What's with the names of Xenon ships?

General discussions about the games by Egosoft including X-BTF, XT, X², X³: Reunion, X³: Terran Conflict and X³: Albion Prelude.

Moderator: Moderators for English X Forum

Post Reply
immortalfrieza
Posts: 32
Joined: Sat, 21. Jul 12, 04:11
x3tc

What's with the names of Xenon ships?

Post by immortalfrieza » Wed, 5. Apr 17, 13:08

As the title says, I can't figure out why with the exception of one they all just have a single letter for names.
N, M, L, LX, P, Q, J, K... Does anyone have any clue as to why this is? Some math reference to denote the AI nature of the Xenon? Development names that stuck the developers threw in? Anything?

Alan Phipps
Moderator (English)
Moderator (English)
Posts: 30371
Joined: Fri, 16. Apr 04, 19:21
x4

Post by Alan Phipps » Wed, 5. Apr 17, 14:02

An old thread.

I think LX came in as just a handy name for a superior L fighter. The same for the PX, a superior P corvette.

We also now have the S, a Xenon mining ship in X Rebirth, and the I, a Xenon mobile barrage missile and weapon platform in X3 and XR.

One assumption is that these are all handy short designators agreed by the other races for ships that were purely named by the Xenon for their function and individual ID using machine code.
A dog has a master; a cat has domestic staff.

User avatar
Sinxar
Posts: 1224
Joined: Tue, 22. Mar 11, 05:44
x4

Post by Sinxar » Wed, 5. Apr 17, 15:21

N = nano
M = micro
L = large
LX = large experimental
P = patrol
PX = experimental patrol
Q = well, Q as in Q-ship, a decoy.
K = killer
J = Junk

That is how I remember it anyway! But some of them seem plausible like nano and micro where nano is smaller than micro. Remembering K as killer lets me know its a destroyer.

unlikely any of that is correct but i don't know german so I can only guess what they are supposed stand for, if anything other than what Alan Phipps said. More likely just an agreed upon designation for their ship types.

User avatar
X2-Illuminatus
Moderator (Deutsch)
Moderator (Deutsch)
Posts: 24950
Joined: Sun, 2. Apr 06, 16:38
x4

Post by X2-Illuminatus » Wed, 5. Apr 17, 15:30

Next to what Alan said, keep in mind that simple number or letter IDs are quite common for cars and other vehicles too. For instance, the first Ford models were called A, B and C. Or more recently: Tesla models are / will be called S, 3, X, Y. These names / ids often don't have any proper meaning.
Alan Phipps wrote:We also now have the S, a Xenon mining ship in X Rebirth, and the I, a Xenon mobile barrage missile and weapon platform in X3 and XR.
Fun fact: In the old X-series games, there are text descriptions and voice recordings for a Xenon I (TL) and a Xenon H (TS). And I think I read somewhere, that models for them even existed in XBTF and XT, although they weren't used.
Nun verfügbar! X3: Farnham's Legacy - Ein neues Kapitel für einen alten Favoriten

Die komplette X-Roman-Reihe jetzt als Kindle E-Books! (Farnhams Legende, Nopileos, X3: Yoshiko, X3: Hüter der Tore, X3: Wächter der Erde)

Neuauflage der fünf X-Romane als Taschenbuch

The official X-novels Farnham's Legend, Nopileos, X3: Yoshiko as Kindle e-books!

Honved
Posts: 1252
Joined: Sun, 20. Jun 10, 14:53
x3tc

Post by Honved » Wed, 5. Apr 17, 17:41

Didn't it start out with just M1-M5? Then they added numbers out of sequence, because they didn't leave room for additional designations.

So, we ended up with M6 and M7 out of sequence, then M8 bombers, and finally M0 ships larger than M1. If they had started it out in the reverse order, with M1 being the tiny scout ship, they'd at least have had an open upper end, although adding intermediate classes would still have been problematical.

The Xenon designations are just letters in the same order as the numbers, L, M, and N being 3, 4 and 5, P being 6, and Q for 7.

It seems like it's time for a complete overhaul of designations into a more intuitive linear order, easier for new players to figure out.

Nanook
Moderator (English)
Moderator (English)
Posts: 27829
Joined: Thu, 15. May 03, 20:57
x4

Post by Nanook » Wed, 5. Apr 17, 20:43

The simple answer is that Xenon ships are machine produced. The Xenon didn't give them names, so the other races gave them a simple designation. Ships belonging to the 'organic' races presumably were given names by those races and translated into the closest 'Argon/Terran' for our benefit. Makes sense to me. :mrgreen:
Have a great idea for the current or a future game? You can post it in the [L3+] Ideas forum.

X4 is a journey, not a destination. Have fun on your travels.

User avatar
Ripskar
Posts: 1659
Joined: Mon, 22. Feb 10, 19:18
x3ap

Post by Ripskar » Wed, 5. Apr 17, 21:51

Falling into racial catagories; fish, reptiles, birds and greeks...
Do you miss dangerous pirates?
Try leading the target a little more...

ImageCobra Mk. III Cmdr.

Snafu_X3
Posts: 4472
Joined: Wed, 28. Jan 09, 15:14
x3tc

Post by Snafu_X3 » Wed, 5. Apr 17, 22:34

Ripskar wrote:Falling into racial catagories; fish, reptiles, birds and greeks...
..or d'you mean 'geeks'? ;)
Wiki X:R 1st Tit capping
Wiki X3:TC vanilla: Guide to generic missions, Guide to finding & capping Aran
Never played AP; all X3 advice is based on vanilla+bonus pack TC or before: AP has not changed much WRT general advice.

I know how to spell teladiuminumiumium, I just don't know when to stop!

Dom (Wiki Moderator) 8-) DxDiag

User avatar
jorganos
Posts: 323
Joined: Thu, 12. Aug 04, 14:04
x3tc

Post by jorganos » Wed, 5. Apr 17, 23:22

Those letters most likely are some form of translation of a four digit hexadecimal numerical code into a single letter. TC introduced three more Xenon-type ships, the Aldrin standard fighters which are #1234, with only numerical characters >9 being used and resembling English words.

Xenon_Slayer
EGOSOFT
EGOSOFT
Posts: 13088
Joined: Sat, 9. Nov 02, 11:45
x4

Post by Xenon_Slayer » Thu, 6. Apr 17, 11:39

I think in X-Tension, there was a Xenon I, which looked like a TL, but it didn't appear in the game. You had to use the hidden object viewer mode to see it.

User avatar
Ripskar
Posts: 1659
Joined: Mon, 22. Feb 10, 19:18
x3ap

Post by Ripskar » Thu, 6. Apr 17, 11:44

I'll insert my quantum harmoniser into your photonic resonance chamber! :goner:
Do you miss dangerous pirates?
Try leading the target a little more...

ImageCobra Mk. III Cmdr.

Post Reply

Return to “X Trilogy Universe”