--Concepts and terms--
NTTE - Nukara Prime: Transdimensional Tactics (Elite), a PVE queue with Tholian enemies
DRSE - Defend Rh'Ihho Station (Elite), a PVE queue with Elachi enemies
UIE - Undine Infiltration (Elite), a PVE queue with Undine enemies
BHE - Bug Hunt (Elite), a PVE queue with Bluegill enemies
BOTSE/BOSE - Brotherhood of the Sword (Elite), a PVE queue with Herald enemies
NSDTE - Nukara Prime: Self-Destructive Tendencies (Elite), a PVE queue with Tholian enemies
HGE - Into the Hive (Elite), a PVE queue with Borg enemies, and the hardest ground PVE queue in the game
Elite ground tour - NTTE, DRSE, UIE, BHE, BOTSE, and sometimes NSDTE. A player proposing an elite ground tour in a channel will likely have a private queue of NTTE or DRSE open. At the end of each queue, players say "X" in chat instead of "gg" to sign up for the next queue. The 6-mission tour rewards 8640 dilithium, 6 Salvaged Tech, 16638 specialization XP, R&D materials from 6 elite R&D reward packs, at least 30 fleet marks, and several hundred fleet and reputation marks. The tour takes between 40 and 80 minutes to complete.
Voth BZ - Voth Battlezone, an open-world-style ground battlezone accessible through the Salonae Dyson Sphere (near New Romulus in the Beta Quadrant). It's the most efficient source of dilithium in the galaxy, and it also rewards Dyson reputation marks and Voth Cybernetic Implants.
Defera - Borg Invasion of Defera Adventure Zone, an open-world-style ground battlezone accessible through Defera (north of DS9 in the Alpha Quadrant)
Defera hards - The 4 "hard" missions available on Defera: Temple, Probe, Power Plant, and City. They reward 240 fleet marks, 40 Omega marks, some dilithium, and 4 Borg Neural Processors. But like how the silk worm is not really a worm and the guinea pig is not really a pig, the Defera hards are not really hard at all.
Set or Reputation set - Weapon, armor, shield, and sometimes kit from a single reputation that grant bonuses for equipping two or more pieces from that reputation
2-pc, 2-piece, 2-piece bonus - The bonus a reputation set gives for having 2 pieces of it. e.g., "the dyson 2-pc is an ap buff" means "Having 2 pieces of the Dyson Joint Command Reputation ground set increases your damage from Antiproton weapons." There are also 3-pc and 4-pc bonuses.
DPS - Damage per second. The average points of damage a player generates measured in a round of NTTE on ground
SCM -
STO Combat Meter. A third-party program that calculates a player's DPS. It's free.
Flanking - Attacking an enemy from the rear 180-degree flank of a target on ground. This results in 50% more damage. If a team surrounds the enemies, then some flanking is guaranteed.
Melee combat - Attacks involving fists or weapons that make direct contact with the enemy (like a sword or a lirpa). These attacks produce physical damage, which is different from kinetic damage (which comes from fabrications, grenades, the TR-116b, or the Zephram Cochran shotgun). I won't discuss these attacks because they're less efficient than ranged weapon attacks, and this guide is about efficiently moving through ground content.
Aim - Aim ("X" by default) increases damage by 33%. For ranged weapons only.
Crouch - Crouch ("C" by default) increases dodge by 50% for ranged weapons but *decreases* resistance to physical/melee attacks.
Expose/exploit - Enemies can be exposed by certain attacks. When exposed, an exploit attack will get a +200% damage strength bonus. If that is enough to kill the enemy, then they will be vaporized.
If an enemy is exposed and you have an exploit weapon, then the secondary feature will start blinking in yellow.
All the standard weapons and most special weapons come with a expose or exploit secondary attack. Dual pistol, stun pistol, wide beam pistol, full auto rifle, assault minigun, blast assault, and pulsewave assault weapons all expose; compression pistol, high density beam rifle, sniper rifle, and split beam rifle weapons all exploit. Additionally, melee combinations can both expose and exploit. Certain kit abilities can expose.
