SMAC....dictonary?

Comstr · June 21, 2002, 10:42

A long time ago on a message board far far away....(this one??)

I rembember reading a very funny thread on dictonary "terms" as used in SMAC. Like "Ponding" - What happens when Planet Busters get loose - usage - "Miram's island was full of ponds after she was stupid enough to declare vendette on me" etc etc.

Does anyone have it saved or linked? I seem to remeber it being on a web site somewhere too, but I havn't been able to come across it for a long time.

BigRich · June 21, 2002, 12:37

Dunno if it's what you remember, but give this a whirl.

http://ac.strategy-gaming.com/chiron/dict.htm

Rich

RedFred · June 21, 2002, 13:47

Fishin' pond/Fission pond dates back to .owo., as do the first threads on a SMAC dictionary.

Comstr · June 21, 2002, 23:46

That's close enough thanks!

What was .owo.? I guess it's gone?

Maniac · June 22, 2002, 09:05

The first official SMAC forums of Firaxis.
www.alpha.owo.com if I recall directly.

bondetamp · June 22, 2002, 10:12

Quote:

Originally posted by BigRich
Dunno if it's what you remember, but give this a whirl.

http://ac.strategy-gaming.com/chiron/dict.htm

Rich

I remember that one!

I remember thinking that

Quote:

methadone n.
Something you use to keep your mind off SMAC when you can't get a fix.

was very amusing.

Vanguard · June 22, 2002, 10:42

A
aerial blockade
(tactic) Blocking reinforcements by attacking from the far side of a city with your aircraft (cover the roads). Works well with the cheap Kamikaze units. [couslee] Using aircraft to block a road, chokepoint, or other passage. ViVicdi notes; The aerial blockade works best with FIGHTERS, because if the foe tries to remove the blockade with fighters you're an even match. (SAM ground troops will annihilate your aircraft regardless of their mods ... but the AI, while good with the AAA defensive response, doesn't really do the SAM Rover thing much ...)

Air-Land Battle Plan, the
(strategy) Proper implementation of this strategy requires a division of labor. An enemy faction builds the land units while you build the air units. Then you use your air units to destroy his land units. Simple! [Marslow]

Air-Show
When the AI, for Reasons of Its Own, uses huge stacks of Needlejets to overfly your territory. AKA: Skyshow, Blue Angels [TheRob, et al.]

alliteracy

(meta concept)Not been able to spell to gud. [Cris "Please Punctuate For Programmer To Parse" Pine] Testimonials

anti-unemployment measures
(game concept)Making the populace happy by turning unemployed people (drones) into Specialists, for no other reasons than to prevent drone riots.[tOFfGI]

Archons
(forum members) Forum members who joined the forums before the release of the first SMAC demo. Editor's Note: Little is known about these mysterious beings, who inhabited the forums long ago, when SMAC was just a primordial stew of algorithms and functions. They are rumored to be creatures of enormous power and intellect, but the evidence on this point is ambiguous and their true nature remains obscure. It is not even known if the have physical form, as we do, or if they instead exist as pure mental energy, communicating with the forums through some form of Mind-Machine Interface. AKA: The First Ones, The Old Ones. ALSO: Great Old One, an Archon of superior achievement.

artwork
Artillery bombing a city defence low making it easier for your troops to capture.[RetroVirus2000]

argyle socks
Low tech units given to you by a Pact brother/sister, particularly when they cause a high tech unit to be disbanded. "Gee, thanks. They're just what I've always wanted." [McGeorge]

Army Laundering
(stratagem) AKA: Pacifist Punishing. Building a "Punishment Sphere" in a well-protected base & sending attack units with "Clean Reactor" to be supported from there so as to "launder" ALL pacifist penalties through that one base. [tOFfGI]

Attack to Defend
(tactic) Defending a base or other position by attacking enemy units moving adjacent to it, before those enemy units can themselves attack. Especially useful against infantry and mindworms. [Windwolf] AKA: Roman Defense, from the Roman Scenario in Civ2, where the tactic was invaluable [Victor Galis]. AKA: Offensive Defense {cousLee].

attack toilets
Using a 1 offense defender to attack units outside the city. i.e. "My Plasma Sentinels faced better odds as attack toilets against Miriam's Missile Rover- they'd be destroyed inside the city with the rover's fanatic attack bonus and superior technology."

Away from Home penalty
(status) The unrest that results under certain social structures (free market) when troops are out of their home territory. [ed ]

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B
Babykiller penalty
(game concept) In a pacifist society, the increase in drones caused by bombers. AKA: The Dresden Factor [unknown]

banked artifact
(stratagem) Artifact held in reserve so as to increase the value of the technology it will yield. [ViVicdi]

Barbarians
(forum members) In Civ2, barbarians were the hostile forces frequently found inhabiting Goody Huts. In these forums it refers to posters who think SMAC is overrated or that it is not as good a game as CIV2 was. Editor's note: These poor deluded souls are more deserving of our sympathy than our censure. I've been praying for them lately.

bargain price
(stratagem) When Hurry building an item, this is the lowest Partial Payment you can make that still completes the item in one turn. For instance, you want to Hurry build a Gatling Rover and the computer asks you to pay 80 credits to do it. It would take 4 turns to complete it normally. So if you make a partial payment of 60, the unit will still be done next turn, but you save 20 credits. Human behavior is economic behavior. Editor's Note: To be exactly precise, count the number of minerals needed for completion, subtract the number of minerals the base will produce next turn and multiply this result times the mineral cost. Enter this amount in the partial payment box. Got all that? AKA: Bargain Shopping, the Wholesale Price, Get it Wholesale!. [several authors]

Baron-Krypto Space-Puppy
(Secret Phenomenon) The Image of a dog with an egg-shaped head found in the Icons.pcx file... [tOFfGI]

base stealing
(event, tactic) From "steal a base" (baseball term). Capturing a colony whose defenders have been eliminated by another faction (including the Eighth Faction). "I was pummeling the UoP when Miriam came along and stole the base." [kjchen]

Beanstalk
(special project) The Space Elevator.[unknown]

BEF
(special purpose units) Believer Expeditionary Force (acronym). A large Believer army landed in enemy territory to meet the people of an exotic and interesting faction, and kill them.[ed.]

Believers
(faction name) Properly "The Lord's Believers." AC faction overseen by Sister Miriam Godwinson. Her mission is to bring the Lord's Truth to Chiron. AKA: the bible thumpers, the bible bashers, the Monkees (referring to the song 'I'm a Believer and also to Miriam's hair-do) [ed.] MW Strategy

Mr Benny
(noun) Player who continually indulges in the extra time and keystrokes necessary for bargain shopping each facility or unit, while maintaining a six-figure energy reserve. "Chris may use the computer as soon as MR. BENNY finishes his turn." (May be incomprehensible to those under 40.)[TenMoons] Editor's Note: The reference is to comedian Jack Benny, who liked to make fun of his own penny-pinching. I got it and I'm well under 40!

Black Hole Defense
(tactic) Tactic used by a hemmed in faction that destroys any unit that enters their territory. [John_Galt]

blah
(word) The precise meaning of this word is unknown. [TG: Blah SMAC blah blah CIV2 blah!, Outlyr242 the rebirth]

Blatant Senseless Power Play (BSPP)
(Strategy if you really want to call it that) Human player deliberately attacking or picking a fight with a much more powerful opponent for the drama or humor of the situation. [McGeorge]

Bluehatch
(verb)To upgrade all roads on a continent to mag tubes to make the map look better. "Garland Crater looks just like a big doily, now that I've BLUEHATCHED it."[TenMoons]

Bonehead Manoeuvre
(event) When a powerful enemy faction, for no particular reason at all, surrenders. For example, SPARTANS (Seething): "Give me all your tech or you die." You: "No!" Spartans (Seething): "Let's sign blood truce." You: "No." Spartans (Seething): "I'll give you all my tech and money if you do." You: "No, but I'll let you off if you swear pact." Pretty ridiculous, but it's happened more than once in this game.[Elemental]

box of chocolates
(terrain feature) A Unity Pod. (You never know what you'll get.) AKA: Can of Worms, Goody Huts. [Civ Term. In this forum, the term originates from tOFfGI]

brand new car
(unit)A Unity Rover suddenly found in a pod. "Why, it's a Brand New Car!" [Khan Singh]

Bread and Circuses
(base facilities) Drone reducing facilities [DHE_X2]

Buck Rogers stuff
A general term for very high-tech units or facilities, e.g. Gravships, anti-grav struts, the Space Elevator. Generally this "stuff" only becomes widely available in the Twenty-Fifth Century. "I stayed on the defensive until I developed the Buck Rogers stuff. Then I destroyed the Hive in twenty turns."[ed]

Buddy Holly
(stratagem, tactic) The deliberate placement of units near a rival faction's city causing needlejets that were sent out by that city on a previous turn to take a longer route on the flight home, causing the air units to run out of fuel and crash. Miriam once declared vendetta against me and sent out about six or seven needlejets from her closest city. Unfortunately for her, my closest city was one square beyond the jet's range. She couldn't even attack. I moved some seaformers and a transport near the city they launched from, directly in the jets' flight path. I watched in amusement as every jet crashed one square from its home base due to my Buddy Holly maneuver. "Bye, bye Lady Deirdre Skye, I drove the Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry. Those good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye and singing this'll be the day that I die."[Alphagene]

Build Up, the (AKA 'What the hell is that?')
(event) As many new players of SMAC will attest to, the shock experienced when they see a huge massed army bearing down on them is second to none. These newbies may have been veterans of Civ2, but it takes a strong willed player to realise that he'll have to switch his entire faction to a war footing in order to beat back the attackers. Most usually experience when the Spartans/Believer/Hive are nearby. [Elemental]

Burnt Soil tactics
(tactic)Killing one of your own cities if it is imminent that it will be captured. AKA: Scorched Planet tactics [tOFfGI, Retro Virus2000]

Buying the Win
(event) Having enough money to build the Transendence Project in one turn from a standing start.[Lone War]

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C
canary
(special purpose unit) Unarmed unit used defensively in peacetime to avoid support / unrest penalties. Like the stalking horse, the canary provides early warning of a hostile's intent with minimal investment. (I used Caravans in Civ to block Diplomats, guard borders, etc. Attacking a Caravan guaranteed extinction.) Synonyms: Roman Diplomat, Texas Ranger (both groups used a single, often unarmed diplomat to negotiate, and ruthlessly crushed anyone who harmed him.)[ViVicdi]

cannon fodder
(special purpose units) Weak units sent in to keep another faction leader distracted.[4Horses]

carpet-bombing
The practice of using very large numbers of needlejets or gravships to remove every instance of terraforming from a city's surroundings. Best done with 32 carpet bombers launched at close range from a Aircraft Carrier (haven't tried making a Submarine Aircraft Carrier) [maestro] AKA: Scalping [elodia]

caviar units
(game option) Units with higher quality graphic icons. [TG: Jeffery Morris]

cherry picking
(strategy) Making a concerted effort to build new bases in "special areas" like Monsoon Jungle, Geothermal Shallows, etc., instead of expanding according to the more orthodox "defensible territory" model. [ViVicdi]

checkpoint
(base location) A base built on a CHOKEPOINT to act as a defensive fortress and to prevent enemy movement into your territory. Frequently such a base can also be used as a PANAMA CANAL. [Khan Singh]

chemistry set
(special purpose units) Large group of nerve gas units [DHE_X2]

Chiron
(proper name) Name of the planet in the Alpha Centauri system that SMAC takes place upon. Chiron is a terrestrial planet with liquid water and has an atmosphere well suited to earth vegetation, but unbreathable by humans. It is warmer than Earth and has a slightly higher gravity. Chiron supports considerable indigenous life. SEE ALSO: PLANET [ed.]

chokepoint
(terrain feature) A narrow neck of land connecting your territory with an enemy's territory. [Khan Singh]

CIV
(game) Abbreviation of Civilization. Civilization, and Civilization 2 were the games designed by Sid Meier and Brian Reynolds before FIRAXIS. They are widely regarded as among the best computer games ever made. [ed.]

claim jumping
(tactic)Placing supply convoys in squares that are in your opponents city radius but not currently occupied. Very useful/evil when done to your pact siblings.

Clone Wars
(forum controversy)Arguments debating the relative merits of SMAC and Civilization: Call to Power.

clustering
(strategy) Cramming bases together & remote mining special resources to dodge inefficiency penalties. {ViVicdi]

cold war
(tactic) Using Probe Teams to frame other factions continually so they'll (1)do the dirty work for you (2) be too busy fighting to expand or attack you. [PersonaNonGrata]

Corbomite Maneuver
(stratagem) 1. The AI phoning to warn you that their newly developed 1-2-1 Synthmetal Sentinels make their forces "practically invincible". 2. The AI's last pathetic attempt to make peace with you before surrendering. 3. Attempting to make peace from a disadvantageous position. [Khan Singh] "The Hive is overrunning my bases! Unless I can pull off the Corbomite Maneuver, I'm finished."

crater
(action) The action of launching planet busters toward a base, or the action of a base being hit by a planet buster missile. [Q Cubed]

Crazy Ivan
(action) Sudden shift in diplomatic policy, especially when it's from the always-erratic Russian, Zakharov. [ViVicdi]

crimson tide
(event)A wave of Mind Boils enroute to one of your bases.... "Beware the crimson tide." [4Horses]

Vanguard · June 22, 2002, 10:43

Death from Above
(tactic) Using Drop Marines after building the space elevator to blitzkrieg a faction halfway across the map. Very useful on large maps [Poppy]

Deirdre
(proper name, faction leader) The definitive pronunciation of Lt. Skye's name is ("DEE-druh, dammit!") [TG: Pronunciation, Brian Reynolds]

Demo Years
First 100 turns (duh, I can't believe this was missed. I have been using this term for a while, must be recovering from a PSI attack). [couslee]

the Dig
UoP base in center of The Ruins. [Provost Pyrexian]

diaphragm
(facility)Orbital Defense Pod.

DIP unit (Die In Place)
A over matched unit, say a former or probe team, place in a city as a last ditch defender, or placed at a strategic location to slow the enemy's advance while you marshal your forces.[Brain]

doping
(tactic) Setting Psych allocation > 0 & remote-mining & terraforming enough energy to "dope" the populace into a Golden Age. "With Democracy / Green / Wealth, a 10% psych budget, and a little doping, the Gaians can effect +2 economy in even the most remote bases." [ViVicdi]

dune buggies
(units)Early Unarmored Rovers. Also: Funny Cars---Armored Rovers. AKA: Low Riders. [Provost Pyrexian, ViVicdi]

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E
early bird
(status) First to get out needlejets;(alternate) - first to go out pod popping. [Robin of Huntingdon]

Edsel
(special purpose unit) A unit design that was a flop.[couslee]

Edsel-pruning
(game concept) You have just discovered a new reactor, and the computer tosses dozens of new designs at you. Now you have to go thru and manually delete and/or upgrade all the ones you don't want anymore... Also can become necessary if you've just put off modernizing your forces for a long time. [Provost Pyrexian]

Eighth Faction
(game concept) All those red flagged mindworms, islands and locusts, basically the planetary consciousness."I was doing well until the eighth faction snatched my forward bases." [origin unknown, def. by WyldKarde]

erythrophobia
(player reaction) Fear of the color red. "All these mindworms are giving me a case of erythrophobia." [via ThRiLL]

Eye of Chiron
(terrain feature) The little round hole at the top of Mt. Planet. AKA Little Round Top (as opposed to Big Round Top, which is the Garland Crater) [SF: Unknown]

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F
facts on the ground
(tactic) Placing small, uninvested-in cities on desirable territory in order to claim it. "Uranium Flats is over by Yang? I better get some facts on the ground over there!" Support for these cities is planned for later. AKA: Stalking Horse [ViVicdi]

Firaxis
(proper name) The fiery axis of creativity. The actual word Firaxis (Fur-ak'-sis) is the combination of words fire and axis. The word implies a red-hot wheel of creativity around which the company's efforts will revolve. [Firaxis web site, FAQ] Editor's Note: Presumably this red-hot spinning wheel produces the following products: sparks (games), light (enjoyment), heat (forum discussions), and smoke (marketing). Code Authoring Facilitation Engine

fishin' pond
(terrain feature)The large crater resulting when a Planet Buster hits a base with an advanced power plant. The hole created generally is below sea level, resulting in a 'fishin' pond'. Pronounced like "fission pond". " Boy that Gaian continent sure had a lot of fishin' ponds on it when I was through." [Lone War]

flak
(unit) A unit with AAA/SAM.

formersniping
(action) To kill non-combat units just for grins. Usage: Miriam went formersniping with a skimmer so I invaded. [Vger]

Free Market Controversy
(forum topic) Forum arguments concerning whether or not the Away from Home Penalty unfairly penalizes players and factions who use the Free Market social choice. MW Analysis

funguforming
(stratagem) Placing fungus all over your bases at the end game to get their bonuses and slow down your lower tech brethren. [futRtrubL]

fungusproofing
(tactic) Clearing the fungus around bases & roads to minimize damage to civilian infrastructure.[ViVicdi]

fungus-scrubbing
(tactic)Using a unit to patrol the fungus near your bases, to keep MW incidents to a minimum. MW seem to appear less frequently in fungus that is disturbed often.

Comstr · June 22, 2002, 12:38

Thanks for that, got the rest?

Vanguard · June 22, 2002, 19:12

Sure, sorry to post this way, but there is a 20,000 character limit now.

G
Gaians
(faction name) Properly "Gaia's Stepdaughters". Alpha Centauri faction led by Lady (Formerly Lt.) Deirdre Skye. The Gaian's feel that, if humans are to flourish on Chiron, then they must first understand Planet and then work with it. AKA: tree huggers, greenpeace. [ed.] GC Strategy Gaian Pamphlet

Gilligan's Island Hypothesis
(meta theory) A SMAC origin theory postulating a connection between the seven SMAC factions marooned on Chiron and the seven castaways washed ashore on Gilligan's Island. While most researchers do not dispute the basic validity of the theory, there is considerable disagreement about which castaway corresponds to which faction leader. All agree that the Professor represents Provost Zhakarov, and that Mr. Howell represents CEO Morgan, but no agreement has been reached on whom the others correspond to. [see TG: Hitherto unknown TV influence for SMAC, Lee Johnson, ed.] Lyrical Interlude

greener than green
(status) When you have a higher Planet value than the Gaians. {I was greener than green, I mean I had +4 planet and Deirdre had only +1} Also: PlanetFriend, A faction with Planet 3+, which mindworms fresh from the pod won't attack.[Victor Galis]

gumping
Running like hell from far superior units. "RUN FOREST, RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" [couslee]

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H
Hack Fac
(noun) A home-made faction with ludicrous advantages. "I won on turn thirty, but that was with a Hack Fac." [WyldKarde]

hard science fiction
(meta concept) "Hard" science fiction uses only scientifically accepted ideas or premises within a story. The opposite of hard sf is soft science fiction or "sci-fi" and is scorned by some purists. These readers are understandably annoyed by the outright ignorance displayed by many writers of even the most basic of scientific principles.
It should be noted however that almost all science fiction is "soft" to one degree or another. Faster-than-light drives and Psi are two prominent examples of the "soft" scientific ideas in very wide use in science fiction. Most readers willingly accept a limited number of these soft science concepts in the pursuit of good and diverse storytelling. Even most purists grudgingly accept FTL as a necessary convention of the genre.
SMAC uses a very large number of hard science premises and should be considered hard science fiction. But some elements, such as Psi, the Gaia idea, quantum energy and neutronium armor, must be considered "soft" science. On the Ellison-Brinell scale of sci-fi hardness, with a 1 equivalent to "Lost in Space" and a 10 equivalent to "Mission of Gravity", SMAC registers a very hard 8.9 rating. It can scratch transparent aluminum, but is insufficiently hard to scratch a diamondoid surface. [ed.]

hermitism
(status) Horrible affliction you get when you have no units to explore with and are not in contact with any factions. Makes for a horrible game. [DHE_X2]

Hive
(faction) Properly "The Human Hive". Communal faction controlled by Chairman Yang, former Executive Officer of the Unity. Founded to protect Chiron's new human community from the dangerous impulses of the individual. AKA: commie scum, thought police, insects. [ed.] GS Strategy

Hive Wars
(forum controversy) A long time ago, in a forum far, far away (well, anyway, a couple of months ago, in the Faction Forum) there were HIVE WARS. These were battles between the First Ones, fought using their strange "wording" weaponry. The conflict began when an avatar of the Hive Mind, calling itself "Octopus", infiltrated the forums with a powerful mind control probe. So subtle and convincing were Octopus's arguments that, had not a small band of rebels, led by Imran Siddiqi, opposed his insidious logic, everyone on Earth would now believe in.....The Hive Philosophy. Caution: Octopus escaped destruction in the final battle of this war. The other First Ones believe that he is still out there, lurking in the ether, patiently waiting for his chance to return, when the stars are right.
Editor's Note: By carefully analyzing the accounts of this war we can learn some things about the True Nature of the Archons. One of the most powerful of the Archons is named "Octopus". This name is obviously descriptive of the entity itself and we may reasonably assume from this that the Archons are large, multi-tentacled creatures. Given the prodigious feats of typing performed by this "Octopus", its tentacles must be exceptionally quick and dexterous and we may further assume that they must be controlled by a very well developed central nervous system. The name of another prominent First One, Imran Siddiqi allows us to deduce something of their method of speech. This name, completely unpronounceable by human vocal cords, indicates that the Archons communicate by some other method than we do, perhaps by sound waves of a very high frequency or possibly even by mental telepathy. Such deductions give us only an imperfect and fragmentary picture of the Old Ones, but this is probably the best reconstruction our limited knowledge of the Archons allows. [ed]

holy grail
(game concept) Research or build item so important all gameplay efforts are directed toward it. (Women's Suffrage {Civ}, Ecological Engineering{SMAC}, Plasma Gun {MoO2}, etc.) [ViVicdi]

holy trinity
(strategy) Combination of techs / build items / unit design specs which result in unprecedented synergy. (Morgan / Green / Wealth, Gene Splicing / Eco Engineering / Eco Econ, etc.) [ViVicdi]

Human Rights Campaign
Unscheduled military initiative launched by the "Peacekeepers". "Pravin Lal just went Crazy Ivan with a Human Rights Campaign!"

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I
incendiary stick figure guy
(noun)Nickname for the Transcendi Specialists.

independants
(special purpose unit, game concept) Units that cost no support, and do not generate unrest, either captured mindworms or units discovered in pods. Independent units are rare but extremely valuable, especially to Free Market economies. [tOFfGI]

industrial park
(tactic) Low-lying, landlocked, arid, probably captured site with a "Punishment Sphere", mostly forest & mine terrain, very little energy income, and usually no crawlers either, specialized for building military units & exporting portable infrastructure to more profitable bases. [ViVicdi] "This Spartan sinkhole isn't going to be of much use for anything other than an industrial park. Queue up the Punishment Sphere ..."

insecticide
(noun) A weapon, particularly Nerve Gas Pods, intended to slaughter The Hive.

instant rebate
(game concept)The energy credits you 'steal' from a base which you just mind controlled for substantially more energy.

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J
jawbreaker
(Noun, faction) A seemingly weak faction that provides unexpected resistance to invasion. [Thyerri Vespe]

Johnny Appleseed
Sending a former off to the wilds to plant forest or kelp. The intent being that these scattered forests will grow and be available later in the game when your faction colonizes the wilds. This is especially effective when combined with the Planetary Transit Wonder (all new cities are population 3). New cities planted near forests are less likely to lose population through starvation. AKA: Forest and Forget [Bluemax]

JOMTS
(medical condition) Just one more turn syndrome. The most common disease among SMACers. Ex.: I've got a mild case of the JOMTS today. [tOFfGI]

junkie
(player reaction) Someone hooked on SMAC. [Audrey Two]

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K
kamakazi
(unit) scout unit with artillery and drop pods. used to drop in enemy terr next to an enemy unit, arty the sensor array, and self destruct to damage the other unit. also good for grabbing empty cities after a bombing run. [couslee]

kill the wabbit
(strategy) Attacking an enemy's colony pods to keep that enemy from building new bases and, ultimately, to marginalize him."Kill the wabbit! Kill the WAH-BIT!" [CIV term via Khan Singh]

Vanguard · June 22, 2002, 19:14

L
laffonym
(noun) An unusual name given to a base in the hope of receiving humorous messages later in the game. "Hey, look--'Fungus expands near Phil's Butt'! Har har har! Great LAFFONYM!"

land snatching
(stratagem) Building bases as close as possible to enemy bases in order to steal their territory, and preferably a few terrain improvements in the process AKA: crowding, land grabbing. Compare: CLUSTERING)"Morgan figured I wouldn't be willing to start a war over land snatching. Boy, was he wrong." [WyldKarde]

leapfrog
(verb) To use a convoy of formers to place roads or mag tubes, as follows: Former #1 begins the road; Former #2 completes it if necessary; Former #3 moves over the new road to the next square and begins a road, etc. "Once I LEAPFROG a mag tube to Poodle Bay, the continent will be mine! Mine!" Also: Clusterforming, extreme leapfrogging.[TenMoons]

Lovely Consolation Project
A project that nobody really wants to build but that everybody switchs to when the (good) project they were building is built by someone else.[Khan Singh]
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M
Mean Green Machine
(special purpose unit) A "Trance Former" or "AAA Former" with heavy armor, presumably with good reactor to bring the cost down to something reasonable. They sit in bunkers when done terraforming to aid in defense and zoc-locking enemy units. So named because they remain primarily green in color no matter what armor is put on them. [Squire James]

methadone
(player reaction) Something you use to keep your mind off SMAC when you can't get a fix. (e.g. playing "FreeCell" on your work computer, or reading this message board) [Audrey Two]

military convoy
(special purpose units) Low-cost military units whose purpose is to disband, providing production materials to a colony. Typically, military convoys are used before Supply Crawler technology is discovered, although any obsolete unit may qualify. "I didn't have any Supply Crawlers, so I just set my base to crank out the Scout Military Convoy." [kjchen]

mindworm baiting
(tactic) Sending heavily armoured formers into enemy territory to build things such as boreholes to attract the worms.(works best against belivers or morganites-because of planet penalties) [Michael Kelly]

Mindworm Controversy
(forum topic) Forum arguments debating whether or not mindworms were too powerful, and particularly whether mindworm farming and trawling unbalanced the game in favor of the Gaians. Subsequent changes in the mindworm rules have reduced the debate. [ed.]

mindworm economy
(strategy)Situation is which most of your money is coming from killing mindworms. Ex. I was making +6 energy/turn from the normal economy, but I was making 50+/turn killing mindworms. [Victor Galis]

mindworm farm
(terrain feature) Area with lots on fungus, such as the Ruins, and monoliths to repair damaged mindworm farmers. [Victor Galis]

mindworm farming
(tactic, game concept) The capture and/or building of mindworms [ST: Mindworm Farming, The Thomas A Stobie?]

mindworm sweep
(strategy) Rushing mindworms onto an enemy. [ST: Mindworm Farming, ?]

mindworm tactics
(tactic) Because of the inherent 3-2 advantage mindworms have when they attack you, the basic anti-mindworm tactic is to attack them before they attack you. [ed.]

mindworm trawling
(stratagem, tactic) Moving around the fungus squares to generate mindworms for mindworm farming [def. tOFfGI]

mini-van
(unit) A painful synonym for the colonizer. [Lord Gek] SEE ALSO: RABBIT "Hmm, looks like high time to take out a mini-van and setup a new campsite."

Morgan Institute of Technology (M.I.T)
(holy trinity) A base with the Merchant Exchange, the Supercollider, and the Theory of Everything. (Civ II veterans might call this city Isaac Newton's College.) [Bongo] AKA: The Super Exchange of Everything

Morganites
(faction) Properly "Morgan Industries". Profit oriented Alpha Centauri faction owned by CEO Nwabudike (na-wa-bu-DI-kee) Morgan. Believe that the profit motive, constructively applied, can turn Chiron into a comfortable home for mankind. AKA: moron industries, capitalist pigs, pact rats, fat oppressors of the working man. [ed.] Strategy Morganite Pamphlet

Moron Trading Company
(stratagem) Building a bunch of crappy bases on a crappy island and using them to trade for great bases in great territory. [couslee] "I opened up a M.T.C. and really screwed the Gaians outta everything."

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N
the never-ending party
The game years following the Repeal of the U.N. Charter. [Toonces]

ninja defense kit
(tactic) The armour applied to a Probe Team to convert it into an even more antagonizing unit. [Toonces]

NIM
(word)The great object of hundreds of post of debate. Started by kamosa in the Amen Brother Greg thread. And it means... no, I'd have to use my attack toilets on you if I told you what it meant. Also: Azugal- Related to NIM. Some kind of sentient creature related to mindworms. [Snowfire]

1984
Using Police State politics, Planned economy, Power values, and Thought Control future society. I think you can figure out the reference I'm making. :-) [Catbert]

NFZ, No fly zone
Area where you use air defenders to keep airspace free from enemy aircraft. [RetroVirus2000]

Nonviolent Resistance
A double entendre' describing the paradox of a faction so overmatched that their resistance is negligible ("nonviolent resistance"), yet who resists making peace ("nonviolent resistance"). "Miriam wants Orbital Spaceflight or she'll crush me with her unbeatable Impact Rovers, huh? Oh well, more nonviolent resistance ... Release the Hounds!" [ViVicdi]

no seeums
(units) Units that are somehow camoflagued either by other units, mind worm boils, etc [4Horses]

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O
Old Terminology
"Col. Joaquim Ortega"- Who Colonel Santiago used to be. Suspicously similiar to Col. Juan Peron, Argentine dictator. Intended as bad guys, back when the Labyrinth was not really bad guys.
"Saratov"-Incorrect transliteration of Provost Zakharov's name. Used in some of the early chapters of the SMAC story. [tOFfGI]
"Labyrinth"- what the Hive used to be. Led by Dr., not Chairman, Yang. It was more based on science and control than despotism. Police/Planned/Knowledge/Thought Control makes the Hive more like the good 'ol Labyrinth.
"Archons"- The old University, led by Acadaemian Sorov, not even Saratov.
"Gaia's High Garden"- Old Gaian capital. Demoted to a standard city. If you look at Deidre's old profile, it still lists it as the cap, and it's still refrenced in the Rec Commons quote.
"Conclave/Conclavists"- Old name for Believers. Still have Conclave Bible, Conclave Oral Law though. Keepers of Wisdom- Old Peacekeeper name.[Snowfire]

Omega Centauri
Games played with altered .txt files. [Mr Smiley]

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P
Panama Canal
(base location) Base built on a narrow isthmus of land. Allows naval units to transit between two separate bodies of water.

Patty melt
Planet busting any female character's land mass. [Bluemax]

Pawn Defense
(tactic) Cramming a base with mindworms and other junk as a 1-turn defense. The enemy might win every battle next turn, but won't have enough attacks to actually take the city. [ViVicdi] Also: Lure, a cheap unit designed to lure enemy airplanes into an exposed position. [TheRob]

Peacekeepers, PK's
(faction name) Properly "UN Peacekeeping Forces". AC faction founded by Dr. Pravin Lal . Seeks to preserve the original UN mission to Alpha Centauri by reestablishing the framework of the United Nations on Chiron. AKA: blue berets, blue bonnets, soulless bureaucrats, peacekeepers (said sarcastically). [ed.]

Picard Maneuver
(stratagem) Nullifying a defeat by loading a recently saved game. [Unknown Zone member]

pipelining
(tactic) Putting a crawler far from (your) civilization on a borehole. [cousLee]

pipeline team
(special purpose units) 1 transport, 1 former, and 1 garrison for each 1 crawler, and 1 extra garrison. [cousLee]

pirates
(special purpose units) Naval probe teams [December Man]

Planet
(proper name, game concept, meta concept) The capitalized form of the word planet, Planet, refers to the overall eco-system on Chiron, and to the conciousness that seems to direct it against factions that harm that eco-system. If you believe in such nonsense. [ed.] SEE ALSO: CHIRON, EIGHTH FACTION

Planet Blindness
(medical condition)1.Inability to tell which square is which around the Garland Crater, or Mt Planet, or any high terrain. 2.Lingering visual impairment arising from (1.). "Gack. Where does that road go? I can't see! I've got Planet Blindness." [TenMoons]

Planet Buster Parfait
How "I scream" when a planet buster makes a dish out of an opponents heartland. [Bluemax]

PAGSL
(n.player reaction) an acronym for "Played Any Good SMAC lately"; used by one ICQing SMACer to another as a question; generally followed by reports of the latest Yang War.[Borodino]

podlotto
(strategy, stratagem) To go podpopping in hopes of acquiring new tech or treats. "I built a swarm of rovers to play podlotto so I can catch up to Morgan in tech." [Vger]

pod popping
(tactic, stratagem, strategy) Sending out some semi obsolete unit (typically an early rover or foil) with the chief purpose of exploring all of the pods it can. [Lord Gek] Editor's Note: Pod popping is regarded by most players as a key strategy. Generally, the benefits of playing PODLOTTO considerably outweigh its risks. It is particularly desirable to pop all the pods near an enemy faction, both to deny the enemy the benefits of popping them himself, and to force him to deal with any mindworms that may infest the pods. This is "offensive pod popping". Also note, early in the game pod popping units need not be obsolete. Any spare combat unit will do.

Poke in the Eye
My standard name for the conventional missile. [TheRob]

portable infastructure
(special purpose units) Terraformers and supply crawlers reassigned to a new colony & rapidly deployed onto choice terrain, giving the tiny colony vast, immediate production and growth. [ViVicdi]

Prayer cities
moving a colony pod unescorted through fungus thick area, founding a city, and praying that it doesn't die along the way or the city gets overrun with mindworms before it builds a defense unit. Much more common when not playing "Iron Man" mode.

Priority One Target
(player reaction) Guy that needs to die. [Robin of Huntingdon] "You planet grabbing, empire building freak! (borrowed from Deadlock) You are now a Priority One Target! You, and your little dog too! Eeeehahahaa!" [cousLee]

The Projects
(tactic) - a colony, typically with a large mineral production capacity, whose primary function is to serve as a nexus for the construction of Secret Projects. "That base is getting taken over by The Projects." [kjchen]

prune
(unit) A useless design cluttering up the unit designer, just begging to be "pruned". A dried up old design that is no longer the "plum" it used to be. "If there weren't so many prunes in my way, I could find the X Empath Chopper I want to build. Just look at all this garbage! If you listen carefully you can almost here them cry, "Prune me! Prune meeeeee!".

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Q
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R
rabbit
1. noun, a colony pod 2. verb, to rapidly increase in population by building large numbers of colony pods 3. verb, to have sexual intercourse [ CIV term, ed.] "As soon as I encountered Lady Deirdre, I cranked out my Scout and started rabbiting."

Rapid Rover Reinforcement, Triple-R
(strategy) Strategy of building bases no more than five squares from each other, so that a rover from one base can reinforce the next base down the road in only one turn (since a rover can move six spaces by road). Allows Free Market economies to maintain a credible defense without large numbers of units or 'away from home' penalties. [Khan Singh] Also: Mobile Defense Force, a group of fast units to swat invaders with. [Snowfire]

Recon Rover Rick
The Hero of the Hologram Theaters, his adventures are known by everyone from the youngest creche crawler to the oldest drone on his way to the recycling tanks. In the early days on Planet the real Rick was a rover driver noted for his courage and tenacity. Thus, when a recon rover performs exceptionally, the player often attributes the success to Rick's influence.[ed.]

remote mining
(tactic) Obtaining resources via supply crawler / trawler. [ViVicdi]

rent-a-cop
Basic Scout Infantry with the Police (and sometimes Clean) ability, used to garrison cities that are suffering attack from those notorious infinite-range Conventional Missiles. Also good in those "I built the Cloning Vats too early" emergencies.[Squire James]

retroform
(verb)--To send formers back over previously improved squares in order to optimize improvements subsequent to changes in rainfall patterns or the acquisition of new technologies. "Fort Capricorn had plenty of food after I RETROFORMED around it." [TenMoons}

roverrun
1. to overrun with rovers [tOFfGI] 2. strategy of building rovers from the start of the game and using them to attack any factions encountered. A rush using rovers. Basic Spartan strategy, but useful for others as well. [TG: Which factions are best for early victory?, Khan Singh]

Ruinville
(base location) A base in the middle of the Ruins so one can get easy upgrades to units fresh out of the factory. [MrSmiley]

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Vanguard · June 22, 2002, 19:14

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S
seabees
(unit) Heavily-armored formers, for building bunkers, airbases, sensors, etc. and, of course, Terrorforming (q.v.) in harm's way. (From WWII construction battalions [CBs--get it?], so the name applies at least as well to land as sea formers.)[Bongo]

SMAC
1. Heroin AKA: horse, smack. 2. Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (acronym) [ed.]

SMACA
An acronym of SMAC Addiction [jsorense]

SMACademy
The Forums. [Toonces]

smacanoia
(medical condition)--The sudden, overwhelming desire to check each and every city for redundant facilities, food shortages, drones, etc. "SMACANOIA strikes deep; into your life it will creep."[TenMoons] Editor's Note: I fail to see why this should be regarded as unusual behavior. Doesn't everybody re-optimize the production of each of their bases every turn?

SMAC'd
1. Way gone on SMAC 2. What happens to a city when a planet buster gets dropped on it. [JaimeWolf]

Smacophant
(forum members) Derisive Term used by BARBARIANS to refer to forumites they regard as being too Pro-Smac. [Freddz]

SMAC-Talk
1. refers to the postings on the forums; esp. ones that generate hearty discussion usage: "Damn that was good SMAC-TALK on 'Realistically, can humanity reach Alpha Centauri by 2100AD?'". [Scrubby]

slash and burn
(tactic) To use formers to eliminate every trace of xenofungus from around your bases. A quick way to annoy the eighth faction. "Once I realised the Spartans were using the fungus to sneak up on me, I sent out the fungicidals to slash 'n' burn." [WyldKarde]

Slick Trick, Sick Trick
(meta concept) A slick trick is a very clever game technique or stratagem. A sick trick is a very clever technique that abuses a weakness in the game rules or a weakness in the AI to gain an unfair advantage. It is frequently a matter of opinion as to whether a trick is 'slick' or 'sick'. [Europa magazine?] "Land Snatching is a slick trick, but the Moron Trading Company is a sick trick."

smokeying
Planting forests to prevent fungal fires (er...blooms). "Forest Fires prevent bears. Or have I got that backwards?" [Q Cubed]

Spartans
(faction) Properly "The Spartan Federation". Disciplined AC faction commanded by Colonel Corazon Santiago. The Spartans believe that the only thing of importance on Chiron is survival and that the only way to ensure their survival is discipline and firepower. AKA: *****, survivalists, gun nuts, the nra. [ed.]

spypaper
Fungus placed to impede movement, particularly of probe teams. Effective against anyone without the XenoDome, because it takes 3 movement points to enter fungus, it even stops Elite Rover probe teams. Hovertanks, er, you'll have built HS Algorithm by then, right?

SSSHHHHKKKKT, SSSHHHHKKKKT
(sound effect) Sound created by all weapons when attacking an opponent. My SMAC time is generally after the kids are in bed. One night, before my 10-year old daughter went to bed, she asked me, "Dad, what is that sound I hear sometimes when I get into bed and you guys are still awake? It sounds like: SSSHHHHKKKKT, SSSHHHHKKKKT!" ...needless to say, I about fell over backwards in laughter when she asked... [JUSTICE]

stripmining
(tactic) Using crawlers on a territory instead of building a base there. "Those sand dunes aren't good for much but strip-mining [the rocky parts]." [Vivicdi]

stupid ai
(game concept) Weak faction that declares war on you when your might is unsurpassed [Robin of Huntingdon]

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T
Teletubby Matrix
(special project)The Telepathic Matrix [unknown]

terror-forming
(tactic) Using formers to sink cities, plant fungus, destroy improvements, or do other dastardly deeds. [Khan Singh]

thumper
(base) Originates from Frank Herbert's Dune. A base whose high production attracts worms.

Tidal Wave
Sweeping through a bunch of sea bases with ships, air power and the occaisional spy.(some sea bases actually have something in them!)

trance formers
(unit) A regrettably common misspelling of the correct "transformers." Formers equipped with the so-called "hypnotic trance" special ability, these innocuous-looking pieces of construction equipment, when attacked by mind worms, transform themselves into warrior robots and beat the planetpearls out of the surprised worms. Thus, they're more than meets the eye....[Bongo]

trashonym
(noun) An insulting or ironic name given to a captured enemy base; for example, any of the Seven Deadly Sins used as a name for a captured Believer base. "Hey, drone riots in Sloth--what an ironic TRASHONYM!" [TenMoons]

Tribulations of Yin
(forum controversy) Major conflict fought between the invading Barbarian army led by Yin26 (also known as "Yin the Merciless", and "Yin the Destroyer") and the Archons and their allies led by Brother Greg ("Greg the Good"). The war quickly spread throughout the Game Forum, laying waste to its once peaceful and prosperous domains. The tide of war ebbed and flowed, with neither side victorious, until, at the Battle of Complete All Fields, Brother Greg was suddenly killed by a poisoned barb, greatly demoralizing the Smacophant forces. The Barbarians seemed within sight of victory, but at this point an event occurred that changed the entire nature of the conflict. This was the so-called "Miracle of the Patches". Yin26 quite unexpectedly issued a Proclamation of Smacceptance and converted to Smac, possibly induced to do so by the Diet of MindWorms. Thereafter he is known to history as "Yin the Less Merciless". Without Yin's vigorous leadership the Barbarian offensive lost momentum. Several of Yin's former lieutenants, notably Freddz and CEO Benjamin, tried to revive the Barbarian threat, but by this time the Archons seemed content to leave these warlords in possession of the ruined and impoverished Game Forum and the conflict slowly died out. [ed.]

troop recall
(stratagem) Break a pact to move units back to your bases, and remove the AI troops from your terr. Usually cost 1 tech to re-establish pact. More effective on larger maps. I sent my artifact laden transport fleet to Spartan terr for a troop recall. (use when the pact faction is magnanimous or solicitous, or you won't be able to re-pact). [couslee]

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U
University of Planet, UoP
(faction) Alpha Centari Faction headed by Provost Zakharov. Dedicated to the advancement of knowledge, whatever that may require. AKA: geeks, lab rats, microsoft (this epithet is also applied to the Morganites). MW Strategy

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V
Is
For
VICTORY
Conquest, Diplomatic, Economic, or Transcendent

V3
The third Smac patch. The AI in this version plays a much tougher game.

vat brat
Unwanted drone cranked out by The Cloning Vats. [ViVicdi]

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W
Wag the Dog
(stratagem) A "phony war" entered into in exchange for a Pact when you've no intention of ever firing a shot [ViVicdi]

wonders
(game concept)The erroneous name us Civjunkies commonly apply to the Secret Projects. Editor's Note: And we call bases "cities".

wormsign
(apology to FH) Last words of anti Planet antagonists before being engulfed by mindworms. [QuienSabe]

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X
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Y
Yang
1. In Chinese Dualist philosophy, the active, masculine force. 2. The leader of the Human Hive.

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Z
zone of control, ZOC
(game concept)The squares surrounding a unit, in which that unit is deemed to exert a controlling influence. SMAC uses "rigid" ZOCs; each unit, with a few exceptions, has a zone of control in every square adjacent to it. A unit cannot move from one unfriendly ZOC to another, ie it cannot move from a square adjacent to an unfriendly unit to another square adjacent to an unfriendly unit. A unit trapped by unfriendly ZOCs is said to be "zocced in", or "zoc-locked". [ed.]

Comstr · June 23, 2002, 01:29

This should be saved somewhere hereabouts!

(pity it never got updatedn for the SmaX, but ah well).

Thank you.

Apocalypse · June 28, 2002, 14:01

Quote:

Originally posted by M@ni@c
The first official SMAC forums of Firaxis.
www.alpha.owo.com if I recall directly.

There were two official forum versions before that one.

Maniac · June 28, 2002, 14:06

Wow! Well, I only joined in summer 1999, so I missed the entire creation process of SMAC, and all previous forums.

Apocalypse · June 28, 2002, 17:47

You missed out on a lot. Especially NIM. NIM was great. Luckily, the Second Book of NIM is currently being written.

Maniac · June 28, 2002, 17:53

Ah NIM of course! Sure, whatever you say.

Apocalypse · June 28, 2002, 18:04

You can look up NIM in that dictionary.

You'd be really surprised just how influential that word has been on some people's lives.

Vanguard · July 15, 2002, 16:27

bump
Sending out a small cheap unit to prevent enemy forces from infiltrating your territory.