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MechWarrior Tactics Abbreviation Terms Guide

Welcome to the unofficial MWTactics terminology guide. This thread will be used to post definitions of terminology, acronyms, phrases, and slang that players encounter both on the forums and in the game. Community members are encouraged to post definitions they think will be helpful to other users. Further, if there is a term being used on the forums/in the game that you don't understand, feel free to ask here. I'll update the list as frequently as I can.

When posting a definition, please try to keep it short and concise. I realize that some things may not be easy to do in such a fashion, so I may mention the your post number in the definition for readers to reference for more information. I will also embed links to some definitions for further explanation, or if the definition/explanation is rather long or involved. (No reason to reinvent the wheel.) If you find a link is incorrect, or not functioning, please let me know. Feel free to include links if you think it enhances or simplifies your definition.

Be aware that I am not necessarily "fact-checking" all the definitions that people post, as I do not know everything myself. I am assuming that you know what you are talking about,. If you disagree with a definition or have additional input, please let me know and I will make changes. Also, if you post a question about something's meaning/definition, I will post it if I know it. Otherwise, I will wait until someone else posts the answer.

Thanks to everyone who participates!

#2DogSolitude
Bow wow...pow!

Legendary Founder

1,359 posts
Posted 10 July 2012 - 12:23 PM
MWT Terminology Guide

AC: Autocannon. The number following the abbreviation (ie: AC/10, AC/20) indicates the number of points of damage done by that particular cannon.

AFFS: Armed Forces of the Federated Suns

Alphastrike: Firing all a mechs weapons at once. Also known as AX.

Ammoboom: Ammunition explosion.

BA (Battle Armor): A suit of armor worn by by infantry. Usually equipped with a laser, missiles, and a claw designed to peel away mech armor.

Bacon: Slang for the 3 wavy lines in the symbol used to indicate how much heat a weapons gives off when used.

Banzai blaster: Someone who uses no tactics other than a straight rush and maximum firepower

Boat: A 'Mech employing a large number of the same type of systems. Such as an all energy Laserboat or a long range missile packing Missileboat.

Brawler: A mech designed primarily with close/short range weapons and heavy armor. Examples include the Hunchback and Atlas.

BT: BattleTech

Bug Lance: An all, or mostly, light mech lance. (See post #3)

Bug Mech: A light/medium fast mech named after an insect (Wasp, Stinger, Locust, Firebee, Cicada, Spider [technically not a bug but still included]).

Cappie: Anyone loyal to the Capellan Confederation(House Liao).

Catta: Slang for a Catapult

CBT: Classic BattleTech (ie: the tabletop game)

CCAF: Capellan Confederation Armed Forces

Cheese: highly optimized designs, especially that violate the spirit or setting; see munch. "That Clint with 10 medium lasers is cheesy."

Chicken-leg: A mech with reversed knee bend in its legs. Eg: Timber Wolf (MadCat), Mad Dog (Vulture)

Clanner: Member of the Clans

Coat Hangars: See also, Zombie Mech.

ComGuard: The armed forces of Comstar

Comstar: The Interstellar Communications Agency that rules Earth and supplies 'neutral' arbitration between Warring States. Comstar does not like you having LosTech.

Coring: Destroying a mechs fusion engine either by causing 3 critical hits, or by completely destroying the center torso.

Crit Seeking: A 'Mech with lots of missiles or several small-bore weapons. (See posts #3 and #14.)

Crop Dusting: The act of posting a response in every thread (or numerous threads) in order to increase a user's post count. In MWT, this is sometimes used to increase a user's "participation", with the hopes of increasing the chance to receive a beta key.

DCMS: Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery

DFA: Death From Above. Refers to maneuver where a battlemech utilizes jumpjets to land on top of another mech.

Doughnut/Donut: Destroying the centre torso while doing no (or minimal) damage to the side torso's and limbs

Dropship: Spacecraft capable of hauling large amounts of cargo and passengers between points inside of a solar system.

Elsie : A citizen of the Lyran Commonwealth (LC)

Fatlas: An AS7 Atlas

FedRat: Citizen of the Federated Suns/Federated Commonwealth(Davion side).

FTL: Faster than light

Frisbee: A hover vehicle

FWLM: Free Worlds League Military

Grand Dragon: A Dragon with a PPC and another ML (and some heat sinks) instead of an AC/5. It has problems with heat, but the PPC is a better weapon.

Headcap: To destroy an opponent by destroying their head or the cockpit.

Headcapper: A weapon that does 12+ damage. So named because it can destroy a fully armored head in one shot.

Headclean: One shot head destruction

HPG: Hyper pulse generator: machine which utilizes faster than light technology to transmit messages from one star system to another within the known galaxy.

IMM: Immobile. Indicates that the mech is, for one reason or another, unable to move. (May also indicate mech is unable to utilize weapons.)

IS: Inner Sphere.

Jenny: A JR7 Jenner

Jumper: A 'Mech equipped with Jumpjets.

Jumpship: Massive spacecraft used to transport cargo and Dropships from one star system to another using faster than light travel. Most jumpships lack large manuevering engines restricting them to specific points within a solar system. They therefore rely on Dropships to ferry cargo and personnel to planetary surfaces.

Killboat: A mech which is designed for close and direct combat action to focus on a single target and bringt it down quickly without sophisticated tactics. A Killboat usually sacrifices speed for armor and a short-to-medium range weapon loadout (e.g. medium lasers and SRM).

LAM: Land Air Mech. Mechs able to transform between aerospace fighter, battlemech, and airmech modes.

Lance: Comprised of four 'Mechs. It is the most basic military unit in the Inner Sphere.

Laserboat: A mech loaded with a large number of lasers. Also known as a Flashlight or Searchlight Special.

LCAF: Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces

LL: Large Laser

Loadout: Weapons configuration of a Battlemech, including number and types of weapons, etc.

LosTech: Superior Star League era technology..the stuff that Comstar doesn't want you to have.

LRM: Long Range Missile. The number following the abbreviation (ie: LRM 10, LRM 20) indicates the number of missiles fired in one round by that particular launcher.

Mark 1, Type 1 sensors: Refers to the most basic of sensors, the eyes.

Meatcannon: An AC/20

Meat Shield: An ammo-based mech that has run out of ammo.

MegaMek: An online version of the original BattleTech tabletop game. MegaMek link.

Merc: Short for mercenary

MG: Machine Gun

Missle boat: Refers to any mech (but usually Catapults), that mostly carry only LRMs or SRMs.
These can also be split into LRM boats and SRM boats.

ML: Medium Laser

MM: Abbreviation for MegaMek.

Munch: highly optimized designs, especially that violate the spirit or setting; see cheese.

Munchkin: derogatory term for a power gamer; originated as a stereotype of ******* D&D players from the 1970s and 80s. See also the book from Steve Jackson Games titled A Munchkin's Guide To Power Gaming

MWO: Mechwarrior Online

MWT: Mechwarrior Tactics

00 or Double O Optics: Reference to a pilot's eyeballs

Pay to Win: Reference to a game that allows users to purchase bonuses/features, allowing them to improve at a faster rate than players who don't. This allows players who purchase more items to be more difficult to beat than those who don't, thus creating imbalance in the game. Also known as P2W.

PBI: Poor bloody infantry

Power gamer: a player who prefers highly optimized designs or takes advantage of rules exploits. Opposite of a role player. Prioritizes winning.

PPC: Particle Projectile Cannon

Protomech: A half-way point between Battle Armor and a Mech. Often used by the Clans in lieu of vehicles.

Quad: A four legged 'mech.

Reseen: Reference to battlemech designs that were at one point subject to legal issues. (See definition of Unseen.) After negotiations, the Reseen have been once again included into the Battletech universe.

Role player: a player immersed in the setting; e.g. someone who makes in character posts to message boards; e.g. someone who declares faction allegiance and then only uses mechs or equipment from that faction

Salvage: Mechs, vehicles or even parts taken from the field of battle.

Scrapper: Mechs with high armor that excel at punching and kicking. AKA Brawler or Melee.

Scoot and shoot: Refers to a light mech which keeps at near max speed and uses LOS breaking terrain to pop out, shoot and then pop back into cover ASAP

Skirmisher: A 'Mech with decent armor and a medium range loadout. Typically exchanges fire at slightly longer ranges in an attempt to 'wear out' opponents. Examples include the Centurion and Awesome.

Skittlebootbeerhat: This.

SL: Small Laser

Snake: Citizen of the Draconis Combine (house Kurita).

Sniper: A mech designed around long-range direct-fire weaponry. Examples include the Awesome, Blackjack and JaggerMech.

Sponge: A heavily armoured mech armed with lasers - so named because it sponges or soaks up damage without losing effectiveness. Also called a Soaker.

SRM: Short Range Missile. The number following the abbreviation (ie: SRM 2, SRM 6) indicates the number of missiles fired in one round by that particular launcher.

STAC: Surplus Tech/Armor Containers. STACs are "booster packs" that include stock mechs, chassis, resources, and aesthetic options. STACs contain card which come in common, uncommon, rare, and ultra-rare varieties.

Star: A group of 5 Clan mechs. The base formation of mechs in clan society.

Star League: The almost Mythical Golden Age of Battletech (not as golden as people think it was)

Swayback: A Hunchback with a bunch of Medium Lasers (and some heat sinks) instead of an AC/20. It can do twice as much damage as the normal version.

TAC: Through-Armor Critical. A type of Critical Hit that ignores armor. This can occur in the tabletop game; it is unknown if this is possible in MWT.

Trenchbucket/T-Bucket: A TBT Trebuchet

Turtle: Tank

Tweetchat: Method used by MWT developers (@MWTactics) to interact with fans of the game. Tweetchats utilize the social network platform Twitter to allow fans to ask questions of the developers and get responses in real time. Tweetchats occur at deisgnated dates and times, and are announced ahead of time. Transcripts of the tweetchats are posted the next day.

Undersinked/Oversinked: Having too few / too many heatsinks. This means it is not an optimized design or has a weakness.

Unseen: Reference to some early battlemech designs based on Japanese anime mecha. Legal issues prohibited them from being displayed in subsequent publications. More can be found here.

Wobbie: Member of the Word of Blake

Zombie Mech: Generally used to describe a mech that has taken so much damage all that is left is the center torso, head, and legs. May refer to a mech with no undamaged weapons but still able to punch or kick (in CBT), as such maul you like a zombie would. Also refers to a style of mech design. Generally focuses on using energy weapons often focused in the torsos (to prevent ammo explosions and to insure you still have weapons when you lose your arms) and maximizing armor. They call them zombie mechs because you need to core them or chop off their heads to stop them.


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