Unit Nomenclature

The purpose of names is to allow a rapid flow of information between players. When you allow everyone to rename unit types and create confusion, you miss this purpose.

Also, the purpose of games is to win - not to 'define your playstyle'. Go play your angsty indie artgames if you want to 'define' something.
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And yes, we can't have anyone coming up with inappropriate names for this innocent game...like 'Machine gun', 'Killer', 'Decapitator', 'Nuclear weapon', 'Beer', 'Manhunt', 'Harry Potter'.

Because calling something a 'Brick' or a 'Wagner' really helps said information flow, as opposed to someone renaming it to 'Stone' or 'Pizza'.

Now, you could, indeed, argue that someone could 'disguise' his units, by giving tier one units names of tier three units, and vice versa. To that, I said that you don't identify units by their names; you identify units by their radar icons, looks, and classification (i.e. 'Tier 3 Heavy Tank'); not their nicknames. But, this point still stands, and I concede that there is a margin of truth in it.

What? Massive non-sequitur?

First of all, the purpose of a game is to have fun. I like to immerse myself in a game and fight nice wars, not to mindlessly execute buildorder #1, strategy #3.6 and be done in three seconds. 'Go play your angsty indie artgames'? Riiiiiiiiight...

I assume this is sarcasm.

To knight; I do get your point, and I concede that there is some truth behind it, but I really doubt it matters much. Perhaps I'm wrong, perhaps I'm not. I don't think you're going to convince me, to be honest, but you do have a point.

i think he meant inter-team communication, like "hey bro build some bricks"

If like in supcom the player given names stand out then I don't see how that would be an issue. You know that the "butts" tank is someone playing a joke.

i think they're talking about something different, nobody has a problem with unit nicknames. i'd be disappointed if you couldn't nickname units.

Well, yes, I wanted something that allows you to rename units in game. Like, a menu somewhere, where you can alter the names of all units.

But on second thoughts, why not compromise? Just use the nickname system, and put that in said menu. Of course, nicknames should then be visible to all players, no matter the owner of the unit (I don't know if that was in Supreme Commander 1...?)

Although, wouldn't the name be needlessly complex then? Unit name, unit nickname, and unit classification. Still, that would also be true if you gave nicknames while playing, on an individual basis, so I guess it doesn't matter.

Why does the poll look like it's flipping me off...

it was in supreme commander, units had up to 3 names. all units had a unit type e.g. T3 armored assault bot, all units had a dev given name e.g. brick and finally you could ctrl+n a selected unit and give it a nickname which would be displayed underneath it to everyone.

So player Veta might have a brick with "VETASNOOBSLAY3R" underneath its strategic icon. The brick is still a brick and it is still a type of T3 Armored Assault Bot. There were also mods that would automatically nickname all your units to silly stuff, one named all your units after porn stars as they rolled off. Others would constantly change the nicknames under your ACU.

Player given names actually replaced the unique name. So a renamed brick would no longer be called a brick.

Hahaha, because your head is on sideways?

Reorientate your neck 90° left and you should see much improved results.

however it worked in supcom is fine.

You're not a human. The purpose of games is to have the hours spent be "worth it".
Winning or not winning is irrelevant, if you win, you wasted real-life hours for a virtual scoreboard. If you didn't win, you still wasted real-life hours for a virtual scoreboard.
K/D or W/L ratios doesn't matter when you leave your computer, so why even care about that?

Amen

If we're going to name our own units faction-style (that is, let each player name use custom unit names), I've got my list all set up:

(I) put my faith in Blast Hardcheese!

I thought this was pretty much perfect, but Mike ignored it for some reason... C'mon Mike! What're your thoughts on this mate's post?