BFG: abbreviations

[horizon]

In BFG people use alot of abbreviations for lots of things:
The list:

CWE - Craftworld Eldar
CE - Corsair Eldar
DE - Dark Eldar
IN - Imperial Navy
SM - Space Marine
Nec - Necrons
Nid - Tyranids

AR - Attack Rating
VP - Victory Point
RR - Re-roll
WM - Warmaster
PP - Pirate Prince
MotF - Master of the Fleet
MoT - Mark of Tzeentch
MoK - Mark of Khorne
MoS - Mark of Slaanesh
MoN - Mark of Nurgle
MoCU - Mark of Chaos Undivided

BB - Battleship (or space marine Battlebarge, depending on context)
CG - Grand Cruiser
CB - Battlecruiser/Heavy Cruiser
CA - Attack Cruiser (ie, standard BFG cruiser)
CL - Light Cruiser
CV - Carrier
CVB - Battleship sized carrier
FF - Frigate
DD - Destroyer

WS - Wraithship
DS - Dragonship
NS - Nightshade
VS - Void Stalker

PK - Planet Killer
TE - Terminus Est
Apoc - Apocalypse
Emp - Emperor (battleship)
Ret - Retribution (battleship)
Rep - Repulsive (grand cruiser)
BSF - Blackstone Fortress
ABSF - Activated Blackstone Fortress

TS - Tracking System
ITS - Integrated Tracking System
CTS - Custodian Tracking System
FWST - Fire Warrior Strike Teams

Str - Strength
GPW - Gaus Particle Whip
SPG - Star Pulse Generator
WBe - Weapon Battery equivalent (used to compare firepower)
EWB - Eldar Weapon Battery
WB - Weapon Battery
FP - Firepower
PL - Pulsar Lance
PhL - Phantom Lance
RB - Rail Battery (Tau WB)
IC - Ion Cannons (Tau lances)
LB - Launch Bay
TT - Tau Torps
AC - Air Craft (or Aerospace Craft, Attack Craft, etc)
AB - Assault Boat
TH - Thunderhawks
NF - Nightmare Field
LA - Lightning Arc
HF - Holofields
SF - Shadowfields
HG - Heavy Guns
BC - Bombardment Cannon
NC - Nova Cannon
BP - Bio Plasma
PA - Pyro Acid
MC - Massive Claws
FT - Feeder Tentacles
L - Lance

SO - Special Orders (or the hated Seditio Opprimere, depending on context)
CTNH - Come To New Heading
AAF - All Ahead Full
BR - Burn Retros
RO - Reload Ordnance
LO - Lock On
BFI - Brace For Impact

RCS - Right Column Shift
LCS - Left Column Shift
H&R - Hit and Run
CAP - Combat Aerospace Patrol
Crits - Critical hits
BM - Blast Marker
BV - Boarding Value

MSM - Move Shoot Move
MMS - Move Move Shoot

MMH - Murder Murder Hades
CCC - Carnage Carnage Carnage

ECF = Exploration and Commerce Fleet (Kor'vattra Ileath'fannor) - the metal Tau ships
CPF = Commerce Protection Fleet (Kor'vattra Qath'fannor) - the resin Tau ships

QSF = Q'orl Swarmfleet
QRF = Q'orl Raiding Fleet (led by QSV Predestined)
QCS = Q'orl Chainships
QSV = Q'orl Swarmhood Vessel
QHW = Q'orl Homeworld-class Core module
QHS = Q'orl Hivestation-class Core module
QSH = Q'orl Swarmhood-class Core module
QWB = Q'orl WB Segment module
QLM = Q'orl Lance Segment module
QLB = Q'orl LB Segment module
QSM = Q'orl Support Segment module
QCM = Q'orl Cargo Segment module
QXP = The QSV Predestined - Q'orl Experimental Hivestation-class Core module

HA - High Admiralty, aka, BFG rules review panel
BBB - Big Blue Book, aka, the rulebook

BFG - Big Friendly Giant .. er .. Battlefleet Gothic




Feel free to add more!

[AndrewChristlieb]

CVL (carrier light ie: defiant) and CVE (escort carrier) pop to mine, im sure there are many more as well.

[Cneo]

I think Battlecruisers are called "BC" in naval terms. 

[horizon]

Actually I cannot find BC anywhere...

CB is effectively a large cruiser.
But I think CB grew into BFG for BattleCruiser because of the B & C and the fact it needed to begin with a C.

[Cneo]

Actually I cannot find BC anywhere...

In WW1 this class was called CC but in WW2 vessels like the Hood, Repulse or Alaska class where classified as Battlecruisers (BC), an example:

http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/B/a/Battle_Cruisers.htm

And now, I think only the USSR navy had Battlecruisers, the Kirov class, sold later to China. They were also classified as BC:

http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/battleships-board/59469-kirov-class-battlecruisers-2.html



That's an example pre- and during WW2:

"The origin of the 2 letter code derives from the need to distinguish various cruiser subtypes.
Cruiser   Armored   CA
large                   CB
battle                   CC
Light                    CL
Aviation or Voler   CV
Destroyer   ship           DD
Escort                   DE

But I found differents pages with differents interpretations, because of the timeline names, I link it for general interest:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull_classification_symbol
http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/index_ships_list.htm

 

[Sigoroth]

Well obviously BFG ship abbreviations derive from their real world counterparts originally but have been co-opted to make sense according to the classes and types available in BFG. This system is pretty simple (maybe even simplistic), in that the first letter is the hull type and the second letter is the role. If the second letter is the same as the first then it just means that its role is typical of its type. The only exception being the CA (basic attack cruiser) which is not CC because of the possibility at some stage of introducing Corvette sized craft.

So a CB would be a "Cruiser, battle" and CV is a "Cruiser, carrier" and CL is "Cruiser, light". Sometimes there's 3 letters, such as CVL "Cruiser, carrier, light". Chaos Heavy Cruisers are as similar to IN CBs as Chaos cruisers are to IN cruisers, hence both are classified as CB (rather than, say, CH for a heavy cruiser).

As for a battleship sized carrier, that would be emended as BV (Emperor, Despoiler, Nemesis, Explorer), whereas Horizon has it as CVB, which would really be a battlecruiser level carrier (as exemplified by the Jovian and Styx and to a lesser degree the Mars).  CG is, of course, "Cruiser, grand" for which there is no real world analogue except for perhaps a true battlecruiser, and CVG would be a "Cruiser, carrier, grand" which is basically a Retaliator or Exorcist.

[horizon]

So CVB is not correct in the list (which I did not make, just copied it).

[Sigoroth]

So CVB is not correct in the list (which I did not make, just copied it).

Heh, it was probably me that wrote it in the first place. 

[fracas]

i think some of the codes are also outdated

for instance, many early carriers were built on cruiser hulls when the Washington treaty restricting the number and tonnage of capital ships were enacted internationally. thus larger hulls were used for battleship (rather than battlecruisers), which many thought would still reign supreme, and the new fangled carrier would be adequate with a cruiser hull.
clearly today's carriers are larger than even battleships.

[Zhukov]

the Kirov class, sold later to China. [/quote]

Nope. They are still serving in the Russian Navy. Nice pic of the Slava though!

[RCgothic]

I started thinking about how I specify ships and then realised it was complicated! Informed partly by Starfleet Command/Klingon Academy, and partly by real life.

Prefixes:
B- = Battle
E- = Escort
N- = New

Appendings:
-B = Ballistic Missile Ship or Heavy or Battle (confusing!)
-C = Command
-E = Escort
-G = Guided Missile Ship.
-H = Heavy (Not Cruisers except Battlecruisers).
-L = Leader (Destroyers and Smaller) or Light (Cruisers or Larger)
-N = Nuclear Powered
-V = Carrier.

Hull types:
SS = Submarine
FF = Frigate
DD = Destroyer
CA = Cruiser (Appendings replace the 'A')
BB = Battleship
DN = Dreadnaught. (Can be larger or smaller than BBs in context.)

Of course that's the simplified version. There are all sorts of unwritten rules. I could never end up with a BBBB for instance, I'd more likely go for BBH.

Some examples:

DDG = Guided Missile Destroyer
NCC = New Command Cruiser
CVE = Escort Carrier
DDE = Destroyer Escort
CE = Escort Cruiser
CL = Light Cruiser
NCL = New Light Cruiser
CB = Heavy Cruiser (CA may fill this role where there's less distinction)
CC = Command Cruiser
NCC = New Command Cruiser
BC = Battlecruiser
BCH = Heavy Battle Cruiser
CV = Carrier
CAV = Hybrid Cruiser/Carrier.
BBV = Hybrid Battleship/Carrier

[Thinking Stone]

Hello! After the hiatus due to studying, I am back! (I will reply to you Talos!)

I like Sigoroth's modicum for the simplest comprehensive naming system for class type: I agree that it is most logical to use those acronyms closest in form to the BFG system since most historical ones are now obsolete for modern naval design.

Thus, I suggest BB to refer to the Space Marine Battleship battleBarge over the venerable BB for battleship. Likewise for CS for Cruiser Strike cruiser. At least the Imperial Navy would have very unambiguous abbreviations… it would be rather embarrassing if fleet command mistook an Astartes battlebarge for a friendly navy battleship . I guess it might be useful to define letters for lance boats, gun boats (primarily weapons batteries) and torpedo boats: maybe G for lances (after Gothic class), W for guns and T for torps? Or maybe D for lances (after Direct or Destroyer and it's the first weapon letter that's unused) to avoid confusion?

Still A for general attack ships (e.g. Lunar class).

I also like some of RC's Trekkie ones, like the ones related to fleet role. Maybe some alternatives could be:
A: attack
L: Ship-of-the-Line = main fighting ship
S: Submarine/stealthy ship
C: Cruiser—i.e. vanguard or independent patrol ship (more like the original meaning of cruiser)
M: Monitor = system defence?
E: Escort
I: Installation = space station?

Anyway, there are lots of ambiguous ones especially for common letters like S (could be for station, submarine, ship of the line etc.), so it might be nice to have a set for general reference to roles, that everyone knows. I'm nit sure what gets used in the real-life navies either.

Food for thought,
Thinking Stone

[BaronIveagh]

Needs:

BM = Monitor (M was the original letter code but this was changed with the two letter system)

IX = Unclassified Auxilliary (most Rogue Trader escorts would fall under this.)

[FistusMaximus]

quick question:

i am not a total newbie to the game, but to the forums. hence my question: people are wriitng "BFG:R" very often instead of just "BFG", so what does the "R" mean...?

[AndrewChristlieb]

Revised edition.