Glossary of Strategy Game Terms

Here’s that list of strategy game terms

4X: A genre of strategy games where players “eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate.”

Action Points: A resource in turn-based games used to perform actions like moving or attacking.

Actions Per Minute (APM): A measure of how many actions a player performs per minute in real-time strategy (RTS) games, indicating mechanical skill.

Aggression (Aggro): The tendency of AI units to target a specific player unit; also, a player’s offensive playstyle.

Aggressive Expansion: A diplomatic penalty in grand strategy games for rapidly conquering territory, leading to backlash from other nations.

Air Unit: A combat unit operating in the air, often with advantages over ground units but vulnerable to specific anti-air defenses.

All-in: A strategy where a player commits most resources to one decisive attack, often early, with little fallback.

Alpha Strike: A strategy focused on delivering a massive, concentrated burst of damage at the start of an engagement to quickly eliminate key enemy units.

A-move: A command in RTS games where units move to a location and automatically attack any enemies encountered.

Annihilation: A victory condition where the objective is to destroy all enemy units or structures.

Anomaly: An unusual discovery on the game map, often providing research bonuses, resources, or challenges.

Area of Effect (AoE): An ability or attack that affects multiple units or an entire area.

Army Composition: The specific mix and balance of different unit types within a player’s military force.

Asymmetrical Balance: A design philosophy where different factions are balanced by unique strengths and weaknesses rather than being mirror images.

Attrition: The gradual wearing down of enemy forces or resources through sustained combat, economic pressure, or environmental effects.

Auto Battler: A subgenre where players assemble a team of units that then automatically battle opponents’ teams.

Balance Patch: An update that adjusts unit statistics, abilities, or game mechanics to improve fairness and competitive viability.

Base: A player’s primary settlement or stronghold for resource gathering, unit production, and technology research.

Base Race: A situation in RTS games where both players ignore direct combat and focus on destroying each other’s main base.

Body Block: Using one’s units to physically obstruct the movement of enemy units or protect friendly ones.

Booming: A strategy focused on rapidly expanding one’s economy and infrastructure for a long-term resource advantage.

Bottleneck: A narrow passage or strategic point that limits movement or funnels units, often leading to intense engagements.

Buff: A positive temporary or permanent enhancement applied to a unit, structure, or ability.

Build Order: A specific sequence of actions (e.g., unit production, building, research) executed early in a game for a strategic goal.

Build Queue: A list of units, buildings, or technologies waiting to be produced or researched.

Build-defining: A unit, technology, or ability that significantly influences or dictates a player’s overall strategy and force composition.

Campaign: A series of linked missions or scenarios that tell a story or progress a player through a strategic objective.

Capture the Flag: A game mode where the objective is to seize an opponent’s flag and return it to one’s own base.

Card Advantage: In card-based games, having more cards in hand or more effective cards than an opponent, providing more options.

Carpet Siege: A strategy in grand strategy games where many siege units or armies are spread out to besiege multiple enemy provinces simultaneously.

Caster: A unit or character primarily focused on using magical spells or special abilities.

Casus Belli: A diplomatic justification required in many grand strategy games to declare war without incurring severe penalties.

Cheese: A deceptive or unconventional strategy, often exploiting a specific game mechanic, considered highly effective but sometimes unsportsmanlike.

Choice Paralysis: The state of being overwhelmed and unable to make a decision due to an excessive number of options.

Choke Point: A narrow area on the map that forces units to pass through in a confined space, making it a natural defensive or ambush location.

City-State: In games like Civilization, a small, independent city not part of a major civilization but offering benefits through diplomacy.

Civilization: A playable faction or nation representing a historical or fictional culture, with unique abilities and units.

Claim: A formal declaration of ownership or a right to territory, often a prerequisite for conquest.

Clausewitz Engine: A proprietary game engine by Paradox Development Studio, powering their grand strategy games.

Comeback Mechanic: A game design element that gives a losing player a way to regain an advantage or catch up.

Contain: To restrict an opponent’s expansion or movement by establishing a strong defensive perimeter.

Control Group: A hotkey assignment that allows quick selection and command of a specific group of units.

Cooldown: The time that must pass before an ability or spell can be used again.

Core (Province): In grand strategy games, a province considered an integral part of a nation’s territory, often reducing penalties for owning it.

Counter: A unit, strategy, or ability that is particularly effective against another specific one.

Cover System: A mechanic where units can take cover behind objects to reduce incoming damage or avoid line of sight.

Creep: Neutral non-player-controlled units on the map that can be killed for experience or resources.

Creep Spread: A mechanic where a biological mass spreads from Zerg structures in StarCraft, providing movement speed bonuses and vision.

Critical Hit: An attack that deals significantly more damage than a normal attack, often triggered by chance or specific conditions.

Crowd Control (CC): Abilities that limit or prevent enemy units from performing actions, such as stuns or roots.

Culture Flip: When a city or province changes allegiance due to overwhelming cultural influence.

Damage Per Second (DPS): A metric indicating the average damage a unit or ability can inflict per second.

Dark Age: The earliest technological era in some strategy games, characterized by basic units and limited economic options.

De Jure: A Latin term meaning “by right,” referring to a legal or traditional claim to territory or title.

Death Ball: A large, highly concentrated group of powerful units that moves together as a single, overwhelming force.

Debuff: A negative temporary or permanent impairment applied to a unit, structure, or ability.

Deck Archetype: In card-based games, a recognizable style of deck construction with a consistent strategy and card synergy.

Defensive Pact: A diplomatic agreement between nations to come to each other’s aid if one is attacked.

Deny: To prevent an opponent from gaining resources, experience, or strategic advantages.

Digital Rights Management (DRM): Technologies used by publishers to control access to and prevent unauthorized copying of digital content.

Disengagement: The act of retreating from combat or breaking off an engagement.

Domination: A victory condition where the objective is to control a certain percentage or all of the map’s territory or key strategic points.

Doomstack: An excessively large and powerful army or fleet in grand strategy games, often so strong it can defeat any opposing force.

Drafting Phase: A phase before the main game where players take turns choosing their units or heroes, with strategic considerations about team composition.

Drop: A tactic in RTS games where units are transported over enemy defenses to attack vulnerable areas or disrupt their economy.

Early Game: The initial phase of a strategy game, typically focused on resource gathering, basic unit production, and scouting.

Economy (Eco): The system governing resource production, consumption, and trade, crucial for funding military and technological advancements.

ELO / MMR: Rating systems (ELO for chess, MMR for Matchmaking Rating) used to quantify a player’s skill level and match them with similarly skilled opponents.

Encirclement: A military tactic where an enemy force is surrounded on all sides, cutting off its retreat and supply lines.

End Game: The final phase of a strategy game, where players typically have large armies, advanced technology, and are focused on achieving victory conditions.

Engagement: A direct confrontation or battle between opposing forces.

Engine Builder: A type of strategy game where players focus on creating a system that generates resources or points efficiently over time.

Espionage: The use of spies or covert agents to gather intelligence, sabotage enemy operations, or influence diplomatic relations.

Expansion: The act of extending one’s territory, economy, or military presence, often by building new settlements or conquering land.

Fabricate Claim: In grand strategy games, to artificially create a diplomatic justification (casus belli) for war against another nation.

Faction: A distinct group or side in a game, often with unique units, abilities, and playstyles.

Fast Expand (FE): A strategy in RTS games focused on quickly establishing an additional resource-gathering base early in the game.

Feeder: A player in a team-based game who repeatedly dies to the enemy, providing them with resources or experience and giving them an advantage.

Feint: A deceptive maneuver designed to draw an enemy’s attention or forces to one area, while the real attack is launched elsewhere.

Fertility: A characteristic of land or provinces indicating its potential for agricultural output or population growth.

Fief: In medieval-themed strategy games, a piece of land held by a vassal in exchange for service or loyalty to a lord.

Fire Control: The ability to direct the attacks of units, often involving targeting specific enemy units or prioritizing threats.

Flanking: Attacking an enemy from the side or rear, often providing a tactical advantage or bonus damage.

Focus Fire: The coordinated targeting of multiple units’ attacks on a single enemy unit to quickly eliminate it.

Fog of War: A game mechanic that obscures parts of the map that have not been explored or are not currently within a player’s units’ line of sight.

Force Multiplier: A factor that significantly increases the effectiveness of a military force beyond the sum of its individual parts.

Fortification: Defensive structures (e.g., walls, towers, bunkers) built to protect territory or units.

Free For All (FFA): A game mode where every player is an independent opponent, and the objective is typically to be the last one standing.

Friendly Fire: Damage or negative effects inflicted by a player’s own units on their allies.

Fun (Dwarf Fortress context): In Dwarf Fortress, “fun” is a euphemism for catastrophic and often hilarious disasters that befall the player’s dwarf colony.

Gank: A sudden, coordinated ambush by multiple units on a single, often isolated, enemy unit.

Garrison: To place units inside a defensive structure to provide a defensive bonus or protect the units.

Gas Management: The strategic allocation and efficient use of a specific, often rarer, resource in games with multiple resources.

Geological Survey: A research or exploration action that reveals information about the resources or terrain of a specific area on the map.

Glass Cannon: A unit or strategy with very high offensive power but extremely low durability.

Golden Age: A period of prosperity, rapid growth, and significant bonuses for a civilization or nation.

Grand Strategy: A genre of strategy games focusing on large-scale geopolitical, economic, and military management over long periods, often involving complex diplomacy.

Great Power: A nation that holds significant influence and standing on the global stage due to its military, economic, or diplomatic strength.

Greed: A playstyle or decision that prioritizes economic gain or high-risk, high-reward plays over immediate safety or stability.

Ground Unit: A combat unit that operates on the ground, often comprising the bulk of an army.

Harass: To engage in frequent, small-scale attacks designed to disrupt an opponent’s economy, force mistakes, or wear down their forces without committing to a full engagement.

Hard Counter: A unit, ability, or strategy that is overwhelmingly effective against another specific one, often making it almost impossible for the countered element to succeed.

Harvester: A unit or structure dedicated to gathering resources from resource nodes.

Heat Death: A concept, often in long-form simulation games, where the game state reaches a point of stagnation or resource depletion, making further progress difficult or impossible.

Hegemon: A dominant power or state that exerts influence or control over others within a system or region.

Hero Unit: A powerful, unique unit often with special abilities, that gains experience or levels up, playing a central role in a player’s strategy.

High Ground: A terrain advantage in some games where units positioned on higher elevation gain bonuses to vision, range, or damage.

Hit Points (HP): A numerical value representing the health or durability of a unit or structure; when HP reaches zero, the unit is destroyed.

Hotkey: A keyboard shortcut used to quickly select units, buildings, or activate abilities.

Hunker Down: A defensive stance or ability that increases a unit’s durability or defensive capabilities, often at the cost of mobility or offensive power.

Hyperlane: A pre-defined, often visible, path or route that ships or units must follow when traveling between star systems in space strategy games.

Infamy: A negative diplomatic modifier or reputation penalty incurred in grand strategy games for aggressive actions, leading to decreased relations with other nations.

Infinite Combo: A sequence of abilities or actions that can be repeated indefinitely to achieve an overwhelming effect, often considered an exploit or imbalance.

Interdiction: The act of disrupting or blocking enemy movement, supply lines, or communications, often through specialized units or abilities.

Juke: To make unpredictable movements or maneuvers to evade enemy attacks or pursuit, often used in real-time tactical situations.

Jungling: In games with neutral territories (like MOBAs), the act of killing neutral monsters or “creeps” in designated areas to gain experience and gold.

Killbox: A strategically designed area, often with defensive structures or unit placements, intended to funnel and concentrate enemy forces for maximum destruction.

King of the Hill: A game mode or objective where players or teams must control a specific, designated area on the map for a set amount of time to win.

Kiting: A combat tactic where a ranged unit attacks an enemy while constantly moving away, keeping distance to avoid damage while still dealing their own.

Ladder Anxiety: A psychological phenomenon where players experience stress or fear about playing ranked or competitive matches, often due to fear of losing rank.

Lane: A defined path or route on a map, particularly in MOBA games, connecting bases or objectives, along which units typically travel.

Last Hit: The act of delivering the final blow to an enemy unit or monster, often granting bonus gold or experience.

Late Game: The final phase of a strategy game, characterized by powerful units, advanced technologies, and typically decisive engagements.

Line of Sight (LoS): The area or units that a unit or structure can visually perceive on the map, affecting targeting and revealing Fog of War.

Logistics: The management of supplies, reinforcements, and transportation for military forces or economic networks.

Low Ground: A terrain disadvantage where units positioned on lower elevation may suffer penalties to vision, range, or defense.

Macromanagement (Macro): The high-level strategic management of a player’s economy, resource production, expansions, and overall army composition.

Magic Box: A specific technique or formation of units (often ranged) to minimize incoming damage while maximizing outgoing damage against melee units.

Main Base: The primary starting settlement or command center of a player, crucial for production and resource gathering.

Mains Bus: A term from Factorio (and similar games) referring to a centralized, organized system of conveyor belts that transport all primary resources throughout a factory.

Mana Curve: In card games, the distribution of card costs in a deck, aiming for a smooth progression of playable cards throughout a game.

Map Control: The ability to dominate and influence significant portions of the game map, denying enemy access and securing resources or strategic points.

Megastructure: Enormous, high-cost, and game-changing structures that can be built in grand strategy or 4X games, providing immense bonuses or victory conditions.

Melee: Units that attack in close combat, typically with limited range but often high durability or damage.

Meta-Clock: An informal timer representing the expected duration of a game based on the current metagame; dictates when players need to act or reach certain power levels.

Metagame (Meta): The current prevailing strategies, units, or tactics that are most effective in competitive play, constantly evolving as players adapt.

Micromanagement (Micro): The detailed, tactical control of individual units in real-time, often involving precise positioning, ability usage, and targeting.

Mid Game: The phase of a strategy game after initial development but before the decisive late-game conflicts, often characterized by skirmishes and tech development.

Mind Games: Psychological tactics employed by players to deceive, intimidate, or outmaneuver opponents, often through bluffs or feints.

MOBA: Multiplayer Online Battle Arena: A subgenre of RTS games where two teams of players compete on a defined map, controlling powerful “hero” units.

Morale: A stat representing the psychological state of units or populations, affecting their combat effectiveness, loyalty, or productivity.

Mulligan: In card games, the option to redraw a starting hand of cards, usually with some penalty or restriction.

Multiplayer: A game mode that allows multiple players to play together or against each other, either locally or over a network.

Natural Expansion: A easily defensible and accessible location near a player’s starting base that provides additional resources, making it an ideal spot for a second base.

Naval Unit: A combat unit that operates on water, typically used for sea control, coastal bombardment, or transporting ground units.

Non-Aggression Pact: A diplomatic agreement between nations promising not to attack each other for a specified period.

Objective: A specific goal or task that players must achieve to win a game or progress in a mission, often involving capturing points or destroying targets.

Opportunity Cost: The value of the next best alternative that was not taken when a decision was made (e.g., choosing to build one unit means not building another).

Overwatch: A defensive stance or ability where a unit will automatically attack any enemy that moves into its line of sight during the enemy’s turn or within a reaction window.

Permadeath: A game mechanic where units or characters, once defeated, are permanently removed from the game, increasing the stakes of combat.

Personal Union: A diplomatic status in grand strategy games where two separate nations share the same monarch or ruler without formally merging.

Phalanx: A dense, rectangular military formation of infantry, often with spears, known for its strong defensive capabilities against frontal assaults.

Picket: A small group of units or a single unit sent ahead of the main force to provide early warning of enemy presence.

Pincer Movement: A military tactic where two forces attack an enemy from converging directions, aiming to encircle and trap them.

Ping: A non-verbal signal on the mini-map or in-game world used to draw teammates’ attention to a specific location, enemy, or objective.

Player versus Environment (PvE): A game mode where players compete against computer-controlled opponents or challenges.

Player versus Player (PvP): A game mode where players compete directly against other human players.

Poke: To deal small, harassing amounts of damage to an enemy from a safe distance, aiming to wear them down or force them to retreat.

Pop (Population Unit): A unit representing a single individual or a small group within a larger population, often used for economic production or military recruitment.

Population Cap: A limit on the total number of units a player can control simultaneously, often tied to a supply or housing mechanic.

Power Spike: A specific point in the game where a unit, hero, or faction experiences a significant increase in strength, often due to reaching a new level, acquiring an item, or researching technology.

Prestige: A numerical stat representing a nation’s renown, influence, or cultural standing in grand strategy games, often granting diplomatic bonuses.

Private Economy: In some grand strategy games, economic activity managed by AI-controlled capitalists or citizens, separate from the player’s direct control.

Procedural Generation: The creation of game content (like maps, quests, or characters) algorithmically, rather than being manually designed, leading to unique experiences each playthrough.

Production: The process of creating units, buildings, or resources within a game.

Production Chain: A series of interconnected production steps where raw materials are processed into intermediate goods, and then into final products.

Proxy: Building a production structure or base hidden close to an enemy’s starting location to launch a surprise attack.

Puppet State: A nominally independent nation that is actually controlled or heavily influenced by a more powerful foreign power.

Push: A concentrated offensive maneuver aimed at advancing forces into enemy territory or towards an objective.

Ranged: Units that can attack enemies from a distance, typically with projectile weapons.

Ranked: A competitive game mode where players are matched based on skill ratings (ELO/MMR) and their performance affects their standing on a leaderboard.

Reaction Fire: An ability in some turn-based tactics games where units can fire at enemies that move into their line of sight during the enemy’s turn.

Read (Player-to-Player): To anticipate an opponent’s strategy, movements, or intentions based on their past actions, common metagame tendencies, or tells.

Real-Time Strategy (RTS): A genre where players manage resources, build bases, and command armies simultaneously in continuous real-time, without turns.

Real-Time Tactics (RTT): A subgenre focusing on battlefield tactics and unit control in real-time, often without base building or resource management.

Resource Denial: A strategy focused on preventing an opponent from acquiring or efficiently using their resources.

Resources: The fundamental materials or currencies (e.g., gold, wood, minerals) needed to produce units, buildings, or research technologies.

RNG (Random Number Generation): The use of randomness in game mechanics, such as for critical hits, unit accuracy, or map generation.

Root: A Crowd Control effect that prevents a unit from moving, but typically still allows them to attack or use abilities.

Rout: The disorganized retreat of an army from a battle, often due to low morale or heavy losses.

Run-by: A tactic in RTS games where a small group of fast units bypasses enemy defenses to attack vulnerable economic structures or harass workers.

Rush: An aggressive strategy focused on quickly building up enough force to attack and eliminate an opponent early in the game.

Salient: A bulge or projection in a battle line or front, vulnerable to being cut off but also potentially creating a spearhead for attack.

Scouting: The act of sending out units to explore the map, locate enemy positions, gather intelligence, and identify resources.

Scrappy: A unit or playstyle that is resilient, versatile, and able to perform effectively even when at a disadvantage or with limited resources.

Siege Unit: A specialized unit designed to attack and destroy enemy fortifications, such as walls or towers.

Silence: A Crowd Control effect that prevents a unit or character from using their special abilities or spells.

Sim-City (pejorative): A derogatory term for players who focus excessively on building and expanding their base or economy without engaging in conflict, often seen as playing too passively.

Skill Tree: A hierarchical system of unlockable abilities or upgrades that a player can choose as their units or characters gain experience or levels.

Skirmish: A small, localized engagement or battle between forces that does not involve the main armies.

Slow: A Crowd Control effect that reduces a unit’s movement speed.

Smurfing: When a highly skilled player plays on a new account at a lower rank, often to play against less experienced opponents or to hide their identity.

Snowballing: A situation where an initial advantage grows progressively larger, making it increasingly difficult for the losing side to recover.

Soft Counter: A unit, ability, or strategy that is generally effective against another, but not overwhelmingly so, relying more on skillful play or numerical advantage.

Spaghetti: A pejorative term for a disorganized, inefficient, and convoluted layout of buildings, production chains, or transportation networks in base-building games.

Spawn: The point or location where units, resources, or player characters appear at the start of a game or after being defeated.

Splash Damage: Damage that affects an area around the primary target, hitting multiple units or structures within that area.

Split Push: A tactic where a portion of a team’s forces attacks a different objective or lane than the main force, forcing the enemy to divide their attention.

Stability: A numerical stat in grand strategy games representing a nation’s internal cohesion, often affecting tax income, unrest, or morale.

Stacking Limit: A maximum number of units or effects that can be grouped together or applied to a single entity.

Stun: A Crowd Control effect that completely immobilizes a unit and prevents it from taking any actions for a short duration.

Supply: A resource or mechanic that limits the total number of units a player can have at any given time, often requiring specific buildings to increase the cap.

Supply Block: A situation in RTS games where a player is unable to produce more units because they have reached their population or supply limit.

Support Unit: A unit primarily designed to enhance the abilities of allied units (e.g., healing, buffing, providing vision) rather than engaging in direct combat.

Suppression: A mechanic where units under heavy fire become less effective, often suffering penalties to accuracy, movement, or morale.

Suzerain: A dominant feudal lord or state that has political control over a tributary or vassal state, which retains some internal autonomy.

Symmetrical Balance: A design philosophy where all playable factions or sides have identical units, abilities, and starting conditions, relying purely on player skill.

Synergy: The concept where two or more units, abilities, or strategies work together to create a combined effect greater than the sum of their individual parts.

Tank: A durable unit or character designed to absorb large amounts of damage, protecting more fragile allied units.

Tantrum Spiral: In Dwarf Fortress, a chain reaction of negative events where dwarves become unhappy, leading to more unhappiness, stress, and eventually breakdowns.

Team Fight: A large-scale engagement involving multiple units or heroes from opposing teams, often occurring around a key objective in MOBA or team-based RTS games.

Tech Switch: A strategy where a player abruptly changes their technology path or unit composition, often to counter an opponent’s strategy or exploit a weakness.

Tech Tree: A branching diagram or hierarchy representing the available technologies and upgrades in a game, showing prerequisites for research.

Tempo: The pace of the game or a player’s ability to dictate that pace, often measured by efficient resource usage and impactful actions that force a reaction from the opponent.

Terraforming: The process of modifying a planet’s environment to make it habitable or more suitable for colonization and resource exploitation.

Terrain: The geographical features of a map, such as hills, rivers, forests, or obstacles, which can provide strategic advantages or disadvantages.

Theorycrafting: The analytical process of discussing, researching, and calculating optimal strategies, unit compositions, or builds outside of actual gameplay.

Threat Assessment: The process of evaluating enemy units, strategies, or situations to identify the most dangerous elements and prioritize targets or defensive measures.

Throughput: The rate at which resources are processed, units are produced, or damage is dealt within a given system or production chain.

Ticking Clock: A game mechanic that imposes a time limit or a sense of urgency, often pushing players to act quickly before a negative event occurs or an advantage is lost.

Tile Yield: The amount of resources (e.g., food, production, gold) generated by a specific map tile or province, influenced by its terrain and improvements.

Timing Attack: A coordinated offensive push designed to hit an opponent at a specific point in the game where one’s own forces are particularly strong, and the opponent is vulnerable.

Tower Defense: A subgenre where players build defensive structures (towers) along a path to destroy waves of incoming enemies before they reach a designated goal.

Tributary: A state or faction that pays regular tribute (resources, units) to a more powerful suzerain state in exchange for protection or autonomy.

Turn-Based Strategy (TBS): A genre where players take turns performing actions, allowing for careful planning and analysis without real-time pressure.

Turn-Based Tactics (TBT): A subgenre focusing on small-scale, tactical combat on a grid or hex map, with actions resolved in turns.

Turtling: A highly defensive strategy focused on building extensive fortifications and a strong economy within a secure perimeter, often to outlast or out-tech an opponent.

Ultimate: A powerful, high-impact ability of a hero or unit, typically with a long cooldown, that can significantly influence a battle or game outcome.

Unit: A single controllable entity or group of entities on the battlefield, such as soldiers, vehicles, or creatures.

Unit Composition: The specific mix and balance of different unit types within a player’s military force, tailored for effectiveness against various threats.

Upkeep: The recurring cost (e.g., resources, money) required to maintain units, buildings, or empires over time.

Vassalize: To force another nation or faction into a subordinate relationship, becoming a vassal that pays tribute or provides military service.

Veterancy: A system where units gain experience from combat, improving their stats, unlocking abilities, or increasing their effectiveness.

Victory Points: A numerical score awarded for achieving specific objectives, with the game often ending when a player reaches a certain point threshold.

Vision: The revealed area of the map that a player can see, influenced by unit Line of Sight and structures.

War Exhaustion: A negative modifier in grand strategy games representing a population’s weariness from prolonged warfare, leading to unrest, decreased morale, or penalties.

War Score: A numerical value in grand strategy games representing a side’s progress in a war, used to negotiate peace treaties and demand concessions.

Warmonger Penalty: A diplomatic penalty incurred for aggressive actions or declaring wars without proper justification, leading to negative relations with other factions.

Wealth Management: The strategic allocation and accumulation of various forms of wealth, including resources, gold, trade income, and capital, to fund expansion and development.

Weapon Triangle: A common game mechanic (e.g., like rock-paper-scissors) where certain unit types have inherent advantages over one type and disadvantages against another (e.g., spear beats cavalry, cavalry beats axe, axe beats spear).

Win Condition: The specific set of objectives or criteria that must be met for a player to win the game (e.g., military conquest, technological supremacy, cultural influence).

Worker: A basic unit primarily responsible for gathering resources, constructing buildings, or performing other economic tasks.

World Congress: A diplomatic body or event in some games where major factions vote on global policies, resolutions, or impose sanctions.

Zone of Control (ZoC): A mechanic where units or cities exert an area of influence that slows down or restricts the movement of enemy units passing through it.