What's in a name? Need your input ...

[Nightshade/PR]

I had given some thought to the ranks & titles used by the Roman Legions, but looking deeper, the structure of it (while extremely logical) seems much too cumbersome for what you're looking for. OTOH, it offers a rank structure & promotion line that covers pretty much every skill / experience level. 

The Roman Imperial Legion and Military Ranks | UNRV Roman History

[Cypress]

Some names I could come up as a follow up to my earlier post are:

For modders, we could go with: Greasemonkey(BF2142 anyone?)/Wrench(Which is not a good option obviously, since we have already have a modder name wrench.)
For other users we could go with: Nugget - Wingman(Wingie) - Throttle Jockey - Hotshot - Maverick - Ace - Legend

 

[+EricJ]

33 minutes ago, Cypress said:

Some names I could come up as a follow up to my earlier post are:

For modders, we could go with: Greasemonkey(BF2142 anyone?)/Wrench(Which is not a good option obviously, since we have already have a modder name wrench.)
For other users we could go with: Nugget - Wingman(Wingie) - Throttle Jockey - Hotshot - Maverick - Ace - Legend

 

Yeah something generic like this. I mean you're going to annoy somebody with the names, but overall the more generic the less drama we'll have on this site about the naming system and such. That way we can all agree on something like this, than get snitty and so on with whatever happens, etc.

[Hans Topp]

I don't dislike the idea of naming them after airplanes either, starting with a glider, a basic trainer, an advanced trainer, I don't know, something like that.

[jodandawg]

We could use Padewan,Jedi Jr,Jedi Senior,Jedi Master, Darth Vader, Darth Sidious.

[Skyviper]

On 10/30/2025 at 8:39 PM, Erik said:

We used to use AF ranks, they seem ordinary at this point. Plus those who have earned those ranks in real life, feels a little bit of a disservice to toss them around like they mean nothing. That's kind of why we changed to the old groups / badges. 

 

I was just thinking about those! Funny story- way back when. I thought that's what some of you were! I was thinking "Dang, there's a lot of light colonels around here .... oh." Took me a second to realize it was just a forum thing. That's way back when you get a copy of Wings of Europe in brick and mortar store. That's how I found this place! I got WoE and SF:Vietnam from Big Lots. Looked up mods for those and boom CombatACE was the obvious choice. After all I didn't have to worry about my highly sensitive personal info sitting in some dude's filing cabinet.

Anyway back to business.

I'm torn between the evolution route - Penguin to Voyager or the throwbacks to historical aviators. Those are some good options.

So six groups. Something international, evolutionary to indicate a person's journey here .... 

1. Ornithopter -  Da Vinci's attempt at flight. The spirit was willing ... but flight did not happen. (Okay, okay with the tech he had the time. I know many people have proved his design could work with the right materials)
2. Pioneer - Okay, things are starting to click for this member. They're getting more active, exploring more, trying out some mods, etc. 
3. Digital Aviator - A seasoned member who has logged many virtual hours. They may know a thing or two.
4. Virtual Ace - An extremely seasoned member who is very active on the forums. 
5. CombatACE Flight Demonstration team (Can't think of a name yet) Anyway this veteran member is extremely active.
6. Virtual Engineer - These are the mod developers. They engineer aircraft based on history or fiction. They put in a lot of hours to ensure others have fun.