Special unit names?

[Uchuu-kun[SM42]]

Hmm. I can think of several puns on "probe" and the inevitable "noodles" which all relate back to Gaian basenames, but it's late and I'm tired and listening to an interesting audio stream.

[Fido Dido]

Duh, sorry, I got confused, Psi-Psi-1, I meant.

I don't play SMAC/X enough to get the hang of optimising everything, so I just play it to have fun. I don't mind if my unit isn't the most efficent, I just like making new and interesting units.

[BustaMike]

A favorite stupid trick of mine (it'll only work once if it works at all) is to rename nerve gas choppers to funcidial sea formers or something equally as harmless. I've only seen it work once, but it was really funny to hear someone say, "Naw, he's no threat, he's just building a bunch of formers" and then the 'formers' come and obliterate him.

[Frankychan]

My 1-1-1 clean garrison police I rename :Ear's of Yang

My probes are renamed: Hiverian Black Ops.

And my one unique unit(transport deep pressure hull with flight deck loaded with planet busters)-A present from the Hive.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia

This is a spelling mistake (I think) since "climactic" means "of or pertaining to a climax" and I don't think the Provost's good scientists were spending taxpayer's money on researching climaxes. Much more likely they were researching the climate, in which case the word they want is "climatic" (no 'C').

When I play Zach we spare no expense to rid ourselves of those extra drones. Our initiative is run by a group from HQ called the Organization for a Satisfied Membership, and our primary research facility is of course Climactic Research.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Are there any women in your organization?

If not, we will have to write you off as a collection of satisfied male members.

[Uchuu-kun[SM42]]

Reminds me of a letter my history teacher [who is, in fact, our local NDPer - that is, a socialist] wrote to a newspaper about Sask Ed's buying of 500 wooden penii for use in sex ed classes - eg, demonstration of how to properly apply condoms, etc. They were never used, so they were being sold off. The letter had altogether too many horrible puns - were the penii softwood or hardwood? - but you see what I mean. "Stand of Pines", indeed...

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia
Are there any women in your organization?

If not, we will have to write you off as a collection of satisfied male members.

Of course, what would be the point of this for men? The Provost has ordered this program so that we don't end up with a collection of self-satisfied male members. Mutual satisfaction is the best.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Uchuu-kun[SM42]
Reminds me of a letter my history teacher [who is, in fact, our local NDPer - that is, a socialist] wrote to a newspaper about Sask Ed's buying of 500 wooden penii for use in sex ed classes - eg, demonstration of how to properly apply condoms, etc. They were never used, so they were being sold off. The letter had altogether too many horrible puns - were the penii softwood or hardwood? - but you see what I mean. "Stand of Pines", indeed...

The petrified forest?

[Uchuu-kun[SM42]]

Or stand-ins for the "upstanding members of Parliament".

[Alinestra Covelia]

There was one time when I was playing against my brother and we were both beelining for M/MI so we could get Choppers.

Well, he was playing as the Uni and I was at the helm of my beloved Hive faction. He was trying to quell dissent while focussing on tech, and I had several bases literally starving so that I could make Specialist Librarians to research the darn thing.

My brother also decided to test my patience by sending a few scout needlejets over to see what was going on. He even probed one of my bases with a foil.

Mischievously, I decided to rename a scout patrol model into something more interesting. Imagine his dismay and surprise when he opened up his survey window and found that one of my bases was building a "Chaos X Chopper".

[Flubber]

Good one Alinestra.

I forgot my probe foils

They get names like Russian fishing trawler or pleasure yatch .

I also have named things specifically for the moment. In a pbem where I have been having a long war with rastapopolous, I named my brand new 12 weapon nerve gas chopper quite appropriately as the Rastakiller X-12 (hope to come out with an x13 version soon)-- Only time will twll if it lives up to its name.

[gwillybj]

Originally posted by Fazdaar:
Sometimes, when I'm playing around in the DW, I can create a unit with a wierd name, like Shock Troops, Dragon, or Deathsphere. Does anyone know how these I get these names on my units?

The answer to your original question is in alpha.txt, in the introduction to the chassis section, above the #CHASSIS list:

; Names...= First two names used for offensive units.
; Second two names used for defensive units.

What is not mentioned is the third pair of names, at the end of each line, to which you refer. Those are reserved for when you begin producing Elite units, needing no monolith or combat upgrade.
In theory, you will get only the first two sets of names until you begin producing Elite units. In practice, though, the program sometimes starts using the Elite name for offensive units when the weapon strength either reaches or exceeds twice the armor strength, and the reverse for defensive units.
So, in your example, Shock Troops are Elite Infantry, a Dragon is an Elite Speeder, and a Deathsphere is an Elite Gravship.
In general, the first offensive name is used when the weapon strength is not more than the armor strength plus one. Then the second name is used until the weapon is twice the armor. The first defensive name is used until the armor is weapon plus two. Then the second name is used until the armor is twice the weapon.
Using Infantry as an example, and W=Weapon strength and A=Armor strength:

• "Infantry" is W=A or W=A+1
• "Squad" is W=A+2 or more but not more than A*2
• "Sentinels" is A=W+1 or 2
• "Garrison" is A=W+3 or more but not more than W*2
• "Shock Troops" is W=A*2 or more
• "Elite Guard" is A=W*2 or more

This is only the general theory. It isn't always what happens in fact. Sometimes it can be affected by the addition of Special Abilities.
Apologies to anyone who is now or .

[Fazdaar]

Thanks gwillybj, thats exactly what I was asking for. Now I've gotta go design some of those units, just for the heck of it .

[Fazdaar]

Ok, I've created some of the offensive special names, but I can't create any units with the special defensive names. Have you ever been able to build one of the elite defensive units?

[gwillybj]

Yes, I have done it, but not very often. When my situation is such that I can produce Elite units, I'm usually not in a defensive position. Sometimes, though, I make them just for the fun of it.

[Fazdaar]

Yea, I only try to produce them for the fun of it, but my game doesn't let me build the defensive ones. Shouldn't a 1-12-1*4 become an elite guard? Because I've tried making them, but the defensive units don't get the special names for me.

[MariOne]

Well, the naming system of the DW is not bug-free (what a surprise, huh?).
In some games, a PT-1-1 is automatically named "Probe Team MK2", in other games it just keeps the default unit name (unless you *manually* change it), so that the game allows two units with the same "Probe Team" name in the DW....
I think that same inconsistency goes with the rest of the units, sometimes the names are not generated and/or updated correctly.