What's In A (Ship) Name ?

I've been enjoying playing Elite again. The new one that got released at Christmas.

It's not complete yet, there's still a few features that they're looking to bring in. But it's already a better game with more in it than the original ever had. (Saying that, it was an incredible achievement that they packed so much into the original.) Yep, I've been enjoying it.

The reason I got a little disillusioned before was that it seemed to be taking ages to get anywhere. I was doing low margin trading, going from system to system moving items and not getting much profit. I've switched to doing the high margin, low volume rares trading now and I'm hoping to get bigger and better ships soon. And then I'll go exploring ...

Before I dive into the ships, a little about how you configure them. There's a lot of customisation here. 5 grades of modules and different sizes of module. Bigger guns are ... bigger but they're also more powerful. But that weight slows the ship down and means you hyperdrive jump less distance. My trading ships are built light for maximum cargo.

Ships ?

Here's the hauler :

Pretty game isn't it ?

That's a basic Hauler class ship docked at one of the outpost stations. It's stripped down for carrying stuff. No guns, no shields. And it's already been down to 33% hull integrity before FLAMING DEATH twice. What could we call that ? I'm a fan of Iain M Banks' Culture novels (may he rest in peace, we miss The Culture).

Starbug - that's from Red Dwarf. Which leads you on to :
Prepare The Brown Trousers ! or
Please Don't Shoot Me
Only Passing Through

Next ship is the Adder. I had one of these before but I have enough for a long range hyperdrive now (costs more than the ship) and it has very nasty guns on there too. Best for the class of ship.

You could call that the Battlebus. It carries the same cargo amount as the Hauler, which isn't enough for the rare items trade route I'm doing. But it also brings Guns and Shields and a similar jump range. How about those names :

"I'm small but watch my bite"
Previously Anaconda, Been On Diet
Slowboat to the junkyard
I can do multiplication. Long Division too !

After the Adder comes a Cobra :

And for colour, I chose the one from Google Images that shows how the ship used to look in Ye Olde Times of last century. The Cobra allows more than double the cargo space (40t up from 18t in the configuration I'll use) and better defences and guns. Names :

Nothing Illegal Here Officer, Honest (some of the rares need smuggling)
These Aren't The Rares You're Looking For (Star Wars ref, doesn't really work does it)
Fer-De-Lance is in the shop
You Feeling Lucky ?
Want Me To Be Your Outside Context Problem ?
Shinies ? Who Hid The Shinies ?

Yep. Culture ship names are known for their eccentricities. Next up is the Asp Explorer. I'm hoping I can get one of these after the first run around the 71 stop route and then I'll slowboat around with the Asp. It'll carry 88t because I'll have it fitted for discovery scanning too. After the second run, I'll head off exploring the galaxy.

It's a bigger ship, built for exploring. So what would be a fitting name for that ?

Where Are The Interesting People ? I brought guns
99 Stars Out There To Explore, 99 Stars Out There
Darn, Left The Snacks At Home
It Was The Third Star On The Right Wasn't It ?

I thought of a few more earlier but, typically as my memory goes, the best names have faded ...

I hope you enjoyed all those daft names. Maybe drop a comment with more if you think of them ? I've tried to avoid names that are already part of The Culture name set, although the OCP one props a nod in their direction. A final couple :

Type 6 Lakon - is a smaller hauler. Call it "May Carry Cookies"
Type 9 - is a massive hauler. Call it "May Have Eaten All The Cookies"

Cya !

PS I still have "Sleeping Dragon" in mind for the narrowboat.
PS2 My Cmdr name in game is "Iceangel". It was good to bring that name out of retirement again.