Among the many things I've done today is come up with a new classification system for my ships and drones. I realized that they were lacking a certain alpha numeric aesthetic that I could paint onto the sides of my larger vessels. So the following is how I'll do it...
Lets work with an example first so I can explain each part and hopefully make it simple for everyone else to understand my labeling madness...
LZ1
The L stands for Low, that doesn't mean it's low mass or anything like that, it means that it is lightly armored. Expect this particular ship to rely less on armor plating and more on shielding for defense.
Z stands for
Destroyer(Zerstorër). Your basic run of the mill whoopin' ___ and takin' names ship.
The number (1) means it is a
Direct combat ship, expect to find this thing getting up close and in your face with some heavy firepower.
Now what are the options out there you ask? Just look below...
(First Letter) Low, Medium, or High - These refer to the quality of armor plating on the ship not the size.
Low quality means it'll be cheap as dirt, mostly basic hull, rarely some standard armor, and NO advanced armor. Virtually all my drones end up in this category.
Medium quality is almost entirely standard armor on the outside, inside you may find some armor, but it'll probably be basic hull to make it cheaper. Expect only 1 or 2 layers of standard armor on these vessels.
High quality is either advanced armor, or 3+ layers of standard armor. Since standard armor is fairly cheap, I tend to use the latter. Although in certain decorative areas, I may throw some advanced armor in there to cut down the size and shape. For the most part these are heavily armored warships, very few if any civil vessels will fall into this category.
(Second Letter) There are lots, this is where the role of the ship enters into play. Expect there to be as many of these as there are stars in the sky because I make up random new stuff all the darn time. For some examples look below...
Z - Destroyer, light weight warship. Primary Role is either Escort, or Seek and Destroy. All around vessel used for just about everything.
HZ - Helicopter Destroyer, same as a destroyer but carries a small group of drones. Most if not all my destroyers will be one of these
F- Frigate, small and agile. Primary role is Defense and/or fleet actions. These guys pack a punch and it's not likely they will be alone. They're fleet oriented so think of them as the dreadnoughts of drones. Also, will be jump capable, always. Some of these (probably most) will carry a single rack of drones, no more than 4 heavies though.
C - carrier. Need I say more?
K - Corvette, these are small ships not capable of long range, they use gates and jump ships to move about. Otherwise they're basically frigates and perform much the same functions at a lesser cost.
Special letters are marked by a "." Drones automatically fall into this category, also drones don't count for the L/M/H above, unless noted they're all L ...cause yeah... who adds armor to a throwaway unit?
S = fast attack, based on the german class called
Schnelleboot, fast boat basically. They can't jump, need a carrier, transport, or tender of some sort to get about, and are, well.. drones...
S.a - Assault drone, meant to take on larger ships like frigates or destroyers in groups.
S.s - Support drone, makes the Assault guys job easier.
S.z - Weird drones, may be a mix of assault and support or just plain wonky.
.T - anything with a ".T" means it's a transport or shuttle of some sort. The Locust is one of these since it's role is to scout
and carry drones. Most anything not
obviously intended to carry drones will use this just so you know it's got a few.
Numbers - These represent how the ship is supposed to be played combat wise.
1- Get in their face! you've got guns, armor, and /or loads of shields. You can take a hit and keep on rolling!
2- Pew pew (headshot) score! Kill em from a distance, don't get close cause you probably won't live, but you've got guns and range and nothing but time.
3- In the words of the great Monty Python, "Run awwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" seriously, you're not meant to last in combat, so don't.
Current ships and their new fancy letters I'll be painting.. somewhere.. gotta work it out and the drones won't get any cause they're too small.
Dune => LC2
Locust => LK.T3
Kabuto => S.a1
Kuwaga => S.s2
Ju Ga => S.z1
Anywho I did this for two reasons. A) I was bored listening to my professor speak in a terrible accent. B) I feel it adds a bit more character to the ships themselves and gives them a bit more back story. Anyways, enjoy, oh and even though I have yet to update the main post, the 3 heavy drones are available for download now under community content!
Give em a whirl and feel free to tell me what you think! More stuff is coming too so be on the lookout...
