Re: Indy's Civilian Ship Names - constructive criticism

Some of the names are funny.  It reminds me of US corporations set up to
rip the government off like MONEY TREE FARMS, GET RICH QUICK, MONEY FOR
NOTHING, etc.  These are examples of real corporations designed to milk
the Agriculture subsidy budget of the US government.  Then there's Eron
corps like DEATH STAR.
 
I thought that you could also tell a Q-ship by either his/her [depends
on nationality] military fire control acquiring the target, or by doing
a deep scan via sensor rules.

John Brewer <JBrewer@webtv.net> wrote: 
I don't know if anyone had responded to Indy's Unoffical GZG Civilian
Ship Registery - http://www.bcpl.net/~indy/full-thrust/civie_roster.html
- I haven't gone through the whole list archive yet, but here are my
comments on this...

The names for science/survey vessels are SPOT ON. The names for
freighters & liners would be embarrassing if spray-painted across the
side of a van or a monster truck. If someone is going to trust delivery
of their cargo across interstellar distances, it doesn't help if the
ship intrusted is named "Puppies On Acid." 

Allow me to provide you with some realistic sounding nomenclature for
civilian ships...

For commercial ships that are privately owned or owned by smaller
companies, they are usually named for personalities of respect that are
NOT well-known outside of that particular company or the business world.
The ill-fated Edmound Fitzgerald was named for the president of the
insurance company that helped finance its construction. For your own
commercial freighter, simply use the name of someone of respect in your
community that would not be well-known outside of your community - Your
high school principal, home room teacher, general manager at work, dean
of your college, president of your bank, member of your town counsel,
ect - whatever name would sound best. 

Q-ships would use the same nomenclature as unarmed freighters. The
advantage of a Q-ship is that it is indistinguishable from unarmed ships
before it first fires its weapons - Giving a Q-ship a name like "Killer
Of Giants" or "Bird Of Prey" kind of tips your hand. 

Commercial ships that belong to larger, more well-known corporations
would have the name of the corporation followed by the name of the
ship's home port. The ill-fated Exxon Valdez was owned by Exxon and its
home port was Valdez, Alaska. If more than one ship in a corporation's
fleet is based from the same port, then the names can be further
suffixed by the names Exchange, Trader, Resource, Market, Merchant,
Finance, Commerce, Conveyer, or Explorer. 

EXAMPLE - Three of the major freighter owned by ITTT (known by the
call-sign, "I-TRI") based from Albion are named "I-TRI ALBION TRADER",
"I-TRI ALBION MERCHANT", and "I-TRI ALBION EXPLORER". 

Names of liners should convey a sense of adventure, romance, luxury,
comfort, and sometimes speed. Names of modern-day luxury cruise ships
would work very well for NAC liners. Liners for FSE would have names
like Normandie, Ile de France, Andalusia, Italia, and Andria Doria.
Liners for NSL would have names like Empress of Vienna, Princess of
Bavaria, and Edelweiss. Commercial ships and liners for ESU would have
Chinese names that translate into "rising cloud" or "swift breeze". 

Passenger and cargo ships with very good & fast drives would have names
that include the words "clipper" or "express". 

Japanese ships would have virtually any Japanese family name suffixed
with the word "Maru", and it would sound realistic - Kobehashi Maru,
Tsukino Maru, Kanzaki Maru, ect...

I invite your comments - and yours, Indy. 

JBrewer@webtv.net 

"Always strive to be a good person. If you can't do that, at least
strive to be someone other than an asshole." 

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