool names in the name generator then we're going to be screwed for the templates....
Yup. I mentioned it was a problem, but didn't get round to fixing it :pQuote:
Originally posted by Arbiter
The name sets should be exclusive. A name that occurs in the first tier should not occur in the second.
Can we work on a way of making the names a little more descriptive if we going with your method.
I think light scout rover is far better than witness observer....
We're going to have to give this some serious attention. Some of your three-part names are really cool, and some are incredibly poo. Some of my two part names are cool, and some are stupendously impractical. We're going to have to carefully select which name-parts we use in which order.
You'd better start spitting some ideas out then boyo, as the 3 part is already coded and in the game.
As I've said, I'm more than happy to change it if a better idea comes along, but it needs to be thought out properly.
You think we need to do a pen and paper session?
I don't think you're going to like this, but I've been thinking.
That alone should start alarm bells ringing!
I think the components might should be calculated based on the resources used (as they are mighted) and the industrial points spent.
Otherwise, when we're assigning mights we'll have to be extra specially careful not to upset the balance.
It's of no use using 100 metal worth 50 points to build a gun worth 13 might - and you know that's what's going to happen if we assign them ourselves.... :rolleyes:
definitely [pen and paper session]. I don't think its going to require a total re-engineering of the 3 part name, just a little rejigging. perhaps we'll just get away with a decent database of name fragments.
Thats fine by me. We can weight a components might by applying more industry points into making it.Quote:
Originally posted by Arbiter
I don't think you're going to like this, but I've been thinking.
That alone should start alarm bells ringing!
I think the components might should be calculated based on the resources used (as they are mighted) and the industrial points spent.
Otherwise, when we're assigning mights we'll have to be extra specially careful not to upset the balance.
It's of no use using 100 metal worth 50 points to build a gun worth 13 might - and you know that's what's going to happen if we assign them ourselves.... :rolleyes: