What're some minor terminology changes that you use?

[ShapeShifter]

MTU is very heavily inspired by the Dumarest novels, overall. Thus, an energy-discharging handgun is a "laser".
Vacc Suit is just weird. I go with the more common English expression spacesuit.
I don't use TU aliens. I have several of my own, derived from the vacuousness between my ears, or from any number of scifi paperbacks which filled my mis-spent youth.

 

[Enoki]

I also use naval / seafaring terminology for ships rather than what the game does:

Port and starboard, bow, stern
Deck, bulkhead, partition, overhead.
Head, not "fresher"
Galley, scullery
Compartment, stateroom, cabin
Hatch, scuttle
Frame (when discussing location from bow to stern)

 

[Marcatlas]

We use ship terms for spaceships. Aft, stern, ladder, head, port, starboard, deck, etc. Grav car not air-raft. Spaceship for everything not starship.

 

[coliver988]

I still use air/raft for the air/raft, but a grav car is a different thing (aka speeder). I just like some of the old terms as it is a part of Traveller to me. Still like simple line drawings for Traveller art as well as (a) what was there when I first encountered the game and (b) I feel it allow for more of your imagination to fill in the blanks. Though I also lile a lot of the new stuff, but the classic line drawings just feel more, hmm, comfortable? Familiar?

But I do like a lot of the terms bandied about here, so, as per my signature, may use them in the games I run (which are rare for Traveller but hopefully one this year)

 

[Nightwind1]

I also use naval / seafaring terminology for ships rather than what the game does:

Port and starboard, bow, stern
Deck, bulkhead, partition, overhead.
Head, not "fresher"
Galley, scullery
Compartment, stateroom, cabin
Hatch, scuttle
Frame (when discussing location from bow to stern)

As a former USCG Petty Officer, so do I.

 

[BlackBat242]

I also use naval / seafaring terminology for ships rather than what the game does:

Port and starboard, bow, stern
Deck, bulkhead, partition, overhead.
Head, not "fresher"
Galley, scullery
Compartment, stateroom, cabin
Hatch, scuttle
Frame (when discussing location from bow to stern)

We use ship terms for spaceships. Aft, stern, ladder, head, port, starboard, deck, etc. Grav car not air-raft. Spaceship for everything not starship.

As a former USCG Petty Officer, so do I.

Topside and keel.

Of course, odd compartments to port, even compartments to starboard, O prefix for decks going topside starting from centre deck, no prefix for decks going keelward starting from centre deck.

 

[kilemall]

Topside and keel.

Of course, odd compartments to port, even compartments to starboard, O prefix for decks going topside starting from centre deck, no prefix for decks going keelward starting from centre deck.

Tailsitters would require a bit different nomenclature.

I would suggest they still use fore and aft as synonyms for top and bottom, and list decks like floors in a building- deck 1 is lowest to the ground and counting up. This helps the ship support gantries/grav lifts to deliver cargo/sophonts to the right ‘deck’….

 

[whulorigan]

Bilge.

Because on an old ship with artificial gravity, all the vile liquids/leaks are still going to find their way to the ventral- most point sooner or later.

 

[Enoki]

Topside and keel.

Of course, odd compartments to port, even compartments to starboard, O prefix for decks going topside starting from centre deck, no prefix for decks going keelward starting from centre deck.

Naming or numbering of compartments can vary considerably. For most ships I prefer the older US system of A, B, C, where A is ahead of the engine rooms, B is the main spaces amidships, and C are compartments aft of them. This, in variation, works well with smaller ships with a limited number of compartments, dividing the ship roughly into thirds.

I also use nautical slang terms to add color. For example, workers at a shipyard or the starport are "sand crabs." A derisive term denoting they aren't space fairing crew and the like.

 

[ady]

I tend to expand on the term Air/Raft, basing the name on the environment it is designed to mainly be used in and can keep it's occupants comfortable.
Air/Raft is an unpressurised grav vehicle (sometimes open topped) for use in an atmosphere and is the most common type available.
Space/Raft is an enclosed and pressurised version for use in deep space, used on worlds and moons with atmosphere 0, or by space ships for orbit to surface flights.
There are also Water/Rafts (using boyancy of water but propelled by grav units, varying between grav powered boats to sealed submersibles)
Rafts come in a variety of sizes (the one in the LBB being just one example), from one dton runabouts to massive cargo and passenger barges.

 

[Condottiere]

Actually, I do have a space/raft and star/raft.

 

[Black Vulmea]

transfer . . . travel through n-space; also transition, less frequently transit
translation . . . travel through j-space

eg, "Transfer to the translation point is 19.8 hours." = We'll be maneuvering for 19.8 hours to reach the 100-diameter jump point.

 

[Garnfellow]

After BSG, one "spins up" the jump drive of a ship.

 

[Condottiere]

Schrodinger Drive

 

[Rupert]

transfer . . . travel through n-space; also transition, less frequently transit
translation . . . travel through j-space

eg, "Transfer to the translation point is 19.8 hours." = We'll be maneuvering for 19.8 hours to reach the 100-diameter jump point.

The TNE terms, at least in the Regency were 'Penetration' (always good for a snigger) and 'Precipitation'. Other names given in the RS are 'departure', 'j-transition', and 'j-translation' for entering jump space, and 'emergence', 'n-transition', and 'n-translation' for leaving jump space.

I think it's fair to assume that across the Imperium, let alone all of known space, there are a huge number of terms for entering and leaving jump.

 

[Enoki]

Schrodinger Drive

Or, the Astrodex Stellarator...

 

[Garnfellow]

In MgT androids are mechanical constructs that closely resemble humans, and biobots are biological constructs. I much prefer the old "pseudobiological robots" for mechanical constructs and reserve androids for biological constructs.

 

[whulorigan]

In MgT androids are mechanical constructs that closely resemble humans, and biobots are biological constructs. I much prefer the old "pseudobiological robots" for mechanical constructs and reserve androids for biological constructs.

I rather like the term from Transhuman Space: "Bioroid" for mostly organic/engineered biological constructs, with "Android" having a (slightly) lower organic threshhold, somewhere between "pseudobiological robot" and "Bioroid".

 

[Rupert]

I use:

A 'robot' is a mechanical 'creature' that is self-directed. A 'drone' is remotely controlled.

An 'android' is a robot that looks near enough to a human (or other sapient) that it can pass for one (to a greater or lesser degree, depending on creator skill, etc.), at least in looks. It may or may not be biological, or part-biological, but is entirely 'engineered'.

A 'bioroid' is a manufactured organism, but one that's derived from a natural organism, and which is grown as a complete organism. You might dispute whether a largely biological android is alive, but you'd never dispute that with an bioroid.

A 'cyborg' is a living creature that as mechanical parts grafted on, either as replacements for natural parts, or as additions. A full-body cyborg might be mistaken for an android (or vice-versa if the android's sufficiently intelligent).

In settings where people's consciousnesses might be moved from one 'shell' to another the differences might be effectively moot, except in terms of how much risk their is to the person if the shell is harmed.

 

[Condottiere]

Bot tends to be now a virtual creation.

Borg, a mechanical organic hybrid.

Droid, what we used to refer to as robots.