All of my ship IDs follow the same format: SR-##X

In this format, “SR-” represents my commander’s initials and thus is the same for all ships. After the dash then comes two digits. These numbers are an indicator of the order I acquired the ship (my first ship is “01”, my second “02”, etc). Thus, the first five characters in a ship’s ID are assigned upon purchase and will never change. The sixth and final character is a letter. This is the only part of the ID that may change during the lifetime of a ship. This letter indicates the task that the ship is currently outfitted for. For many ships this letter will never change, for other multirole ships it is updated somewhat frequently (looking at you Cobra MkV).

The following table lists all outfitting codes I have used or devised for eventual use. If, in the future, new codes are created, I will update this table.

A – Acquisition: Marks a ship specialized in *ehem* “acquiring” goods via less than reputable means from questionable sources

C – Combat: Straight to the point. Designates ships whose primary role is blowing up other ships

E – Exploration: Indicates a ship optimized for long, lonely trips out in the black

G – Ground Support: Currently theoretical, indicates a ship optimized for attacking ground targets. Intended to support operations

H – Hauling: Designates a cargo vessel designed to carry as many tons as possible from point A to point B

M – Mining: Indicates a prospecting vessel prepared to delve into the rocks

P – Passenger: Marks a vessel designed to carry passengers. Either bulk transport or sightseeing pleasure cruises

S – Salvage: Indicates a ship optimized for hunting down and gathering rare goods and engineering materials. Also tends to indicate a good all-round mission running vessel (accidental, wondering if I need to relabel this classification)

R – Route Planning: A highly specialized role. This indicates a ship that has had its jump range adjusted to be as close to 15ly as possible. Used for planning out optimal colonization bridges

X – Anti Xeno: A specific subclass of combat, marks a ship designed to counter thargoid vessels

As I continue my travels from WP5 to WP6 of the Distant Worlds 3 expedition, I decided to make a pitstop at the Formorian Sanctuary POI. While there, I began a DSS scan of the ELW located in the system. Not long after that I received a communication from CMDR Starsh1pTroop3r. They had witnessed my scan from further back and took a picture which was then posted to the fleetcom discord. Neither of us had been aware that DSS probes were visible from so far away or to other players. It was a small interaction, but a fun one worthy of documentation.