Glossary
A
- Alien
- A species of creature not of this Earth. Also known as an Extra Terrestrial.
B
- Brain
- The name given to the controlling being upon Mars.
C
- Cydonia
- The name given to a region of Mars. For the game's purposes, it is the site for the alien's main headquarters.
D
E
- E-Mail X-Com
- A cut down and very simplified play-by-e-mail combat game with the X-Com theme.
- Enemy Unknown
- Name of first X-Com game. Also known as X-COM: UFO Defense
- Enforcer
- A combat android created by the eccentric Dr. Able Standard and star of X-Com Enforcer, a shoot-em-up with the X-Com label, with elements salvaged from the now defunct X-Com Alliance.
- Electro-Flare
- A portable and persistent light source that activates when it hits the ground after being thrown.
F
G
- Grenade
- A thrown area-effect weapon consisting of an amount of high explosive substances encased in metal fragments with a timed detonator. The Grenades used by X-Com are all equipped with a timer and a trigger safeguard mechanism that prevents the grenade from detonating after the timer has elapsed and only when it lands on the ground.
H
- High Explosive
- A substance that can produce a powerful exposion; A bundle of dynamite that is twice as heavy and twice as bulky with three times the firepower of a conventional grenade.
- Hovertank
- A HWP variant made from human and alien anti-grav technology.
- HWP
- Heavy Weapons Platform, a remote controlled miniature tank that provides a supporting role for ground troops.
I
- Interceptor
- A fast aircraft that shoots down other aircraft; A generic name for the first interception craft available to X-Com.
J
K
- Kiryu Kai
- An elite team set up by the Japanese Government that failed to deal with the alien menace before X-Com was formed. Spirit Dragon Society? Energy Dragon Association?
L
- Laser
- A light pump; A weapon technology involving highly concentrated beams of light.
- Laser Pistol
- The first laser weapon in the laser family. In effect, a laser sub-machine gun.
- Laser Rifle
- A popular and very well balanced rifle based on laser technology.
- Leviathan
- An elongated and much improved Hammerhead
M
N
O
P
- Psi
- The greek letter ψ Commonly used to refer to the field of Psionics
- Psi-Amp
- Psionic Amplifier, used by humans to amplify and channel their psionic abilities
- Psiclone
- An electronic hallucogenic implant with a considerable bounty.
- Psionics
- the art of invading and manipulating the psyche of enemy targets through sheer willpower
- Phosphor
- Phosphorus - a poisonous and flammable substance that reacts when exposed to air, used in Incendiary munitions and chemical flares.
Q
R
S
- Skyranger
- The name of a slow VTOL Russian troop transport aircraft that can remain in the air for days on end with a single tank of fuel.
- SWS
- Submersible Weapon Systems. Underwater variant of HWP
T
- Terror Site
- A city that is being attacked by Alien terrorists.
- TU
- Time Unit.
- Time unit
- A time unit is a fraction of time taken by any unit to perform any action. Time units are a measure of speed.
U
- UFO
- Unidentified Flying Object. Also commonly used as a general reference to X-Com: Enemy Unknown or UFO Defense.
- UFO Defense
- The name of the US release used to avoid possible copyright conflicts. Officially changed to Enemy Unknown as of the 1.4 update.
- USO
- Unidentifid Submersible Object. An amphibious UFO.
V
W
X
- XCOM
- The non-hyphenated version of X-Com, used only in Enemy Unknown but is hyphenated throughout the series
- X-Com
- The Extra Terrestrial Combat Unit;