With the release of the game, there will be many new members and guests visiting this site who may, from time to time, get confused by some of the acronyms and other terms that CivFanatics sling around so casually. So, as a public service, below is a compilation of acronyms and terms that have appeared repeatedly on these forums (both for previous Civ versions and in the run-up to release of Civ VI), translated into Civ VI terms to the extent possible.
This is a work in progress. Please feel free to suggest additions and corrections in the comments and we'll update the list as we go on.
Game, Game Play and Strategy Terms
1 UpT = 1 Unit per Tile
AI = Artificial Intelligence, the computer programming that "plays" non-human-directed civs
Barbs = Barbarians
Beakers = Units of science
Beeline = Strategy of directing game play towards the earliest possible acquisition of a specific Technology or Civic
BO = Build order (order that you choose to build units, buildings, districts and wonders in a given city)
BpT = Beakers per Turn
Camp = Barbarian encampment
CB = Casus Belli or justification for a DOW (a new feature in Civ VI) or
Crossbowman, depending on context
CoD = Carpet of Doom - referring to an area of the map that is "carpeted" with enemy units (units occupying every tile)
Cogs, Hammers or Shields = Units of production
Civ = Civilization
CpT = Culture per Turn
CS = City-State or Combat Strength, depending on context
CV = Culture victory
Diplo hit = Decline in relationship with another civ or civs caused by a player action
DLC = DownLoadable Content
DoF = Declaration of Friendship
Dom = Domination victory
DoW = Declaration of War
DV = Diplomatic victory
Expo = Expansion city (city other than your capital) or expansion site
FoW = Fog of War (previously explored areas of the map over which a player does not have current visibility)
FpT = Faith per Turn
GBR = Great Barrier Reef (natural wonder)
Goody Hut = Tribal village in Civ VI (provides certain bonuses when first explored)
GpT = Gold per Turn
GS = Gathering Storm, the second expansion to Civ VI
HP = Hit Point(s) (measure of unit, city or fortification health following combat)
ICS = Infinite City Sprawl (or, to some, Infinite City Spam) - Strategy where as many cities as possible are built with minimum spacing between them (may also include adding cities via conquering cities)
LP = Let's Play: a game recorded as a video and presented online
LUA = Leader Unique Ability, a leader-specific ability or other characteristic (such as aleader-specific UU)
Lux = Luxury resource
Milking the AI = Selling a one-off Resource or Resources to an AI civ when you know that either you're about to lose the resource(s) to pillaging or loss of a city or that you're going to DoW the AI in the next few turns. In either case, you have the AI's Gold and the AI no longer has the resource(s).
MP = Movement Points or MultiPlayer game, depending on context
NFP = New Frontier Pass, a series of DLCs for the game
NW = Natural Wonder
OCC = One City Challenge - approach to game play where the player can own only one city - unlike Civ V, Civ VI does not offer OCC as a game setup option
OP = Overpowered (on forums, OP also refers to 'opening/original poster' or 'opening/original post')
PBC = Play By Cloud, a new multiplayer format introduced in connection with GS
Pillage-heal = Destroying certain enemy tile improvement to earn gold and heal an injured unit (up to 25 HP) - unlike Civ V, pillaging does not always yield gold and heal a unit; pillaging certain districts and improvements may give science, culture or faith instead, and no healing
Pop = Population
R&F = Rise and Fall, the first expansion to Civ VI
RA = Research Agreement
Reload = Loading a saved game from an earlier turn, to replay one or more turns (also referred to by some as "save scumming")
Reroll = Starting a new game with the same settings - unlike Civ V, Civ VI does not include a "restart" option on the main menu, so rerolling is a more manual process than in Civ V
REX = Rapid Early eXpansion, or founding many cities as quickly as possible
RNG = Random Number Generator (often used when bemoaning a seemingly random or unexpected result - i.e., blaming "RNG")
Rush or Hurry = Primary meaning is to buy a unit or building with gold, or to accelerate production of a wonder, building or unit with a Great Person that has that effect (or, if playing as China, rushing an Ancient or Classical Era wonder with a builder charge or, if playing as the Aztecs, rushing a district with a builder charge). Also has secondary meaning of an early, rapid and aggressive invasion (or "rush") of an opponent, including use of a swarm of specific units, such as a "Crossbow rush" or "Legion rush."
RV = Religious victory
SIP = Settle in place (found your capital where your initial settler is located at game start)
SoD = Stack of Doom (Note: the SoD is not a phenomenon in Civ VI with its implementation of 1 UpT)
SP = Single Player (i.e., not Multiplayer)
Strat = Strategic Resource or Strategy, depending on context
SV = Science victory
Tall = Using only a relatively small number of highly populated cities
TP = Trading Post (created in a city when a Trade Route to or from that city is completed)
TpT = Tourism per Turn
TR = Trade route
TSL = True Start Locations, a game played on an Earth map with the respective civs starting in the locations where they are in real life
Turtle = Using a military for defense only
UB = Unique Building, a Civ- or Leader-specific building
UD = Unique District, a Ci- or leader-specific district
UI = Unique Improvement, a Civ- or Leader-specific tile improvement, or User Interface, depending on context
UU = Unique Unit, a Civ- or Leader-specific unit (which may or may not replace a comparable generic unit)
VC = Victory Condition (science, religion, culture, domination, or time/score)
Wide = Using a larger number of relatively lower population cities
XB = Crossbowman
XML - eXtensibe Mark-up Language files containing information used by the game
xpac or expansion = game expansion release (R&F and GS, for Civ VI)
XP = Unit eXPerience earned from combat or, in the case of recon units, discovering natural wonders
XP Farming = Engaging in combat with barbarians, City-States or other civs for the primary purpose of earning XP to promote units
WW = Either World Wonder or War Weariness, depending on context
ZoC = Zone of Control
Great Person Terms
Bulb or Retire = To acquire a eureka, inspiration, great work, or other benefit instantly by "retiring" a Great Person (or, for a Great Person with more than one "charge", each time a charge is used)
GA = Great Artist or Great Admiral, depending on context
GAdm = Great Admiral
GE = Great Engineer
GG = Great General
GM = Great Merchant or Great Musician, depending on context
GMus = Great Musician
GP = Great Person or Great Prophet, depending on context
GPP = Great Person Points or Great Prophet Points, depending on context
GPr = Great Prophet
GS = Great Scientist
GW = Great Writer or Great Work (or Great Wall), depending on context
GWAM - Great Writer, Artist or Musician, generically
Leader Nicknames
Cathy or CdM = Catherine de Medici (France)
Chandra or Chandy = Chandragupta Maurya
Cleo = Cleopatra (Egypt)
Engleanor = Eleanor when leading England
Freleanor = Eleanor when leading France
Jay = Jayavarman VII
Monty = Montezuma (Aztecs)
Teddy or TR = Teddy Roosevelt (America)
Tomy = Tomyris
Vicky = Victoria (England)
Technologies and Civics
AH = Animal Husbandry (tech)
BW = Bronze Working (tech)
EE = Early Empire (civic)
D&P = Drama & Poetry (civic)
FT = Foreign Trade (civic)
G&R = Games & Recreation (civic)
HB or HBR = Horseback Riding (tech)
IW = Iron Working (tech)
PP = Political Philosophy (civic)
ST = Scientific Theory (tech)
Districts and Buildings
CH = Commercial Hub
EC = Entertainment Complex
Granny = Granary
HS = Holy Site (district)
IZ = Industrial Zone (district)
Lab = Research Lab (Campus district building)
Lib = Library (Campus district building)
LH - Lighthouse (Harbor district building)
Mill = Water Mill
RND or Randy = Royal Navy Dockyard (Harbor replacement for England)
Uni = University (Campus district building)
WM = Water Mill
World Wonders
CI = Chichen Itza
Chicken Pizza = Chichen Itza
CR = Cristo Redentor
GL = Great Library
GLH = Great LightHouse
HG = Hanging Gardens
HS = Hagia Sophia
SH = Stonehenge
SOH = Sydney Opera House
TA = Terracotta Army
This is a work in progress. Please feel free to suggest additions and corrections in the comments and we'll update the list as we go on.
Game, Game Play and Strategy Terms
1 UpT = 1 Unit per Tile
AI = Artificial Intelligence, the computer programming that "plays" non-human-directed civs
Barbs = Barbarians
Beakers = Units of science
Beeline = Strategy of directing game play towards the earliest possible acquisition of a specific Technology or Civic
BO = Build order (order that you choose to build units, buildings, districts and wonders in a given city)
BpT = Beakers per Turn
Camp = Barbarian encampment
CB = Casus Belli or justification for a DOW (a new feature in Civ VI) or
Crossbowman, depending on context
CoD = Carpet of Doom - referring to an area of the map that is "carpeted" with enemy units (units occupying every tile)
Cogs, Hammers or Shields = Units of production
Civ = Civilization
CpT = Culture per Turn
CS = City-State or Combat Strength, depending on context
CV = Culture victory
Diplo hit = Decline in relationship with another civ or civs caused by a player action
DLC = DownLoadable Content
DoF = Declaration of Friendship
Dom = Domination victory
DoW = Declaration of War
DV = Diplomatic victory
Expo = Expansion city (city other than your capital) or expansion site
FoW = Fog of War (previously explored areas of the map over which a player does not have current visibility)
FpT = Faith per Turn
GBR = Great Barrier Reef (natural wonder)
Goody Hut = Tribal village in Civ VI (provides certain bonuses when first explored)
GpT = Gold per Turn
GS = Gathering Storm, the second expansion to Civ VI
HP = Hit Point(s) (measure of unit, city or fortification health following combat)
ICS = Infinite City Sprawl (or, to some, Infinite City Spam) - Strategy where as many cities as possible are built with minimum spacing between them (may also include adding cities via conquering cities)
LP = Let's Play: a game recorded as a video and presented online
LUA = Leader Unique Ability, a leader-specific ability or other characteristic (such as aleader-specific UU)
Lux = Luxury resource
Milking the AI = Selling a one-off Resource or Resources to an AI civ when you know that either you're about to lose the resource(s) to pillaging or loss of a city or that you're going to DoW the AI in the next few turns. In either case, you have the AI's Gold and the AI no longer has the resource(s).
MP = Movement Points or MultiPlayer game, depending on context
NFP = New Frontier Pass, a series of DLCs for the game
NW = Natural Wonder
OCC = One City Challenge - approach to game play where the player can own only one city - unlike Civ V, Civ VI does not offer OCC as a game setup option
OP = Overpowered (on forums, OP also refers to 'opening/original poster' or 'opening/original post')
PBC = Play By Cloud, a new multiplayer format introduced in connection with GS
Pillage-heal = Destroying certain enemy tile improvement to earn gold and heal an injured unit (up to 25 HP) - unlike Civ V, pillaging does not always yield gold and heal a unit; pillaging certain districts and improvements may give science, culture or faith instead, and no healing
Pop = Population
R&F = Rise and Fall, the first expansion to Civ VI
RA = Research Agreement
Reload = Loading a saved game from an earlier turn, to replay one or more turns (also referred to by some as "save scumming")
Reroll = Starting a new game with the same settings - unlike Civ V, Civ VI does not include a "restart" option on the main menu, so rerolling is a more manual process than in Civ V
REX = Rapid Early eXpansion, or founding many cities as quickly as possible
RNG = Random Number Generator (often used when bemoaning a seemingly random or unexpected result - i.e., blaming "RNG")
Rush or Hurry = Primary meaning is to buy a unit or building with gold, or to accelerate production of a wonder, building or unit with a Great Person that has that effect (or, if playing as China, rushing an Ancient or Classical Era wonder with a builder charge or, if playing as the Aztecs, rushing a district with a builder charge). Also has secondary meaning of an early, rapid and aggressive invasion (or "rush") of an opponent, including use of a swarm of specific units, such as a "Crossbow rush" or "Legion rush."
RV = Religious victory
SIP = Settle in place (found your capital where your initial settler is located at game start)
SoD = Stack of Doom (Note: the SoD is not a phenomenon in Civ VI with its implementation of 1 UpT)
SP = Single Player (i.e., not Multiplayer)
Strat = Strategic Resource or Strategy, depending on context
SV = Science victory
Tall = Using only a relatively small number of highly populated cities
TP = Trading Post (created in a city when a Trade Route to or from that city is completed)
TpT = Tourism per Turn
TR = Trade route
TSL = True Start Locations, a game played on an Earth map with the respective civs starting in the locations where they are in real life
Turtle = Using a military for defense only
UB = Unique Building, a Civ- or Leader-specific building
UD = Unique District, a Ci- or leader-specific district
UI = Unique Improvement, a Civ- or Leader-specific tile improvement, or User Interface, depending on context
UU = Unique Unit, a Civ- or Leader-specific unit (which may or may not replace a comparable generic unit)
VC = Victory Condition (science, religion, culture, domination, or time/score)
Wide = Using a larger number of relatively lower population cities
XB = Crossbowman
XML - eXtensibe Mark-up Language files containing information used by the game
xpac or expansion = game expansion release (R&F and GS, for Civ VI)
XP = Unit eXPerience earned from combat or, in the case of recon units, discovering natural wonders
XP Farming = Engaging in combat with barbarians, City-States or other civs for the primary purpose of earning XP to promote units
WW = Either World Wonder or War Weariness, depending on context
ZoC = Zone of Control
Great Person Terms
Bulb or Retire = To acquire a eureka, inspiration, great work, or other benefit instantly by "retiring" a Great Person (or, for a Great Person with more than one "charge", each time a charge is used)
GA = Great Artist or Great Admiral, depending on context
GAdm = Great Admiral
GE = Great Engineer
GG = Great General
GM = Great Merchant or Great Musician, depending on context
GMus = Great Musician
GP = Great Person or Great Prophet, depending on context
GPP = Great Person Points or Great Prophet Points, depending on context
GPr = Great Prophet
GS = Great Scientist
GW = Great Writer or Great Work (or Great Wall), depending on context
GWAM - Great Writer, Artist or Musician, generically
Leader Nicknames
Cathy or CdM = Catherine de Medici (France)
Chandra or Chandy = Chandragupta Maurya
Cleo = Cleopatra (Egypt)
Engleanor = Eleanor when leading England
Freleanor = Eleanor when leading France
Jay = Jayavarman VII
Monty = Montezuma (Aztecs)
Teddy or TR = Teddy Roosevelt (America)
Tomy = Tomyris
Vicky = Victoria (England)
Technologies and Civics
AH = Animal Husbandry (tech)
BW = Bronze Working (tech)
EE = Early Empire (civic)
D&P = Drama & Poetry (civic)
FT = Foreign Trade (civic)
G&R = Games & Recreation (civic)
HB or HBR = Horseback Riding (tech)
IW = Iron Working (tech)
PP = Political Philosophy (civic)
ST = Scientific Theory (tech)
Districts and Buildings
CH = Commercial Hub
EC = Entertainment Complex
Granny = Granary
HS = Holy Site (district)
IZ = Industrial Zone (district)
Lab = Research Lab (Campus district building)
Lib = Library (Campus district building)
LH - Lighthouse (Harbor district building)
Mill = Water Mill
RND or Randy = Royal Navy Dockyard (Harbor replacement for England)
Uni = University (Campus district building)
WM = Water Mill
World Wonders
CI = Chichen Itza
Chicken Pizza = Chichen Itza
CR = Cristo Redentor
GL = Great Library
GLH = Great LightHouse
HG = Hanging Gardens
HS = Hagia Sophia
SH = Stonehenge
SOH = Sydney Opera House
TA = Terracotta Army
