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Renaming Foxtrot and Condor - More of a public opinion poll, than anything else


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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.

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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.

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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 by thothkins
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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.

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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.

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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"

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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!

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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?

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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. :P

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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 by TheTuninator
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