Looking for games that let you name your units.

Velmeran

So I've been playing through Xcom: Terror from the Deep and using a bunch of real life friends names for the units, been greatly satisfying and I've been keeping track of all the times they die and how high up in rank they get (I only restart a mission if I lose everyone, and even then its a full restart, not saving every turn kinda deal).

I'm looking for a game that would let me do the same thing, doesn't matter the genre or anything, just lets me rename the units any way I want and be able to carry the units over from one mission to the next. PC only, I have none of my consoles with me here in China.

Thanks.

Raslin

FFT games would be perfect, except there are no PC versions. Hmm...

Hmm, I'm not sure. I say get Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced. I'm sure you can figure out a way to play it.

jothki

I assume you don't want anything RPG partyish?

Woodroez

I believe Worms games will allow you to do this. Open Warfare 2 just came out on the DS, and you can find the one that I know has this on the PC, which would be Worms: Armageddon. I'm sure there's at least one other Worms game that has this though.

Einhander

This is only mildly related, but once an old friend of mine started a game of Final Fantasy VII and named the party characters after his friends, and one of them after his girlfriend at the time.

Then they broke up. He was 20 hours into the game. He was so pissed at her he couldn't finish the game, and he didn't feel like replaying the first 20 hours, so he never beat the game.

Malvient

Einhander wrote: »

named the party characters after his friends, and one of them after his girlfriend at the time.

Was it Aerith/s? Because that would be pretty awesome.

FreddyD

Myth has this feature, although it is pretty hard to keep the same characters the whole game. The odds are stacked pretty high against you, and there are a lot of casualties.

Goatmon

Einhander wrote: »

This is only mildly related, but once an old friend of mine started a game of Final Fantasy VII and named the party characters after his friends, and one of them after his girlfriend at the time.

Then they broke up. He was 20 hours into the game. He was so pissed at her he couldn't finish the game, and he didn't feel like replaying the first 20 hours, so he never beat the game.

Wow.

Technicality

Gal Civ 2 lets you design and name all your spaceships individually, and then name all the fleets they belong to. You can't carry units between missions though.

Darmak

Warzone 2100 lets you not only name your units, but design them as well. It's still pretty fucking badass nowadays, if you can even find a copy of the game anymore.

Dhalphir

Star Wars Rebellion lets you name your ships. But not your units, so maybe thats different.

FreddyD

Darmak wrote: »

Warzone 2100 lets you not only name your units, but design them as well. It's still pretty fucking badass nowadays, if you can even find a copy of the game anymore.

I think it went open source.

jb7

B17 Flying Fortress is a game I always did this in. It is likely they will get injured/die, especially if you put everything on realistic.

Darmak

FreddyD wrote: »

Darmak wrote: »

Warzone 2100 lets you not only name your units, but design them as well. It's still pretty fucking badass nowadays, if you can even find a copy of the game anymore.

I think it went open source.

What? No fucking way, I'm going to have to look and see if that's true, and if so I'll try and dig up a copy somewhere.

Veegeezee

I recently found out that Supreme Commander lets you name your units, for some oddball reason, even though you churn out hundreds over the course of a game and eighty percent of your combat units might end up getting crushed. I can't imagine what the point is.

-SPI-

Veegeezee wrote: »

I recently found out that Supreme Commander lets you name your units, for some oddball reason, even though you churn out hundreds over the course of a game and eighty percent of your combat units might end up getting crushed. I can't imagine what the point is.

So you can name 1 or two guys then send them and a few hundred other guys into a fight and go "Holy shit! Bob survived!"

Darmak

-SPI- wrote: »

Veegeezee wrote: »

I recently found out that Supreme Commander lets you name your units, for some oddball reason, even though you churn out hundreds over the course of a game and eighty percent of your combat units might end up getting crushed. I can't imagine what the point is.

So you can name 1 or two guys then send them and a few hundred other guys into a fight and go "Holy shit! Bob survived!"

Heh, yup. I imagine it's more for your SP or other large, expensive units.

Also, I found that the source code WAS released for Warzone 2100, and you can get it from fileplanet. Crazy.

Malvient

Darmak wrote: »

Warzone 2100 lets you not only name your units, but design them as well. It's still pretty fucking badass nowadays, if you can even find a copy of the game anymore.

The Earth (2140, 2150, 2160) series also allows this. Although, iirc, you can only name unit schematics not individual units.

Darmak

Malvient wrote: »

Darmak wrote: »

Warzone 2100 lets you not only name your units, but design them as well. It's still pretty fucking badass nowadays, if you can even find a copy of the game anymore.

The Earth (2140, 2150, 2160) series also allows this. Although, iirc, you can only name unit schematics not individual units.

Actually, I believe that's how Warzone is. You can name each design you create, but not each unit. Guess I forgot.

edit: I'll be damned, the game loads. I have to goto sleep soon so I can't check to see if the game works but at least this is a start.

Velmeran

Yea, RPGs are generally the games that let you name the characters, unfortunantly they don't have the same permadeath feature as Xcom does where its okay if you lose a few good men/women, the war continues on.

Humm, how do you name units if SupCom, I'm totally doing that next time I play multiplayer with my monkey lord and such.

Kinda sad though that the options for this are limited, and FF:TA doesn't let you name units besides yourself sadly, unless I missed that option after 200 hours of playtime...

Burning Organ

Could see if you find payback time 2.... It's sort of like Xcom in a way, but there are no real "missions" it's more like a arena game. But you get to make your own team with different characters with different specializations.

Mr_Grinch

I thoroughly recommend Skool Daze and Bak 2 Skool!

Of course you'll need a spectrum to be able to play this, but calling the Bully "Bumface" and the teacher "Fuck" kept me entertained throughout my childhood.

There's actually a remake for the PC that's ridiculously fun to play (but not as fun as Bak 2 Skool):

http://retrospec.sgn.net/users/rjordan/klass/

It's free, and there's even a port for the GBA which I used to play (much fun!). I -think- you can rename characters in the remake.

::Edit:: If someone can find a remake of Bak 2 Skool done like this, then I will drive to your house and kiss you.

Darmak

I'm so glad this thread was made. Warzone 2100 is still one of my favorite games ever, and I didn't know if I'd ever get another copy of it. Too bad all the videos are missing but I'll deal with it.

Jules

I remember naming units in X-COM.

I'd take the crappy recruit I just paid 20K for, and name him "SAPPER". Strap him with an inventory full of grenades and high-explosives. Set the charge for 5 turns and send him running straight into the alien ship.

ZAP ZAP ZAP! Auuugh.

5 turns later.

BOOOOOM! *multiple alien screams*

Yeah, that backfired once when the aliens took control of him and sent him back to my squad.

projectmayhem

Goatmon wrote: »

Einhander wrote: »

This is only mildly related, but once an old friend of mine started a game of Final Fantasy VII and named the party characters after his friends, and one of them after his girlfriend at the time.

Then they broke up. He was 20 hours into the game. He was so pissed at her he couldn't finish the game, and he didn't feel like replaying the first 20 hours, so he never beat the game.

Wow.

This story would have been better if after they broke up he saw her get stabbed through the chest by a huge sword.

He would have been so happy.

As for the OP, everything I can think of has been said

Rabid_Llama

Oregon Trail!

____ has died of malaria.

fatcatfan

There's no unit development, but Laser Squad Nemesis provides a great X-COM style experience, and you *can* name your units. (though it requires finding and editing a text file manually, last I checked.) There's a great mostly-European community surrounding the game. Also, while the campaign missions are okay, online multiplayer is really where the fun is.

urahonky

Either Civilization IV or World in Conflict allow you to rename your units. I know it sounds weird, but I've been playing the two to death lately, and I can't remember which one is which!

Khavall

I always name my X-com units with their specialty. It does admittedly have less of an impact though when "Heavy/Scout" gets killed. Or when "Suicide" gets killed.

Though dammit, if "Sniper" gets killed I fucking cry. Especially when I've devoted, like, the entire game to training my two to four crack Snipers, and they have 95% accuracy and are using a heavy Plasma, so never ever ever ever miss.

I just send scouts out to find Aliens, and then my Snipers take them out from roofs/the landing site and it's total rapeage. When one of them dies I am so sad.

Jules

Khavall wrote: »

I always name my X-com units with their specialty. It does admittedly have less of an impact though when "Heavy/Scout" gets killed. Or when "Suicide" gets killed.

Though dammit, if "Sniper" gets killed I fucking cry. Especially when I've devoted, like, the entire game to training my two to four crack Snipers, and they have 95% accuracy and are using a heavy Plasma, so never ever ever ever miss.

I just send scouts out to find Aliens, and then my Snipers take them out from roofs/the landing site and it's total rapeage. When one of them dies I am so sad.

No. The crying happens when those 99% snipers end up with 0 PSI stats, and then get mind controlled by sectoids.

Here's a hint: They never miss when they fire at you either.

My "personal avatar" ended up that way. I had to give myself a desk job for the rest of the war, it was funny.

jothki

Dwarf Fortress lets you rename the dwarves.

iolo

Well, there's all the other X-Com games. In Apocalypse I used to name my troops by weapon type: A city name for ballistics, a state (US) name for energy, or a country name for 'other' (toxin guns, psi controller, stun rod, etc.) I think I was naming guys after colors too, although I can't remember what that meant...

Since you aren't afraid of older games, Master of Magic lets you name your heroes, although you only have five at a time. Speaking of current LP threads, I know you can rename your original character in Silent Storm, but I can't remember if you can rename recruits. They come with profiles and histories, so maybe not.

Missionforce: Cyberstorm (only one of the best games of all times) lets you rename both your HERCs and your cybrid pilots.

Gal Civ II, as has been mentioned, let's you customize almost anything which includes unit names. If memory serves, you could rename units in Rome: Total War, yes? No?

UFO: Afterlight does not let you rename your troops, which was a disappointment. I can't remember about the Mechcommander series. Freedom Force would give you the option to create entire superhero personas around your friends if you were so inclined.

I feel like there's a big one I'm missing right on the tip of my brain...

jb7

Rabid_Llama wrote: »

Oregon Trail!

____ has died of malaria.

____ has been bitten by a rattlesnake.

Ah Oregon Trail, what a wonderful game. I think I am going to go play it now actually.

Tofystedeth

___ has broken his arm!

1. Wait to heal
2. Push on

2

____ has gotten typhoid!

1. seek treatment
2. push on.

2

2 oxen have died of exhaustion!

1. Change pace.
2. Push on.

1

1. Slower
2. Faster
3. Cancel

2

___ has died of starvation!

Go hunting, kill 8 buffalo, take back 200 lbs of meat.

reduce rations, and push on!

PS. Also, ford the river.

Serule

Viva Pinata lets you rename all your Pinata (and is coming out for the PC some day).

In order to advance in the game, you must feed some kinds of Pinata to other kinds of Pinata.

Depending on the people you know, this could be either upsetting or hilarious.

milath

urahonky wrote: »

Either Civilization IV or World in Conflict allow you to rename your units. I know it sounds weird, but I've been playing the two to death lately, and I can't remember which one is which!

Civ 4 definitely does cause I rename my units all the time. Haven't played WiC yet though, so it's possible both do.

zerocount

If you like the Steel Panthers series of games (OMFGsoOLD!!), then you can name indviduals accordingly, and advance through campaigns with said officers gaining experience as they progress.

I find that I am MUCH more cautious with units that I have named (unless my brother is around - then I rush his tank into pretty much everything). It does instill a little emotional investment in your troops. I had a round late in a WWII German campaign, where in a single turn, I lost three good friends' namesakes (who were true tank aces with 30+ kills each) to Russian tanks. The next turn, I was taken out by the luckiest of air strikes...

really put a damper on that campaign.

SithDrummer

FreddyD wrote: »

Myth has this feature, although it is pretty hard to keep the same characters the whole game. The odds are stacked pretty high against you, and there are a lot of casualties.

First thing I thought of. Actually, I've found that I tend to take better care of the units i've named, and then you get rewarded by them becoming hardier and more experienced. By the end of the game, "Bob" was a powerhouse sniper-archer.

MegaMan001

Can I just add to this that I wish Silent Storm let you name your team.

Ronen

jothki wrote: »

Dwarf Fortress lets you rename the dwarves.

That there was going to be my suggestion. It's epic when your friends hit a kobold so hard that their limbs go flying across the ASCII room, blood spraying everywhere.

Zsetrek

Myth: TFL or Soulblighter