30 replies to this topic

[Bulletsponge0]

As a relatively new player to the online version, and the forums, I see people using acronyms and jargon that I can't seem to decipher. So I was wondering if someone could make a glossary of some of th more commonly used jargon to make things easier to understand. Most confusing to me are terms like "meta", "Elo", "dakka" and others.

Thanks in advance.

[Modo44]

You can find previous attempts via the search function.

"Meta" refers to mechs, loadouts, and tactics used by successful competitive teams in 12 vs 12 matches. This trickles down to public matches, which is why you see some common setups, like AC5+PPC mixes on jump-capable mechs.

"Elo" refers to a skill tracking system originally developed for chess. MWO has a version of it implemented in its matchmaking. "Elo" can also mean a player's perceived skill level (though PGI does not actually publish the values).

"Dakka" means lots of guns. Literally the sound multiple small guns make. In MWO, that means various mixes of AC2/AC5/UAC5 guns. I think the word origins are in the Warhammer 40K universe.

Edited by Modo44, 03 April 2014 - 04:50 AM.

[Bulletsponge0]

Modo, thanks for the info.

Modo, thanks for the info.

[CSHubert]

You're right Modo44

Dakka comes from WH40K Ork Shoota' boyz who could upgrates with "more Dakka!" -they could shoot faster.

[AlmightyAeng]

[Bulletsponge0]

Lol
message received

oh and "Ghost Badger"...are you a Wisconsin fan?

[Dracol]

LRM - Long Range Missile
SRM - Short Range Missile
Endo - Endo Steel structure upgrade (saves weight but takes up 14 crits)
Ferro - Ferro fiberous armor upgrade (saves weight but takes up 14 crits / take only after endo)
DHS - Double Heat Sink
SHS - Single Heat Sink
Poptart / Jumpsniper - jump capable mech with ACs or PPCs
AC - Autocannon
PPC - particle projection cannon
Boat - mech focused on taking multiples of a weapon type (laser boat, LRM boat, Dakka Boat)
Brawler - short range close combat mech
Squirrel - light mech that causes heavier mechs to chase em / pulls enemy out of position
TAG - target acquisition gear / Spots for LRMs / sees through ECM
ECM - electric counter measures / prevents enemies from acquiring lock
CW - community warfare

Common map jargon
Frozen City - Saddle: area just above center drop ship / can watch tunnel with seismic from this position
Crimson Straits - Cleavage: short cut valley between the two start points

[luxebo]

Dracol, on 03 April 2014 - 08:24 AM, said:

Common map jargon
Frozen City - Saddle: area just above center drop ship / can watch tunnel with seismic from this position
Crimson Straits - Cleavage: short cut valley between the two start points

Didn't know either of these terms, thanks!
A couple more to reference though just in case. Alcatraz is the giant building in River City (the one nearest the bottom of the map and people like to snipe from there.)
The Mountain in Alpines is referring to the giant one. The one where everything is fought over.
The HPG in HPG Manifold (hyperpulse generator) is the giant satellite dish in the biggest building, basically bottom and upper layer.
Just a couple more things.

Edit: DavidHurricane's pinned list of all tools of the trade is up there, take a good look at that.

Edited by luxebo, 03 April 2014 - 10:50 AM.

[AlmightyAeng]

These are some of the terms that I often see/use...I'll add more as I think of them.

Map Lingo

Crimson Straits - The raised hill between the two start points, above the tunnels/platform is also referred to as 'The Saddles.'

Alpine - I9,H9 is known as 'The Hill' and in recent weeks has become a focal point for engagements. The hill with the large radio tower is often called 'The Tower.'

River City - The raised terrain on one side is known as 'upper city,' across the map, the lowered city area is commonly referred to as 'Lower City.' The island in the middle is sometimes called 'Alcatraz' by players.

Caustic - The middle of the map is called the Caldera. The long, straight approach sheltered in a valley on the right side of the map is often called the '3 line' because it follows that grid designation.

Forest Colony - Land or Water is something you'll hear. It refers to the two approaches between bases...one is through the water, the other is over land. 'Tunnel' and 'Arch' refers to the tunnel on the land approach and the archway outside one exit. It's often a place for ambushes.

Mech Lingo

D-DC - The variant of the Atlas that can carry ECM. It's scary because it's large, heavily armed and has ECM, thus avoiding your radar. Fear it.

Fatlas - The Founder's Atlas, whose designation is (F)Atlas. Hence, Fatlas.

3L - Refers to a Raven (light mech) carrying ECM.

Boomjager - A Jager carrying 2xAC20's.
Gaussjager - A Jager carrying 2xGauss.
(see also Gausskitty and Boomcat...Catapult K-2 with the same loadouts).

Splatcat - a Catapult A1 with nothing but SRM's.
Streakcat - a Catapult A1 with nothing but SSRM2's.

SSRMs - Streak short range missiles (the ones that lock on). Also called 'streaks.'

UAV - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle - a consumable module that, when used, cancel out ECM and provides targeting information in its immediate vicinity. It can be shot down.

Arty - Artillery Strike - a consumable module that calls in an artillery strike. The targeted area is designated by red smoke for several seconds before it hits. Run away.

Airstrike - Same thing as arty, except the explosions travel in a line, instead of being centered in one area.

Chat Lingo

Spot - To target something so that the rest of your team can ALSO see it on radar. Also used in reference to a mech bringing TAG, Narc or UAV to cancel ECM, 'spotting' for it's team to use missiles.

Balanced - a loadout comprised of multiple weapons systems, ie, Missiles, Energy and Ballistics.

Drop - To play this game, it's a reference to lore. In lore, Mech's are deposited on the battlefield via Dropships...hence they are dropped. E.g. "Dropped last night with a couple guys running Jagermechs."

Cherry - used to indicate severely damaged internals as a point to focus fire on. E.g. "That atlas has a cherry torso."

Crit - often used to reference a section that is no longer unarmored. Also used as a synonym for cherry. E.g. "That Atlas is crit CT."

CT - Center Torso
LT - Left Torso
RT - Right Torso

XL - XL Engine. An engine that is lighter in terms of tonnage, but sits in all three torso slots. A mech carrying one will be destroyed if ANY torso is blown...not just the CT. Eg "That Jager has a crit RT...prolly XL." He's telling you to hit the crit RT because it'll kill it.

PuG's - Pickup Group...a random group of players instead of one that is actively a 'team,' dropping into game solo.

TS - Teamspeak, a third party VOIP. Incredibly useful.

Vent - Ventrilo, another third party VOIP. Less common in this game than TS, generally.

gg - Good game

glhf - Good luck, have fun

ggclose - originally intended to congratulate an opponent on a VERY close victory...these days too many people use it on games that are totally lopsided...whereupon is becomes an insult.

Steamrolled - A game where the winning team does so without losing a single mech, i.e., 12-0.

Cap - To Capture, in reference to bases in Conquest and Assault mode.

A line, B line, 4 line, 6 line etc - Used to refer to area and direction of moving mechs. E.g. "They're in H9 moving down the H line"

If you're in comms you'll often hear target designations (sometimes typed in chat, too) calling things Alpha, Bravo, Charlie...these refer to the letters above the heads of enemy targets. E.g. "Focus fire on Charlie (C), secondary target is Hotel (H). Golf (G) is a missleboat, watch out."

Edited by Ghost Badger, 03 April 2014 - 11:22 AM.

[Dracol]

luxebo, on 03 April 2014 - 10:49 AM, said:

Didn't know either of these terms, thanks!
A couple more to reference though just in case. Alcatraz is the giant building in River City (the one nearest the bottom of the map and people like to snipe from there.)
The Mountain in Alpines is referring to the giant one. The one where everything is fought over.
The HPG in HPG Manifold (hyperpulse generator) is the giant satellite dish in the biggest building, basically bottom and upper layer.
Just a couple more things.

Edit: DavidHurricane's pinned list of all tools of the trade is up there, take a good look at that.

Alcatraz, that's a new one for me and pretty cool to boot. I've usually heard the River City central building refereed to as Citadel

Ghost Badger, on 03 April 2014 - 10:59 AM, said:

[snip]

Nice list Badger. I had forgotten about the mech build specific nicknames.
Some to add to the list:
Tetatae - Raven with an AC/20 (named after the only alien race in Battletech)
Atlai - Plural of Atlas
3M - ECM carrying Cicada 3M

[Koniving]

Bulletsponge0, on 03 April 2014 - 04:24 AM, said:

Thanks in advance.

I started on this ages ago with more gameplay-oriented phrases.
See this post, scroll to the spoiler, then scroll to the bottom at "Some Definitions."

[ThatBum42]

NATO phonetic alphabet:


Note that when referring to capture points in Conquest, the Greek alphabet is used. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, etc. This is because nav points in previous MW games have traditionally used the Greek alphabet.

[Takashi Uchida]

Some random ones not mentioned yet:

Thunderdome: The area in Terra Therma where there is a metal structure above a pool of lava. Commonly a place of much grief because of folks complaining about their team blocking the entrances.



Basement: The "underground" part of HPG Manifold below the giant satellite area.



Zombie: A mech that can remain effective in combat after having lost both arms and torsi. This means the mech is running a standard engine and has head or center torso mounted weapons. Commonly seen in the Centurion.

o7, <o, \O, etc: A "salute" gesture used at beginnings of games. Basically, another form of glhf.

Locks: Commonly in the form of "press r for locks," "hold locks plz," "r for rain." etc. Said by LRM-carriers at the start of a match to indicate that they want you to target enemies so they can use their missiles more effectively.

Premade: A person or lance not playing solo. Basically, not pugging.

Cored: Used to indicate a mech whose torso (usually used to refer to the center torso) has been stripped of armor and is vulnerable to internal damage. ie. "Focus Atlas, he's cored out."

Disco, dc, dc'd: Used to refer to a player who has been disconnected from the game

Fatty: Used to refer to a slow, heavily armed and armored assault mech,

Hugger: A mech or playstyle of extremely close ranged combat. Also used to refer to the action of literally pushing up against a mech or a terrain feature such as a ridge.

Shoulder: A side torso. ie "Right shoulder"

E-peen: Your internet "male genitalia". Used to mock those who boast about their mechwarrior online prowess.

Edited by Takashi Uchida, 03 April 2014 - 05:03 PM.

[Bulletsponge0]

all these are great...thanks fellas

(didn't have this lingo ages ago when I last played Ghost Bear's Legacy)

[Koniving]

ThatBum42, on 03 April 2014 - 02:43 PM, said:

NATO phonetic alphabet:


Note that when referring to capture points in Conquest, the Greek alphabet is used. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, etc. This is because nav points in previous MW games have traditionally used the Greek alphabet.

While true, there's some amendments to this.
It was only the Clans that used Greek.
"Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon" was a Clan thing.

Specifically different factions use different versions of the 1950s to 1980s nato alphabet.
In Mechwarrior 3, the Steiner-Davion assault to annihilate Clan Smoke Jaguar in what is called Operation Bulldog. The specific mission(campaign) played is codenamed Damocles.
In throughout the game, waypoints (titled OpPoints short for Operational Waypoints) are labelled as "Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, Fox, George."

Liao has their own version of this alphabet, as does the Draconis Combine.

[Koniving]

Most players commonly think back to Mechwarrior 2, hence the decision to use the Greek alphabet despite how out of place it is with the Inner Sphere forces. Truth be told, most people not familiar with Battletech just liked the more exotic Clan tech and thus it rings much quicker to the mind. And hey, honestly by comparison most of the Inner Sphere mechs looked like gundams so who could blame them.

[ThatBum42]

Koniving, on 03 April 2014 - 05:41 PM, said:

-stuff-

I see. Most of my BattleTech experience has been MW4, and watching a MW3 let's play.

Also, I hold an amateur radio license, so that's probably skewing my preference for phonetic alphabet...

[Alaskan Nobody]

Koniving, on 03 April 2014 - 05:44 PM, said:

who could blame them.

There will always be somebody who will.

[Bulletsponge0]

Koniving, on 03 April 2014 - 02:38 PM, said:

I started on this ages ago with more gameplay-oriented phrases.
See this post, scroll to the spoiler, then scroll to the bottom at "Some Definitions."

"Distress Signal." A distress signal is performed by rapidly pressing the Target key when faced with multiple enemies. This is done for two reasons; it marks where a large number of enemy forces are, and as a call for help. Those who respond to the distress signal will begin moving towards the targets (but usually will not go all the way there; just closer). This is your chance to RUN! The allies responding to the signal can provide cover.

THis...this is probably the best piece of advice from your "Some definitions"....

if more people would recognize that and understand what it means situationally, many games would have better outcomes for me

[Shatterpoint]

I just learnt stuff too, I endorse this topic.