One of the things I like to do in my KSP career saves is to give each ship that gets launched an unique serial number. The format is “XXX-YYDD” where:

  • XXX is the vessel type / purpose / size
  • YY is a 2-letter code indicating the launch year
  • DD is a 2-letter code indicating the launch day

This gives me vessel names like:

  • ST1-ANDW
  • CRV7-AJFA

In general, I assign the ship a serial number on the day that it gets rolled out to the pad for launch. But sometimes (because I use KCT), I will assign ship serials as I queue them up for being built.

Some of my vessels get more permanent names as well, like ‘Alpha’ or ‘Deimos’. But the serial numbers are still embedded in the name.

Numbers to Letters Chart

KSP: Ship Naming Serial Number Chart

Here is the link to the Google Spreadsheet for the naming scheme.