Terminologies
A list of words which may be new to you if you haven’t played other similar games. The descriptions here are not so much definitions of the words as explanations to help you quickly get into the game. To find a specific word the easiest way is probably to search for it, press the Ctrl and the F keys on your keyboard and enter the word you’re looking for.
In this document: we made sure to explain things in a short, and easy to understand, way. Easy to understand to be helpful to anyone who isn’t familiar at all with RTS games, but short so someone who knows most of these still would want to read it to find out more about the words he/she doesn’t understand.
Gameplay related
AI
AI = Artificial Intelligence, in LoE. it means an enemy that isn’t a human being but rather computer scripts/code, allowing you to play a game without the need of finding someone to play against.
Champion Unit/Champion Units
Units which are more expensive than Citizen Soldiers, and also don’t have any economical abilities, they are however stronger and better at fighting. Compare Citizen Soldiers and Heroes.
Citizen Soldiers
In the ancient world there were not only warriors who were professional soldiers and had fighting as their job, there were also Citizen Soldiers who most of the time worked with something else (typically farming) and only sometimes picked up their weapons and went to war. In LoE we simulate this by having some units who can both do economical tasks (gather resources, build structures, repair structures) and fight. Typically trained at the Town Centre and Barracks.
Civilization
Civilizations (sometimes called factions) are inspired by ancient civilizations. They each have a look of their own, and unique characteristics, though they share the same basic structures and have many similar units.
Female Citizen
Gatherer, builder rather than a fighter.
Fog-of-War/FoW/Fog of War
Areas that you have explored, but currently do not have any units or structures. These explored areas are covered by Fog-of-War, and means that you see objects and buildings as they were when you last saw them. If trees are cut down or a new structure built, you won’t see it unless you send a unit there again. Units are not seen at all.
Food
A resource most commonly gathered from animals, berry bushes, fruit trees, and fields. Used mainly for creating new people units.
Nature and Gaia
Nature. All objects that doesn’t belong to one of the players belong to Gaia: animals, trees, rocks, etc. Animals might be hostile or afraid etc. depending on their nature, but in general Gaia is Neutral towards all players.
Hero/Heroes
A really strong unit. Inspired by historical persons important to the Civilization.
Hitpoints
A number meant to symbolize the health of a unit/how much is left of a structure.
Line-of-sight/LOS
The area around your unit/structure that you can see and isn’t covered by Shroud-of-Darkness or Fog-of-War. Some structures and units have a large LOS, making it possible to see things which are far away, and some only have a smaller area they see, so it can be wise to combine units with large/small LOS.
Loot
When you kill enemy units you will get some resources. This represents the loot that your army gathers from the enemy.
Melee
Units who fight with, for example, swords and need to be up close to the enemy.
Metal/Ore
A resource gathered from metal mines (often looks like big rocks). Used mostly to create certain units.
Multi Player/Multiplayer/Multi-player
When you play against one or more humans (and sometimes AIs as well) over the internet. Compare with Single Player.
Ranged
Units who fight with javelins or bow and arrow and can fight from a distance. Some siege weapons are also ranged units. Most ranged units needs to be a slight distance away from their enemy to be able to attack them.
Resource/resources
In LoE there are four kinds of resources: food, wood, stone and metal. Resources are needed to create new units and build new structures.
Resource drop sites
When your units gather resources they need to leave them somewhere when they’ve gathered as much as they can carry, that place is called a resource drop site.
RTS/Real Time Strategy
A type of war game where you and your opponent interact in real time (or at least close to it as you can often pause the game in Single-Player), typically with both economy and war being important.
Shroud-of-darkness/SOD/Shroud of Darkness
The black area where you haven’t explored yet and can’t see anything, unknown territory.
Siege weapon/Siege weapons
The siege units are mostly used to destroy structures, but in some cases also to attack large groups of enemy units.
Single Player
A game where you don’t play against another human being. Often against an AI, though it could also be a sandbox game where you just explore, build, etc. without an enemy.
Support Units
Units which don’t fight, but have other roles. Currently only the female citizens are implemented, but the Healer and Trader are also included among these.
Train
To create a unit or group of units.
Unit/units
A common word for people, siege weapons, boats, and animals controlled by the player. In other words: every object in the in-game world controlled by the player that isn’t a structure.
Wood
A resource gathered from trees. Used for building new structures and to train units. See Troops & Units for more details.
