Pioneer dev forum

I would like to give all (or most) of the inhabited systems with a catalogue number a real proper pronounceable name.

Primarily, these are the names of inhabited systems in the sol vicinity I'd like to change

Gliese 48 109 205 338 393 412 563.2 581 595 643 644 661 701 752 876

NN 3417 3454 3877 3849 3877 4048/4049 3849 4053

GJ 1123 1151 1224 1232 1286

There would still be catalogue names for the uninhabited systems, but before I do anything, I'd like to see what the community thinks, and if there are any suggestions for new names (free of trademark infringement).

Could we make this automatic, i.e. procedural? We already generate the names of systems so can't we check to see if a star system is inhabited and then give it an "inhabited" name rather than a catalogue one?

EDIT: plus the names are easier to pronounce if the're done by hand

We need to keep the catalogue numbers because players load up the game and go looking for their favourite star.

The solution we came up with years ago is to allow a system to have multiple names. So catalogue name, what their faction calls it, what the locals call it, etc. All are equal and can be searched for.

Obviously that's significant work, but I'd rather do nothing right now than actually remove the catalogue names, especially when it took us so long to get them right.

From the player perspective, names like "Gliese 563.2" or "NN 4048/4049" are not very good for immersion in my opinion, and hopeless to remember when there are so many with similar names, but I guess it's a question of weighing the good against the bad, and as you point out, there are other things to focus on I guess.

However, I think it's worth considering fixing the names before Pioneer leaves Alpha, considering now is the time when it can be tolerated/understandable that systems are renamed or saves broken.

I'll try to keep some good system names in the back of my head for some future day then.

There is no alpha. Also renaming systems shouldn't actually break saves, since they're all referenced by path.

There's an small but not-insignificant number of players that like Pioneer for its realistic local galaxy. Its the "simulator" part of the game that we do less and less with these days. And that's why multiple names is probably the easiest option.

I agree with robn. It makes sense that inhabitated systems have a pronunciable name, but i'd prefer to keep the catalogue number somewhere as a second name.