Jargon

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# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

When you are playing Empires, you may come across some jargon you don't understand. Here is a list of the most commonly used bits of Empires jargon.

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3 Phase - Refers to the (3 Phase Electric) engine upgrade.

9 mine - Refers to the 9th Mine Trick and anything associated with this ability.

A

Abs - Refers to (Absorbant) armor upgrade.

APC rush - Building a Vehicle Factory at the beginning of the game, constructing an APC from it, getting all players inside it, and then driving off to the enemy base to quickly destroy their barracks and CV before they have defense.

Arty - Artillery Vehicle. Plural: 'Arties'.

Arty Whore - Unsportsmanlike use of the artillery.

Aura - Refers to the Squad Leader's power-up aura that gives nearby units improved abilities.

B

Bar - Barracks.

BE - Refers to the "Brenodi Empire" Team.

BEAR - The standard assault rifle of the Brenodi Empire's Rifleman. Not the carnivorous mammal.

BEHR - The heavier variety of the assault rifle available for the Brenodi Empire's Rifleman.

Blimb - Slang term for aircraft, which are unavailable at this time.

Blitzkrieg - Usually started when both sides decide to APC rush. In a blitzkrieg the bases will move from place to place very quickly. There's no time to build defense because it wouldn't be done before the base would be rushed, so it's better to just set up a new base elsewhere.

Boomtank - The Command Vehicle. Originates from before the Commander voting system was implemented, when new players would rush to the Command Vehicle and proceed to drive it around the map as if it were some kind of uber-tank, oblivious to its true purpose. It is ironic that some skilled players do use the Command Vehicle to destroy weak tanks or stop/slow bigger tanks allowing others to get a shot in without worrying about the target running. (For further satire, see: Noob's Guide to Empires).

C

Calculator/Calc - Engineers tool which can be used to heal/repair/build structures or units.

Cam - Surveillance camera constructed by engineers to detect near-by enemy infantry.

CDR - A prefix to the name of a map, taken to mean 'commanderless'. The only current usage of this term is in emp_cdr_canyon.

Chem - The 'Chemistry' research tree.

Chokepoint - Any point on a map that forces a team into a small geographic area--for example, a bridge, a narrow canyon, an elevator, or a gate. It is these spots in a map that are most often camped, and where battles most often take place, because both teams know that the other team must pass this particular area. These also are the routes that are most easily defendable against assault, as the assaulter is vulnerable when forced into tight quarters.

Cloaker - Typically used in emp_escort and sometimes in emp_district402; a scout with hide that has or is in the act of sneaking past your defenses to capture the flag unnoticed.

Comm – Commander.

Comm Suicide - A usually malicious act of intentionally destroying one's own Command Vehicle by driving it into an unrecoverable situation (e.g. off a high cliff or into deep water).

Coolant - Refers to the (Advanced Coolant) engine upgrade.

Crash Dumps - Files generated by the game whenever it crashes. These files contain debugging information used by developers to track down bugs responsible for the crash.

CV - Command Vehicle.

D

Death APC - Seldom used term for and APC with extensive armor, weapons, and (usually) engine upgrades.

Decon - Short for "Deconstruct"; an Engineer's ability to un-build and destroy enemy structures with the engineer tool.

E

E - East side of map / Right side of map

Engy - The Engineer class.

Engy Tool - Engineers tool which can be used to heal/repair/build structures or units.

ER - The Extended Range cannon.

ETA - Estimated Time of Arrival (e.g. "ETA armor?!" = When will armor be done)

F

Fireworks - When an engineer constructs a cluster of missile turrets to 99%, and finishes building all of them at almost the same instant. The result is a surprising barrage of missiles, often used near enemy bases to great effect.

Flip - In reference to when a vehicle is somehow turned upside down by any number of means; poor driving, collision, explosion, etc. Usually in reference to the command vehicle, when a grenadier uses the ninth mine trick. Flipped vehicles self-destruct over a short period of time to simplify game mechanics. As in "to Flip," or "has been Flipped."

G

Gameboy - Engineers tool which can be used to heal/repair/build structures or units.

Geraniums - The Uranium Machine Guns research.

Gren - The Grenadier class.

Griefer - Someone who intends to ruin the game. See 'Comm Suicide'.

H

HE - The High Explosive cannon.

Heavies - Heavy tank.

HMG - The Heavy Machine Gun, a weapon of the Rifleman.

K

Killspawn - Suiciding by typing "kill" in the console so that you can re-spawn at another spawn point elsewhere on the map. Useful emergency measure if immediate reinforcements are required.

L

Lights - Light tank.

LT - The Northern Faction Light Tank.

LT Rush - Attacking early in the game with many Light Tanks or AFVs.

Lvl/Level - In reference to turrets. Usually described in-game as a "lvl3", this being the third and most powerful variety of turret.

M

Meds - Medium tanks.

MG - Machine Gun Turret.

ML - Missile Launcher Turret.

Mowtar - Alternate spelling of the Grenadier's Mortar weapon.

N

N - North part of map / Top of map

Nade - Grenade.

Nader - Another term for a person spamming grenades.

Nadespam - The act of constantly throwing grenades into some vital area, while simultaneously restocking from an ammo box.

NE - Northeast corner of map / Upper-right corner of map

NF - Refers to the Northern Faction.

NFAR - The standard assault rifle of the Northern Faction's Rifleman.

Ninja - The attempt of a player to sneak into the enemy base and destroy key structures (especially the CV) without the enemy noticing before it is too late.

Ninjaneer - An Engineer who intends to Ninja the enemy, often utilising his grenades and Engineer's tool.

Nuketank - An Heavy tank armed with a nuclear missile. Deadly, and should be avoided at all costs by the enemy.

NW - Northwest corner of map / Upper-right corner of map

P

Paper Tank/Arty/Armor - A vehicle armored with the basic (weak) armor. Also applies to tanks that have one plate of armor on all sides, regardless of armor type.

Partyvan/Partywagon - An APC.

Pixerduduh - Vocalisation of PXR-DDH (Portable X-Ray Detection Device for Humanoids), a.k.a. an engineer-placed camera. Rarely used in-game.

Poop/Pewp - Placing a structure close to an essential area to temporarily prevent the enemy from using it. For example, a camera near a resource node so that the enemy can't drop a refinery there, or crashing a tank into the entrance of a Vehicle Factory to prevent the enemy from being able to build tanks.

PUG - Acronym of 'Pick-Up Game', a community organized match frequented by veterans of Empires. A good place to show off your skills to the best of the rest in the Empires community, or, at the very least, meet some of the regulars.

R

Rax - Abbreviation for Barracks.

Ref - Refinery.

Regen - Usually in reference to Regenerative Vehicle Armor. Sometimes refers to the Regenerate skill upgrade.

Res - Resources, the "money" for Empires and therefore required to build anything.

Rev - The act of reviving a dead player by use of the Engineer skill.

Rez - Derived from "resurrect". See 'Rev'.

RTFM - 'Read The F*cking Manual'. Popular acronym, uttered when a new player asks an obvious question.

Running - Used to indicate that the enemy command vehicle is attempting to flee from his base while being attacked, usually a last ditch effort to relocate and set up a new base elsewhere. As in, "Heads up, the comm's running!"

S

S - South side of map / Bottom side of map

Shotty - The Northern Faction Shotgun pistol.

SL - Squad Leader, the first person to join/create a squad.

Sploit - From "exploit": abusing a bug to gain an unfair advantage over the enemy. Examples include clipping into geometry, falling under the world, getting to places inaccessible by design, etc.

Spawnnkill - Getting killed the moment you spawn before you can do anything. Happens often when you are revived during a battle.

Spotting - Use of radio command or scout binoculars to mark enemy units/buildings for the sight of infantry, tanks, and artillery vehicles.

Stack/Stacked - Referring to when the teams are uneven and there are more players on one team than the other.

Stalingrad - When one team has almost defeated the other team, but ends up losing because they run out of tickets before the other team, and soon get outnumbered.

Sticky - Also, 'to have been stickied,' and 'to stick,' this refers to the various sticky grenades used by riflemen and scouts.

Suicide - Often the last resort to getting "unstuck," or used to get somewhere else in a hurry; pulling down the console with the tilde (~) key, typing "kill" (without quotes) and pressing enter.

Suicidespawn - See killspawn.

SW - Southwest corner of map / Bottom-right corner of map

T

The Pub - Light APCs that serve no purpose other than a spawn point.

Tickets - How many more "lives" the team has to spare.

Turret Climbing - Rapidly building and trashing turrets as an engineer in means to build a "ladder" in order to get on top of high places. Often considered exploiting.

Turret Farming - Act of creating multiple turrets in a localized area.

Turrent - Common misspelling of "turret".

Turtling - Variant of 'Turret Farming', where a team relies on walls, turrets and other defensive measures to protect a small area, instead of advancing across the map.

U

Unstuck - As in the command "emp_unstuck" used to remove your avatar if it is clipped into part of the map and can't move.

V

Vanilla Tank/Arty/Armor - Refers to a tank with no upgrades.

VF - A Vehicle Factory.

W

W - West side of map / Left side of map

Wall (verb) - As in "to wall the (vehicle)". To rush an enemy vehicle, usually the Command Vehicle, and build walls around it, thereby trapping it.