"Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things."
-Dan Quayle

Terms and Glossary

        Well let's see if we can't decipher some of this nonsense. This is just to help you figure out what people are talking about when you walk into a multiplayer game and they are asking you things like "Do you have CC and GD2? We're playing GW rules and no EMG."
       Some of these will be pretty obvious, just bear with me here. Also, when I mention unit names I might list both the ARM and CORE names for units that are common to both sides. The ARM name will always come first ie: ARMname/COREname.

• Adv    Advanced, meaning the 2nd and 3rd level units, weapons and factories. For example, Adv. Con Veh (Advanced Construction Vehicle).
• BB   "Big Bertha", ARM long range artillery cannon. Sometimes used to mean "Intimidator" as well, since it is the CORE equivalent of the BB.
• BT   This can actually mean 2 things; the Battle Tactics expansion pack or "Build Time". Build Time is a set amount of time to wait on the game clock before anyone is allowed to attack each other. This is a rule for people who hate getting attacked early in a game. You might see "20 min BT" in the game info. It's not really that common for people to use Build Times anymore but you might still see it in newer players' games.
• CC, TA:CC   Core Contingency expansion pack.
• Com   Commander
• Con   Construction unit, be it Vehicle, Kbot, Aircraft etc. Sometimes it is followed by an abbreviation of the type such as "Con veh" or "Con air".
• D-gun, -gunned, -gunning,   Disintegrator Gun, the Commander's main weapon.
• Def, Defs   "Defender" Missile Turret, sometimes also refers to CORE "Pulverizer".
• E   Energy
• EMG   Energy Machine Gun. This is an ARM-only weapon carried by the Peewee and Warrior Kbots, Flash tank and Brawler gunship. It is a rapid-fire weapon that is known to create a lot of lag mainly from the amount of packets it sends out and the large amount of sound effects that it creates. Sometimes (because of this lag) players will not allow EMG in their games meaning that you cannot build any of the above-listed units. Also when EMG is banned it is often a given that the CORE equivalent units are not allowed as well. This means the A.K. kbot, Instigator tank and Rapier gunship (these units do not have EMG, but fill the same niche as the ARM units mentioned above).
• GW   Ground War. A set of rules often played on the 3rd Party map Great Divide 2 (GD2). These rules mean that you can use only ground units and stationary turrets (except the BB). It allows No aircraft, No nukes and No long range Bertha cannons.
• HCW    Hard Core Wars. A set of rules developed right here at the Moldy Crouton. Click the link for details.
• HLT    Heavy Laser Turret/Tower, "Sentinel/Gaat Gun".
• LLT    Light Laser Turret/Tower.
• M    Metal.
• Marathon/PD Marathon    A complex set of rules usually played on the map Painted Desert (PD). It often involves a Build Time of 10 mins or more and No Aircraft, No EMG, 2 nuke launchers per team, 1 "Vulcan/Buzzsaw" cannon per team and sometimes a rule that no first level tanks/kbots are allowed.
• Mex    Metal Extractor.
• MT    Missile Turret/Tower. "Defender/Pulverizer".
• Nano-stall, Stall    Attempting to build with a shortage of metal or energy or both. All currently building units and plants will only build in bursts (as resources come in). Early on this can cost you the game if you try to build more than your intake of resources.
• Porc, Porcing    From Porcupine, I believe. Playing super defensively/fortress building. Basically making a well defended base up in the corner and making your enemy attack you while you build big weapons and resource units. The term is often used negatively, as people get annoyed with this tactic quite often. But hey, it's part of TA.
• Timmy   "Intimidator", CORE long range artillery cannon. See also BB.

Map Abbreviations

Commonly used abbreviations for some of the more popular maps.

• CPIA   Core Prime Industrial Area
• DS   Dark Side
• GD2   Great Divide 2
• GoW   Gods of War
• HCW    Hard Core Wars
• KOTH   King of the Hill
• KTM   Kill the Middle
• JP   John's Pass
• LHG   Lava High Ground
• MH, MH2    Metal Heck, Metal Heck 2
• PD   Painted Desert
• PnP, P&P   Plains and Passes
• TCP   The Cold Place
• RR, RR North   Red River, Red River North (2 seperate maps)

TA Beginner's Guide Main

Moldy Crouton Main