This thread is for a glossary of terms, commonly used in the game. There's a thread for submissions, please try and stick to that thread for submissions. Or do whatever you want, I'm not your mother. Terminology Glossary Submissions
AA - Anti-air Adv. - Shorthand for advanced, often applied before a generic unit type. Period optional: 'adv. fabber', 'adv bot factory' Alliance - A team game mode where team members all have a separate economy and control only units they produce. Any surplus economy is distributed among the team members Ant - The original old name for the T1 tank (which has been renamed many times, see 'formerly known as' AoE - Area of effect or splash damage. Some weapons attack an area inatead of a single unit, for example a nuke Arty - Artillery Assist - Fabbers and commanders can help other fabbers/factories build things, speeding up production time by focusing more resources into the same task Base - An area where a player has grouped many structures. Typically a player has a main base (where the commander starts), and optionally proxy bases (see proxy base) BG - Bad game, the antonym of good game. Used when a player loses in a way they deem unfair; either they had a bad spawn, the opponent used an OP tactic, or there was some unfair condition they could reference Blob - A mass of units that look like a 'blob' when zoomed out. In large numbers known as a deathball Build Power - The theoretical combined rate all fabrication units and structures can build Comm - The commander, the initial unit you begin with. Most commonly, losing this unit loses you the game Commbomb - Sacrificing a commander by moving it into the enemies base/units, using the commander death explosion as an offensive weapon. Only used in team or FFA games, to help the team or spite a particular opponent respectively D-Gun - See Ubercannon Deathball - A tightly-packed group of units that form a high DPS in a small area. See 'blob' for a more generic variant Dev - Developer, more commonly a developer of the game, less commonly a developer of a mod. 'game developer' and 'mod developer' can remove the ambiguity Doxen - Plural for Dox, although some just use Dox for singular or plural. Rarely referred to as Doxs DPS - Damage per second, this is the maximum damage a unit can dish out given that all conditions have been met (in range, enough energy to recharge at full rate etc). rarely and confusingly referring to 'damage per shot' Drop - The act of dropping units from transportation vehicles as an offensive tactic (currently air drops and orbital drops are possible). Often drops occur as close to targets as possible, to maximise damage dealt. Drop is often appended to a unit name to specify the type of drop, ie 'vanguard drop' Early game - The beginning of a match, commonly coinciding with the time before a proper economy has been established. It could refer to anything from the first minute to the first 5 minutes of play Eco - Shorthand for economy Economy - The eferring to the metal and energy a player has or can produce End game - The way someone intends to defeat an opponent, typically the last bullet point on their strategy checklist Engi - See fabricator Engineer - See fabricator Fab - See fabricator Fabber - See fabricator Fabricator - Mobile units that contruct things. Less commonly referring to a factory Flank - To come round the side Formerly Known As - Referring to the T1 tank, and it's high number of names through development. Currently (v63234): 'UTC-8' formerly known as 'Alleged Tank' formerly known as 'Histericlese' formerly known as 'Titanium Insect' formerly known as 'Pounder' formerly known as 'Ant' FoV - Field of view, see vision FoW - Fog of war. Not in general use by players, game developers have used the term FPS - Frames per second, general term for the framerate Game ender - Events or units that can end the game, including things like nukes, laser platforms, kinetic energy weapons (see KEW), or a massive unstoppable force of units GG - Good game, a common courtesy at the end of a match GL - Good luck, a common courtesy at the start of a match. Often combined with 'have fun' HF - Have fun, a common courtesy at the start of a match. Often combined with 'good luck' Intel - Intelligence, the amount of data someone has about an opponent KEW - Kinetic Energy Weapon, referring to the use of celestial bodies as bombardment weapons Late game - The end of a match, referring to the timeframe game ending events normally occur. Players should be well established at this point and be thinking about how to end the game. Often there will be a player who pulls ahead to become the 'favourite', in which case the weaker players will be looking forr a commander snipe LoS - Line of Sight, see FoV Meta - Referring to the current emerging trend of the most efficient strategy or units to use. Changing the meta is what normally keeps gameplay 'fresh' Meta-Strategy - See meta Meta-Game - High level strategic play, the thought process that goes into analysing choices and making decisions that affect the 'big picture'. 'He needs to work on his metagame', etc Metal Point - A location on a planet where a metal extractor can be built, to produce a constant stream of metal to fund a players economy Mex - Shorthand for metal extractor. Sometimes used to refer to a metal point Mex Field - An area on a planet with a high density of metal points. Desireable and often fiercely contested Macro - The broad stroke decisions and actions a player makes over the course of a game (a 'zoomed out' perspective). This can include things like moving a group of units over there to defend this, deciding to invade another planet, etc Micro - The specific, concentration-intensive micro-management of units to produce more favourable results. For example the zig-zagging of dox to avoid enemy fire. Alternatively referring to the small decisions a player can optionally make Mid game - The middle of a match, typically when players have set up a decent economy and have the resources to start executing their strategies proper. Game enders are rarely available in mid-game, or rarely work Mining laser - Rarely referencing the SXX laser platform. This definition may change as at some point an actual metal mining laser may be introduced Mod - Modification. An add-on to the game that adds functionality, fixes a bug, or alters the style (UI) of the game MT - Shorthand for missile tower, the basic AA turret
Nuck - Slang term for nuke, see nuke Nuke - Nuclear missile or nuclear launcher, context dependent OP - Overpowered. A unit or tactic that is too effective and difficult to counter. Often wrongly associated with new metagame developments, until good counters are developed Orbital Power - Another way of saying solar array Overcharge - See Ubercannon PG - See pgen Pgen - Shorthand for power generator Point defense - Sometimes used by players of the older games in the series, referring to any static defense turret, or just the laser turrets PD - See point defense Pop - Slang for a commander explosion Proxy base - An expansion tactic, whereby a fabber moves a considerable distance from the main base (see base), to build a new set of economy and production facilities. Often a proxy base is located closer to the opponent, as far away from the players main base as possible, or in a desireable location (normally a mex field) Range - Typically the distance an offensive unit can fire an offensive weapon or a fabricator can build Reclaim - The ability or act of a fabber or commander reclaiming an object. This costs energy but gives you metal. It's possible to enemy, neutral or friendly objects (including units), so has potential to be used as an offensive weapon Recon - See intel Resources - Normally meaning the economy (see economy), but may also refer to build power or conentration (both also finite resources) Rush - Doing something earlier than expected (earlier than is normally possible in a balanced strategy), to try and beat your opponent with superior technology or numbers. Normally done at the expense of something else, counterable if the opponent scouts the rusher early. Generally high risk, high reward Scamper - The old name for Dox, still sometimes used by those around in alpha Shared army - A team game mode where everything is shared within the team. Anyone can control any unit, and there is a single economy Sim Pro - See simulated projectile Simulated Projectile - Referring to projectiles that are fully simulated in the 3D environment, for heightened realism. Once fired, a projectile follows a path to the target determined by physics calculations Target leading - The act of correcting the position from which to fire a projectile, based on the targets current speed and direction Snipe - Ignoring the bulk of the opponents force and going straight for the commander for a quick victory. Often attempted by the weaker side, but common in general Soon - Coined by the game devs. Some point in the very near future, or any point after that Spam - The often rapid production of the same unit (or type of unit) in mass numbers, with an eye on overwhelming an enemy position or invading force Spawn - One of the areas at the start of a match where you can land your commander. In team games spawns may be shared with team members Sprawling base - An expansion tactic, whereby instead of creating proxy bases, a player continually expands the borders of their main base (like a weed or virus) Stall - Reduced economy efficiency due to lack of one or both economy resources Stargate - Referencing the teleporter, used because of the teleporters similarity in function to the teleporter in the Stargate series T0 - Tier 0, the structures the commander can build T.5 - Tier 0.5, a seldom used term to mean the non-T2 structures a T1 fabber can build, that the commander can't. For example radar (but when this definition is not used, radar would be T1) T1 - Tier 1, the normal units and structures in the game. More specifically, T1 could refer to the units the commander buildable factories can produce T1.5 - Tier 1.5, referring to orbital units as they are considered to be roughly between tier 1 and tier 2 tech wise T2 - Tier 2, the advanced units and structures. More specifically, anything an advanced fabber or factory can build that a T1 fabber can't T2 Eco - Referring to advanced power generators and advanced metal extractors Turtle - A player who heavily fortifies a small area (normally their main base), rather than expanding Ubercannon - The powerful anti-unit secondary weapon the commander is equipped with. Also known as D-gun (from total annihilation), or Ubergun, or U-gun UI - User interface, also known as the UBERFACE Vision - The range a unit can see WP - Well played, often used instead of or in addition to gg. Normally meaning whoever said it is impressed X Spam - See spam Zaphod limit - The skill level at which a player's choices of what units to build, when to build them and where to send them begin to determine the outcome of a match, as opposed to logistics management, micro and build orders. In summary, when strategy and tactics pays greater dividends than your APM and pre-game plan
