unit names!

[Greep]

I'm making a tactical web-based game (can't give too many details, it's not copywrighted yet), and I'm going to need titles for many of the units. I must be having writers block or something but they're all coming out dorky in my head. Anyone have any practical or interesting names (like "front line infantry, captain") for the following?

-regular sword infantry
-haevy sword infantry
-leader
-strong hammer warrior
-bowman
-weak elemental mage (one for each air,earth,fire,water AND electricity)
-strong elemental mage

[factotum]

For regular sword infantry what's wrong with Swordsmen? Then you can call the heavy guys Armoured Swordsmen, or something.

[Greep]

Yeah swordsmen is probably just gonna stay swordsman. Its a boring unit that's pretty boring.

I was thinking more of something like strong air elemental mage being "Tornado Master" and weak water mage being "Puddle splasher" and whatnot.

[Saithis Bladewing]

Swordsman, Linesman
Men-at-Arms, Knight
Marshall, General, Captain
Forlorn Hope, Thane
...Archer. :P
Aeromancer, Pyromancer, Aquamancer, Terramancer, Elektromancer
Arch-" "________" "_________" "__________" "__________" "

Chosen completely at random for no good reason. Don't care if you don't like 'em, but there are some ideas. :P

[Greep]

hmm linesman sounds good for the normal infantry actually, and marshall sounds good for leader.

Also, excuse the ignorance, but what's a thane?

[Brother Oni]

Grr, forum ate my post. :(

Two possible name sets, one norse themed, the other is oriental:

Sons of the Wolf
Brothers of the Wolf
Wolf Prime
Brothers of the Bear
Hunters of the Woods
Sky/Rock/Fire/Water/Thunder Shaman
Sky/Rock/Fire/Water/Thunder Warlock


Swords of Dancing Air
Blades of Clashing Metal
Commander of the Imperial Guard
Hammers of the Celestial Forge
Sons of the Magnificent Archer Yi
Adept of Sky/Earth/Flame/Water/Thunder
Master of Heaven/Jade/ the Inferno/ the Tsunami/ Celestial Wrath



A thane is a saxon lord.

[Greep]

oooo those are nice. Also, those sound too interesting XD I can't use copywrited names, are any of those copywrite? (Like those bowmen of yi?)

[Brother Oni]

oooo those are nice. Also, those sound too interesting XD I can't use copywrited names, are any of those copywrite? (Like those bowmen of yi?)

If they are copyrighted, I must have done so accidentally as I just thought them up. :smallbiggrin:

The Magnificent Archer Yi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houyi) is a mythological chinese hero.

Alternatively just plug them into google and see what comes up.

[Greep]

alright, thanks, I do appreciate this :)

[GolemsVoice]

Swordsman
Swordmaster
Banner-Carrier/Marshall/Packleader (think hunting packs as squads)
Thunderer/Earthshatterer/Peacemaker
Archer/Bowman?/Hunter/Ranger 8that gives them a somewhat more elite, and outdoors, feeling)
Apprentice of Element/Torchbearer (Fire)/Wavecaller (Water)/Windtalker (Air)/Earthguide (Earth)
Master of Element/Flamewarden (Fire)/Drowner/Torrent/Wavemaster (Water)/Lord of the Winds/Skycaller/Sword of the Clouds (Air)/ Name of the rocks :smallwink: Stonefist/Earthfury (Earth)

[Greep]

awesome, I've got a good name for each of them now :D I'm already putting all the names in so any further posts won't be used for the game :/ thanks!

[GolemsVoice]

COuld you tell us which names you are using? I'm curious.

[Prophaniti]

Also, excuse the ignorance, but what's a thane?Thane (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thegn). A common variation on a medieval title, 'Thegn'.

Forlorn hope (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forlorn_hope) was also a historical name generally given to units who are the first through a breach, the fodder, if you will.

[Mando Knight]

For the armored swordsman: How about Doppelsöldner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppels%C3%B6ldner)?

[Neo]

How about:

Legionaire-regular sword infantry
Sentinel-haevy sword infantry
Imperator-leader
Iron Fists-strong hammer warrior
Harrier-bowman
Acolyte/Adept-weak elemental mage (one for each air,earth,fire,water AND electricity)
Oracle/Archmage-strong elemental mage

Or slightly less serious:

Hittas
Big Hittas
Boss
Big Hammas
Chuckas
Boomas
Big Boomas

[Greep]

COuld you tell us which names you are using? I'm curious.

Sure, (a few I made myself)

Linesman-Basic swordsman
Brawler-Skilled swordsmen
Marshall-Leadership swordsman
Brutal Warrior-Basic Hammer
Earth Shatterer-Skilled Hammer
Ranger (nice and simple but still cool)-Bowman
Weak elementalists-torchbearer,wavecaller,windtalker,earthguide,adept of thunder
Strong elementalists-Master of the heavens,Flaemwarden,Master of jade, Energy shaper, Drowner.

[KilltheToy]

If you're going for a religous theme, I've got some suggestions.

regular sword infantry--Fanatic
haevy sword infantry--Zealot
leader---Apostle, Preist, High Preist
strong hammer warrior--Crusader
bowman-- somthing.....
weak elemental mage (one for each air,earth,fire,water AND electricity)--- Lightning Acolyte, Acolyte of the Winds, Acolyte of the Waves, Acolyte of Stone
strong elemental mage --Storm Disciple , Disciple of the Zephyr, Disciple of the Tides, Disciple of the Inferno

[Athaniar]

Sure, (a few I made myself)

Linesman-Basic swordsman
Brawler-Skilled swordsmen
Marshall-Leadership swordsman
Brutal Warrior-Basic Hammer
Earth Shatterer-Skilled Hammer
Ranger (nice and simple but still cool)-Bowman
Weak elementalists-torchbearer,wavecaller,windtalker,earthguide,adept of thunder
Strong elementalists-Master of the heavens,Flaemwarden,Master of jade, Energy shaper, Drowner.

Sounds good, but "Brawler" doesn't exactly conjure up the image of a skilled swordsman, but rather of a low-life thug.

[Greep]

Sounds good, but "Brawler" doesn't exactly conjure up the image of a skilled swordsman, but rather of a low-life thug.

Well that's true, but "skilled" isn't perhaps the best explanation for a unit with skills in this game XD. With the game I'm designing, the linesmen are going to be the disciplined soldiers with no unique perks, that are organized in formation, while the brawlers have a small perk called shield bash but are more easily killed and are generally out of formation. "Brawler" just sounded like a good term for someone who picks their own fights and lives dangerously.

[GolemsVoice]

Wooo! I am making contribution. Expect a long-winded, arduos lawsuit when your game is succesfull:smallbiggrin:

Keep us informed about wht becomes of your work, I am really interested.

[Greep]

Well I realistically won't be done with it till summer, and since I know absolutely nothing about clients may not get multiplayer till fall.

But I guarantee I will post it here when I have version 1.0 finished and copywrited. I mean, how can I pass up free advertising to a freeware game? :smallcool:

[Brother Oni]

But I guarantee I will post it here when I have version 1.0 finished and copywrited. I mean, how can I pass up free advertising to a freeware game? :smallcool:

May I suggest that you also take the time to get your terminology right - the term is copyrighted (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyrights), otherwise GolemsVoice's joke of lawsuit may not be such a joke in the end.

[Greep]

May I suggest that you also take the time to get your terminology right - the term is copyrighted (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyrights), otherwise GolemsVoice's joke of lawsuit may not be such a joke in the end.

hah, that would be funny if someone had a scam where they made fake "official copywrite!" then get a real copyright and sue the "copywrite" holders... But yeah, I'll make sure I do everything right, it's only like 35 bucks to get it done I think. Besides, as has been mentioned, I'm not sure these are the types of unit names that would even be under the protection of a copyright, they're too general.

Edit: oh wow copwriting is actually something entirely different. They really need to change that, that's just plain stupid considering how similar both the word and meaning are.

[GolemsVoice]

Curses! Another nefarious plan foiled! And, no, I don't really think anybody could sue you for unit names if you haven't stolen them from an actual game or novel.
There is a funny story about that:
Back in the days of Warcraft II, the Orcs did have a unit called grunt, which is just that, a basic soldier. However, the German translation took the word grunt for the sound, as in, "to grunt", and translated them Grunzer, which is the iteral translation of someone who grunts. I believe they didn't realize their mistake back then, and to this day, basic orcish infantry in all Warcraft series games are called Grunzer. Now, it seems, that the name caught on, so that for example, the German version of Battle for Wesnoth calls the basic orc melee fighter Grunzer, and I think I have seen ths term used for exactly that purpose in other games.

[Brother Oni]

The unit names will be protected as part of the copyright of the entire work.

However since they're not uniquely identifiable, if they did infringe on somebody else's copyrighted work, you could claim fair use. Calling a unit a 'human soldier' wouldn't open you up to a lawsuit from the creators of any fantasy RTS games for example.
If you started calling them Dúnedain Rangers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BAnedain) however, then you'd end up in trouble.

Mythological names can be considered part of the public domain due to their age, something that anybody can freely use without problems. Yi, the Magnificent Archer, would certainly fall into that catagory and couldn't be copyrighted much as in the same way as having a god named Zeus in your game couldn't be copyrighted.

Bear in mind that a specific depiction of a mythological character could be copyrighted, if it's determined to be unique enough. Zeus as a bearded man with white hair in a toga couldn't be, but Zeus as an Italian mob boss who shoots people with a lightning gun could be... hmmm... *imagines the cast of the Sopranos replaced by the Greek pantheon* :smallbiggrin:



As for the difference between copyright and copywrite... the rest of the English speaking world seems to do just fine. :smallsigh: