On the naming of worlds

[Tisifoni12]

Designating the first world colonised in a system with more than one habitable world 'Prime' is yes good and very STAR TREK.

But rather than sticking with Latin (secundus, etc.). If there is only one habitable world I go with its designated number, e.g. Eridani II or Rigel IV.

Where it's the only habitable 'world' and the satellite of a planet I generally name it colony and by the star, for example Altair colony.

Wonder what others do.

 

[Boodas]

I like using mods to get planet names.

 

[DukeLeto42]

I often pay too little attention and end up sending multiple colony ships at once.

So I end up with two or three planets in the system called "___ Prime." Whoops. That won't cause conflict in the system over which is #1...

 

[GEoE]

Depends on the empire I'm playing. I rarely play humans but when I do I use the colony names of the Systems Alliance from Mass Effect (Terra Nova or Horizon for the first colony, Eden Prime for a Gaia World, Elysium, Shanxi etc...

Sometimes I pick names from the leader pool. In militarist empires, victorious admirals and generals get to name a colony, in monarchies the names of the current ruler or the heir are used - often with some sort of addition e.g.: Bemalon's Frontier, Alakab's Triumph etc.

If I happen to feel lazy I either hit the random button or use the name of the colony ship used to settle the planet.

 

[Ezumiyr]

I don't understand. Most namelists in the game have different names for planets, not just "something prime" or "something III". Generally I'm fine with them, because they already name the planet according to its type.

I often pay too little attention and end up sending multiple colony ships at once.

So I end up with two or three planets in the system called "___ Prime." Whoops. That won't cause conflict in the system over which is #1...

You can rename planets anyway.

 

[Friedrich von Deutschland]

I don't understand. Most namelists in the game have different names for planets, not just "something prime" or "something III". Generally I'm fine with them, because they already name the planet according to its type.


You can rename planets anyway.

Yea but you can’t use the randomizer which is annoying. Plus uniquely named planets regularly get their names overwritten. Mars for example.

 

[Jmes Snowscoran]

I wish the default (for both AI and players) would be just the star name and designated number.

 

[Mitchz95]

When playing as humans, I give planets a name based on mythology and rename the star to match it. When playing as aliens, I just re-name the planet to match the sun. If there are multiple colonized planets in one system, I add Alpha, Beta, etc to their names.

 

[Robotkiller]

I name planets with the star name followed by prime, secundus, tertius, etc. to help me locate them in the outliner.

I wish that in the planet naming pop-up window, there would be buttons to auto generate the name with standard conventions, such as the one above or with Roman numerals like I, II, III, etc. because less typing is a nice thing to have.

 

[Tisifoni12]

The correct Latin sequence would be Primus, Secundus, Tertius . . .

I think the STAR TREK system would be Prime, Two, Three . . .

 

[Dalwin]

The thing is that prime should not be referring to the first colonized. It should be referring to the closest to the sun. In other words, we do not live on Sol Prime. We live on Sol III. That is Star Trek convention.

 

[Mitchz95]

Star Trek has never really been consistent about what "Prime" means. Cardassia Prime, for example, is the second planet in its system and the homeworld of the Cardassian species.

 

[Uskayaw]

I take randomized name and append a prefix based on role of that planet.
For example, M Buzz is mining world, and S Hope is lab world.

 

[DreadLindwyrm]

I briefly tried naming things according to astronomical convention - but then I realised that the astronomical convention is to label planets by *discovery* order, not order from the star.

So I reverted to <star><orbit><suborbit> (So A Centauri A IIIb would be the second moon of the third body out from the largest (or primary) star of the Alpha Centauri system. But that's clumsy.

So... I'm back to Prime, Secundus, Tertius, Quaternus, Quintus and so on.

 

[Matoro_TBS]

I name stuff according to my empire's theme, like with pseudo-Greek or pseudo-French or pseudo-Sindar. Usually with words that somewhat resemble the planet in question.

 

[TheDungen]

I randomize a name then add Prime to it and rename the star to the name I got while randomizing, second colony is secundus tertius and so on. Never considered it trek though more wh40k.

Star Trek has never really been consistent about what "Prime" means. Cardassia Prime, for example, is the second planet in its system and the homeworld of the Cardassian species.

It's because homeworld systems in trek aren't named for the stars but for the homeplanet. Vulcan is in the Vulcan system but the star isn't called Vulcan but 40 Eridani A. Along similar lines the sol system in trek is sometimes called the Earth System or the Terra System.
Cardassia's homeworld is called Cardassia Prime specifically because it's star is also called Cardassia, it's also called Cardassia II.
Like I said earlier I don't think Trek uses Secundus Tertius and so on, only Prime, for certain homeworls.

Yea but you can’t use the randomizer which is annoying. Plus uniquely named planets regularly get their names overwritten. Mars for example.

Yeah I can second this. It's annoying I can't generate a random name when taking a colony from someone else for an example.

The correct Latin sequence would be Primus, Secundus, Tertius . . .

I think the STAR TREK system would be Prime, Two, Three . . .

Nope in Trek Prime denotes certain homeworlds, while one two three denote order or orbit.

 

[Mitchz95]

I randomize a name then add Prime to it and rename the star to the name I got while randomizing, second colony is secundus tertius and so on. Never considered it trek though more wh40k.


It's because homeworld systems in trek aren't named for the stars but for the homeplanet. Vulcan is in the Vulcan system but the star isn't called Vulcan but 40 Eridani A. Along similar lines the sol system in trek is sometimes called the Earth System or the Terra System.
Cardassia's homeworld is called Cardassia Prime specifically because it's star is also called Cardassia, it's also called Cardassia II.
Like I said earlier I don't think Trek uses Secundus Tertius and so on, only Prime, for certain homeworls.


Yeah I can second this. It's annoying I can't generate a random name when taking a colony from someone else for an example.

Nope in Trek Prime denotes certain homeworlds, while one two three denote order or orbit.

Prime isn't just homeworlds in Trek, colonies like Kyana Prime or Tau Ceti Prime are also common.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Prime_planets

 

[CrowScape]

Designating the first world colonised in a system with more than one habitable world 'Prime' is yes good and very STAR TREK.

It's more annoying, as I have to manually change it back to the original.

 

[stlemur]

Androzani Major, Androzani Minor (Androzani Augmented, Androzani diminished 7...)

 

[FiddleSticks96]

I just hit randomize and rename the planet later if I ever decide to.