Glossary

A

Alien

A species of creature not of this Earth. Also known as an Extra Terrestrial.

Armour-Piercing

This type of ammunition is a shell filled with a dense material which is capable of breaching most types of hardened armour. Usually abbreviated AP. Despite its name, it is the damage type that most commonly does nothing to heavily-armoured aliens, and actually has no armour-negating qualities at all.

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.

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.

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.

GZ

Short-hand for Ground Zero. This is the point at which an explosive is detonated; the center of the blast area. Distance from Ground Zero is referred to in radii. The edge of the blast area, where damage is minimal or none, is referred to as the Blast Radius.

H

HE Block

A property of most walls and many terrain objects which causes them to block high explosive blasts. It's the property that makes a wall, a wall, for explosion purposes. Sometimes abbreviated HEB.

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.

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. The equivalent to the Avenger on TFTD.

LOF

Short for Line Of Fire.

LOFT

Line Of Fire Template. A series of pixelated templates used by the game to represent a pseudo-3D form on the battlescape.

LOS

Short for Line Of Sight.

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.

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.

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. Usually abbreviated as TU.

U

UFO

An abbreviation for Unidentified Flying Object. Used to describe any unknown flying object in real life but is used in the games to refer to alien spacecraft in general regardless if it's known or not.

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

An abbreviation for Unidentifid Submersible Object. An amphibious UFO. Mostly used in TFTD.

X

XCOM

The non-hyphenated version of "X-COM". This version is now used in current generation X-COM games such as the XCOM FPS and XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

X-COM

Short for Extra Terrestrial Combat Unit; A paramilitary organization bent on defending humanity against alien threats and using their own advance technology against them.