Naming

For where each name is discussed across the docs, see concept-index.md.

Style rules Decided

Alien raw materials get playful, derived names, usually ending in -ite and riffing on a familiar mineral. In the fiction, the survivors coin these names when the Scout Drone scans something with recognizable elemental signatures but an unfamiliar structure.
Things made from them keep ordinary names (iron, copper, electricity, steel beams). The geology is alien; the industry is familiar.
Buildings get plain functional names so players instantly know what a Depot or Refinery does.
UI actions stay plain: “Shutdown,” “On/Off switch,” “Power.” No atmospheric names for interface actions. “Silent Running” was rejected because the action is a shutdown, not a way of running.
Avoid names and recipe chains that read as copied from Factorio (for example, use iron → steel beams, not iron plates → steel).
Each alien type gets a name, shown when tapped. Names can be the survivors’ informal coinages (“bugs” is fine in dialogue).

Name	What it is	Status
Evolite	The special tech-unlocking resource. “Evolution”: it’s part of the creatures’ biology and the reason for their extraordinary adaptations. Not a fuel.	Decided
Calcified Evolite	Stable surface Evolite deposits	Decided
Live Evolite	Evolite that spawns creatures, i.e. a hive	Decided
Colite	Coal-like primitive fuel. Only ever burned for energy, never used as a building material.	Decided
Basalite	Stone and construction material (“stone” in dialogue and tooltips)	Decided (provisional)
Ferrite	Iron-bearing ore, refined into iron	Decided (“maybe overused, but the best option”)
Cuprite	Copper-bearing ore, refined into copper	Decided
Silicate	Silicon-bearing raw material, refined into silicon	Decided
Iron, Copper, Silicon, Steel Beams, Wiring, Microchips…	Manufactured goods use ordinary names	Decided
Electricity / Power	Plain names	Decided

Placeholders used along the way and replaced: oil, money, unobtanium, Ichor → Evolite.

Name	Notes	Status
Crashed Ship / the Wreck	Either works in casual dialogue	Decided
Depot	Builds and dispatches vehicles	Decided
Outpost / Truck Stop	Receiving end of truck routes; final name open	Tentative
Storage Silo	Preferred over “Warehouse”	Decided
Foundation	Replaces the working name “flooring”	Decided
Barracks		Decided
Scout Drone	Preferred over “Recon Drone”	Decided
Harvester	Small primitive gathering truck	Decided
Engineering Crew	Also called “construction crew” in discussion	Decided
Logistics Truck	Little pickup-style trucks, not semis	Tentative
Mining Drill	Plain “drill” wording on purpose	Decided
Evolite Drill	The “big drill.” Deepcore Drill is a fun alternative or class name.	Decided / alt open
Refinery	Preferred over “Smelter”	Decided
Fabricator	General-purpose; more specialized factories come later	Decided
Radar Station	“Sensor Array” is also fine	Decided
Command Center	Liked; its role is a late-game question	Tentative
Turrets	Many kinds, to be named later	Open
Sword Bot, Gun Bot	Working names for the first two robot security units	Tentative
Ruin ghost	Internal name only. The UI says “Destroyed Refinery,” “Destroyed Barracks,” etc. “Ghost” may appear in UI for construction ghosts.	Decided

The General, the Doctor (“Doc”), the Director. See narrative.md.

Concept	Name	Status
Ordinary industrial disturbance	Noise	Decided
The big drill’s expanding disturbance	Seismic signature	Decided
Network-wide shutdown	No special name; just “shutdown”	Decided