Humble Request

Share your gameplay tips, secret tactics and fabulous strategies with fellow gamers here.

Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition

User avatar
Jim Stevens
Posts: 164
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 4:57 pm
Location: Woodstock, Georgia USA

Humble Request

Post by Jim Stevens »

Forum Buddies,

I want to express my thanks to those people found here who have posted soooooo much information, tidbits, suggestions, and strategies. It has unquestionably made the game much more interesting and fun for me. For your past posts and your continued interest in helping fellow gamers, thanks. [&o]

I do have a request about posts in general. The use of game related abbreviations in forum posts makes reading the messages difficult to comprehend sometimes for people who are not fully entrenched in the game and have lots of time in the forum. To me this defeats the purpose of most posts if it not helpful to newer people. The game has a steep enough learning curve without folks having to get out their decoder rings just to read the forum messages. So my humble request is for folks to consider their audience when they craft their posts. Thanks...
rms1pa
Posts: 370
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 6:32 am

RE: Humble Request

Post by rms1pa »

goddess bless,

it is so very human to utilize cant/inspeech/acronyms. i sin in this fashion myself. mea culpa.

rms/pa
there is a technical term for those who confuse the opinions of an author's characters for the opinions of the author.
the term is IDIOT.
User avatar
Lokasenna
Posts: 9303
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2012 3:57 am
Location: Iowan in MD/DC

RE: Humble Request

Post by Lokasenna »

We need a glossary ;)
User avatar
GreyJoy
Posts: 6750
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:34 pm

RE: Humble Request

Post by GreyJoy »

And just think how much harder it becomes for people who don't speak english as his native language[:D]
User avatar
LoBaron
Posts: 4775
Joined: Sun Jan 26, 2003 8:23 pm
Location: Vienna, Austria

RE: Humble Request

Post by LoBaron »

May I assist with some of the most commonly used?

RTFM: Noone knows exactly what it means. Sometimes seems to be used to underline the noobishness of the OP.
Roughly translated, nowerdays, it means "ask Alfred".

AFB: Paranoid species, usually spending his/her days lamenting about torpedo accuracy, player defined upgrade paths,
aircraft production boosted by His Majesty The Emperor, or ship captains´ Asiatic eyes piercing the darkness like those
of cats.

JFB: Very proud, very upperclass, very invincible. Knows everything. In the face of defeat immediately turns paranoid,
complaining about 4eng uber fighters and underwhelming monsoon weather.



Ok, jokes aside, I agree that sometimes the use of abbrevations, and also some phrases (e.g. Sir Robin, Fortress Palembang,...),
are overused when responding to somebody obviousely new to the game. But please bear with us, most of our kind do not even notice
we are using abbrevations anymore. Simply ask, if one or the other is unclear, and be sure you will get it explained in no time. [;)]

If one or the other new player considers opening a thread to collect abbreviations and get them explained, I will be glad to
explain those I know of.
Image
User avatar
Bullwinkle58
Posts: 11297
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 12:47 pm

RE: Humble Request

Post by Bullwinkle58 »

TANSTAAFL

"There ain't no such thing as a free landing."
The Moose
wdolson
Posts: 7648
Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:56 pm
Location: Near Portland, OR

RE: Humble Request

Post by wdolson »

How about a pinned message with a glossary? If people post their definitions here, I will assemble the pinned post from the entries.

Bill
WitP AE - Test team lead, programmer
Image
User avatar
Kwik E Mart
Posts: 2447
Joined: Wed Jul 21, 2004 10:42 pm

RE: Humble Request

Post by Kwik E Mart »

...you guys are opening a can of worms here...next thing you know, we'll need a sticky for british sailor talk from sprior and his ilk...and don't forget the T translator...a singe syllable answer can sometimes have volumes behind it...[:D]...alfred is immune...if you can't understand his concise and well thought out posts, GHM*

* - god have mercy!
Kirk Lazarus: I know who I am. I'm the dude playin' the dude, disguised as another dude!
Ron Swanson: Clear alcohols are for rich women on diets.

Image
User avatar
Quixote
Posts: 774
Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2008 5:34 pm
Location: Maryland

RE: Humble Request

Post by Quixote »

ORIGINAL: wdolson

How about a pinned message with a glossary? If people post their definitions here, I will assemble the pinned post from the entries.

Bill

I agree this may come in handy for folks who are newer to the forums, provided of course that they manage to find it. I put together a few of the more common abbreviations and terms to get things started. We'll see where it goes from here if there's any more general interest in adding to the list. Sorry it's not in any particular order, but it may do to at least start with.



Below are some of the more common terms and abbreviations used on the WitP AE forum. (Note that these do not include abbreviations for ship types, which are already listed separately in the manual. While most people who buy this type of game are familiar with more common abbreviations like BB for Battleship or CV for Fleet Carrier, the forums are full of people asking questions or commenting on the abilities and uses of ACM, AE, AMc, xAKL, etc. It's worth taking a few minutes to learn what each of these (and other)ship types are used for or intended for by reading the manual.)

Abbreviations:

RTFM - Read the F---ing Manual. In this forum, usually used self-deprecatingly by someone who asks a question that's been asked many times before without looking to see if the answer is already at their fingertips in the manual. Fortunately it's rarely used on the forums as a real answer.
TF - If you don't know this abbreviation, you probably need to RTFM [:'(]. (If you really don't know this one, it stands for Task Force - a collection of ships grouped together for a single purpose. Also, if you didn't know this one, the manual really is a must-read before being able to make any kind of sense out of the game.)
AFB - Allied Fanboy. Someone who plays mostly or exclusively as the Allies.
JFB - Japanese Fanboy. Someone who plays mostly or exclusively as the Japanese.
DEI - Dutch East Indies. The territory held by the Dutch at the beginning of the game. Java, Celebes, Sumatra, much of Borneo, etc. Rich in resources and oil. Also referred to as the SRA.
SRA - Southern Resource Area. Area encompassing mostly the Dutch East Indies, rich in both oil and resources. More or less the same as the DEI when referred to in game.
HI - 1. Heavy Industry. Production points generated by Japan, and used to build aircraft, engines, ships, tanks, etc.
2. Home Islands. The Japanese main islands of Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido (plus a couple of other tiny ones.)
3. Hawaiian Islands. (Note: This usage of HI on the forums is rare, but it is occasionally used.)
PI - Phillipine Islands. Luzon and Mindanao are the main islands, but the term refers to the entire archipelago.
ASW - Anti-Submarine warfare, or referring to assets (either naval or air) involved in anti-sub activity.
FOW - Fog of War. Referring to situations, where the game won't always give you a complete or accurate view of combat, enemy troop composition, sunk ships, spotting, etc.
OT - Off topic. A thread not immediately related to the game, though usually related to the period. (Unless it was started by Footslogger, then all bets are off.)
LBA - Land-based aircraft. Planes flying from a base versus from a carrier.
KB - 1. Kido Butai. Japanese carriers, operating all together in one large task force. Early war, you'll see many references to staying away from the KB, or making sure as the Allies you know where the KB is, or "my LBA refused to attack the KB!![:@]"
2. Kota Bharu, usually one of the first Allied bases invaded in the war, located at the top of the Malay peninsula.
SCTF - Surface Combat Task Force. A group of ships put together to engage enemy ships, or to screen friendly ships in a separate task force. (also frequently referred to as a SAG.)
OOB - Order of Battle. A list of the forces one side has (or will receive) for any given scenario.
LCU - Land combat unit. Divisions, regiments, brigades, etc.
HR - House Rule(s). Any agreement between players in a PBEM (play by email) to amend or change rules, generally intended to prohibit certain tactics which game mechanics may allow, but which both players feel are not beneficial to the type of game they wish to play. Often used to try to make campaigns play out closer to "historical" results.
DL - Detection level. How visible (or not) either your forces, or your enemies forces are (often influencing the likelihood and accuracy of attacks.)
VP - Victory Points. Points which measure each players relative success, and which determine the levels of victory and defeat in scenarios and campaign games. Note: You can't "spend" victory points on anything, you only gain or lose them over the course of the game before an outcome is determined.
PP - Political Points. Points given out every turn which can be "spent" by making discretionary decisions in game, such as changing out inferior leaders for better ones, changing the HQ affiliation of some units to allow them to freely travel to other theaters, changing aircraft types in a given squadron, etc.
AF - Air Field. Usually referring to the size of an airfield at a given base, as in "Manila just hit AF4".
DBB - Da Big Babes. One of a series of popular mods for WitPAE. Designed by many of the folks responsible for creating WitPAE in the first place.
RA - Reluctant Admiral. Another well known mod for WitPAE.
CBI - China, Burma, India theater.
PH - Pearl Harbor.
SF - San Francisco.
Oz - Australia.
WC - West Coast (of North America.)
EC - East Coast (of North America.)
HK - Hong Kong.
Singers- Singapore.
CT - Capetown.
IO - Indian Ocean.
SR - Service rating. A reliability rating given to each type of plane, from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating the aircraft is very reliable and 5 indicating that the plane type has serious and frequent maintenance needs. Greatly impacts how many planes in a given group will be ready fly if they've been recently been used.
SIGINT - Signals Intelligence. Radio intercepts, code-breaking, etc. which may give you some information about what your opponent is up to. In game, this information is located on the Intelligence Report.



Terms:

Sandbox - A test scenario, where conditions are set and then run multiple times to help determine what effect certain variables in the game actually do. Often used as a verb, as in "I sandboxed a CV battle in late 42 where the Allies had limited help from LBA."
Sir Robin - Early war Allied strategy involving various degrees of fleeing from Japanese advances instead of fighting back, with the goal of minimizing losses and husbanding strength for a later counter attack. (From Monty Python's "Holy Grail", "Brave, brave sir Robin, he bravely ran away!!" as sung by Sir Robin's minstrels, before they eventually ate Sir Robin's minstrels.)
Ablative armor - The use of obsolete airframes as escorts to draw fire on themselves, thereby shielding the bombers they are escorting from attack. Occasionally used by Japan as a late war tactic.
Restricted - Refers to the freedom of mobility (or really the lack thereof) for both LCUs and air groups. Unrestricted groups can travel or transfer to and from any base you own. Restricted units are limited to the theater they start in (West Coast, Home Defense(Japan), China, etc.) unless a player spends PPs (see above) to free these units up. Note that there are some cases where units cannot be freed up by any means - these would be referred to as Permanently Restricted.




User avatar
JeffroK
Posts: 6395
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 4:05 am

RE: Humble Request

Post by JeffroK »

You havent included the misspellings which have become part of the language.

For example Scoodra instead of Socotra, GreyJoy & CR (Canoerebel) have hundreds in their AAR (After Action Report)

Or the lazy, Port Headland or Freemantle
Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum
User avatar
PaxMondo
Posts: 9795
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 3:23 pm

RE: Humble Request

Post by PaxMondo »

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

May I assist with some of the most commonly used?

RTFM: Noone knows exactly what it means. Sometimes seems to be used to underline the noobishness of the OP.
Roughly translated, nowerdays, it means "ask Alfred".

AFB: Paranoid species, usually spending his/her days lamenting about torpedo accuracy, player defined upgrade paths,
aircraft production boosted by His Majesty The Emperor, or ship captains´ Asiatic eyes piercing the darkness like those
of cats.

JFB: Very proud, very upperclass, very invincible. Knows everything. In the face of defeat immediately turns paranoid,
complaining about 4eng uber fighters and underwhelming monsoon weather.
I like these better. [:D][:D][:D]
Pax
User avatar
witpqs
Posts: 26376
Joined: Mon Oct 04, 2004 7:48 pm
Location: Argleton

RE: Humble Request

Post by witpqs »

Beta - A software release typically covered with saliva by eager AE'ers drooling on their PC before they even get it installed.
User avatar
LoBaron
Posts: 4775
Joined: Sun Jan 26, 2003 8:23 pm
Location: Vienna, Austria

RE: Humble Request

Post by LoBaron »

Some more "Terms":

Mersing gambit: An early landing at Mersing close to the southern tip of the Malayan peninsula. The aim is to cut off the
retreat of the commonwealth forces to Singapore. The location is excellent as there is a major road connecting the west to the
east coast, but the attack can be costly because of the proximity to Singapore, even more when standing up against an intact
Force Z (s**t, another Term... [8|]), and even more against an alert Allied opponent preparing for such a move.

Force Z: A CW combat group center around BB PoW (Prince of Wales) and BC Repulse sent to Singapore as a deterrent to Japanese aggression.
Both major combatants sunk by Japanese air attacks on Dec 10th ´41.

DBL: (DaBabesLight) For those who want the increased realism of DBB, but do not care about new unit structures or 1000s of smal backwater
vessles, thats the way to go.


Edit: Fortress Palembang will be edited as to Nemo´s suggestion, will post it separately.
If somebody else is faster, I don´t mind, got not too much time at the moment anyway. [:)]
Image
User avatar
Jorge_Stanbury
Posts: 4345
Joined: Wed Feb 29, 2012 12:57 pm
Location: Montreal

RE: Humble Request

Post by Jorge_Stanbury »

Magic move: Japanese first turn movement bonus. A "free" 36 hex pregame move by any "*" pre-loaded IJN units w/o spending any fuel.
This is done to replicate the simultaneous surprise attacks on Dec 7th

Battlewagons: Battleships

mini-KB: Kido Buttai's little sister, a combination of Japanese CVEs/ CVLs into a carrier TF

ABDA: the short lived (early 1942) American-British-Dutch-Australian supreme command for all Allied forces in South East Asia

Schanilec
Posts: 4038
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:30 pm
Location: Grand Forks, ND

RE: Humble Request

Post by Schanilec »

ORIGINAL: LoBaron

Some more "Terms":

Mersing gambit: An early landing at Mersing close to the southern tip of the Malayan peninsula. The aim is to cut off the
retreat of the commonwealth forces to Singapore. The location is excellent as there is a major road connecting the west to the
east coast, but the attack can be costly because of the proximity to Singapore, even more when standing up against an intact
Force Z (s**t, another Term... [8|]), and even more against an alert Allied opponent preparing for such a move.

Fortress Palembang: In those scenarios where refineries produce supplies (this does not apply for DBB/DBL, S**T!!! ANOTHER...DAMNIT...),
Palembang is an excellent loacation for an extended, in optimal circumstances nearly impenetrable Allied defense. Palembang has oil
sources and refineries. If refineries produce supplies, the location can support an immense ammount of troops without any supply
flow from the outside. The only option for a Japanese player who has been caught off guard by a FP is to destroy the very infrastructure
he needs to rely on later in the war.


Force Z: A CW combat group center around BB PoW (Prince of Wales) and BC Repulse sent to Singapore as a deterrent to Japanese aggression.
Both major combatants sunk by Japanese air attacks on Dec 10th ´41.

DBL: (DaBabesLight) For those who want the increased realism of DBB, but do not care about new unit structures or 1000s of smal backwater
vessles, thats the way to go.
LMFAO[:D][:D][:D][&o]
This is one Czech that doesn't bounce.
User avatar
Jim Stevens
Posts: 164
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 4:57 pm
Location: Woodstock, Georgia USA

RE: Humble Request

Post by Jim Stevens »

ORIGINAL: wdolson

How about a pinned message with a glossary? If people post their definitions here, I will assemble the pinned post from the entries.

Bill

In My Humble Opinion(IMHO) that's a great idea!
User avatar
Jim Stevens
Posts: 164
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 4:57 pm
Location: Woodstock, Georgia USA

RE: Humble Request

Post by Jim Stevens »

ORIGINAL: Quixote
DBB - Da Big Babes. One of a series of popular mods for WitPAE. Designed by many of the folks responsible for creating WitPAE in the first place.
RA - Reluctant Admiral. Another well known mod for WitPAE.

Are mods changes in the base set data or software?
John Lansford
Posts: 2664
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2002 12:40 am

RE: Humble Request

Post by John Lansford »

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

TANSTAAFL

"There ain't no such thing as a free landing."

I always saw that quote with "lunch" instead of landing.
User avatar
Mike Solli
Posts: 15874
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2000 8:00 am
Location: the flight deck of the Zuikaku

RE: Humble Request

Post by Mike Solli »

ORIGINAL: John Lansford

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

TANSTAAFL

"There ain't no such thing as a free landing."

I always saw that quote with "lunch" instead of landing.

Heinlein obviously never played WitP. (He died some 16 years before the original WitP came around, but that's beside the point.)
Image
Created by the amazing Dixie
wdolson
Posts: 7648
Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:56 pm
Location: Near Portland, OR

RE: Humble Request

Post by wdolson »

ORIGINAL: Quixote
DBB - Da Big Babes. One of a series of popular mods for WitPAE. Designed by many of the folks responsible for creating WitPAE in the first place.
RA - Reluctant Admiral. Another well known mod for WitPAE.
ORIGINAL: Jim Stevens
Are mods changes in the base set data or software?

In general mods are changes to units. Some change the map. DaBabes does take advantage of some software features that were added during mods, but are not in the original game. For example one is split tubes on subs. When a sub fires torpedoes, it has to fire at least one salvo from at least one line in the unit database. The subs were originally defined with say 6 tubes forward and 4 tubes rear in a group, so when a sub fired torpedoes from the forward tubes, it always fired 6, no matter the target.

In one of the mods, the ability for subs to fire only one line device at a target was implemented. The DaBabes scenarios were modified to take advantage of this. So the same sub will have three lines for forward tubes, with two tubes each. When that sub fires its forward tubes at a target, it might fire 1, 2, or 3 lines, ie 2, 4, or 6 torpedoes. Generally the number of torpedoes fired depends on the target. It will usually only fire two at a merchant ship, but might fire 6 at a carrier or battleship.

But back to your question, no mod actually changes the software, all are data changes. Such as with the tube splitting, some take advantage of new software features that the original scenarios didn't do.

Bill
WitP AE - Test team lead, programmer
Image
Post Reply

Return to “The War Room”