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 [1].
• Air — Typically plane factory; rarely gunships.

B

• Bantha — Old name for Paladin.
• BB — Big Bertha [2] — 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 [3] — 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 [4] — the flat vehicle map.
• chix — Chickens [5], a Tower Defense style game mode.
• com(m) — Commander [6] — the starting unit.
• con — Constructor [7] — any mobile unit with ability to build stuff.
• cooked — destroyed, usually about players (but sometimes also individual units). See also: lobster.
• CS — ChainSaw [8] — Long Range Anti Air.
• crow — mispronounced Krow.

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 [9] — the superweapon.
• Drop — A "drop" happens when units are loaded into transports and then "dropped" somewhere, like the enemy base.
• DSD — Delta Siege Dry [10] — a popular teams map.

E

• E — Energy [11] — 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 [12] — 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 [13] or the spot where it can be built (also geospot).
• GF — GoogleFrog - one of the lead developers.
• GS — Gunships [14].
• golly or Goli — Cyclops, formerly known as Goliath (heavy tank).
• grid — energy grid - system of connected energy sources, part of overdrive [15]. Structures are in the same grid if their "circles" touch.

H

• HLT — Heavy Laser Tower (Stinger).

I

• icy — Icy Run v2 [16], a popular map for (very) high density casual teamgames.
• IoG — Isle of Grief, a map [17].

J

• JJ — JumpJet factory, now Jumpbot 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 Assembly.

M

• M — Metal [18] — the resource.
• merl — Impaler (formerly known as Merl).
• mex — Metal Extractor, to mex [19] - 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".
• porc — (from porcupine) - heavy defenses, usually useless.
• porcing — playing too defensively, not taking enough land.
• PW — PlanetWars [20] — the online multiplayer campaign.
• plop (fac) — deploying your first factory, which is free and builds instantly.

R

• rec — Reclaim [21] — command to recycle units, wreckages and map features.
• ress/rez — Ressurection [22] (common misspelled version of resurrection) — ability to recreate a unit from its wreckage.

S

• SD — Stardust [23].
• singu — Singularity Reactor [24] — 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 [25] spire.
• Starlulz — Starlight.
• stiletto — old name for Thunderbird.
• sumo — old name for Jugglenaut.
• SSB — Small Supreme Battlefield [26] — 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.

T

• TB — Thunderbird [27] — area disable bomber plane.
• terra — Terraform [28] — a way to modify map's landscape.
• tit d — Titan Duel [29], 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 [30] — cloaked anti-heavy strider.

V

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

W

• warrior — old name for Reaver.
• 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