In SupCom1 (not sure about any of the others) you could put a custom name in little blue letters over a unit's head using ctrl+n. It had no effect other than letting you differentiate units and being kinda quirky. Also I guess it used up like five seconds of time? Anyway, I'd very much like for there to be something to that effect in PA. Not something that actually permanently altered something's name, just a little tag over its head. My big thing here is short-term nostalgia. Once a game gets long enough, you're going to start having particularly memorable units pop up. Say you've got a little peewee who, by sheer chance, was the last survivor of thirty peewees whom you'd sent to die in a raid against an enemy mex complex. Feeling kinda impressed at the little guy as he blew up the last mex all on his own, surrounded by fallen enemies and allies on his last pixel of hp, you ferry him back and stick him in your base. I mean, he's a peewee, not going to make that much of a difference in the field and having him there is kinda nice. Like a tiny, adorable Rambo. Now in this example, he will not be the last peewee you build, as you're gearing for another push, but you're worried you'll forget him in the crowd. So, you stick a little tag over his head (Peewee Rambo), and he spends the rest of the game sitting there. Sure, he's useless, but he's also adorable, and you get a warm fuzzy feeling whenever you see him. Later on, you add Bulldog Terminator, who sits at a forward base near the front lines, firing idly into the enemy ranks and generally being a total badass. Maybe a few others slowly pile up. You get attached to these guys. You start to feel for them, relate to them. And when that tiny robot Stallone finally dies, you show the other side exactly where you've been storing all those nukes (that being their face). I know it's really silly and really trivial, but I like stupid personal touches like that, especially in games where single units are ultimately so meaningless. I don't have the heart to just send in units by the dozens, hundreds, thousands, just to die meaninglessly. I'm waaay too much of a softy like that. I want there to be something for those tiny, fictional AIs to fictionally hope for, to get a little stripe on their arm and have their CO know their names. Also I really liked calling my Monkeylords Luffy, or Bananas or something. >.> My 2c. (or maybe like three buck now) Also I know all my examples were TA units. How many SC/FA units do you honestly remember? Monkeylord? That's what I thought. (some of you remember more, but no one remembers all of them offhand)
Oh yes, I'd love this! I never knew this was possible! *fires up a new month-spanning game of Forged Alliance on World Domination*
I think I remember about a dozen. Then again, I only just got TA at the recent gog discount, while I played hundreds of hours of Supreme Commander/FA. Anyway, I loved being able to name the units, led to some nice jokes when you send the [insert funny name here] experimental to your friend.
I *LOVE* this idea. +1 to this. On a very related note, the Spring engine has the ability to draw on the playing field, making coordinating with allies over VC (Skype/Mumble/TS) take on a life of its own. I would also like to see the ability to create named points and drawings a'la Spring.
Yep, already mentioned before. Even has it's own thread, just don't want to look for it at the moment. TA has the same thing if you use tademo, called whiteboard.
On a similar note, we should be able to name our homeworlds. I'd suggest naming other planets when first discovered, but they have an entire donation tier for getting your name stuck on a star...
Unit naming should be the fifth stretch goal. More seriously, I'd like to see this in the game. It shouldn't take too much to code. ...right?
Just giving this a bump because names. I mean really, this would be the sweetest thing, and if it isn't brought to their attention they won't remember to code it because it is a tiny and easily forgotten feature! And way to lose the point of the tread, guys. :/
I agree that it was a fun little addition. I never played TA myself, but the situation you described happened reasonably often in FA, and I did go ahead and name stuff. Not only that, but my friends and I always named our galactic colossi and other experimental units to try and get a laugh. When I heard the "oh crap! Godzilla just came out of the water into my base!" come from the next room as my colossus walked up the beach, it was worth the 5 seconds i spent naming him. As far as naming planets goes, I somehow doubt that will be added by the devs. Don't forget, one of the kickstarter perks was that planets would be named after you. I don't remember offhand what the tier was, but I don't think it was so high that they'll run out of names. -Stretch
I'm not sure why you would WANT to name a planet, to be honest. Also, deciding when someone has absolute control is bound to be a little tricky. Let's not say that's a good idea, because it really isn't.
Unit renaming helped me feel "closer" with my bots while I was watching wars unfurl. Id nickname the tanks and experimentals with codenames. This was awesome. You include awesome. hence you should include this.
