GizmoGomez Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 So, something's been bothering me a bit: A Condor is a big vulture, not a bird of prey. It's ugly, and it's a scavenger. Why would we name a plane after that? Why not something actually cool? The only reason I can think of naming a plane after a condor is because condors can (probably, done zero research) stay up in the air for a long time, which F-17 Condors kinda can, in reality terms, but in gameplay they're the lowest fuel airplane we have. Does this bother anyone? Or is it just me? Also, the MiG-31 was designated Foxhound by the NATO guys, which works well (two syllable word, meaning jet aircraft, F is the starting letter, so it's a fighter). But then the Xenonauts change it to Foxtrot. Why in the world would we use the word foxtrot? That's NATO (and aviation in general) nomenclature for the letter F. We're basically flying giant "F"s in the sky. What('s) (with) the F? Just wondering if anyone else was bothered by this, and if it warrants changing. Really, it kinda sounds just lame, to be honest. Here I am, flying my vultures and my "F"s. Just sounds lame, and not in line with the decidedly not-lameness of basically the rest of the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aufklarer Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 It.s just a name tag, something easy enough to edit in the files if it bothers you that much surely? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GizmoGomez Posted July 17, 2013 Author Share Posted July 17, 2013 Well, obviously I can edit it myself, I know that. I'm just wondering if other people are bothered by it. For some, lame starting aircraft names could leave a negative impression that lasts throughout the rest of the game (not me, I know they're just names), and I don't want the game to have that negative impression due to silly names. If no one else thinks they're silly, and thus they aren't silly, then I'm more than okay leaving them the way they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamBlackbird Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 I assumed the names were chosen because they sound cool. I like bird names for planes, and generally am willing to gloss over the significance of features of the bird if the name itself sounds cool. Condor sounds cool. Although, I do like the way you think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thothkins Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 (edited) A Condor is a big vulture, not a bird of prey. It's ugly, and it's a scavenger. Why would we name a plane after that? Well, the Xenonauts are scavenging UFO remains from across the planet and use the fear of invasion as a way of getting money off of the funding nations. Even when that bloc is struggling, Xenonauts are there at the end of the month like a big vulture. We're basically flying giant "F"s in the sky. What('s) (with) the F? It's a big F U to those funding nations as the Xenonauts fly over them in their immortal aircraft Edited July 17, 2013 by thothkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GizmoGomez Posted July 17, 2013 Author Share Posted July 17, 2013 Haha, I can live with those explanations. Again, just wondering if it bothered anyone else, and if it did, wondering if it warranted changing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svidangel Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 brought it up a few times before. the name is pretty terrible, if you actually know what a condor is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzglands Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 So, something's been bothering me a bit:A Condor is a big vulture, not a bird of prey. It's ugly, and it's a scavenger. Why would we name a plane after that? Why not something actually cool? The only reason I can think of naming a plane after a condor is because condors can (probably, done zero research) stay up in the air for a long time, which F-17 Condors kinda can, in reality terms, but in gameplay they're the lowest fuel airplane we have. Does this bother anyone? Or is it just me? Also, the MiG-31 was designated Foxhound by the NATO guys, which works well (two syllable word, meaning jet aircraft, F is the starting letter, so it's a fighter). But then the Xenonauts change it to Foxtrot. Why in the world would we use the word foxtrot? That's NATO (and aviation in general) nomenclature for the letter F. We're basically flying giant "F"s in the sky. What('s) (with) the F? Just wondering if anyone else was bothered by this, and if it warrants changing. Really, it kinda sounds just lame, to be honest. Here I am, flying my vultures and my "F"s. Just sounds lame, and not in line with the decidedly not-lameness of basically the rest of the game. They are called foxtrots the science chief wants to F the aliens. And no I don't have a problem with Condor. They're big, strong (as far as birds go) birds even if they're scavengers. At least when it comes to US military hardware, we tend to pick names like Condor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max_Caine Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Given that NATO during that period gave USSR aircraft names such as: Faithless, Farmer, Fishbed and Frogfoot, Foxtrot is positively uplifting. Here's the wikipedia link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svidangel Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Just taking a look, most US fighter planes had names that were a bit more violent and dangerous for the most part than a vulture. Seeing things like Hawk, Black widow, falcon, various types of cat like Panther, Hellcat... Tigershark, Banshee, Demon... KingCobra. Mustang is a horse, but meh... Not really seeing Hyena, Vulture, Raccoon, Possum, etc. like a Condor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svidangel Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Given that NATO during that period gave USSR aircraft names such as: Faithless, Farmer, Fishbed and Frogfoot, Foxtrot is positively uplifting. Here's the wikipedia link. I guess they were kinda stuck on F... for fighter...? Would probably have to have gone with Foxhound, though even that is a bit... cute. OH, that was Nato's name for the USSR craft. Derp. Of course the names suck. May as well have called them all "Little Penis" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thothkins Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Hope Swe_Racoon doesn't see that post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max_Caine Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Funny story, at the time of naming, Chris said, "yeah, I'm going to call it Foxtrot, what do people think?" and the crickets chirping couldn't have been louder (then again, that was the time when Big Decisions were still in flux, so everyone wanted in on that action), so Foxtrot it was! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GizmoGomez Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 Crickets chirping, as in, no one said anything? Huh, guess people either weren't up to snuff on the NATO ABCs, or they simply didn't care. Or both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max_Caine Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 You just don't think about something like that until well after when the name has been embedded in so many files that it wold be a real PITA to change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exiled Penguin Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Well, a favourite would be YF/A-16 Viper to replace F-17 Condor (F-17 was a Northrop competiton to F-16 and predecessor to F/A-18). As armament (to have something special) replace 20mm Vulcan with pod with 30mm GAU-13/A. MiG-32 then maybe could switch to MiG-31ET (well ET is self-explanatory). As for weapons, AIM-9X Sidewinder has a nice ring to it; AIM-54X for Avalanche... But something in between would be nice. AIM-7X Sparrow as a mid-range missile? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kefeinzel Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 could we just make one of them an F-14? who's with me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishantil Posted July 28, 2013 Share Posted July 28, 2013 Exiled Penguin, I love your ideas! The YF-17 was the Viper, although it looks far more like a little F-18 than the current F-17 Condor (which looks like an F-16, which is actually the worst choice of the teen-series, because it's a short range light interceptor, not an air superiority fighter). While we're at it, let's change the MiG-31 to an Su-27 Flanker. And then give it way better stats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EchoFourDelta Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 I guess they were kinda stuck on F... for fighter...?Would probably have to have gone with Foxhound, though even that is a bit... cute. OH, that was Nato's name for the USSR craft. Derp. Of course the names suck. May as well have called them all "Little Penis" NATO reporting names were more or less randomly chosen, with a few rules; here, we're looking at fighter craft. Russian fighter platforms were designated by random words starting with the letter F, for fighter, with aircraft propelled by jet engines getting a two-syllable word, and ones with propellers getting one-syllable words. Bombers got B-words (e.g. Blackjack), helicopters got Hs (e.g. Hind). So, maybe Chris knew this and was still just following the trend with the most recent development on the Russian jet fighter design: two-syllable Foxtrot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GizmoGomez Posted July 30, 2013 Author Share Posted July 30, 2013 I'm sure he knew it; I'm just saying that based on NATO nomenclature, the word Foxtrot is already taken; it's the letter F. But, obviously it's not a big deal, I'm not concerned about it. I just thought it odd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTuninator Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 I don't see the problem with the names, at least in the case of the Condor. If you're concerned about the name not being aggressive or badass enough for a fighter aircraft, I would point out to you that two of history's most famous fighter aircraft were named the Camel and the Pup. "Condor" sounds cool and is a perfectly fitting name for an aircraft cobbled together out of spare parts and used to force alien ships to the ground where the Xenonauts can harvest their resources. "Foxtrot" is a bit odd due to NATO nomenclature, but the Condor is fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 You're right, I actually thought a Condor was a type of eagle until about a year ago. It turned out to be less awesome when I discovered it was in fact a vulture, but by then I couldn't be bothered to change it due to consistency reasons. Foxtrot is just a slightly altered version of the Foxhound, the name of the MiG that that Foxtrot is built on. The only weird thing with it is that it doesn't really fit with the rest of the aircraft names. Neither of the conventional interceptors do. Still, who needs logic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTuninator Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 (edited) You're right, I actually thought a Condor was a type of eagle until about a year ago. It turned out to be less awesome when I discovered it was in fact a vulture, but by then I couldn't be bothered to change it due to consistency reasons.Foxtrot is just a slightly altered version of the Foxhound, the name of the MiG that that Foxtrot is built on. The only weird thing with it is that it doesn't really fit with the rest of the aircraft names. Neither of the conventional interceptors do. Still, who needs logic? Hey, don't let this thread sell condors short! Condors can be pretty awesome. Did you know that the Californian condor has a wingspan of roughly ten feet? I like the name. Edited July 30, 2013 by TheTuninator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GizmoGomez Posted July 30, 2013 Author Share Posted July 30, 2013 Ha, logic is nice to have, though. I'm fine with the current situation, though. I was just wondering if anyone else had noticed the logical inconsistencies, ha . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightgemini Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 I always rename all my Foxtrots to Firefox. It reminds me of that movie with Clint Eastwood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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