Archetypes

Description
This page will explain the different archetypes of ships found in the game and their purpose, as well as some examples of each. Many of these terms are slang terms that many players use. These may be seen as Galaxy Jargon to new players, however, they save lots of time when communicating overall strategy.

Feel free to add your own archetypes.

Combat Archetypes

 * Tank: A tank is a ship with excellent defense capabilities and health pools, used to absorb damage while other ships working with the tank deal damage. Prominent examples include the Nyx and the Ridgebreaker.
 * Siege Ship: Siege ships are ships designed to deal damage to starbases in a siege.  They often have high defense, a large health pool, and very high firepower, but are slow and unable to easily hit smaller ships.  Prominent examples include the Ridgebreaker and Warlock.
 * PvP Ship: PvP ships are fairly large ships designed to deal damage to other large ships, usually in the context of defending a starbase.  They often have high firepower and moderate maneuverability, as well as powerful Spinals.  Prominent examples include the Leviathan and Hawklight.
 * Tackler: A tackler is a medium sized ship that is used for destroying larger ships, usually by exploiting their blind spots.  They often have high firepower and maneuverability but are unable to deal effective damage to smaller ships.  Prominent examples include the Black Flare and Razor Wing
 * Anti-Fighter ships: These ships are often equipped with a large arsenal of light turrets, thus allowing them to destroy fighters easily. Prominent examples include the Ampharos and the Tempest.
 * Swarmer/Dogfighter: This type of ship has no commonly used name, often referred to as Swarmers, Fighters, Dogfighters, Frigates or just small ships.  These are very fast, very maneuverable ships with low firepower and an emphasis on Spinals.  They are often used for fighting one another, called dogfighting, outnumbering and mobbing larger ships, or distracting base lasers.  Prominent examples include the Starblade, Viper and Sabre Tooth.
 * Pirate Ship, Pirate: Pirate ships are ships that are used by players to destroy small ships.  They often are very small, fast, maneuverable, and able to deal damage quickly but are unable to deal damage to larger ships.  For a complete description and list of examples see the main page here.
 * Shield breaker: A ship with a large laser arsenal that allows for quick destruction of enemy shields.
 * Chaser (ship): A ship with excellent maneuverability and firepower designed to finish off crippled enemy ships that are running away from combat.
 * Charger: A ship, typically a dreadnought, which charges to point blank range of a starbase during a siege, usually to land more hits or to tank.

Behavior Archetypes

 * Vulture: Usually a freighter, vultures loot the wrecks of ships and starbases that others have destroyed. They generally cause anger among more experienced players.
 * Camper: A ship with excellent PvP capabilities that remains stationed at a transport hub, usually Mega Base, to attack traders and unsuspecting miners.
 * Grinder: A miner or trader that has been consistently engaged in mining or trading. Usually targets for pirates.
 * Chaser (Behavior): Someone who chases crippled ships in the hopes of earning a kill.
 * Swarm (ing): The act of deploying a carrier near a base, deploying fighters to attack the base, then pulling out. A variant of bait and switch. If any weak ships, like miners, are stationed at the target base, they may be destroyed.
 * Starblade Siege: Usually a reckless and ridiculous strategy, a team will assemble a fleet of Starblades to attack a starbase. If enough Starblades are assembled, the starbase may suffer major damage, potentially even destroyed. However, this can easily be countered by ships like the Ampharos.
 * Gideon Siege: A group of Gideons can tackle any starbase. Any ship that has lots of small flaks or laser are able to stop and prevent this siege from happening.

Miscellaneous Archetypes

 * Kekblade: A nickname for Starblade.
 * Lagpocalypse: A nickname for Apocalypse
 * Nub: A small ship, usually a frigate, a trader, or a miner, that yields little bounty on their destruction.
 * Capital: A capital ship is a Battleship, Dreadnought or Carrier-class ship.
 * Mb: Short for Mega Base.

Experienced Player Jargon

 * "Kek": To destroy another ship.
 * "Bs": Short for Battleship. Not to be confused with the swear word.
 * "Bc": Short for Battlecruiser.
 * "Dread": Short for Dreadnought.