05-19-2013, 06:06 PM
Discovery Jargon and Terminology Guide
When you first log onto the server or forums you'l come across many uses of jargon, terminology and acronyms that will most likely be meaningless to you. Many of these terms are unique to discovery since much of it is based on old or new aspects of the only mod now running for Microsoft Freelancer. This guide is a crash course to bring you up to speed on some of the most frequently used phrases and acronyms seen throughout the Discovery universe, and should help you identify additional aspects of the mod and it's community.
We'll begin with the very basics; phrases you most likely have heard at one point or another. Then as you scroll down more precise and specific terms will be covered.
Essential Terminology and Acronyms
FL
- Meaning Freelancer.
RP
- Meaning "Role Play", the orientation of the server's nature. It is your (and other players) assumption of the character they play in the game. Note: The Discovery server is requires one to be as submerged in their character as possible at all times. In other words - unless completely necessary, do not break character.
PvP
- Meaning "Player versus Player". This refers to when one player fights with another. It's frequently used in the context of purely fighting without role play, but due to the nature of the server most PvP is regarded as another aspect of role play.
OORP
-Meaning "Out Of Role Play". A Player may refer to this in regards to a person who may be out of character, or within a conversation that is within itself out of role play
//
- The two slash symbols are used as a prefix to when someone intends to speak out of character, and as one player to another as opposed from one character to another. Note: Speaking out of character is allowed but should be kept to a minimum and either in private or group chat. Out of character conversations in local or system wide chat should be kept next to non-existent.
NPC
- Meaning "Non-Player Character". This refers to the automated ships you see in the game that are run by the game itself.
F1 or F1d
- A term used to describe when someone logs off the server by hitting the F1 button and disconnecting. "F1ing" is commonly referred to as someone who logs out in the middle of a fight or role play between players which is against server policy.
Autoban
- A term used when someone is automatically banned from the server by the server console. This usually occurs when features of an additional mod are detected.
HUD
- Meaning "Heads Up Display". Your heads up display is the augmentations to your view you can see in each corner of the game screen. In addition it loosely refers to your targeting reticule and information tabs you can access from the HUD.
ID
- Your ID, obviously meaning "Identification" is a piece of equipment that all players must have mounted on their ships at all times. There are varying ID's, one for each faction in the game and a few extra if you can find them. Your ID states the parameters your character may operate within. For example, a Pirate ID will not give the host a right to enforce the law, and a Police ID will not give the host a right to hassle lawful vessels.
Rep & Rep List
- Refers to "reputation" under the personal details tab of your HUD in the top right. Reputation is occasionally referred to these as what faction(s) you are most friendly with. Players measure the reputation in red and green bars. Full green bars with Liberty Police means you are very friendly with that faction, full red means that they are very hostile.
IFF
- Your IFF or "Identification of Friend or Foe" is one of the most important aspects of the game. It is loosely referred to your reputation but in particular refers to your affiliation. Players in the discovery universe have the option of being aligned with a particular faction should they choose. This will provide the player with a tag before their name like NPC ships, which is the shortened name of that faction. It also gives the player the ability to purchase that faction's ID. To be affiliated you must acquire a full 9 green bars with that faction on your rep list. Players may only be affiliated with one faction at a time.
Tag
- A tag is either used to refer to an automatic faction tag when an affiliation is present, or instead to an official or non-official faction tag. Tags are seen all throughout the server, they are usually acronyms of the name of that group of players. They usually appear as a prefix in the proper name of the character.
DGC
- An acronym of "Discovery Gaming Community". It's mostly used to refer to the forums of the community website.
Wiki
- This refers to the Discovery Gaming Community's wikipedia-like site. It shows all information about the mod and it's contents.
Player Concerning Terminology
Loadout
- Your loadout is your equipment you have mounted at the time. It's mostly referred to as your choice of primary weapons such as guns and missiles.
Power Plant
- Your power plant is the yellow bar at the bottom of the game screen that displays your power output when firing weaponry.
Tech Chart
- Players seeking to buy weapons and equipment in discovery are governed by a "technology chart" which is available on the discovery wiki page. It is used to deter players from mixing and matching any weaponry of their choosing which may then be considered OORP. The chart shows what technology may be mixed with which ID. A combination of an ID with technology it does not allow will result in a power plant penalty, which basically reduces the speed your fire power recharges.
Caps or Cap Ships
- Meaning "Capital Ships". These are ships usually designed for military or pirate factions that are considerably larger and more powerful than fighters. They are divided in ascending order of size into: Cruisers, Battlecruisers, Battleships and Carriers.
Snub
- Any ship smaller than a freighter. This includes Light Fighters, Heavy Fighters, Very Heavy Fighters, Super Heavy Fighters and Bombers.
Official Faction
- An official faction is an assembled group of players all affiliated with an in-game faction that have their own tag and structure. These players have then posted an application on DiscoveryGC to the admins for official status. If accepted this gives these people the right to dictate the laws, wars and directions of that faction as a whole.
Non-Official Faction
- Same as above except the application for officialdom has either not been posted, pending, or unable to be posted due to an already present official faction.
ZoI
- Meaning "Zone of Interest" or "Zone of Influence". This is the area of the universe that a particular faction or group operates within. This area may also be subject to the laws or rules this faction chooses to impose.
NFZ
- Meaning "No Fire Zone". No fire zones are frequently employed by zoners and usually impose a 5k radius of ceasefire around one of their stations. Breaching a NFZ usually results in a hostile response from the base's owning faction.
Double Bribe
- A double bribe can be used to immediately gain a full reputation with a particular faction. It refers to when you enter the bar of a base, station or planet and see what faction the bartender is offering a bribe for. Log out and back in until the bartender offers a bribe for the faction you desire, then go to another room and back into the bar repeatedly until another person in the bar offers you a bribe for the same faction. Since the bartenders bribe always remains the same, you are able to purchase both bribes which has a doubling effect on the reputation you have with that faction.
Guard Systems & Guard Factions
- Guard Systems were a feature of the 4.85 version of the discovery mod that gave each militant faction a system in which an extremely protectorate version of it's faction resided. The release of v4.86 saw some guard systems repurposed or moved and the concept was binned. However the term still refers to systems in which factions have an extremely protectorate policy on. Alternate versions of these factions still exist, although they are no longer officially referred to as guard factions.
Pirating & Pirated
- This usually involves an unlawful character seizing cargo or holding a ship ransom for sums of credits in the game.
FLMM
- Meaning "Freelancer Mod Manager"; a program last used by the discovery mod when it's latest version was 4.84. It is now no longer required to run the mod but is a program one can download which possesses additional mods that can alter the game. Warning: Use of additional freelancer mods alongside the discovery mod is strictly prohibited and can result in an autoban from the server.
FLCompanion
- A program one can download which is able to analyse the data of the mod and show all information on it outside of the game window. The program is particularly useful for planning trade routes.
FL DataStorm
- A more controversial program one can download that can also analyse the mod content and display all navigational data therein.
Slang Phrases and Acronyms
AFK
- Meaning "Away for Keyboard", thus the game.
OTF
- Meaning "On the Forum" (Discovery GC), which sort of in itself means AFK.
Nerf
- A mod developers term. It means to degrade or reduce an aspect of an element of the game, such as a ship or a weapon.
Buff
- The contrary of Nerf. It means to improve or empower an aspect of an element of the game, such as a ship or weapon.
Vanilla
- The name given to the original version of freelancer (v1.0).
Command
- Text you can enter into the chat box in game to alter aspects of your character and other useful tools.
Hook
- See "Command"
Indies
- Refers to independent players free of any official or non-official faction.
Trans
- Meaning "Transport", another class of ship playable in-game.
P-Trans
- Refers to the ship the "Pirate Transport"
SNAC
- Meaning "Supernova Antimatter Cannon. A powerful weapon used on bombers in the discovery universe.
SID
- Meaning "Skype ID", for those who use skype.
Spam
- Usually means an over excessiveness of something, therefore considered unfair or rediculous.
Capspam
- An over excessiveness of capital ships in the vicinity.
Missilespam
- An excessive firing or presence of missiles in combat.
Capwhores
- People who tend to spend most of their time flying capital ships. Also refers to a particular faction, official or otherwise that tends to have an abundance in capital ships amongst it's members.
Bomberwhores
- A faction or group of people who tend to be consistent mainly of bomber class vessels.
Gank
- To be utterly beaten or to overwhelmingly defeat the opposition in combat.
Gank Squad
- A number of players aligned to a faction or group that fly around destroying any opposition they encounter despite the odds until they weigh in the enemies favour.
Casts
- A shortened name for "Outcasts"
Sairs
- A shortened name for "Corsairs"
Lolboat/Funboat
- A Gunboat or Gunship that a player purchases with the intention of creating havok, despite any role play or player versus issues it may cause.
Missileboat
- A gunboat a player purchases and then completely outfits with missile turrets.
Lunchbox
- Refers to the old Corsair gunboat model of 4.85 that looked quite like a lunchbox.
Toaster
- A vulgar term used to describe AI characters.
Base Huggers
- Players that tend to stick close to allied bases when participating in PvP to weigh the odds in their favour. This phenomenon was a major factor that gave rise to the zoners establishing no fire zones around their bases.
Rule Lawyering
- Bending the server rules and using them as ammunition to suit your point of view in an instance where a conflict between two players breaks out on the forum.
Flaming
- A heated argument on the server forums that usually involves verbal abuse and irrational comments.
Troll/Trolling
- A person whom for no reason other than self satisfaction seeks out people online and verbally abuses them.
Unusual Faction Tags
Here is a list of a few tags that can be misleading without context; so that you know what to look out for.
[|]
- The Black Dragon Society, a Hogosha based faction
[C]
- The Council, a Gallia - sirius friendly faction
[*USI*]
- Universal Shipping Incorperated, a lawful Liberty trading faction
[M]
- The Mandalorians, a Bretonian mercenary faction
XA
- The Xenos Alliance, a Liberty based terrorist faction
[HF]
- The Hellfire Legion, a Lane Hacker based terrorist faction
BDM|
- Beurue de Marinintelligenz, a Rheinland Military based intelligence faction
[RHA]
- Red Hessian Army, a Red Hessian based pirate/militant faction
Wilde.
- Das Wilde, a nomad aligned terrorist faction in rheinland
[101st]
- The 101st, an Outcast based pirate/militant faction
[TBH]
- The Brotherhood, a Corsair based pirate faction
Benitez
- The Benitez Familia, a Corsair based pirate faction
|Sails
- A Corsair based pirate faction in the Sigmas
[RoS]
- The Reapers of Sirius, an Outcasts based pirate faction
CR|
- The Colonial Republic, a Tau based lawfully orientated faction
[IND]
- The Interspace Neuralnet Division, a Trans-sirius smuggling and trading faction
.:j:.
- The Junkers, a trans sirius, quasi-legal faction
K'hara|
- The Slomon K'hara, a nomad based terrorist faction
OSI-
- Omicron Shipping Industries, an independent trading faction
Reaver.
- The Reavers, a trans sirius mercenary and bounty hunting faction
SCRA|
- The Sirius Coalition Revolutionary Army, a omega based coalition faction
[TAZ]
- The Temporary Autonomous Zoners, a neutral zoner based faction
(\^/)
- Phoenix, a zoner based trans sirius faction
[Angels]
- The Angels, a neutralist player assisting faction
Additional Useful Material
Q.Q
- Symbols meaning tears, or to cry.
Igiss
- Original creator of the discovery mod.
Cannon
- A developer responsible for the majority of the hooks installed on the mod, and a renowned developer of Discovery in general.
Karlotta
- An infamous troll to Discovery that has since been banned for a number of years.