Unit Nomenclature

I know, but changing this nickname to replace the true name wouldn't be much work.

And sure, I guess 'make X an option' isn't a particularly convincing arguement, but this idea would take a few hours tops, in my eyes.

But again, I could be completely wrong.

That is the problem... You want this as an option, yes? A few hours tops...

So how about the seven hundred other times someone has said "It should be an option"?

You want to code that all in? and take up 2,100 man hours to do it?

How much work it is is not the issue, the potential for Exploitation and confusion is.

What happens when little Timmy is overrun by "scout" units that are just Tanks called the same thing? Is he going to know better? If he doesn't know that units can be renamed(many don't even know about SupCom's system) he'll have no idea what's going on.

Not to mention, as said before, inappropriate names and the like.

It's not about being hard to implement, it's about the entire idea having considerable issues, the solutions to which might be hard, or at least more time consuming, to implement.

You need to look at the big picture, by focusing on the "work required to implement" you're not seeing the full scale of issues.

Mike

Sure.

Mind you, I'm not saying that this all should be included in the main game per se. But as part of patches, sure.

Right. So instead of looking at icons, the speed of said icons, or the actual unit, you somehow freeze the game to hover over the unit to check its name, and then, somehow, don't realise that this scout is actually a super heavy tank? I don't believe that, to be honest.

But it's a moot point, because you can just turn it off...?

More options nlspeed911?

No? I'm not saying anything new, I've been saying the exact same thing for the whole time?

Or I'm misunderstanding what you're saying of course...?

Possibly. :lol:

It's ok, you've just got to be careful when tossing about the "O" word around.

It's just used too often for it to be feasible anymore.

Obviously it not confusing to someone with intimate knowledge of the game, but what about little Timmy in his first match? what about someone coming back to the game after a few months and finding a whole bunch of new units? I's foolish to assume that just because you think you wouldn't be confusing, to assume no one is confused.

And again, turning it off is only an option if you KNOW it's an option.

You're falsely assuming a base level of game knowledge based on what you know, thats a horrible bias to bring, its just as bad when a game has bad controls that the Devs just got used to and understand because them implemented, but when the game is given to a player o test they have no idea what's going on.

Some related Vids to watch;

Playing like a Designer Part 1 (to help you separate yourself from your Biases)

Playtesting (To reinforce the point I made in the last Paragraph)

Mike

Mhm, fair enough, but how could this new player then be confused? He's new to the game, he doesn't know that a 'Brick' is a very dangerous unit, while a 'Wagner' is less so.

But anyway, whether he faces a 'Salem' Destroyer or an 'I am a Light Scout Ship' Destroyer, I don't see how that is confusing? Especially because the 'class' of the unit would still be next to (or below, or whatever) its (nick)name.

And especially because you can see radar signatures, the unit itself, its size, and its speed (the latter two are, generally, indicators of its capabilities, but the first two are more important of course).

As a last resort, displaying these (nick)names should be turned on manually (instead of off), but that would kind of defeat the point.

extra credit videos are always good stuff

We can never stay on topic

Ok, lets have a look at the Poll...

...

Now then, isn't that interesting...

What's with all the sentimentality? Who's voted for that option, and why?

Well, I'm going to maintain in game that my commander is actually a cybran who had his consciousness uploaded and integrated into the war machine, and thus has some human capabilities, but still follows the war programming. As such, he's sticking with the old stuff.

We totally need a Cybran Nation clan for this game.

But anyway, it makes sense. Human names can be fairly exciting.

Hmm, I'd be more interested in what names a potentially eccentric AI would call his personal army... but that's me I guess.

Me too, but mostly because I can't think of anything that would make sense in a weird, eccentric way.

Think it through, heck, you can even pick a yet-unplayed game from your Steam Library, play it a little bit then why it introduces a new enemy or something pause the game pretend it was called something else and you knew nothing about it, what actions would result from that? Even just changing HOW is explained can result in different understandings.

It's absurd to say new players wont be confused, players can get confused about things all the time, even with tutorials and such, so you can't sit here and tell me that there won't be confused players if each player has unique names for units.

Mike

It makes me wonder actually about the name of the 2nd confirmed Commander... "The Progenitor". That's the same name as the race that came before.

I've been sitting on this for ages, waiting for the right topic to come along to ask it. Funny it seems to be my own topic

What's the connection? Why has that Commander held that title or name for so long? What connection did (or does) it have with the now long dead (presumed) race... or group? Are the Progenitors humanity or were they something else? The first generation of fully sentient AI?The first counsel of AI's? Something... beyond.

Why is that Commander called 'The Progenitor'?

C'mon Neutrino... give me another hint. I want to figure this out...

It could be the first commander?

Thus the name.

Why would it matter if a previously unknown unit is called Indigo or Hotel? What difference does it make to me, who has never heard of neither name?

Also, that is assuming you'll play an online match as your very first game. Possible, but not very likely. Still could happen (and does happens, I guess) though, so this is no arguement.

Random names invoke one type of confusion, a unit name like "Faffy Waffle" breeds confusion just by being so weird, especially against Timmy's incomplete knowledge of stock names. Misleading Names, Like Naming Heavy Tanks 'Scout' invokes a different type of confusion, which stems not so much from the name itself, but from the fact that it acts or behaves completely counter to thier expectations(biases) they formed based on the name.

Is is a very complex issue, I feel you still need to broaden your perspective, you're still thinking gin terms of how it applies to you, when realistically there are potentially hundreds of thousands of other people that will partake in the experience. It's great that you or me won't get thrown off my even purposely misleading names, but how many of the 64,000+ Backers and Pre-Order-ers will that apply to? How many people that see it on Steam, or read an article about it will that apply to?

Mike

The Progenitors are the descendants of the Kickstarter Backers for PA in ten thousand years.

And yes, I would like to see eccentric names given by commanders themselves. For instance, after having watched too many old human movies, they would name their land scout the Bond.