Ability to choose your title

[Papa Paradox]

I'm all for this, captain titles suck after Aeronaut.

[Helmic]

Changing that confuses when in-flight (where the level is not shown).
And, part of the level experience is the title you get, so I'm sorry but I'm against the possibility of changing your title to whatever you like.

If you don't like the current titles, why don't we propose new (and funnier) ones for higher levels?

I'm not sure funny titles will work out, the ranks are part of the "feel" the game trys to convey.  You're a mercenary hiring yourself out and this is your title, you're an experienced so and so.  Sort of like how the ships have all this plating and flags on their sides to make them look bigger and more solid even though the playing area is actually flat and open-air (whoever designed these ships is a fucking genius) or how the UI is brass-colored with the film grain on by default to give it that old-timey feel without actually being old-timey, it's important that the player buys into the setting.

[All Systems Go]

Eh. Choosing titles is common in other games and I don't think a big deal? Some people just like the ones you earn early in, and as a cosmetic item, there's a good case (IMO) for making it user-selectable. But how about these as a compromise:

* Lock out the really early titles, say the first 3 levels. So you can choose any title from 4-10, but people will always know you didn't just buy the game today. The exact selectable range could be flexible.

* Prepend the title with a number, like say [10] Aeronaut. This is actually a bit more intuitive... I don't know how many people memorize the titles tables but I sure don't!