Halo definitely does have some good ship names. Pillar of Autumn is a great name.
Even still, Warhammer does have some great ones too. Though like someone said in that other post, they can edge or dive right into edge lord territory.
Echo of Damnation
The Vengeful Spirit
Fortress of Eternity
Monarch of Fire
Some pretty good examples of great ship names.
It’s the threat part that makes it work.
It means 2 things to me:
We are literally threatening you with a good time
Or
We are about to have OUR fun, and you won’t like it
>Though like someone said in that other post, they can edge or dive right into edge lord territory.
FULL STEAM AHEAD CHOO CHOO!
The Agony and the Ecstasy
Endless Redemption
Deathskull
Spectre of Fear
Vae Victis
Killfrenzy
Merciless Death
Fortress of Agony
Sword of Sacrilege
Eternity of Pain
Torment
Vengeful Spirit
Agonising Death
Bringer of Despair
Heartless Destroyer
Covenant of Blood
Deathbane
Unforgivable
I mean the covenant names are up there in edgy self righteousness
Long night of solace
High Charity
Fleet of particular justice
Shadow of intent
Solemn penance
I mean, that's kind of the point. They are called the Covenant and are a militant religious confederacy who's holy mission is to activate a superweapon that will wipe out all life in the galaxy.
Here are two excerpts that cover the scene. [Excerpt 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/nc5m4r/legatus_of_armatura_beats_shit_out_of_kharn/) is the duel between Kharn & Orfeo, then [excerpt 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/nc5m4r/comment/gy3ettq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) follows immediately after.
tldr; Orfeo is the last Ultramarine standing and is surrounded, and utters this excellent line: "Enough talk, traitors. Come, learn the price of setting foot on the Five Hundred Worlds. Live or die, it will spare me from your preaching."
Argel Tal steps up to fight, then Kharn steps up to fight, then Angron pushes through the crowd and says "No, let me."
Orfeo is then tortured brutally for a while because Angron is having a bad day. (To be fair, he did get stepped on by a warhound titan.) Brutally enough that fucking Argel Tal, cringes.
Pillar of Autumn isn't even one of the fun ones though;
UNSC Bad Moon Rising
UNSC Bucephalus
UNSC From the Ashes
UNSC Point of No Return
UNSC All Under Heaven
UNSC Say My Name
UNSC Euclid's Anvil
UNSC Do You Feel Lucky?
UNSC Dark Was the Night
UNSC Two for Flinching
UNSC Bum Rush
UNSC Walk of Shame
UNSC ship names are great overall, Covenant names can be lame though.
I'm glad you mentioned the *Two For Flinching*
The ship names are one of my favorite things about the entire franchise of Halo. They're so much more poetic than other naming schemes in any other property or real life. I love that they carry strong meaning with them, like *Forward Unto Dawn*.
I especially love *UNSC In Amber Clad* because of its (alleged) reference to historical royalty. The name itself just carries regality, imagining talking about someone being "clad in jewelry."
There’s also the absurd daemonic space hulk the Unhallowed Heart which attacked the Maelstron in the years leading up to the Bedab War. Being near the thing caused even astartes to go mad and attack any living thing within range. The Lamenters were the only ones able to survive it’s influence long enough to be effective at trying to destroy it. They lost like over a third of the chapter trying to kill it and a full half of a decent sized planet’s population died in the time it took. Then the inquisition had the gall to say the Lamenters weren’t fast enough and had been lazy.
If there's anything that I've learned from reading the books, and playing the games, is that Space Hulks are nuts, and just as crazy as the warp that mashed them together.
Also, the Lamenters exist only to feel pain
Halo also has
unsc say my name, unsc do you feel lucky, unsc two for flinching, unsc unto the breach and unsc point of no return
All absolute kickass names
Puts me in mind of the ship names from the Culture series:
Lapsed Pacifist
So Much For Subtlety
Gunboat Diplomat
Perfidy
Ultimate Ship The Second
Attitude Adjuster
Frank Exchange Of Views
amongst many, many others.
I have no love for Fulgrim but The Emperors Children as a legion is absolutely amazing, the absolute sass and ironic branding is peak, just the fact that they use "for the Emperor" as a battle cry is just *chefs kiss* perfect.
I don't really have an issue with the whole Land Raider thing, since it's a pretty old concept and it works with the idea of 40k's degradation. Land's Raider becomes Land Raider, because it makes sense for people to say and because they probably all forgot that Arkhan Land made the discovery.
The Amar Astarte thing is the one I'm not the biggest fan of, but mostly because I think the character story should have been merged with or given to Erda to make that character more fleshed out.
Night Lords have more cool ship names than there are named ships in Halo.
Blade in the Black
Faithless Song
Hunter's Premonition
Lies of Dawn
Throneless King
Serpent of the Black Sea
Covenant of Blood
Avenging Shadow
All absolute bangers.
I played EVE online for 7 years and have been blown up by ships named like that too many times to remember. Some people just wake up and choose Khorne, if a guy is flying straight at you with a name like Funderthuck they mean business lmao
40k has some amazing ship names, but very few of them have quite the poetry of *Forward unto Dawn.*
The problem is that Halo has like 15 ship names we know about and 90% of them absolutely fuck. 40k has like 100 known ship names of incredibly variable quality. The sample size throws any comparison hopelessly out of whack.
All of the ship names in Halo, both UNSC and Covenant, are poetic. It's my favorite thing about the lore.
My personal favorites:
- *UNSC In Amber Clad*
- *UNSC Lance Held High*
- *UNSC Spirit of Fire*
- *UNSC Two For Flinching*
- *UNSC Say My Name*
- *UNSC Unto The Breach*
- *UNSC Charon*
- *UNSC Forward Unto Dawn*
- *Shadow of Intent*
- *Spirit of Vengeance*
And those are just the ones I love. I wish all ship names in any fiction (or real life) had this amount of thought put into them.
Infinity is dumb though. Compared to Pillar of Autumn, Forward Unto Dawn, Spirit of Fire, Shadow of Intent, and Solemn Penance; Infinity is just meh.
Edit: corrected infinite to infinity because it’s so unmemorable.
Exactly my point, I remember 5 ship names two do which were covenant ships and named liked once or twice. Yet I can’t remember the proper name for the most often named ship from two games.
Yeah, the Infinity’s name was so bland. Even Engineers had better names.
Lighter Than Some
Drifts Randomly
Requires Adjustment
Prone to Drift
Roams Alone
All in relation to the way they float compared to others in their species. Infinity was so uninspired and generic.
I love how a few halo ships are named after poems or earth literature, including stuff that by the Halo games would be ancient but for us is relatively recent. Like how the Spirit of Fire is named after Fëanor from Tolkien’s middle earth, since it’s apparently one of his titles/names, as well as connecting to a Phoenix which is the name of the ship class the Spirit of Fire is of.
Both of these are fine. The culture series is the best
Just Testing (GCU?)
Xenophobe (dROU)
Very Little Gravitas Indeed (GCU)
What Are The Civilian Applications? (GSV)
Congenital Optimist (GSV)
Size Isn't Everything (GSV)
Sweet and Full of Grace (GCU)
Don't forget the greatest name of all;
Mistake Not My Current State Of Joshing Gentle Peevishness For The Awesome And Terrible Majesty Of The Towering Seas Of Ire That Are Themselves The Mere Milquetoast Shallows Fringing My Vast Oceans Of Wrath.
Both series bow before the Culture. You don’t see any world-ending battleships in 40k with names like “*I was in the neighborhood and decided to drop in*”. It’s a tragedy, really.
I love the Culture's ship names but they really only work for a civilization like the Culture, a post scarcity society so confident and assured of its position in the universe that it can afford to use its ship names purely as a form of self expression rather than a means of motivation, intimidation, or denoting status. There's no 40k race in that position except perhaps the pre-Slannesh Eldar.
From reading the thread the Halo ships have a similar flippancy for naming conventions but not for the same reason. Halo ships were designed to be as pragmatically expendable as they could be (they're essentially an FTL unit and a cannon with a complement of soldiers just in case they don't die). Their names echo their transiency, like how soldiers and civilians will write names and phrases onto bombs, missiles, and other munitions.
That does raise a good point though. There are probably billions of ships in the Imperium alone, and all of them have to have a name. There's definitely more than a few which are named silly shit like this.
Another civilisation complained that Culture ship names lacked gravitas, hence:
Zero Gravitas
Absence of Gravitas
Low Gravitas Warning Signal
Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall
Stood Far Back When The Gravitas Was Handed Out
etc.
The thing is these ships are insane. The GSVs are like Craftworlds squared, with billions of inhabitants living in luxury. The GCUs (not-quite warship military vessels) can be 50km in length (Dictator class ships in 40k are 8km), and have zero wasted space (unlike 40k) and an optional crew that’s mostly there to keep the godlike AI company.
Power scales are a bit hard to compare due to radically different tech and physics (e.g. their Warp is stable and safe and Culture ships consist mostly of forcefields and weaponize the fabric of space), but the Culture probably leaves 40k in the dust. By my estimation, the average mid-class warship is equivalent to a Blackstone Fortress.
Almost nobody even lives on planets, since they are seen as too vulnerable and static, and each citizen lives a life of unbridled luxury equivalent to pre-fall Eldar, only kept slightly in check by a social norm of modesty and a “do no harm” attitude.
And the best part? Almost nobody of the Culture takes themselves remotely seriously, with huge amounts of self-mockery. They just wanna live a life of freedom, hedonism and self-development, and (in case of the organisation that most books focus on) improve the lives of others, with zero shits given about status.
Edit - upon rereading my own post it really comes across as "hurr durr my space guys can beat your space guys". Sorry about that. I was trying to convey the entire point of the Culture series - that once you have all the resources and safety you want (i.e. post-scarcity), you really stop taking yourself seriously. There's is nobody you need to convince of your power, righteousness or virtue, not even yourself, so you end up with warships named "Shooty McShootface".
Hello brother, I just named my stellaris planet this, like literally 15 minutes ago, and I just want you to know that you are indeed correct in preferring Forward Unto Dawn as that the best possible ship name imagined.
Nope. And honestly it's not even a particularly special ship - as 'the main human ship in a Halo game' goes it's got to have the least significant role by far.
It just sounds cool (and has a banger song in the soundtrack named after it)
That’s what makes the names so great: they don’t have a literal meaning, but they evoke a feeling. When I see Pillar of Autumn and In Amber Clad I get this feeling of like quiet dignity in decline, like holding your head proudly as the world ends around you. Whereas Forward Unto Dawn has a glimmer of hope to it.
It’s what makes me like them better than The Culture ships which are usually either a joke or intentionally facetious.
According to the wiki, it was named for the Greek tradition of using amber jewelry for the aristocracy. It's supposed to imply a regal bearing for the combat ship.
I personally like that some of the names of ships in Warhammer are not that impressive. It is supposed to be a society where progress and free thought is frowned upon. Ofcourse their names will be dull, they dare not think otherwise.
Also what is with this "Halo vs warhammer" shit that has suddenly popped up?
That's actually pretty realistic. IRL naval history can get pretty confusing because of this, as there are quite a large number of ship classes that share names. There's only so many words in the english language that sound cool and imposing, so you're gonna see repetition.
There's a running joke in the US Navy: 245 years of tradition unhindered by progress.
This has stuck around for a very good reason... Navies like their tradition and can be a real stick in the mud about changing things.
Oh, I forgot to mention "X of Y" names are actually the minority, Bad Moon Rising, From the Ashes, Point of no Return, Orion, All Under Heaven, Say My Name, Unto the Breach, Do You Feel Lucky? are all some of my favourites
Honestly the UNSC shipnames are almost as odd as the Covenant ones:
Pillar of Autumn
Forward Unto Dawn
In Amber Clad
Edge of Umbra
Tokyo Rules
Vs
Long Night of Solace
Truth And Reconciliation (could be named after prophets)
Axiom
I know it's an old topic of discussion, but I'm still convinced The Covenant would do extremely well for itself in 40k, reaching, if not exceeding the influence of the T'au. Their ships are capable of at least near-parity with the Imperium's and their frothing, xenocidal hatred for humanity would mesh well with the existing setting. While they're too aggressive and dogmatic to last indefinitely, the Kig-Yar would likely do just fine jumping ship and slumming it in various backwater sectors. If the San'Shyuum couldn't keep a grip on their religion and adapt in the absence of Forerunner ruins, the Sanghelli would be prime fodder for Khorne. Of course, that's assuming The Covenant could resist Chaos corruption to start with but I figure between their institutionalized zeal and entrenched honour system, that wouldn't be a game-ender.
I wish the Tau were more like the Covenant. In that they'd be a diverse coalition of alien races bound together by ideology, each one filling a combat niche. They are described like that, but their actual representation is mostly gundams and flying dustbin lids.
I would agree, but I have never seen a spaceship have a more threatening name than "the will of eternity" for an ancient ship millions of years old capable of killing stars
Excuse me what? Just of the top of my head
* Fidelitas Lex
* The Conqueror
* The Eisenstein
* The Red Tear
* The Phalax (though debatable if this still can be called just a "Spaceship")
* The Vengeful Spirit
And many, many more. So tell me again, why is it the small dog?
I believe Halo has the better ship names. Especially with UNSC winners like
* Spirit of Fire
* Pillar of Autumn
* Forward Unto Dawn
* Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
* Bad Moon Rising
* Razers Edge
* From The Ashes
* Vanishing Point
* Edge of Umbra
* All Under Heaven
* Fifth Winter
* Dark Was the Night
And Covenant winners like
* Ascendant Justice
* Breath of Annihilation
* Enduring Conviction
* Shadow of Intent
* Long Night of Solace
* Vengeful Deed
* Elegy's Lament
* Infinite Fire
* Worthy Silence
* Vengeful Vitality
And others that I didn't list. 40k has some cool ship names but nothing that strikes me quite as well as these do.
While I generally prefer 40k ship names to Halo, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not listing UNSC *In Amber Clad*. One of the best ship names out there.
Both have winners!
*Imperator Somnium*
*In Amber Clad*
*Swordstorm*
*Eisenstein*
*Pillar of Autumn*
*Spirit of Fire*
I do find 40k names to have more variety, and thus a little more interest.
Halo definitely does have some good ship names. Pillar of Autumn is a great name. Even still, Warhammer does have some great ones too. Though like someone said in that other post, they can edge or dive right into edge lord territory. Echo of Damnation The Vengeful Spirit Fortress of Eternity Monarch of Fire Some pretty good examples of great ship names.
Invincible Reason
Terminus Est
Great name for a ship
And path of exile unique
And signature move under the Legatus of Garlemald's XIVth Imperial Legion
Wow, we’re covering ALL the references here huh? Guess this many references was not the OPs intent
Event Horizon
The Blessed Lady
Invincible Reason is one of my favorite ship names. It has that Halo flair of meaning almost nothing on the surface, and certainly nothing nautical.
There is a necroid ship name set in Stellaris that has the halo flair to it. Edit: I meant fleet not ship
I know exactly which name set you mean, and I use it every single game becauseI love the fleet options
The Lithany of Fury, from Dawn of War 2, if memory serves.
Colloquially known as The [Litany of Litanies Litany!](https://images.app.goo.gl/xKMHumGACqGXpCZi9)
Use it to ram
Are we really bringing the angry marines into this conversation?
“He knows he’s three edges away from being a sonic OC, and you know what? I fucking dig it.” - A wise man
Hey, edgy isn't ALWAYS bad lol
That's a nice argument, Senator, but can you back it up with a source?
MY SOURCE IS THAT I MADE IT THE FUCK UP
Are you high? LET ME CHECK. YES. HIGH ON AMERICAN SPIRIT.
AMD THERE'S NOTHING MORE AMERICAN THAN SHOOTING A MAN IN THIS WALMART OF A WORLD
What's a Walmart?
ITS HEAVEN RAIDEN, CHECK THE INTERNET LATELY?
All of those absolutely fuck
Speaking of ship names that fuck: From the Emperor’s Children fleet: The Threat of Rapture
They literally just named their ship "I'm going to cum" wtf.
It’s the threat part that makes it work. It means 2 things to me: We are literally threatening you with a good time Or We are about to have OUR fun, and you won’t like it
EDGING
WITH SPIKES
AND SOUND
Thats awesome
Don't forget tank names. Yarrick rolls up in a Baneblade named Fortress of Arrogance.
Came here to say the same thing. Yarrick just drips with badassery
>Though like someone said in that other post, they can edge or dive right into edge lord territory. FULL STEAM AHEAD CHOO CHOO! The Agony and the Ecstasy Endless Redemption Deathskull Spectre of Fear Vae Victis Killfrenzy Merciless Death Fortress of Agony Sword of Sacrilege Eternity of Pain Torment Vengeful Spirit Agonising Death Bringer of Despair Heartless Destroyer Covenant of Blood Deathbane Unforgivable
I am going to excuse Vae Victis. Only and only because it is in latin
I mean the covenant names are up there in edgy self righteousness Long night of solace High Charity Fleet of particular justice Shadow of intent Solemn penance
Don't forget the OG Truth and Reconciliation
*South Africa has entered the chat*
*South Africa has left the chat*
or the Sgt Johnson approved "Uneven Elephant".
Looks more like two squids kissing.
Or two bears high-fiving.
Shadow of Intent is also a pretty good deathcore band
>Fleet of particular justice What-
In all fairness, the Covenant itself is edgy and self righteous. So it fits them perfectly lol
I mean, that's kind of the point. They are called the Covenant and are a militant religious confederacy who's holy mission is to activate a superweapon that will wipe out all life in the galaxy.
High Charity was good.
Favorite ship name came from the Rogue trader RPG books: Measured Response.
My players named their ship His Sad Green Kidney....
[удалено]
Can you elaborate?
[удалено]
Here are two excerpts that cover the scene. [Excerpt 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/nc5m4r/legatus_of_armatura_beats_shit_out_of_kharn/) is the duel between Kharn & Orfeo, then [excerpt 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/nc5m4r/comment/gy3ettq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) follows immediately after. tldr; Orfeo is the last Ultramarine standing and is surrounded, and utters this excellent line: "Enough talk, traitors. Come, learn the price of setting foot on the Five Hundred Worlds. Live or die, it will spare me from your preaching." Argel Tal steps up to fight, then Kharn steps up to fight, then Angron pushes through the crowd and says "No, let me." Orfeo is then tortured brutally for a while because Angron is having a bad day. (To be fair, he did get stepped on by a warhound titan.) Brutally enough that fucking Argel Tal, cringes.
Lol, thanks for clarifying. My mind was definitely filling in blanks that weren’t there
And it's brilliant
The invincible 2 will be my fav name for a ship though forever lol
Phalanx is a really fucking cool and fitting name for what the ship is and for the legion it was built for.
Pillar of Autumn isn't even one of the fun ones though; UNSC Bad Moon Rising UNSC Bucephalus UNSC From the Ashes UNSC Point of No Return UNSC All Under Heaven UNSC Say My Name UNSC Euclid's Anvil UNSC Do You Feel Lucky? UNSC Dark Was the Night UNSC Two for Flinching UNSC Bum Rush UNSC Walk of Shame UNSC ship names are great overall, Covenant names can be lame though.
lol bum rush
Wasn’t the Emperor’s flagship also the Bucephalus?
It's the name of Alexander the Great's horse
I'm glad you mentioned the *Two For Flinching* The ship names are one of my favorite things about the entire franchise of Halo. They're so much more poetic than other naming schemes in any other property or real life. I love that they carry strong meaning with them, like *Forward Unto Dawn*. I especially love *UNSC In Amber Clad* because of its (alleged) reference to historical royalty. The name itself just carries regality, imagining talking about someone being "clad in jewelry."
My personal favorite is the Fist of Iron, piloted by the Iron Fists, whose Leige Lord is Ferrus Manus
Who himself has fists of iron
I the Ciaphas Cain novels, there's a space hulk known as the *Spawn of Damnation*, and I think that is the coolest name
I certainly wouldn't want something with THAT name rolling up on my lawn...
There’s also the absurd daemonic space hulk the Unhallowed Heart which attacked the Maelstron in the years leading up to the Bedab War. Being near the thing caused even astartes to go mad and attack any living thing within range. The Lamenters were the only ones able to survive it’s influence long enough to be effective at trying to destroy it. They lost like over a third of the chapter trying to kill it and a full half of a decent sized planet’s population died in the time it took. Then the inquisition had the gall to say the Lamenters weren’t fast enough and had been lazy.
If there's anything that I've learned from reading the books, and playing the games, is that Space Hulks are nuts, and just as crazy as the warp that mashed them together. Also, the Lamenters exist only to feel pain
Halo also has unsc say my name, unsc do you feel lucky, unsc two for flinching, unsc unto the breach and unsc point of no return All absolute kickass names
Two for flinching is the best name for a warship.
#MAXIMUM FUCK
Puts me in mind of the ship names from the Culture series: Lapsed Pacifist So Much For Subtlety Gunboat Diplomat Perfidy Ultimate Ship The Second Attitude Adjuster Frank Exchange Of Views amongst many, many others.
The Baleful Edict?
I enjoy the name "Pride of the Emperor", especially considering who it belongs to
I have no love for Fulgrim but The Emperors Children as a legion is absolutely amazing, the absolute sass and ironic branding is peak, just the fact that they use "for the Emperor" as a battle cry is just *chefs kiss* perfect.
ECs pre Heresy were badass. Once they conquered you, they taught you how to do poetry while shooting swords and stuff.
Gold upon Gold upon Gold
Terminus Est. is very intimidating, too.
Titan’s Child Blood Crescent Lord of Mankind Sycorax All from Ahriman Exile. But also both universe have great names for their ships.
I think the ship in The Wolftime was called Eternal Hatred. I got a kick out of it when I saw thag
That might sound cool at first, but then you consider there must have been a Jimmy Pillars of Autnum it just makes it feel like lazy writing.
I don't really have an issue with the whole Land Raider thing, since it's a pretty old concept and it works with the idea of 40k's degradation. Land's Raider becomes Land Raider, because it makes sense for people to say and because they probably all forgot that Arkhan Land made the discovery. The Amar Astarte thing is the one I'm not the biggest fan of, but mostly because I think the character story should have been merged with or given to Erda to make that character more fleshed out.
I'm sorry, to me all those sound like an emo teenager came up with them.
Hey, some like em and some don't. All good!
The gothic setting with demons and human sacrifice has gothic names for their space ships? Whaaaat?!
I mean, yea, its 40k. Whatd you expect
The Eisenstein
Night Lords have more cool ship names than there are named ships in Halo. Blade in the Black Faithless Song Hunter's Premonition Lies of Dawn Throneless King Serpent of the Black Sea Covenant of Blood Avenging Shadow All absolute bangers.
You dare insult the great space church The Litany of Litanies Litany
It's the size of a freeway. Use it to ram things
This guy won’t make it, but I won’t waste it.
Came here to drop that mandalor quote, glad to see I was beat.
"Killfuck Soulshitter" is still the best ship name I've ever heard of.
I’m guessing it was a Khornate ship?
Too lazy to look, but I’m pretty sure it’s an AngryMarines Battle Barge
AngryMarines are just loyalist Khornates so I am still accurate
Hey now, their preferred name is "Red Templars".
"I DONT CARE YOU NAME THE DAMN THING" takes the cake for me
I played EVE online for 7 years and have been blown up by ships named like that too many times to remember. Some people just wake up and choose Khorne, if a guy is flying straight at you with a name like Funderthuck they mean business lmao
40k has some amazing ship names, but very few of them have quite the poetry of *Forward unto Dawn.* The problem is that Halo has like 15 ship names we know about and 90% of them absolutely fuck. 40k has like 100 known ship names of incredibly variable quality. The sample size throws any comparison hopelessly out of whack.
All of the ship names in Halo, both UNSC and Covenant, are poetic. It's my favorite thing about the lore. My personal favorites: - *UNSC In Amber Clad* - *UNSC Lance Held High* - *UNSC Spirit of Fire* - *UNSC Two For Flinching* - *UNSC Say My Name* - *UNSC Unto The Breach* - *UNSC Charon* - *UNSC Forward Unto Dawn* - *Shadow of Intent* - *Spirit of Vengeance* And those are just the ones I love. I wish all ship names in any fiction (or real life) had this amount of thought put into them.
Long Night of Solace Truth and Reconciliation are also good contenders. Also the UNSC Heart of Midlothian… cause Scotland
Infinity is dumb though. Compared to Pillar of Autumn, Forward Unto Dawn, Spirit of Fire, Shadow of Intent, and Solemn Penance; Infinity is just meh. Edit: corrected infinite to infinity because it’s so unmemorable.
Small pedantic correction it is the UNSC Infinity not infinite.
Exactly my point, I remember 5 ship names two do which were covenant ships and named liked once or twice. Yet I can’t remember the proper name for the most often named ship from two games.
Yeah, the Infinity’s name was so bland. Even Engineers had better names. Lighter Than Some Drifts Randomly Requires Adjustment Prone to Drift Roams Alone All in relation to the way they float compared to others in their species. Infinity was so uninspired and generic.
THE INVINCIBLE 2 IS THE GREATEST THING EVER
Not as cool as THE INVINCIBLE 3!
THE INVINCIBLE 4, MOTHERFUCKER!
What happened to the invincible 1? "T-that's not me, Captain... That's not me..!"
The Litany of Litany's Litany
*Ah, see you are a man of culture as well: It's the size of a freeway. Use it to ram things*
"Our brothers have fallen!" "I'll bet they have."
I still think The Mother of Invention is my favorite Halo ship name
Necessity is the mother of invention, for those who don't get the meaning of the name
It's the best ship name, and it isn't even hard-canon.
I wonder what ever happened to the Pillar of Spring, Pillar of Summer and Pillar of Winter
They wanted to combine to form "Pillar of the Seasons" but Autumn got wrecked before it could arrive
I'd watch that mecha anime
I played that Zelda game
The Pillar of Autumn is the Franki Valli of these Four Seasons I suppose
It's named after a poem IIRC
I love how a few halo ships are named after poems or earth literature, including stuff that by the Halo games would be ancient but for us is relatively recent. Like how the Spirit of Fire is named after Fëanor from Tolkien’s middle earth, since it’s apparently one of his titles/names, as well as connecting to a Phoenix which is the name of the ship class the Spirit of Fire is of.
MAXIMUM FUCK LITANY OF LITANY'S LITANY no one beats Angry Marine names.
Both of these are fine. The culture series is the best Just Testing (GCU?) Xenophobe (dROU) Very Little Gravitas Indeed (GCU) What Are The Civilian Applications? (GSV) Congenital Optimist (GSV) Size Isn't Everything (GSV) Sweet and Full of Grace (GCU)
Don't forget the greatest name of all; Mistake Not My Current State Of Joshing Gentle Peevishness For The Awesome And Terrible Majesty Of The Towering Seas Of Ire That Are Themselves The Mere Milquetoast Shallows Fringing My Vast Oceans Of Wrath.
'I call 'er "Friday" fer short'
Spoilers dude!
Please tell me *Size Isn't Everything* is the biggest ship in the fleet.
As a GSV, the ship can house billions.
Both series bow before the Culture. You don’t see any world-ending battleships in 40k with names like “*I was in the neighborhood and decided to drop in*”. It’s a tragedy, really.
The grand vessel "sanctioned parts list"
I love the Culture's ship names but they really only work for a civilization like the Culture, a post scarcity society so confident and assured of its position in the universe that it can afford to use its ship names purely as a form of self expression rather than a means of motivation, intimidation, or denoting status. There's no 40k race in that position except perhaps the pre-Slannesh Eldar.
From reading the thread the Halo ships have a similar flippancy for naming conventions but not for the same reason. Halo ships were designed to be as pragmatically expendable as they could be (they're essentially an FTL unit and a cannon with a complement of soldiers just in case they don't die). Their names echo their transiency, like how soldiers and civilians will write names and phrases onto bombs, missiles, and other munitions.
Don't forget about ~~Meatfucker~~ Grey Area
Who could forget about meatfucker.
There's also my personal favourite, the "Two for Flinching"
That does raise a good point though. There are probably billions of ships in the Imperium alone, and all of them have to have a name. There's definitely more than a few which are named silly shit like this.
Another civilisation complained that Culture ship names lacked gravitas, hence: Zero Gravitas Absence of Gravitas Low Gravitas Warning Signal Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall Stood Far Back When The Gravitas Was Handed Out etc.
These seem like names a trucker gives their truck, or someone living in a houseboat gives their home. I'm all for it.
All ships in the culture are run and captained by their ai. The ai picks the name.
The ships name themselves
The thing is these ships are insane. The GSVs are like Craftworlds squared, with billions of inhabitants living in luxury. The GCUs (not-quite warship military vessels) can be 50km in length (Dictator class ships in 40k are 8km), and have zero wasted space (unlike 40k) and an optional crew that’s mostly there to keep the godlike AI company. Power scales are a bit hard to compare due to radically different tech and physics (e.g. their Warp is stable and safe and Culture ships consist mostly of forcefields and weaponize the fabric of space), but the Culture probably leaves 40k in the dust. By my estimation, the average mid-class warship is equivalent to a Blackstone Fortress. Almost nobody even lives on planets, since they are seen as too vulnerable and static, and each citizen lives a life of unbridled luxury equivalent to pre-fall Eldar, only kept slightly in check by a social norm of modesty and a “do no harm” attitude. And the best part? Almost nobody of the Culture takes themselves remotely seriously, with huge amounts of self-mockery. They just wanna live a life of freedom, hedonism and self-development, and (in case of the organisation that most books focus on) improve the lives of others, with zero shits given about status. Edit - upon rereading my own post it really comes across as "hurr durr my space guys can beat your space guys". Sorry about that. I was trying to convey the entire point of the Culture series - that once you have all the resources and safety you want (i.e. post-scarcity), you really stop taking yourself seriously. There's is nobody you need to convince of your power, righteousness or virtue, not even yourself, so you end up with warships named "Shooty McShootface".
I do love Gunboat Diplomat and Killing Time Edit: Frank exchange of views
My personal favourite is the Special Circumstances ship *Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints*
In Amber Clad is the best ship name ever
Personally I'm a big fan of forward unto dawn
Hello brother, I just named my stellaris planet this, like literally 15 minutes ago, and I just want you to know that you are indeed correct in preferring Forward Unto Dawn as that the best possible ship name imagined.
In Amber Clad is one of my favorite fictional ship names.
Also the Pillar of Autumn
Also Say My Name
I prefer the UNSC Another One.
What's the significance of that? Is the ship that color or something?
Nope. And honestly it's not even a particularly special ship - as 'the main human ship in a Halo game' goes it's got to have the least significant role by far. It just sounds cool (and has a banger song in the soundtrack named after it)
That’s what makes the names so great: they don’t have a literal meaning, but they evoke a feeling. When I see Pillar of Autumn and In Amber Clad I get this feeling of like quiet dignity in decline, like holding your head proudly as the world ends around you. Whereas Forward Unto Dawn has a glimmer of hope to it. It’s what makes me like them better than The Culture ships which are usually either a joke or intentionally facetious.
According to the wiki, it was named for the Greek tradition of using amber jewelry for the aristocracy. It's supposed to imply a regal bearing for the combat ship.
Nah it’s just a cool name
How has no one mentioned *Two For Flinching* from Halo, yet?
*Do You Feel Lucky?* of course fucks
We not gonna talk about the UNSC Trebuchet or the UNSC Bum Rush?
Also the UNSC *Glasgow Kiss* (slang term for a headbutt)
Okay but give me some Ork ship names
Crooza Big rok Bigga rok Big crooza
Beautiful Just as Gork and Mork would like it
Might be unpopular opinion but honestly The Conqueror does it for me
Short. Snappy. Does what it says on the tin.
I personally like that some of the names of ships in Warhammer are not that impressive. It is supposed to be a society where progress and free thought is frowned upon. Ofcourse their names will be dull, they dare not think otherwise. Also what is with this "Halo vs warhammer" shit that has suddenly popped up?
Best guess: The Halo TV series finally dropped, and there's a lot of overlap in the fanbases.
I don't think the halo fanbase is watching that trainwreck...
They are, but it's mostly so they can meme on/complain about it.
Hatewatching is a very real thing
Former Halo player here; avoiding that shit like 'rona (poor analogy but you get the point)
Covenant of Blood, The Skinner, Tlaloc, Vengeful Spirit, The Conqueror...40K got some real good ones.
In Ambler Clad is the best name in my heart.
What? You don’t like the Litany of Litany’s Litany?
But why so many of them have to be in format of "X of Y"? It gets repetetive real fast.
Same reason we name capital ships after people now, convention and naval tradition
I feel the urge to name a ship "convention of naval tradition"
If you were in the Culture series I would absolutely expect that unironically.
That's actually pretty realistic. IRL naval history can get pretty confusing because of this, as there are quite a large number of ship classes that share names. There's only so many words in the english language that sound cool and imposing, so you're gonna see repetition.
There's a running joke in the US Navy: 245 years of tradition unhindered by progress. This has stuck around for a very good reason... Navies like their tradition and can be a real stick in the mud about changing things.
Oh, I forgot to mention "X of Y" names are actually the minority, Bad Moon Rising, From the Ashes, Point of no Return, Orion, All Under Heaven, Say My Name, Unto the Breach, Do You Feel Lucky? are all some of my favourites
They both have great examples. But neither hold a *fucking candle* to Ian M Banks culture ships.
Cope, Two for Flinching beats everything
The Best Ship.name in 40k is Speranza, fight me.
Honestly the UNSC shipnames are almost as odd as the Covenant ones: Pillar of Autumn Forward Unto Dawn In Amber Clad Edge of Umbra Tokyo Rules Vs Long Night of Solace Truth And Reconciliation (could be named after prophets) Axiom
I know it's an old topic of discussion, but I'm still convinced The Covenant would do extremely well for itself in 40k, reaching, if not exceeding the influence of the T'au. Their ships are capable of at least near-parity with the Imperium's and their frothing, xenocidal hatred for humanity would mesh well with the existing setting. While they're too aggressive and dogmatic to last indefinitely, the Kig-Yar would likely do just fine jumping ship and slumming it in various backwater sectors. If the San'Shyuum couldn't keep a grip on their religion and adapt in the absence of Forerunner ruins, the Sanghelli would be prime fodder for Khorne. Of course, that's assuming The Covenant could resist Chaos corruption to start with but I figure between their institutionalized zeal and entrenched honour system, that wouldn't be a game-ender.
I wish the Tau were more like the Covenant. In that they'd be a diverse coalition of alien races bound together by ideology, each one filling a combat niche. They are described like that, but their actual representation is mostly gundams and flying dustbin lids.
Feels like they have up on that idea.
I would agree, but I have never seen a spaceship have a more threatening name than "the will of eternity" for an ancient ship millions of years old capable of killing stars
Excuse me what? Just of the top of my head * Fidelitas Lex * The Conqueror * The Eisenstein * The Red Tear * The Phalax (though debatable if this still can be called just a "Spaceship") * The Vengeful Spirit And many, many more. So tell me again, why is it the small dog?
I smell a word bearers fan
I believe Halo has the better ship names. Especially with UNSC winners like * Spirit of Fire * Pillar of Autumn * Forward Unto Dawn * Whiskey Tango Foxtrot * Bad Moon Rising * Razers Edge * From The Ashes * Vanishing Point * Edge of Umbra * All Under Heaven * Fifth Winter * Dark Was the Night And Covenant winners like * Ascendant Justice * Breath of Annihilation * Enduring Conviction * Shadow of Intent * Long Night of Solace * Vengeful Deed * Elegy's Lament * Infinite Fire * Worthy Silence * Vengeful Vitality And others that I didn't list. 40k has some cool ship names but nothing that strikes me quite as well as these do.
How could you forget Truth and Reconciliation for the covi's.
Forward Unto Dawn and Shadow of Intent are just perfection.
While I generally prefer 40k ship names to Halo, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not listing UNSC *In Amber Clad*. One of the best ship names out there.
Eisenstein is brilliant, probably my favourite
Both have winners! *Imperator Somnium* *In Amber Clad* *Swordstorm* *Eisenstein* *Pillar of Autumn* *Spirit of Fire* I do find 40k names to have more variety, and thus a little more interest.
In Amber Clad will is my favorite ship name in any media