Editing Forum:Ship Classes

{{Forumheader|Watercooler}}

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== InfoboxShip (2020) ==
I note that the standard templates for describing ship classes now have, in a single article, 3 places where incomplete summaries of the design are placed:
# InfoboxShip (or InfoboxShip2)
# A Wikitable
# A Meta page
This is resulting in these three places being inconsistent within the articles. And with nearly 2000 ship classes to look at this is a huge editing task.

Can I suggest that there are several projects here:
# To determine a format that works and requires the ship class data to be loaded only once
## To determine a related format that works for ship instances within a class that doesn't require the class data to be duplicated (unless the ship is unique) but does allow such differences that the instance as accumulated to be noted
# To review the layouts and default values for the Infobox templates as these look pretty terrible at present. Attributes in alphabetical order is not good.
# To migrate the ship class data that exists 
## To migrate the ship instance data
# To confirm with the authors of each ship class that does meet the data quality standard what should be done - Delete or Complete or set to some "Placeholder" default?
#* There are a lot of ships with names but no details, no references and no idea of why they were added.
#* Deleting seems likely to cause friction

==[[Forum:Ship Classes]]==
* [[Forum:Agent of the Imperium ship types]]
 
== Notes (2019) ==
This is the system that I implemented at the wiki after extensive discussion with selected members of the [[Inner Circle]] and that was approved by [[MWM]].
* It doesn't fully reconcile with the earlier wiki ship classifications system (..by the amazing Jmattera) or with every Trav edition, but it is as close a workable compromise as is probably possible. 
* If you have a better system and are reading this, please contact the current [[Traveller RPG Wiki]] administrator. We should all be open to change and improvement where it is warranted.

{| class="wikitable sortable" 
!colspan="5"| Imperial Ship Classification
|-
! #
! Level
! Designation
! Synopsis
! Example/s
|-
| 1.
| [[Ship Mission Code]]s 
| [[Ship Mission|SUPRACLASS]] 
| MISSION 
| [[Free Trader]] AKA [[Merchant]] 
* It is also known as [[Ship Mission]], [[Ship Mission Code]], Mission, [[Ship Hull Designation]], or Supraclass.
|-
| 2.
| [[Ship Type Code]]s 
| [[Ship Type|SUPERCLASS]] 
| TYPE 
| [[Type A class Free Trader]] 
* It is also known as [[Ship Type]], Superclass, [[Ship Type Code]], [[Craft Type Code]], or simply Type.
|-
| 3.
| [[Ship Class Code]]s 
| [[Ship Class|CLASS]] 
| CLASS 
| [[Beowulf class Free Trader]]
* It designation is also known as [[Ship Class]], [[Ship Class Code]], or simply Class.
|-
| 4.
| Ship Model Codes 
| [[TL|MODEL]] 
| TL & Model 
| TL-14 Beowulf Build
* Models aren’t always mentioned, but if they are, they are usually referred to by a TL designation.
|-
| 5.
| Ship Bloc Codes 
| LOT or BLOC 
| [[Named Ship]] 
| “The Lonesome Wolf” of ‘Bloc 312-1115d’
* Ship Lots or Bloc Codes are rarely used except by naval shipyards, patrol craft, and the like. They are recorded in the ship’s computer as well as a number of places on the hull. 
|-
|}
# INTERNAL LINK: [[Ship Mission Code]] (#1. Top Level)
# INTERNAL LINK: [[Ship Type Code]] (#2. Second Level)
# INTERNAL LINK: [[Ship Class Code]] (#3. Third and most common level)
: - [[User:Maksim-Smelchak|Maksim-Smelchak]] ([[User talk:Maksim-Smelchak|talk]]) 09:52, 2 May 2019 (EDT)

== Notes (2014) ==
I recommend that you add the vessel type to the class name when you define a ship page. For example [[Broadsword class]].
* The current class is a "Mercenary Cruiser," but it is not unreasonable that there could be a Battleship class with the same name. If the Broadsword class page was actually "Broadsword Class Mercenary Cruiser" it would be easier to differentiate between "Broadsword Class Battleship." 
* It would also help with searches because the ship type would be in the title, and there would be less confusion when multiple ship types are in the page body, as with the page [[Cruiser]].
: - [[User:Jmattera|Jmattera]] ([[User talk:Jmattera|talk]]) 11:27, 2 July 2014 (EDT)