How do you name your units/armies?

[agonistes]

Since this came up elsewhere...

How do you name your armies, units, and ships? I am keeping ships distinct from non-naval units because I suspect naming rules for ships are different for players.

I would really like to see a good rule of thumb for naming ships. I have yet to come up with one I like. Too bad there is not a naval equivalent of an army unit for the navy. Maybe just name the lead ship in a fleet? Maybe Ronning can make a naval unit?

 

[walletta]

Well, I call my armies '1st panzer' 2nd panzer' '1st cavalry' etc but have yet to start naming ships, although now I've seen someone else do it, I might follow suit. On a point of nomenclature, though, if I'm a monarchy I can prefix the ship's name with 'HMS' but what should the ships of a republic be prefixed with? 'SS?' I just looked up the German order of battle at Jutland and saw their ships were preceded with 'SMS'. What does that mean?

 

[Kirejara]

SMS means "Seiner Majestät Schiff" or in english "His Majesty Ship"

SMS was also in use by the austrian-hungarian Navy.

I am using normaly the prefix HMS or SMS. But I have started to add an additional letter for the nation using the prefix (Spain = HMES, Zulu = HMZS and so on). And I keep using the prefix even then in Republic.

Shipnames are depending on type and nation.

Larger warships (Frigates, Heavy Cruisers, Battleships usw.) got martial names like HMS Thunderer, HMS Warrior, HMS Terrible, SMS Beinbeißer usw..

Smaller warships (Corvettes, Destroyers, Light Cruisers usw.) often are named alphabetical: SMS Amazone, HMS Barricade, HMS Chariot usw.

Transports usually have girls names: HMS Nina, SMS Erika, HMRS Swetlana usw.

Privateers have no prefix (for obvious reason): Drunk Drummer, Dancing Monk, Lost Hope usw.

 

[walletta]

SMS means "Seiner Majestät Schiff" or in english "His Majesty Ship"

Heh, whoulda thunk it?

SMS was also in use by the austrian-hungarian Navy.

I am using normaly the prefix HMS or SMS. But I have started to add an additional letter for the nation using the prefix (Spain = HMES, Zulu = HMZS and so on). And I keep using the prefix even then in Republic.

Shipnames are depending on type and nation.

Larger warships (Frigates, Heavy Cruisers, Battleships usw.) got martial names like HMS Thunderer, HMS Warrior, HMS Terrible, SMS Beinbeißer usw..

Smaller warships (Corvettes, Destroyers, Light Cruisers usw.) often are named alphabetical: SMS Amazone, HMS Barricade, HMS Chariot usw.

Transports usually have girls names: HMS Nina, SMS Erika, HMRS Swetlana usw.

Privateers have no prefix (for obvious reason): Drunk Drummer, Dancing Monk, Lost Hope usw.

Love it. I might go back into battleship production purely for the pleasure of naming them.

 

[walletta]

Hey! There are lots of Germans here, aren't there? You guys have found yet another way to take over the world.

 

[Kirejara]

Too bad there is not a naval equivalent of an army unit for the navy. Maybe just name the lead ship in a fleet? Maybe Ronning can make a naval unit?

I have tried to have a Naval Taskforce as "Sea Army" composed of a Destroyer, a Carrier and a Cruiser.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=542166

It works, but it looks awkward then close to the coast.

 

[tjs282]

I wrote this text for the 'Interesting screenshots' thread (where the question came up) -- but it didn't really feel appropriate to post it there at the time. So thanks for starting a new thread, agonistes!

I like it that you give them names. Great idea. Do you name lesser vessels, like destroyers and what not? I have started naming my armies (1st panzer army, 2nd panzer army etc) but I'm not really sure why. Battleships are different though.

In Vanilla, I routinely took the opportunity to rename any e-units that produced an MGL -- usually after the MGL himself, e.g. 'Wellington's Horseman' -- so I carried on doing that in Conquests as well. But I really like being able to (re)name any of my units at any point in C3C -- it allows better roleplaying, imparting a greater sense of 'history', if you like. (Of course, if a named unit is then lost, it's felt all the more keenly...)

I don't name all of my units, of course -- only the ones that deserve it! So all e*-units get named, as before, and all my Armies. Like you, my Army names usually use some combination of an ordinal, the name of the MGL and/or town that built it, and a general unit-type with which I intend to fill it (e.g. Foot/ Guards/ Horse...). So Wellington might form 'Wellington's 1st Horse', with his e*Horseman then added as the first unit. Or more likely, he would form 'Wellington's 1st Foot' instead, to be filled with v+rSwords, and used to cover a Horse-stack during invasions.

Regarding ships, I first started adding serial numbers to my troop-carriers (e.g. 'Galley-1', 'Caravel-1', etc.) to make it easier to keep track of which units were loaded on which ship. Later on I extended that to the combat-ships as well (modern ship-types get abbreviated, e.g. 'TRN-1', 'DST-1', 'SUB-1', 'BAT-1', etc.), but especially if I'm turning out a large navy, I'll usually only bother appending full names to Destroyers, (Cruisers,) Battleships and Carriers, if/when they go elite.

I did actually start writing out an alliterative list of potential ship-names at one point. I'm sure I've still got that piece of scratch-paper (yes! low-tech FTW!) kicking around the 'study' somewhere -- if anyone's interested, I'd be happy to C&P it here...

EDIT: Now attached -- should be considered a work in progress at best

 

[walletta]

I'd be happy to C&P it here...
Yes please

 

[agonistes]

The thing with naming every ship, though, is if you have a hell-ton of units, its a chore. Even producing 5 or 6 ships a turn is a bother to name.

I usually like to make a horseman or knight to lead each stack, or act as 'presiding military strategist' over a certain area, and name them General, Field General, and Field Marshal xxx, like General von Weichgrotten or something.

Every time that general's forces take a city, they get a " ' " designation next to their name, and 5 " ' " equals 1 " * ". 5 " * " gives them a promotion. I like to have 1 Field Marshal per battlefront though.

I also will keep an army of defensive troops with a tall stack of artillery, and give those stacks a general too.

Then I never fortify the generals, just the troops. Its a good way to pan around to areas of interest on your turn. Just like keeping an unfortified unit in a city that you want to keep an eye on for various reasons.

 

[Desertsnow]

Hey! There are lots of Germans here, aren't there? You guys have found yet another way to take over the world.

Yeah, but will it work this time? Considering Germany's previous attempts, y'know . . .

(NO OFFENSE is meant here to our German friends to anyone else. If the above comment were not meant as a joke, then as an American I probably shouldn't talk.)

On topic: I'm generally not much for naming my units. I'll sometimes name my Elite* units, but that's just to prevent myself from attempting any leader-fishing with a unit that has already produced a leader.

 

[justanick]

Well, before WW1 germany did build lots of battleship which were not very useful. Maybe the emperor had too much fun naming them.

 

[timerover51]

For naming ships, it depends on the nation that I am playing. If the Americans, I use the old US naming system of States for Battleships, Major Battles or Historic Ships for Carriers, Cities for Cruisers, Famous Naval Personnel for Destroyers, and Sea Creatures for Submarines. For Transports, I rarely name those, except for earlier ships such as Galleys, Caravels, or Galleons. Then I use historic ship names, such as Mayflower, Speedwell, Endeavor, and so on.

For other countries, I try to use ship names correct for that country. A copy of Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships is a big help. For sailing ships, I draw on my naval history library.

Land units, it varies a lot. Generally it is early units that I have managed to do something that I viewed as important with. It can be anything from 1st Native Scouts for a Conscript Warrior popped from a Goody Hut who survives to become a Veteran, to Nassau Horse Guards or Foot Guards for Dutch units, to Foe Slayers for Vikings.

I have been having fun with a modification of TETurKhan's Test of Time, where I have beefed up the Dinosaurs and added a lot more. So I have Gorgo, Gwangi, Reptilicus, Rodan, along with Big Al, Big Sue, Ground Thunder, Bone Crusher, and a bunch of other fun ones. I am working on a Dinosaur Civilization for that, or at least a Civilization that uses a lot of Dinosaurs for ground combat units and Scouts.

 

[Kirejara]

Hey! There are lots of Germans here, aren't there? You guys have found yet another way to take over the world.

Wenn dem so wäre, warum ist dann dieses Forum immer noch in englischer Sprache?

Spoiler :

Translation: If we would do so, than why is this forum still in english language?

Back to topic: Most of my ship and unit names are made up. But in case I need to have some nice historical names (especially for the japanese navy ), I have the complete ship list of the japanese, us-american, british and dutch navy during WWII thanks to antique game "Carriers at War" including Construction Kit.

And no, I will not type them down as these are over 100 book pages!

 

[walletta]

Wenn dem so wäre, warum ist dann dieses Forum immer noch in englischer Sprache?

Spoiler :

Translation: If we would do so, than why is this forum still in english language?

Back to topic: Most of my ship and unit names are made up. But in case I need to have some nice historical names (especially for the japanese navy ), I have the complete ship list of the japanese, us-american, british and dutch navy during WWII thanks to antique game "Carriers at War" including Construction Kit.

And no, I will not type them down as these are over 100 book pages!

Spoiler :

Ich brauche keine Übersetzung!

Ive started naming the battleships and designated destroyers as their escorts. Thus HMS Leipzig = the battleship and HMS Leipzig 1st Escort, 2nd Escort etc = destroyers detailed to battleship escort duty.

 

[Buttercup]

There's some really fun names here! I'm quite boring in this department, I just name each Army creator as 1st Army, 2nd Army, 3rd Army etc, and I also try to add the Army creator to the Army first, unless it's a defensive unit.

 

[agonistes]

Well, since my latest mod has 3 wonders (2 small) that build naval units, The Royal Dock, Letters of Marquee, and the Venetian Arsenal, I've decided to try naming ships again. My first few transports I'm naming after my cities to start, and I plan on naming flag ships after queens (playing as England atm), then kings.

I'm not sure if I'll name all my ships at this point. I do like the 1st escort idea, maybe I'll use it.

Maybe Steph can make an auto-naming feature! He seems to be the resident genius with stuff like that.

 

[Theov]

I just misspelled my units, so Cavalry becomes Cavalray or Muskateeh.
But the problems come when a unit is upgraded- they keep the name. Now I call them Bill or George. Anything but Sue!

 

[timerover51]

I just misspelled my units, so Cavalry becomes Cavalray or Muskateeh.
But the problems come when a unit is upgraded- they keep the name. Now I call them Bill or George. Anything but Sue!

A Johnny Cash fan in the Netherlands. How interesting. Gatlinburg does have paved streets now, so no mud. Been there.

Back to topic. I do not have a consistent pattern for naming Dutch ships. Conway's comes in handy, and so does a book I have on navies of the Napoleonic Wars. For the English, Archibald's The Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy comes in handy. Some of the names from the period prior to 1700 do get a bit interesting though.

 

[agonistes]

Decided naming my galleys after cities was boring. So I'm naming them after mythological/DnD monsters now, like the HMS Medusa.

 

[timerover51]

Decided naming my galleys after cities was boring. So I'm naming them after mythological/DnD monsters now, like the HMS Medusa.

That is not a bad idea. The Royal Navy used a lot of mythological and legendary ship names, one being HMS Penelope. There was also HMS Achilles and HMS Ajax. And I cannot forget HMS Agamemnon. Have to check and see how many more there are.