Terms & Jargon

Terms & Jargon:

A unique aspect of Netrek is it carries it's own lingo. Understanding this jargon is critical to becoming a clue.

Twink: A "twink" is someone who is a netrek loser. Netrek, because it is a multi-player game, has an etiquette. Specifically, stupidity and laziness are not tolerated. Below are some comments on how not to get labeled a as a twink, which is not only embarrassing, but dangerous as players may kill you whenever they need an easy kill (so that they can carry armies and hence take planets). A twink:

1) does not read messages.
2) think he/she knows everything about Netrek
3) calls for help continuously
4) explodes near or on top of his teammates and kills them.
5) plays for himself.

Buttorp: Someone who runs and shoots behind as they run. People often get angry with buttorpers, but remember, they would not be able to buttorp if you they were not chased. It's generally a bad idea to chase.

Free Beer: Twinks are generally Free Beer. People who's ping stats are high, are free beer. People who have been so damaged by a dog fight or bombing a planet are often Free Beer. Free Beer simply means to be an easy kill. "3 = beer" would mean that 3 is an easy kill.

Clue: This is the opposite of twink. Someone well versed in all aspects of the game, and plays for the team, not himself.

Ogg: This means to kill a designated ship without regard for ones self. It's generally associated with cloaking, uncloaking, torping, phasing and if need be, exploding on the victimous vessel(s). OGGing at LPS can be especially rewarding, but OGGing can occour anytime.

Destruction Inflicted (DI): It's worth noting that, unlike most games, netrek rewards people who inflict more destruction, not people who survive longer. You actually get stronger when you die, and you usually get more DI. You also tend to win more.

Doosh: This means to kill someone while they're carrying armies. See ++ and Carrier. This is a good way to increase your DI and prestige among your teammates. Unless, of course, you're the one who's been dooshed.

Scum: There are many ways to scum. One is to join a game at the start of T-MODE, bomb with an Assault ship, then take until you're resources (armies) run out or planets are no longer easily assessable and then leave the game. Other ways to scum involve horking. See Hork.

Hork: Hork essentially means to greedily grab or steal something that belongs to someone else. To Hork a kill is to allow someone else, in a dogfight, to so hurt the other ship, that a blast or two from you will destroy that ship and give you credit. Another, more notorious hork, is to wait for someone to neutralize a planet, go in and drop 1 army and get credit for taking the planet. This adds to your DI and planet taking stats.

To be fair, most times horking, especially horking kills, is unintentional and even necessary. Remember, it's far better to hork than allow someone else to get the planet, or your team mates to get killed. If someone horks your kills, don't get mad. Next time they might not respond when you need help.

Bomb: Initial bombing is best done with an Assault ship. If someone tells you to get an AS, they're referring to an Assault ship. Keeping the enemy bombed flat is best done with a scout.

Flat: Keeping the enemy flat is part of bombing. After the enemy has been effectively bombed, get a scout, destroyer, cruiser or GA (if server allows), and bomb the enemies armies that pop.

Pop: Simply means regenerate. "Earth Popped" or "ear ++" means Earth generated armies.

Take: To take a planet. After getting a kill (only people with kills can take) pick up armies from your home planets and drop them on an enemy planet that's been bombed.

Normally it takes 5 armies to take a planet. 4 to destroy thier existing armies and 1 to actually take the planet. Never take an agri with less than 5 armies unless you're double taking with someone else. That is, you have, say, 3 armies and they have 2 armies and simatameously drop your armies on the planet.

Taking is most effective after most of the bombing has been accomplished.

Det: Detonate torpedoes. If you or an important teammate (important qualified by being a carrier, or bomber) is fired upon, det the incoming torpedoes. You take the damage (reduced damage) and quite possibly save your teammates and self from desturction. Detting for a teammate is one of the most altruistic things you can do in Netrek.

Escort: This envolves following a teammate (usually a carrier, or bomber) and making sure that no enemy comes along and destroys them. To do this you may well have to det, dogfight, and sacrifice your own life. If you try and fail you'll be much more regarded than if you didn't try and lived. See det.

@: Just a short way of saying at. "Rom @ 12" would mean The planet Romulus has 12 armies on it. "ogg 5 @ KLI" would mean to kill ship number 5 who is currently at Klingon or KLI on your galactic map.

++: When you see "++" after someone’s alphanumeric designation, such as "a++", or "1++" you know that ship number is carrying armies. A carrier is generally someone on the verge of a take. Kill the carrier. See Doosh.

Carrier: Someone carrying armies. See ++.

Core: Your home worlds space. Core has 5 planets. Bombing enemy core is essential. Protecting home core is also essencial, but unless it's LPS or close to it too many people shouldn't stay in their own core.

Space Control: This simply means to control a section of space. This can be important for many reasons. Space control is important at core so enemies cannot bomb or take your home planets. Space control is important at the enemys core so you can bomb, take planets. This is almost like escorting planets.

LPS: Last Planet Stand. If someone says "den=lps" or something simular, that means DON'T TAKE the planet den. Den, forinstance, is an easy planet to take because it's outside of core. ROM, EAR, agri and core planets make difficult LPS.

At LPS the entire team defends 1 planet. It's important for that planet to be as far away from their core as possible so their ships don't regenerate by or near the last planet they're defending.

This period of the game is fun for cloak oggers who like to rush in on a planet and blow up as many of the enemy as possible.

Timercide: When a team has 1 planet remaining a 30 minute timer comes on. At the end of that period, if the planet has not been taken the team surrenders. Timercide is far less desirable than genocide.

Timercide generally happens because someone took the designated lps or someone didn't call an lps.

Genocide: The desirable end to a game. You geno the enemy by taking all of their planets.

Tournament Mode (T-Mode): Tournament mode starts you when have 4 vs. 4 (or 3 vs. 3 in chaos) and the teams are not diagonally opposite (e.g. Fed vs. Kli is no good). You can get DI (damage inflicted) only during tournament mode, and more DI leads to promotions. DI is a composite score based on total planets taken, armies bombed, and ships killed. During Tournament mode ('Tmode'-- look for the little 't' among the flags, which are on the upper-left of the "dashboard" directly below the tactical window) you receive no DI for attacking non-warring races, i.e. those races not represented by a team of 4 or more.

Ratings (Stats): Your rating will be updated only during T-mode. Ratings are derived from your planet bombing, killing (offense) and getting killed (defense) rates, normalized with respect to the average of all players. That is, a rating of 1.00 means you have exactly the average of all the current players.