Let's Have a Serious Discussion About Name Lists

[Waverunner]

They're a great feature in the game that provides a ton of Uniqueness for Empire-building. A game as customization-friendly as Stellaris is, it's further beyond belief to me that players are unable to create their own name lists for their empire in game.

"But why don't you just use mods?!" - As long as Paradox keeps crippling the achievements by neglecting the use of custom name lists then it is solely up to Paradox to keep adding more variety for those of us that like to do achievement runs unless they address this major issue.

Right now, there are only about 4-5 name lists that are actually decent for human empires, 2 if you're not playing a humanoid species. They're all basically the same thing with randomized apostrophe's and surnames. The rest provide no variety unless you're playing a robot empire. The new story pack didn't even add any new name lists, and if I were a betting person I'd say that the next major update won't even include a new name list, or if it did it would just be another hive mind or robot one.

As an active Roleplayer, I am tired of using the SPQR name lists (which really have no variation between the ones available) and the ridiculous humanoid ones (which all just seem like way too exotic names).

 

[Methone]

I agree. There's so few namelists. If you're like me and you make a lot of custom empires you start to run out VERY fast, and it's no fun to have two species with the same namelists; that's like going to space and finding an alien named Bob.

Another thing I'd like: Mix and Match the component parts of namelists. I want the Arthropoid names Bo-Ki and Na-Sa, but I want the Avian ship/fleet names Joyful Hatchling and Soaring Star Flock.

 

[princess69420]

I just want to be able to use all 3 Human name lists at once. It would make for such a great experience for me.

 

[Mitchz95]

I just want to be able to use all 3 Human name lists at once. It would make for such a great experience for me.

This has been on my wish list since day 1.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

Yeah, I'd be HYPE for the ability to write custom name-lists in-game.

Rejiggering things so that custom namelist mods don't alter the checksum and stop achievements would be good too.

 

[eagletrekkie]

I agree. There's so few namelists. If you're like me and you make a lot of custom empires you start to run out VERY fast, and it's no fun to have two species with the same namelists; that's like going to space and finding an alien named Bob.

Another thing I'd like: Mix and Match the component parts of namelists. I want the Arthropoid names Bo-Ki and Na-Sa, but I want the Avian ship/fleet names Joyful Hatchling and Soaring Star Flock.

I have been dying for this particular feature for ages.

 

[Ariphaos]

Even the modding framework behind the namelists has issues

There's no merging. If two modders add ship classes, they need to provide names for them. However, because namelists don't merge, their mods will conflict, and a patch is needed to use them.

This is on top of the namelists, random_names, and species_names still being in the checksummed /common directory, three years later.

 

[Derp]

it's so bizarre. in a 4x where you have (compared to its brethern) almost limitless possibilities for making your own unique empire, why is there such a weird restriction on such a fundamental flavour aspect

 

[Marconius]

Making name lists editable in-game might be more challenging than it sounds: Do you force a certain minimum number of names? How do you deal with gendered names, do you include that in the UI too? What if the species has no genders, or has more than two (currently not implemented)? Are there any other functions in name lists: I could see the "<Thing> Of <Thing>" kind of names being comprised of two components and combined, how do you reflect that in the editor?

I think a more realistic request would be

1. Make name lists more modding friendly, so you can freely add as many name lists as you want without conflict or it affecting achievements
2. Allow us to select people/planet/ship name lists separately from each other; they can come in a set by default, but allow players to override and mix it during empire creation
3. Bonus: Allow us to choose more than one name list (for the same category) on empire creation; these name lists would simply get merged

As a sidenote, I'd also like to have more options for the "ship prefix" setting: the current option is fine if all you want is the USS Enterprise, but militaristic abbreviations don't fit every empire. I'd like

1. The ability to set suffixes instead of prefixes
2. The ability to set different words (or none at all) depending on ship type; this is necessary if you want to include a more descriptive word, and not just a generic abbreviation: "Voidblade" is cool for a military ship, not so much for a construction barge

 

[Longherin]

Easiest solution with pre-existing material:
Make the list of names checkboxes, so we can cobble together namelists.

Next-easiest solution:
Make it so mods with only namelist changes don't invalidate ironman saves.

On allowing non-mod namelists:
I can imagine potential problems where players create unnecessarily bloated name data files just to troll multiplayer experiences, which...honestly, is easier to solve by relegating namelists to mods.

 

[argentnight]

A personal (if minor) event I’ve always wanted would be an event if a titan/battleship is built shortly after a high-skilled governor/General/admiral dies to name the ship after them, maybe for a small influence or unity gain. Ship names could also have minor events that could commemorate wars won, (like “Triumph of the Blorg” or “Vanquisher of the Prethoryn” etc.) although I could see it getting old if too many pop up events were added. Still would both add to the namelist and introduce some uniqueness to each play through. Of course, this probably wouldn’t work for all empire types.

 

[Zair]

A personal (if minor) event I’ve always wanted would be an event if a titan/battleship is built shortly after a high-skilled governor/General/admiral dies to name the ship after them, maybe for a small influence or unity gain. Ship names could also have minor events that could commemorate wars won, (like “Triumph of the Blorg” or “Vanquisher of the Prethoryn” etc.) although I could see it getting old if too many pop up events were added. Still would both add to the namelist and introduce some uniqueness to each play through. Of course, this probably wouldn’t work for all empire types.

It's already possible to rename ships - when inspecting an individual ship in a fleet, just click on its name.

I use this very sparingly, though. Usually for ships of a very limited production run like Titans or the Colossus, and very often to honor exactly the kinds of individuals you mentioned.

 

[Marconius]

A personal (if minor) event I’ve always wanted would be an event if a titan/battleship is built shortly after a high-skilled governor/General/admiral dies to name the ship after them, maybe for a small influence or unity gain. Ship names could also have minor events that could commemorate wars won, (like “Triumph of the Blorg” or “Vanquisher of the Prethoryn” etc.) although I could see it getting old if too many pop up events were added. Still would both add to the namelist and introduce some uniqueness to each play through. Of course, this probably wouldn’t work for all empire types.

This seems like a cool idea! I actually wouldn't mind this being relatively common either: an empire with a long history should have a lot of events to remember. Doesn't need to be all for war either, you could commemorate discovery of technology or diplomatic events; perhaps depending on the type of empire you have, the things celebrated would be different.

I'd also apply this to space stations as well: it would be cool if stations above outpost level got names. Or hell, maybe even planets? I always just leave planet names as the default, it would be cool if there was a pool of game-specific names based on memorable historical events!

 

[FinellyTrained]

I want a name list just consisting of 001, 002 and so on. I do not understand, who thought that a list of names with repeated parts like "Autonomous drone" makes any sense, I don't care for R'hahtas'ihgs of all kinds and I don't even care if my 21 scientist's name is John Smith. I just need a quick way to identify them from the news and locate them. A link would work, but since that is too hightech, a simple namelist with least of letters would do.

 

[Waverunner]

Making name lists editable in-game might be more challenging than it sounds: Do you force a certain minimum number of names? How do you deal with gendered names, do you include that in the UI too? What if the species has no genders, or has more than two (currently not implemented)? Are there any other functions in name lists: I could see the "<Thing> Of <Thing>" kind of names being comprised of two components and combined, how do you reflect that in the editor?

I think a more realistic request would be

1. Make name lists more modding friendly, so you can freely add as many name lists as you want without conflict or it affecting achievements
2. Allow us to select people/planet/ship name lists separately from each other; they can come in a set by default, but allow players to override and mix it during empire creation
3. Bonus: Allow us to choose more than one name list (for the same category) on empire creation; these name lists would simply get merged

As a sidenote, I'd also like to have more options for the "ship prefix" setting: the current option is fine if all you want is the USS Enterprise, but militaristic abbreviations don't fit every empire. I'd like

1. The ability to set suffixes instead of prefixes
2. The ability to set different words (or none at all) depending on ship type; this is necessary if you want to include a more descriptive word, and not just a generic abbreviation: "Voidblade" is cool for a military ship, not so much for a construction barge

You missed the entire point of this thread but thanks for your input I guess

 

[Marconius]

You missed the entire point of this thread but thanks for your input I guess

Thanks for taking the time to point that out! It enriches the discussion!

 

[EvilTom]

Naming lists shouldnt change the checksum / disable ironman / achievements etc. It's a bit daft as it's a cosmetic change - unless there is a specific reason the devs did this.
We do need more of them too, or even a better way of categorising them in the UI and to write them.

On name lists - they don't seem long enough, or they're poorly implemented. The reason you give a ship a name is to differentiate it from other ships. However when I have "Glory of Snidderick XXIV"... I probably stopped counting at the first one. Just give them numbers - and if they reach a certain experience level create an auto generated name. You can always just name them yourself too (or click a button to randomly generate one).

 

[FinellyTrained]

Name lists are not the best thing one can do with identical in every respect ships. I much more would like to see designations, something that would allow me instantly tell if this ship is in my territory or away, if it's assisting research or surveying, what region of the galaxy it is in, does it have an anomaly nearby etc. Dynamically changing designations and sorting would make so much more sense than nothing telling names. Meanwhile, I will keep reserving first ship for anomaly research and second to capital research assist. And I don't even need renaming them. Their place in the list tells me pretty much everything I need to know.