Do you name your units?

[StargazingDog]

Thanks. I have since seen the edit button, but wasn’t sure exactly what made it appear. I do recall that in an earlier game (Civ 4?), naming units required multiple promotions. It’s odd that the game itself doesn’t mention this.

 

[StargazingDog]

I finally remembered to try naming the units. It seems I can name them after the first promotion after all. I still forget to name them! I usually remember it the instant I click the promotion.

 

[KayAU]

I never do this in Civ, there are just too many units in play to care much for them individually. If there was an army system where you combined multiple units, it would be a different matter. In Stellaris, I name each fleet, both for immersion and to remind me of their intended purposes.

 

[Gori the Grey]

I have a pretty elaborate naming system.

All the troops I build before my first city attack (i.e. those five archers you build to upgrade to CBs, plus starting warrior, plus any others I get built) I call my "warband." They get a number, then the letter W, then a name, alphabetical, according to some theme (asp, boa, copperhead, diamondback, ellops), so "1W Asp" "2W Boa." The troops built between the warband and ironworking are a "host," so they're 1H, 2H, and then I continue the alphabetical naming or pick a new theme, possibly based on the lux that my capitol has (amethyst, beryl, citrine, diamond, emerald). Once I get Ironworking, they're "legions," so L for the letter. "Nobility" once I get Chivalry. "Regiment" at Gunpowder, "Division" once tanks come into the mix. If a particular troop gets knocked down to one hit point (but survives) he gets a medal of honor in the form of an asterisk after his first letter. Troops donated by a city state are "auxilliary," so their letter code is their mother city plus the letter A; if they're from Belgrade, they're 1BA name; in that case the name might be drawn from a lux that the CS has.

My best was when I was playing as Shoshone and I got three pathfinders upgraded to Scompoundbowmen. I called them Antler, Beak and Claw. They were badass through the whole game.

So I suppose you'd say "autistically"!

I'm getting tired of my usual alphabetical lists, though, so the most recent game, I went another direction. I used verbs (or verbal nouns, whatever) as names, based on the kinds of attacks that various creatures can do, but all starting with the letter S.

So my names were Swarm (ant), Sting (bee), Scratch (cat), etc. They were alphabetical by the suppressed animal name. So in other words "Swarm" was number 1 because ant comes before bee in the alphabet.

Oh, and as for not naming them because they're just going to die, well, 1) I work very hard to make sure they don't die. But 2) if one unit does heroically give its life to conquer a particular city, I'll later name a citadel in honor of that troop.

Oh, and if I get the Holy Warriors tenet in a religion, then the ones generated that way are 1HW, 2HW. They almost always get their own separate naming theme.