Way to Rename NPC factions (at least the ones we can't pronounce) ^_^

[MagnusEffect]

(i tried searching for this topic, but didn't find anything specific)

 

Don't get me wrong, I love all the randomly generated content, but man... some of those factions names are hard to say, nevermind hard to spell!

 

I get the idea that (presumably) some alien species are going to have names that are completely incoherent to us humans, but that doesn't mean we have to call them that.  If I want to refer to the "Fquplfoortzeas" after discovering them as the "dirty space lizardmen", I should be able to, right?!  ;D

 

All joking aside, my suggestion is make it so alliance leaders (or people with appropriate assigned rank) can re-designate any faction to whatever name the alliance wants to call them.  That way it only needs to be changed once and everyone in the alliance can see the same thing.

 

If that is asking too much, at the very least, is there a way for server admin to rename NPC factions?  If not, there really should be.

 

I'm not thrilled by the idea, but I'd even take manual file editing over having to pronounce "the Alliance of Wgowlruwl" to someone every day I'm online.

[DivineEvil]

Well, it comes down to making a functional name generation, that is based on syllables instead of a random string.

Whether it is done through picking random syllable count and generating the name from that number of syllables, or by generating a short random string and then replacing every symbol with a randomly associated syllable, either way, it is going to be a grueling task.

 

Perhaps there's a script for that already made by someone at this point, eh? I would like this to be addressed eventually too.

[Fenrir]

Maybe an alternative way like the faction ships?

 

You can add an Faction name list (Maybe even a "real" faction list with tratis or basic definers like (Aggresive", "trader" or pirate) and the game first picks from that list before it generates new ones.

 

Would work great with the new faction ship mod support.

 

Star Gate vs Star Wars vs Star Treck

>:D

[MagnusEffect]

Stellaris isn't the best example of name generation, but it is just one example and it works okay.

 

I'm pretty sure it just relies on a master list (according to species, but that's irrelevant here) of random empire names and then plugs them in accordingly with "Republic of ___" or "___ Dominion", etc.

 

Really just anything that helps me avoid having to attempt pronunciation of "The Uugqoujlhiin' Conglomerate" to my friends would be an improvement.

[TESL4]

I like the idea of custom name lists at least.  Like you could create a huge list of empire names, sector names, or whatever and when generating a new world they would be used instead of the very alien sounding names currently in the game (which I don't really have a problem with, they are unique).  Maybe an idea for a mod?

[Schiebi]

The pronounceable faction names problem is a constantly reported thing. We know that some people want the names more pronounceable, but we also have players that like the crazy naming.

Have you ever considered that the letters aren't spelled the way you read them? There are a lot of examples in english, french and german (and others as well) where certain combinations of letters are spelled in a not obvious spell. So maybe the names are easy pronounceable when you speak the language of that faction?

[kei]

I strongly agree. Almost all proper nouns -- even "Xsotan" -- cannot be pronounced, making it difficult to share in voice chat. It's just as difficult to communicate via text chat.

 

This issue is also causing problems with gameplay. It's hard to remember who is where, and even if the name suddenly pops up, it's hard to understand.

 

Call for improvement.

[Kamo]

Currently the names are made out of random syllables chosen for each faction, which is pretty smart (so the Federation of Oocoo may have a lot of o's in their ship names), but some random syllables are by themselves unfit for human praxology, like "jk" or "zv", causing names made of them to be unpronounceable. But ironically the unpronounceability adds to the immersion and realism of finding alien races with different means of prononciation.

Faction and ship nicknames would be nice !