Unique Names for ANYTHING

Seeker · December 14, 2003, 16:56

I want to be able to name and re-name many different things in Civ IV:

All units should have a random unique name based on city and culture in addition to what type of unit (example 100th London Rifles, 2nd Isandlwana Armoured Division)

This is similar to the old White Wolf Studios game 'Empire Deluxe' 1 and 2.

We can re-name them at anytime to give them appropriate 'battle honours' or make 'personal guards' units without affecting stats or having to make whole new units.

Thus I can have the 1st Republican Guards, Praetorians, Fusiliers, Queen's Own Rifles, HMS Victory, LZ Hindenburg, the Yamato, the Enola Gay, all the unique unit names that would add to immersion.

I mean now, you play the Russians, you attack with your tanks. And all your tanks are just plain-vanilla, no distinctions. With this you could have your 'lead' tank named Zhukov's Heavy Assault Breakthrough Division. Your German Zeppelins would have individual names, your British Fighter Squadrons the famous names of the past.

However, past units it would be fun to have the option of giving names to terrain features. No default random ones to clutter the map, but (deleteable) ones you make like 'Monte Cassino', 'the Little Big Horn', the Mississippi, the Rhine, the Urals, etc. Names for map places that you can put anywhere and turn off if you don't want to see them.

Maybe even the option of renaming Great Leaders and City Improvements (in case you wanted 'Maple Leaf Gardens' or 'the Forum' instead of a plain-jane Colloseum or Stadium).

Kramerman · December 14, 2003, 23:42

i agree 100%. i like in C3 when i can name my leader elite unit to the "XX Expiditonary Legion" or "2nd Airborne Division" or whatever. but i would love to be able to do this to all my units, which i hear Civ Conquests allow you to do. But your idea of generated names is an excellent idea too that i fully support

Kuciwalker · December 15, 2003, 00:03

I'd like the ability to do this (which we have), but I don't want the game to do this by default (provides a lot of clutter).

asleepathewheel · December 15, 2003, 16:52

This has been possible for quite some time in Civ3, I think one of the middle PTW patches. A great feature, another example of Firaxis listening to the fans.

That said, it would extremely annoying to me to have units named different things. Some games, demo games, I like it. But in my run of the mill epic games, I want to know what type of unit and what strength its at. I don't want to take more htan a second to pick out the unit I want, which having long strings of names would do. A quick skim is all I'm good for

Mr. President · December 15, 2003, 17:23

I would like this very much. On a semi-related topic, I think the ability to name landmarks like you can do in Alpha Centauri would be super-cool!

Kramerman · December 15, 2003, 19:45

yes, land marks would be awesome! and perhaps established landmarks could contribute a bit to culture?

Brent · December 16, 2003, 03:21

When you build a city, be able to specify that it is part of a separate region from your previous cities and be able to name the new region, or assign the new city to an existing region. Be able to change the assignment of a previously built city. A named Region will tend to develop particular cultural distinctiveness, which should be a good thing in ways to balance the possibility of secession. Be able to name a new continent when you build your first city on it. Other civs can have their own name for a continent you have named.

Az · December 16, 2003, 15:05

STOP PUSHING THE ZEPPELINS ON US, SEEKER.

Atahualpa · December 16, 2003, 18:39

I dont like this idea! When I think of the numbers of units one has to play around with in civ3, this would only distract. E.g. examine how many infantry you have in one city you read: "100th London rifles, 2nd Isandlawahna Armoured Division, 6th Heliopolis rifles,.." it would require much human processing time to filter the important information.

Besides it wouldnt add anything to the game. Just a name doesnt make it any more personal.

Again look at Panzer General I. You had all these names there, yet did it make any units special? - No!
I only differed based on their experience e.g. ah thats my 5 star tank! And Panzer General is a game even more focused to combat and units!

Seeker · December 16, 2003, 20:20

...I guess this would be a bad time to tell you I obsessively renamed ALL of my core units in Panzer General....