CMDR madamepestilence's Recommended Ship ID Scheme
Ship IDs, or Ship Identification, are a handy six-character serial number you can apply to your ships for unique identification outside of your ship's name. While we have an optional Squadron-specific format1, it can be useful for your Ship ID to entail what type of ship you're flying, and how many of them you have.
The format that I use with my ships follows the latter method, and can be replicated as follows:
Adder - AD-###
Alliance Challenger - A3-###2
Alliance Chieftan - A1-###
Alliance Crusader - A2-###
Anaconda - AN-###
Asp Explorer - AE-###3
Asp Scout - AS-###
Beluga Liner - BL-###
Cobra Mk. III - C3-###
Cobra Mk. IV - C4-###
Diamondback Explorer - DX-###
Diamondback Scout - DS-###
Dolphin - DO-###
Eagle Mk. II - E2-###
Federal Assault Ship - FA-###
Federal Corvette - FC-###
Federal Dropship - FD-###
Federal Gunship - FG-###
Fer-de-Lance - FL-###
Hauler - HA-###
Imperial Clipper - I2-###4
Imperial Courier - I1-###
Imperial Cutter - I3-###
Imperial Eagle - IE-###
Keelback - KB-###
Krait Mk. II - K2-###
Krait Phantom - KP-###
Mamba - MA-###
Orca - OR-###
Python - PY-###
Sidewinder Mk. I - SW-###
Type-6 Transporter - T6-###
Type-7 Transporter - T7-###
Type-9 Heavy - T9-###5
Type-10 Defender - TX-###6
Viper Mk. III - V3-###
Viper Mk. IV - V4-###
Vulture - VU-###
Whether the ### portion represents the ship number or a death counter is up to you - I personally like to have my first iterations of ships listed as XX-000. These ID sequences are not required, and are just my personal preference.
1If union members would like to openly display their union membership through ship identification, pilots are welcome to use the following format:
RP (for Relaxed Pilots)-(CMDR Station ID - the first 3 characters of your CMDR name)
Example:
RP-MAD
for CMDR madamepestilence
Please note that these ship ID schemes are not required, and CMDRs may decorate their ships as they wish.
2As there are three Alliance ships with an AC abbreviation, the A is shorthand for Alliance, while the number denotes the increasing cost and model version of Alliance ships.
3This is AE instead of AX so it isn't confused with Anti-Xeno.
4See footnote 2.
5Fun fact: Did you know that the Type-8 doesn't exist because canonically, it was being manufactured inside of a Starport? It had been stolen by a thief who attempted to fly it out of the station for themself, only to hilariously discover that the manufacturers had accidentally constructed a ship so large that it was too big to fit out of the mail slot of the station. The modern downsized equivalent of the Type-8 is the Type-9 Heavy, which is proportioned similarly to the real life International Space Station.
6The Type-10 Defender's Ship ID breaks the flow of T# to maintain the two-character listing, allowing for triple digit listings of ships. The number 10 is substituted with the Roman number X, which also means 10. While unrealistic for CMDRs to own ships in the triple digits, it still allows for some greater consistency.