On naming -
Pilots: have to be careful there, the pilots name can already be pretty long when you add in the rank, first and last name. At first I tried adding in some other elements like combat exp but it ended up looking kinda ugly. And the pilotname is the only place where we can put info where it is always visible other than the ship name. I figured just leaving that to the report function was cleanest and least cluttered.
Ships: When a ship joins a task force it is tagged with the fleet Id number. So say you have a ship called Alpha 1, when you assign this to a task force it will then look something like Alpha 1 (TF-5). It will save the old name and reset it back to the original if the ship leaves TF-5. I normaly wouldnt add anything to a name but quickly saw that it can be a nightmare trying to remember which TF you assigned a ship too. And having to use the report button just to find out was a pain. So figured in this case it needed done. Now when you look at the ship list its easy to spot all ships belonging to any particular TF, and the leader can be spotted too because his tag says (TF-5 Ldr), which was criticial for knowing where your TF leaders are in case you need them.
For my own ship naming I tend to stick with batches in simple names.
My first group of M5s will be Alpha 1, Alpha 2, Alpha 3 up to however many I buy in the batch. Then say I buy a new batch a few hours later they become Beta 1, Beta 2 etc
That way I always can tell my earliest (and hopefully highest ranked ships) at a glance, and likewise can see the newest additions too. I dont change the names until they get an M6 or higher then I personalize it ... and name them sonething cool. If your going to rename a ship after it has joined a TF, best to have it leave a TF , change the name then rejoin, that will reset the name/old name.
Testing went well last night, used a test TF of 3 M6s - 12 M3 - 12 M4s and 12 M5s (no discos ;p)
The TF lost half its M5s during recons and all its M4s ... in a sector attack (think mini-assault) looks like they got hit by 2 clusters, the M4 is a problem ship not quite tough enough for front line but to slow for good recon. The M3s proved their value 100%.
Only lost one M3 to what I think was an asteroid ;p And the M6s were launched to attack 3 times, each a good victory.
I think this babies ready
It will likely need some tweeking later based on feedback but I think its ready to handle it. Will double check my used command slots #s are free today and add the last of the reports/feedback and it should be uploaded tonight.
Myros
- so unless you can give me a fix to promote 1 or 2 real quick I won't be able to try out the addon....