Galaxy Terminology
This page explains the different archetypes of ships found in Galaxy and the purpose of these archetypes, as well as some individual examples of ships that fall into each one. Many of these terms are also used by experienced players as slang or shorthand to make strategizing more efficient. These terms may be seen as Galaxy Jargon to new players, but they save lots of time when communicating an overall strategy.
Feel free to add your own archetypes and share your information on them. This page is still somewhat outdated in information but gives the general idea.
Combat Archetypes
- Tank: A tank is a ship with excellent defensive capabilities and health pools used to absorb damage while other ships stay behind the tank and deal damage. Prominent examples include the Nyx and the Atlas.
- Siege Ship: Siege ships are ships designed to deal massive damage to Starbases in a siege. They often have high defense, a large health pool, and very high firepower, but are slow and unable to defend themselves from small ships. Prominent examples include the Ridgebreaker, Warlock, and the Judgement.
- PvP Ship: PvP ships are fairly large ships designed to deal damage to other large ships, usually in the context of defending a Starbase. They often have high firepower and moderate maneuverability, as well as powerful Spinals. Prominent examples include the Leviathan and Genesis.
- Broadside Some ships like Osiris have spinals that shoot sideways (broadside) instead of the regular forward-firing style.
- Tackler: A tackler is a medium-sized ship that is used for destroying larger ships, usually by exploiting their blind spots. They often have high firepower and maneuverability but are unable to deal effective damage to smaller ships. Prominent examples include the Black Flare and Razor Wing.
- Pest Control Ships: These ships are often equipped with a large arsenal of light or high-accuracy turrets, thus allowing them to destroy fighters easily. Prominent examples include the Ampharos and the Mjolnheimr.
- Swarmer/Dogfighter: This type of ship has no commonly used name, and are often referred to as Swarmers, Fighters, Dogfighters, Frigates or just small ships. These are very fast, very maneuverable ships with low firepower and an emphasis on Spinals. They are often used for fighting one another, called dogfighting, outnumbering and mobbing larger ships, or distracting base lasers. Prominent examples include the Starblade, Viper and Sabre Tooth.
- Pirate Ship/Pirate: Pirate ships are ships that are used by players to destroy utility. They often are very small, fast, maneuverable, and able to deal damage quickly. For a complete description and list of examples, see the main page here.
- Shield Breaker: A ship with a large laser arsenal that allows for quick destruction of enemy shields, like the Zeus or Sagittarius.
- Hull Breaker: A ship that can take down hull quickly, which most likely has Railguns, Flak Cannons, and Cannons, like the Ridgebreaker or Cyclops.
- Chaser: A ship with excellent maneuverability and firepower designed to finish off crippled enemy ships that are running away from combat. Often have high hull damage. Examples include the Sixfold and Lich.
- Charger: A ship, typically a Dreadnought, which charges to point blank range from a Starbase during a siege, usually to land more hits or to tank.
- Support ship: A ship that cannot do much alone, but becomes very useful when used alongside other ships or players. The entire Carrier class functions strongly as support.
- Glass Cannon: A ship with very powerful weapons at the expense of low health. Examples are the Sixfold and Avalon.
- Exclusive Swarm: A fleet of exclusively one ship deployed in sieges, PvP, and Pirating. Typically done in the form of Gideons, Razor Wings, or Warlocks.
- Nuke: Usually done to big ships or bases. This typically involves a big ship with a huge explosive radius, usually with the M Class. They would usually warp right up to the target and make them shoot them, but when the nuke ship dies, the goal is to take the target with them.
- Heavy Fighter: A designation given to some ships which are cruisers and below. They have no turrets and fairly good health. They are best used in groups. 2 examples are the Vengeance and the Crucible.
Behavior Archetypes
- Vulture: Usually a freighter. Vultures loot the wrecks of ships and starbases that others have destroyed. They generally cause anger among more experienced players, and can be annoying after large sieges.
- Camper: A ship with excellent PvP capabilities that remains stationed at a transport hub, usually the Mega Base or another starbase close by to attack traders and unsuspecting miners.
- Grinder: A miner or trader that has been consistently engaged in mining or trading. Usually targets for pirates.
- Chaser (Behaviour): Someone who chases crippled ships in the hopes of earning a kill.
- Swarm(ing): The act of deploying a carrier near a base, deploying fighters to attack the base, then pulling out. A variant of bait and switch. If any weak ships, like miners, are stationed at the target base, they may be destroyed.
- Starblade Siege: Usually a reckless and ridiculous strategy. A team will assemble a fleet of Starblades to attack a Starbase. If enoughStarblades are assembled, the Starbase may suffer major damage, and potentially could even be destroyed. However, this can easily be countered by small turret ships like the Ampharos or Mjolnheimr.
- Gideon Siege: A group of Gideons can tackle any Starbase. Any ship that has lots of small turrets is able to stop this kind of siege or even prevent it from starting.
- Rammer: A person, often with a small ship like the Wasp or Wyrm, ramming into another ship to glitch/annoy them during combat or any other situation.
- Warmonger/Bounty-gatherer: A player with powerful ships creates a faction and then either waits for powerful players to join his faction, or invites any of his powerful friends into their faction. They then upgrade their Starbase and declare war on all of the factions in the server. This is usually dangerous or annoying to other players, and can result in a player losing a valuable ship.
- Warrior: A player who will destroy any ship around them no matter what type of ship it is. They tend to be players who are Warmongers, but can strike at any time, while Warmongers are predictable in what they tend to hunt, warriors will kill anything, including freebie ships.
Miscellaneous Archetypes
- Most ships have shorthand names made from the first letters of their name, e.g. Amph for Ampharos
- Kekblade: A nickname for Starblade.
- Thicclock: A nickname for Warlock.
- Lagpocalypse: A nickname for Apocalypse
- Nub: A small ship, usually a Frigate, a Freighter, or a Miner, that yields little bounty upon its destruction.
- Capital: A capital ship is a Battleship, Dreadnought or Carrier-class ship.
- MB: Short for Megabase.
- MS: Short for Mothership.
- Nuke: Was a nickname for the Nyx, as it had a massive explosion.
- Meme Class: A nickname for the M Class.
- Lag bomb: Another nickname for the Nyx. This nickname was given due to the lag it caused before it was updated.
- Toilet brush: A nickname for the E Class until its remodel.
- X-1: Shorthand for the Prototype X-1.
- X-2: Shorthand for the Prototype X-2.
- Lagarus: Nickname for the Lazarus given for the amount of lag it causes when warping.
- 0 score: A term used for new players since they have no score. This term is used instead of "noob" to minimize insulting the player.
- Gamma:A term most players use as a insult. Basically the modern day version of 0 score.
Experienced Player Jargon
- Kek: To destroy another ship.
- BB: Short for Battleship. Could be BS, but that would be easily confused with another phrase. BB is the in-real-life callsign for battleships.
- BC: Short for Battlecruiser.
- Dread: Short for Dreadnought.