Glossary

This glossary defines common player terms and implementation terms used throughout the Galactic Empire wiki. A linked term leads to a fuller explanation; features specific to ge-next or ge-arena are identified where that distinction matters. GE often uses one word in ordinary messages and a different name for the underlying field or routine.

Term	Meaning
Absolute heading	Direction measured clockwise from galactic north, independent of the ship's current orientation.
Acceleration boosters	ge-next ship upgrade that doubles a ship's acceleration without raising its rated cruising speed.
Armor plating	ge-next ship upgrade that reduces applicable incoming damage after class durability is applied.
Bearing	Signed direction to an object relative to the observer's heading: positive to starboard, negative to port.
Btrieve	Indexed record storage used for GE's persistent players, ships, planets, and mail; its keys also determine lookup and roster order.
Cargo weight	Total weight of a ship's carried items, used when checking available cargo capacity.
Cash	A player's spendable currency; distinct from a planet's operating cash and tax bank.
Centock	Traditional approximate short game interval; up to six seconds.
Cloaking	Ship concealment system that affects detection and some combat interactions.
Combat timer	Hostility delay that temporarily prevents an ordinary exit and can affect maintenance; tracked by cantexit.
Cyber-Base	Powerful stationary Cybertron class; an NPC ship rather than an owned planet.
Cybertron	Automated hostile ship type with its own classes and behavior.
Damage control	Ship capability affecting repair information and recovery from system damage.
DAMF	Ship-class damage factor used in several damage calculations.
Decoy	Deployable countermeasure intended to distract or absorb incoming guided weapons.
Droid	Automated ship category other than Cybertrons. ("Droid" is the term used in the source code, not displayed to a player.)
Enforcer Planet	Galactic Command planet responsible for neutral-zone warnings and punishment.
Enhanced damage control	ge-next ship upgrade that increases passive repair speed and adds repair-time estimates to reports.
Enhanced lock	ge-next ship upgrade that reports selected actions of a ship held under an active scanner lock.
Enhanced scanners	ge-next ship upgrade that adds additional information to eligible scans.
Faction	Ship-class allegiance used in automated-ship hostility and friendly-fire rules (ge-next only).
Fighter	Planetary defense item that can also be used in fighter attacks by eligible ships.
Flotsam	Cargo recovered after a ship is destroyed; not everything aboard the wreck can be collected.
Flux	Energy in a ship's active neutron flux pile, consumed by propulsion and ship systems.
Flux pod	Carried item that can replenish the active flux pile.
Food	Planetary supply consumed by troops (and men in ge-next).
Galactic heading	Absolute compass direction: 0 north, 90 east, 180 south, 270 west.
Galactic perimeter	Outer boundary that wraps a ship or repels and damages it, according to UNIVWRAP.
Gold	Cargo commodity used in trade and planetary economy; the objective in ge-arena Hoard.
Heading	In a ship scan, the target's orientation relative to the line back toward the observer: about 0 means facing the observer; about 180 means facing away. Not an absolute galactic heading.
Hyper-phaser	Ship phaser used while traveling in hyperspace that only hits other ships in hyperspace.
Impulse	Travel below warp 1.00, including the displayed 0.00–0.99 speed range.
Ion cannon	Planetary defensive weapon installed and fired from a planet.
Jammer	Carried electronic-warfare item that interferes with enemy scans and targeting.
Jettison	Discard carried items from a ship, usually to free cargo space; the discarded goods are not transferred to a planet.
Lastfired	Ship state recording the most recent qualifying attacker for possible kill credit; it does not necessarily identify the hit that first caused fatal damage.
Lock	Tracked live target used by scans and guided weapons.
Maintenance	Repair service and process for a ship in stationary orbit, subject to combat restrictions.
Men	Colonist population that can reproduce, produce goods, and contribute to taxes and scoring.
Mine	Deployed explosive that remains at a location until its timer expires or it detonates.
Missile	Guided projectile weapon used in hyperspace.
Nebula	A sector type that reduces visibility; added in ge-next.
Neutral zone	Sector 0 0, normally subject to Enforcer Planet weapon restrictions.
Orbit	Stationary position around a planet required for several planetary interactions.
Overspeed	Travel above a ship class's rated cruising warp, with risks and penalties that differ between classic and ge-next.
Parsec	Classic GE's displayed distance unit.
Phaser	Rechargeable directed-energy ship weapon.
Phaser spread	Width of a standard phaser's firing arc; spreading the beam farther weakens a hit.
Planetary bank	Cash held by a planet for its own production and trade, separate from the owner's personal cash and the tax bank.
Production pass	One scheduled application of multiply() to a planet; ge-next can replay missed passes after downtime.
Reinforced neutron core	ge-next ship upgrade that reduces the warp engine damage accumulated during overspeed travel.
Report	Command family that displays a ship's navigation, systems, cargo, and other status information.
Respawn	Return to play with a new match-local ship after destruction in ge-arena; not part of persistent classic GE or ge-next.
Roster	Player ranking display: based on accumulated score in persistent GE, and on recorded match wins in ge-arena.
Scan	Command family used to discover objects and inspect ships, sectors, planets, and ranges.
Scan letter	Temporary letter identifying a visible ship on a player's scanner display; not the ship's permanent number or active slot.
Scan range boost	ge-next ship upgrade that doubles a ship's effective scanner range without bypassing concealment rules.
Scanner range	Effective detection reach of a ship's scanners; distinct from the scale chosen for a particular scan display.
Scantab	Each player's temporary mapping from scan letters to current ship slots.
Score	Persistent points accumulated through combat, planets, and other configured scoring events.
Sector	10,000-by-10,000-distance-unit square identified by signed galactic X/Y coordinates.
Self-destruct	Deliberate destruction of one's own ship after a countdown, producing a blast that can damage nearby ships.
Shield	Defensive ship system that absorbs or reduces suitable incoming hits.
Ship class	Configured ship type defining limits, movement, systems, and other class properties.
Ship number	Owner-scoped identifier of a persistent ship record; not its active slot or list position.
Ship slot	Reusable in-memory position holding one active player or automated ship.
Ship upgrade	Optional improvement installed on an individual ship in ge-next; classic GE has no upgrade system.
Spies	Agents carried by ships and deployed to gather planetary intelligence; spies stocked on a planet provide counterespionage.
Staging	ge-arena's pre-match minute for choosing a ship and preparing in sector 0 0 before combat begins.
Subsector	ge-next's displayed distance unit.
Tahanian Station	Galactic Command station in sector 0 0 for colonists, troops, and food; ge-arena lobby setting.
Tax	Revenue collected from an owned planet's population into a separate tax balance.
Tax bank	Taxes accumulated on an owned planet for later collection by its owner, separate from its operating cash.
Team	Player association with shared team state and communication in persistent GE play.
Torpedo	Guided projectile weapon used at impulse speeds.
Transponder control	ge-next ship upgrade that adjusts how many Cybertrons may pursue the ship at once.
Troops	Soldiers defending a planet against invasion and revolt; also carried for troop attacks.
User record	Persistent player data, including settings, cash, score, and ownership counters.
Warp	Hyperspace travel at displayed speed 1.00 or higher.
Work allocation	Percentage of a planet's workforce assigned to each production category.
Wormhole	Paired feature that moves a ship between distant sectors.
Zipper	Carried device that triggers nearby mines to detonate on the next mine update; it does not move the ship.
Zygor	Galactic Command's principal planet in sector 0 0.

See Coordinate system for sector coordinates and bearings, Game timing for the different meanings of a "tick," and Data structures for the records behind several implementation terms.

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