Fighter Ace Jargon

From The Air Combat Wiki

Ever wonder what some veteran pilots are talking about? Here is a table of just SOME of the commonly used terms in Fighter Ace ®!

• @FA - an FAVG volunteer, all FAVG have an @FA at the end of their pilot name.

• @AA - an Air Attack volunteer, all Air Attack volunteers may have an @AA at the end of their pilot name.

• @HQ - all Ketsujin employee accounts have an @HQ at the end of their pilot name.

• @HELP - an FAVG volunteer primarily concerned with providing technical assistance.

• @HOST - an FAVG volunteer primarily concerned with running special events.

• @INSTRUCTOR - an FAVG Instructor Pilot.

• AA - light, machine-gun based anti-aircraft fire capable of reaching targets about 2,000 feet away.

• Ace - a symbol that is displayed next to a player’s name in the game if they have shot down 5 enemy planes without having lost a pilot. Players can acquire multiple “aces”. Once they get shot down, however, all aces are lost.

• Advanced - a realistic flight model that takes into account all physics factors and which requires a skill to keep from making fatal mistakes.

• AI - artificial intelligence. In the game it refers to a component that is controlled by the computer. For example, although the player carries paratroops to a target, the paratroops themselves are AI. Tanks and ships are also AI.

• Alt - short for altitude.

• Arcade - the easiest flight level, almost like playing a game like X-Wing or Quake.

• Arena - a gaming room. Fighter Ace ® supports any number of game arenas, including player created arenas.

• ASAP - acronym for As Soon As Possible, right away.

• Attack Plane - a plane designed to destroy objects on the ground, especially tanks.

• B&Z, Boom & Zoom, Energy Fight, “E” fighting - all three terms refer to a specific style of air fighting whereby the attacker uses a series of fast, slicing passes at the enemy plane. The intent of this style is to avoid losing “E” by avoiding turns or anything else that would cause you to slow down, except climbing which converts actual “E” into potential “E”.

• Baby Seal - a new player.

• Baby Seal Killer (BSKer) - a player who purposely hunts new players. Most squads frown on this and actively hunt BSKers to keep them from interfering with the fun and learning of newbies.

• BBB - Back Bomber Base, the large bomber base usually located in the rear areas of the game maps.

• Bingo Fuel - only enough fuel remaining to return to a friendly base (Bingo Fuel) , "Bingo Ammo" while not conventional,is sometimes used in the game and would mean enough ammo to fight your way home or, possibly, if you are at critically low ammo level.

• Bomber - a plane whose primary function is carrying bombs (or torpedoes) and dropping them on a target.

• Buff - a bomber, particularly a large bomber, comes from an Air Force moniker for the B-52 as that “Big Ugly Flying Fellow”.

• Bugging out - Informing your wing or flight that you are retreating from the battle due to damage. (There is no other reason to bug out!)

• Bullseye - The designated target. All position calls should be made in reference to the target or "Bullseye" Example: "I am 10 Clicks Northeast, Bullseye, Inbound", allows your flight to know your position relative to the target while preventing an eavesdropping enemy from knowing what the target is.

• CAP - Combat Air Patrol. Usually in FA this means covering tanks, bombers or a facility under threat of attack.

• Cargo Plane - designed to carry paratroops or cargo.

• Carrier - aircraft carrier, a floating airfield.

• cc - copy, yes, an acknowledgement that the message was received, short for "click-click" the sound of keying the mic twice as acknowledgement.

• Client - the game program that players install on their computers to play.

• Cookie, nuke - a large bomb weighing about 3,500-4,00 lbs. The cookie explodes with a large mushroom-shaped fire cloud, causing it to be referred to as a "nuke".

• Deck - ground level, as in "that bomber is running for home on the deck"

• Dogfight - a combat between planes (usually fighters), each trying to shoot the other down in a twisting, turning maelstrom of screaming engines and roaring guns.

• Dogfight Arenas - game rooms designed for nothing but dogfighting action. There is no need for bombs or rockets in a Dogfight arena, the goal is simply to shoot down as many planes as possible.

• Drop - releasing a load of bombs or paratroops, as in “I just dropped on that factory and am heading back for more drunks”.

• Drunks - slang for paratroopers.

• "E", Energy, E - almost literally energy in the physics sense, often refers to a condition in which the player has a lot of airspeed. A plane at high altitude has a lot of potential “E” in that it can dive to gain actual “E”. A plane that is going fast can climb to convert actual “E” into potential “E”.

• Egg, eggs - bomb, bombs, as in “I have 5 eggs left, where should I drop them?”

• Escort - used as both a noun and verb applying to a fighter whose role is to protect or “escort” an object, usually a bomber.

• Fac - short for factory, one of the scene types on game maps.

• FAVG - The Fighter Ace ® Volunteer Group is a group of player volunteers who have dedicated themselves to helping new players in the game, helping people get their systems configured for optimum performance, and enforcing our Code of Conduct to ensure the game is appropriate for all age groups.

• FAIP - Fighter Ace ® Instructor Pilots.

• Fighter - a plane whose primary function is to shoot at and destroy other airplanes.

• Fish - torpedo, as in “I have two fish and am heading for that carrier”.

• Flak - medium and large caliber anti-aircraft fire that can reach targets up to 20,000 feet away. Flak shells explode at a predetermined altitude, sending shrapnel out, which can severely damage any plane within its radius.

• Fly By - a ceremony where FA players join a special arena to fly en masse past a certain point, usually done to honor a fallen comrade for the benefit of family members and to express how much the community will miss that player.

• Formation - a group of planes flying together, usually in an organized pattern.

• FFA, Free-For-All - a dogfight arena in which there are no teams, it's just you against the rest of the players.

• GB - the abbreviation for the Great Britain team.

• GE - the abbreviation for the Germany team.

• gf - short for "good fight", an acknowledgement of the fighting prowess of your most recent opponent.

• gk - short for "good kill", an acknowledgement of your skill from your defeated opponent.

• H2H, Head-to-Head - a merge in which each plane is facing the other.

• Intermediate - a more advanced flight level that is still easy to fly, but allows the player to make fatal mistakes.

• ITC - Intermediate Territorial Conquest Arena.

• JP - the abbreviation for the Japanese team.

• Kill - an enemy plane shot down, to shoot down an enemy plane.

• Lead - the amount by which you aim ahead of a moving target to ensure that you get a hit.

• LMAO, LMBO, LOL, ROFL - various expressions of laughter.

• Loc - short for location, as in "what's your loc?"

• m8 - short for "mate", or friend.

• Merge - a meeting point between two or more planes.

• Moving Mud - gaining territory in the Territorial Conquest games.

• NAW, Nations At War - a dogfight arena in which players are aligned into teams.

• Newbie, noob - a new player.

• nf - short for "nice fight", an acknowledgement of the fighting prowess of your most recent opponent.

• np - short for "no problem".

• OMW, OTW - short for "on my way" or "on the way", a way of letting your teammates know that your arrival is imminent.

• Open Cockpit - a gameplay mode that allows all views rather than restricting the player to cockpit views only.

• Ordnance - bombs, rockets and torpedoes.

• Padlock - a view system that locks onto an object and keeps it centered on the screen.

• Pointer, Threat Indicator - a colored line extending from your plane on the map indicating the direction and team of the nearest enemy.

• Punch-out - to eject, or bail out

• Rack - a display of two or more aces. A player with multiple ace symbols is usually congratulated for having “a nice rack”.

• Roger, rgr - an acknowledgement that the message has been received and understood.

• Rolling planeset/rolling ordnance - a process by which the types of planes and ordnance available vary as time passes, thus emulating the passage of time and introduction of new plane models.

• RTB - short for "return to base". When used alone it is an indication that the pilot is headed for a friendly airbase.

• RW, Roger Wilco - a third-party voice communications software popular among Fighter Ace ® players.

• Scene - an installation in the game, which can be an airfield, port, factory, or village. Capturing scenes is the goal of the Territorial Conquest games.

• Server - the various programs and hardware that Ketsujin operates. All players connect to the server with their clients and the server administers all network traffic.

• SA, Situational Awareness - the ability to know what is happening and keep track of the locations of the various planes and ground objects around you.

• Six - the position behind a plane (imagine a clock face with 12 at the nose, 6 at the tail, 3 at the right wing, and 9 at the left wing), common expression is “check six”, meaning watch out behind you or watch your back.

• Squad - a group of players who like to fly together. Players can create and join squads. Squads usually carry a common moniker as part of their pilot name. Examples of squads include: SYP, Elite, Banzai, REBS, JG26, Kamikaze, GRR, CCCP, DAWG, and FAVG.

• -=S=- Symbol for a salute

• SU - the abbreviation for the Soviet Union team.

• T&B, Turn & Burn - a style of air fighting in which the attacker works to stay on his target’s six, turning and slowing down as necessary in order to stay with the target and score enough hits to get the kill.

• TC, Territorial Conquest - a team-based game type where players work together to win by capturing enemy scenes.

• TS, TeamSpeak - a third-party voice communications software popular among Fighter Ace ® players.

• ty - short for "thank you".

• Uber - something that is unbeatable, from the German word meaning “over” or “superior”.

• US - the abbreviation for the United States team.

• VT, Ventrillo - a third-party voice communications software popular among Fighter Ace ® players.

• yw - short for "you're welcome".