Abbreviations

Maybe ideal for new player (under construction). So please add something useful here. Also expand into ZK slang in general, not just abbreviations.

A

• AA - Anti Air
• anni - Lucifer (anni is from Annihilator, the old name) (heavy tachyon tower)
• AoE - Area of Effect (splash damage)
• avenger - old name for Swift (multirole fighter)
• Amph - Amphibious bots
• Air - Typically plane factory; rarely gunships.

B

• Bantha - Old name for Paladin
• BB - Big Bertha - the long range cannon
• BD - Revenant, comes from old name Black Dawn - Heavy Raider/Assault gunship
• behe - Cerberus, from old name Behemoth
• BP - buildpower - the speed at which constructors/factories convert resources to units
• BW - BlastWing - flying bomb unit

C

• CA - Complete Annihilation - ZK's direct ancestor game. Also the Complete Annihilation award (for dealing the most damage).
• cata - Merlin. From the old name, Catapult. - artillery strider
• CCR - Comet Catcher Redux - the flat vehicle map
• chix - Chickens, a Tower Defense style game mode
• com(m) - Commander - the starting unit
• con - Constructor - any mobile unit with ability to build stuff
• cooked - destroyed, usually about players (but sometimes also individual units). See also: lobster
• CS - ChainSaw - Long Range Anti Air

D

• det - (also detri) - Detriment (the largest strider)
• DDM - Desolator, formerly known as the Doomsday Machine - heavy defensive structure
• DF - DeinFreund - one of the developers
• dgun - Disintegrator Gun - class of special weapons that need manual activation using "D" key - for example Dante's missile volley or special commander weapons
• domi - Dominatrix (capture vehicle)
• DPS - Damage Per Second
• DRP - Disco Rave Party - the superweapon
• Drop - A "drop" happens when units are loaded into transports and then "dropped" somewhere, like the enemy base
• DSD - Delta Siege Dry - a popular teams map

E

• E - Energy - the resource
• eco - Economy - all resource-producing units and buildings
• Elo - a rating system used for balancing games basing on estimated players skill (on which ZK's ladder ratings used to be based on)
• EMP - ElectroMagnetic Pulse - paralyzer weapons, can also be used to mean an air player using thunderbird.

F

• FFA - free for all - a match with 3+ teams
• fac- Factory - building that produces mobile units
• FW - Firewalker (artillery bot)
• fus - Fusion Reactor
• Firepluk award - Named after the player Firepluk; When a player resigns very early into the game but ends up winning anyways.

G

• gaetor - Scorcher (formerly known as Instigator)
• geo - Geothermal Powerplant or the spot where it can be built (also geospot)
• GF - GoogleFrog - one of the lead developers
• GS - Gunships
• golly or Goli - Cyclops, formerly known as Goliath (heavy tank)
• grid - energy grid - system of connected energy sources, part of overdrive. Structures are in the same grid if their "circles" touch.

H

• HLT - Heavy Laser Tower (Stinger)

I

• icy - Icy Run v2, a popular map for (very) high density casual teamgames
• IoG - Isle of Grief, a map

J

• JJ - JumpJet factory

K

• KR - KingRaptor - one of the core developers (currently known as Histidine)

L

• Licho - old name for Likho (heavy bomber plane). Also one of the core developers.
• link - to link disconnected parts of energy grid together OR to link shields together
• LLT - Light Laser Tower (the Lotus turret)
• lobster - a taunt for a player who hasn't performed well in ongoing or previous battle(s).
• LoS - line of sight
• LV - Light Vehicles (Factory) - LV got renamed to Rover factory

M

• M - Metal - the resource
• merl - Impaler (formerly known as Merl)
• mex - Metal Extractor, to mex - the action of constructing extractors on untapped metal spots
• morph - to upgrade a commander or a geothermal generator
• moho - old name for Advanced Geothermal
• MT - Missile Tower (the Picket turret)

N

• nano - Caretaker nanolathe tower (static constructor)
• nap - to kidnap - usually "comnap" - capture enemy commander with air transport
• NullAI - a "sandbox" skirmish opponent which does nothing, sometimes used as an insult

O

• OD - OverDrive - overdrive pumps spare energy to metal extractors to improve their output, see economic section of the manual.
• OP - OverPowered - something is considered too good for its cost (e.g. a unit/module/ability). Also forum abbreviation for original poster, the person who started the current thread.
• OTA - (Original) Total Annihilation - a 1997 RTS game which ZK started out as a mod of (where "original" is to refer to the retail game as opposed to the collection of the various other mods it spawned)
• owled - weak enough it might as well not be in the game

P

• pene - Lance. From old name penetrator. (hovercraft artillery)
• porc - (from porcupine) - heavy defenses, usually useless
• porcing - playing too defensively, not taking enough land
• PW - PlanetWars - the online multiplayer campaign
• plop (fac) - deploying your first factory, which is free and builds instantly

R

• rec - Reclaim - command to recycle units, wreckages and map features
• ress/rez - Ressurection (common misspelled version of resurrection) - ability to recreate a unit from its wreckage

S

• SD - Stardust
• singu - Singularity Reactor - most powerful, and most dangerous energy-producing structure
• Shadow - old name for Raven (bomber plane)
• shiny - huge explosion caused either by nuke, advanced geothermal or destruction of Singularity Reactor. Can also be used when a lot of bombs chain explode.
• skydust - Stardust on a terraformed spire
• Starlulz - Starlight
• stiletto - old name for Thunderbird (disarming plane)
• SSB - Small Supreme Battlefield - a remake of Seton's Clutch, the iconic map from Supreme Commander
• selfd - Self Destruct - usually meant as an encouragement to self destruct all your things using CTRL+A, CTRL+D keys to end the game; sometimes to self destruct a single unit for its powerful death explosion
• shield-ball - A group of units that have shields, usually containing thugs, felons, and possibly an aspis (mobile area shield)

T

• TB - Thunderbird - area disable bomber plane.
• terra - Terraform - a way to modify map's landscape
• tit d - Titan Duel, a popular map
• Trollcom - a frontline commander with a lot of investment, typically a disintegrator gun commander with high movement speed.

U

• ubermex - a metal extractor spot with much more yield than usual (4+ while typical mex is 2)
• UP - UnderPowered - something is considered too weak for its cost (e.g. a unit/module/ability)
• Ulti - Ultimatum - cloaked anti-heavy strider

V

• vamp - Hawk (formerly known as Vamp, now Raptor, air superiority fighter)
• vindi - Hercules (formerly known as Vindicator)

W

• WHR - Whole History Rating - the rating system used for the ZK ladder. See also: Elo.
• Wubbernaut - A new player. Comes from wub (similar to nub) + naut (to explore).

Z

• ZK - Zero Kelvin - the name of this game