The way something is presented matters not only when it comes to making it understandable, but can in many cases also demotivate people from reading it at all. Furthermore, it contributes to someone's overall impression when they decide whether Discovery is worth playing or not.
Currently the infocard and posts presenting DiscoveryGC Rules, which every new player is required to read, contain rambling about fairness in the beginning, have strange ordering and numbering, useless repetitions, long explanations about "permabans", and they differ when you compare server infocard and forum. This makes Discovery look rather amateurishly run, and gives a bad impression of the place.
If you still don't understand the necessity of clearing up the rules, please read this for a more detailed explanation.
In the following post(s) rules have been re-ordered, merged, and reworded to make them shorter and easier grasp, and thereby more convenient to read. They're now re-organized and compact enough to put identical versions on the forum and into 7 ingame infocards grouped by topic in the already existing ingame Help System.
Overview of changes:
Format Changes
- Changed order of rules from most important for new people to know to least important
- Removed separation of "pvp rules" and "role play rules" in server rules because they are mixed and interpendant anyway
- Put all rules needed to play on the server using common sense into 7 numbered sets which fit into Help System infocards on the topics of Rules, Gameplay, Bounties, Faction, Bases, Cheating, and Sanctions.
- Put things necessary to restrain someone who isn't using common sense (intentionally or unintentionally) into spoilers which are under each rule on the forum.
- Put rules needed to know only by people who perform forum actions into separate Forum Rules.
- Changed wording of most things so the smallest number or words necessary is used. Rules that need to be known to play on the server were reduced from 2644 to 1587 words. Together with forum rules, they were reduced from 4510 to 2528 words.
Content Changes that have NO rule change consequences
- Removed rule about guard systems because they don't exist anymore (Official Faction Rights)
- Removed rule about training ships because everyone now trains in Connecticut (Official Faction Rights)
- Removed things that give a bad impression of the community (threats, boasting, loophole exploitation, permabanning), and put some of them in the spoilers
- Removed rule about anonymous bounties because no one ever uses it, and it seems useless now that everyone has alt accounts anyway
- Added explanation of what Bastille is to 2.9
- Wrote out rule about "trial by forum", off topic, and closed communications in the forum rules.
Content Changes that HAVE rule change consequences (suggested)
- Pirate and Miner IDs can be hired in 3.1, because forbidding it has no RP justification and was introduced to spread players out among IDs, which has lost its usefulness now. (Also Freelancer should get the mining bonus of Miner ID, and Miner ID should be removed.)
- Allowed players to hire others ingame to kill targets up to 1 system jump away in 3.1, because that's how people generally use the "hire to assist in combat" anyway
- Employer and Employee both have to be hostile to the targets now except when enforcing Official Faction Rights and when the target has a generic ID
Everyone is invited to suggest improvements or express concerns. Staff members are especially invited as individuals, it doesn't have to be a team statement.
Click the Info bar for explanations and examples.
1. COMMUNITY RULES
1.1 This is a Freelancer-based role play community. Character names and behavior must be realistic in the Discovery Freelancer universe (no player nationality tags, memes, pop-culture references, or direct imports from other universes like Star Wars). Realistic role-play also means that meta-gaming (characters using information they didn't receive in the game universe) is forbidden.
Character name should not contain:
- swear words
- indication of player origin
- tags of factions that you're not a member of
- excessive or random symbols, capital letters, numbers, leet speak, emoticons
- references to real-life atrocities
- memes
Examples of forbidden character types:
- Little Ponies, Furries, Care Bears, Ewoks, Luke Skywalkers, Jean Luc Piccards, Starship Enterprise
Examples of forbidden meta-gaming:
- Using Outcast characters to identify cardamine smugglers for law enforcement
- Using information from a communication channel that a character has no access to
- Using a cloaked Nomad ship to acquire information for enemies of Nomads
1.2 Don’t insult, harass, or threaten players outside of role-play. Don’t use racist, graphic, pornographic, obscene, or law-violating materials in or out of role-play. Don’t repeatedly target specific players or groups with the intention of ruining their game experience. Don’t mislead players about rules or pose as an admin or “admin friend” to gain an advantage.
You may insult and degrade role play characters, but not players and other real people. Your character can insult another character, but you can't insult another player as for example "you stupid lolwhut", "go kill yourself", "people of X nationality/ethnicity/religion are sub-human")
Don't use Discovery as a platform to promote political views or historic/scientific revisionism.
No pornographic role play or links to sites that feature pornography or propaganda. Keep in mind that there are people of all ages playing here.
No systematic attacking or public smearing of certain player(s) with the intention of removing them as players from the community or from what you consider "your turf".
You may remind players of rules and point it out if they are violating them. However, be careful not to misrepresent them, because intentionally misrepresenting them to threaten with sanctions will get you sanctioned.
1.3 Everything must be in understandable English. Some non-English words can enhance role-play, but the meanings should be kept understandable to English-only speakers.
You may travel and engage in role play only if you have one, and only one, ID on your ship. You may buy an ID for another player to help set up up a character, but it should be done quickly, should not involve traveling, and not be done while role-playing is taking place within radar range.
The docking restrictions mentioned in ID and equipment infocards also apply to Player Owned Bases (POBs).
2.3 Players below level 30 may not be attacked unless they: attack first, fire cruise-disruptors, refuse to stop stalking, carry a codename weapon, or take active part in role-play.
This rule is there so people don't target new players who have no way of defending themselves and little understanding of the rules and game mechanics. It shouldn't be abused by using low level or recruit ID in order to bother others. A new player intuitively playing the game like an arcade shooter without regards to rules cane be annoying, but the recommended approach is to try to communicate and politely inform the player of the nature of this server instead of just killing him.
2.4 All attacks must be a result of role play. Players must say more than one line and give reasonable time for the opponent to react before initiating an attack. Non-Nomads may always attack Nomads, but role play is still required. See rule 5.1 before attacking a Player Owned Base.
The intent of this rule is that people don't just go around shooting everyone out of the blue. The minimum required RP before attacking is 2 lines, and at least 10 seconds must have passed between your first line and the onset of your attack.
In group fights, not everyone has to say something before shooting or be talked to before being shot at, as long as people are recognizable as group members and one or more members of the group have provided sufficient role play before that attack. Onlookers should be aware that they can be mistaken for enemy group members in the heat of battle.
Firing a cruise disruptor without talking first is permitted, and does not count as an attack. Please take into account that players may intuitively understand being shot by a CD as an attack, and that intentionally baiting people into rule violations by firing CDs at them will not be tolerated.
2.5 If you die in any way during a PvP (Player versus Player) interaction, you must leave the system the fight took place in and not re-enter it on any characters for one hour. You may not carry cargo, engage in player interactions, or be attacked while leaving. You also can’t attack the player(s) you died to on any of your characters for one hour.
Without this rule, battles would be endless and pointless, so please obey it. There are many other places to find something fun to do in Sirius when you're "PvP dead" in one system.
Instead of taking revenge by re-engaging with the same or another character before two hours are up, you have much better options available:
- Place an IRP bounty on who ever killed you.
- Play on another character in another corner of Sirius.
- Go to Connecticut and train your combat skills.
Don't let your anger make you break the rules. You'll only end up harming yourself and giving your opponent the occasion to gloat when you get sanctioned. Revenge is a dish best served cold.
2.6 The same as 2.5 applies if you dock within 15K of your enemy while in PvP, with the exceptions that you may re-enter the system to trade, keep your cargo, and players may attack you while you leave or re-enter the system.
If you dock while in PvP and you are flying any ship (fighter, miner, or transport), you are permitted to leave the system keeping your cargo. However, players are permitted to attack you again, for example for piracy, while you leave. You will also not be allowed to engage players in the system you died even for the purpose of defending an allied ship. You may only re-enter the system in a transport or freighter, and the only thing you'll be allowed to do is trade (no following people around and no initiating role play with anyone). These restrictions last for two hours after the moment you docked during PvP.
2.7 Demands should be reasonable and only one monetary or cargo demand can be issued during each piracy interaction. Players that complied to the demand may not be attacked unless they provoke further.
An unreasonable demand is a demand that only serves as an excuse to destroy the other player because no player (or character) would realistically obey it. An example would be asking for credits that exceed the total value of a transport's cargo. Another example for an unreasonable IRP demand is for the transport to reply "Just kill me so I can re-spawn where I bought my cargo and resume trading." A better alternative to the later is to die in a fight.
2.8 Don’t disconnect in space to escape interaction. If you get disconnected, log back on immediately and apologize to the players you were interacting with. If you can’t apologize ingame, do so in the forum thread titled "DISCONNECTED". Don’t rejoin a fight without permission from your adversary after getting disconnected.
When a ship loses connection, people within its radar range will see a green message that says it's trying to disconnect. It will drop its shield and stay in space for a certain amount of time, often long enough for it to be destroyed by an enemy. No matter the circumstances, the safest way to avoid a sanction for disconnecting during interaction is to apologize for disconnection ingame or on the forum.
2.9 Connecticut is a system where players aren’t required to role-play and may only attack with the adversary’s consent. Bastille is a system that imprisons rule breakers until they agree to obey server rules.
Players may also train combat as a "simulation" in the role play universe, where they won't be considered "PvP dead" upon defeat. This may only be done if all involved parties agree to it and not abused to circumvent PvP rules.
3. HIRED GUNS & BOUNTIES
3.1 All contracts and bounties must be justified within roleplay and conform to IDs. A character may be hired ingame or on the forum by non-generic IDed (non Freelancer, Pirate, or Miner) players, for a minimum of 1 million credits per target. Targets must be informed of the contract/bounty originator before the attack and be able to verify the veracity of it. The reputations of employer and employee must be neutral or friendly to each other, and they must both be hostile to the target unless they're enforcing Official Faction Rights or the target has a generic ID.
"Justified within roleplay" means that Bounties should result as a logical consequence from actual ingame interaction between the person placing the bounty and the target. They shouldn't be purely motivated by OORP player relations or abused to be able to blow up transports without demand.
Bounties must be placed before, not after, they're fulfilled.
Spying/scouting bounties must conform to rule 1.1 and reputation rules of 3.1, but it's not required to inform the target on the server if no attack occurs.
3.2 Bounties enacted while the employer is offline, PvP-dead, or farther than one system away must be posted in the "Bounty Offices" sub-forum. The forum thread must specify the employer's name and affiliation, and also specify and verify the affiliation of those who may claim the bounty. A limited payout number, expiry date, or exclusivity to pre-registered bounty board members may be specified beforehand. Players may not hire exclusively their own characters.
Role play motivating a bounty may be posted anywhere, but every bounty must be documented in the Bounty Board forum section.
If someone is hired to attack someone ingame, the attack may only be initiated if the employer is still online. If the employer is offline, PvP dead, or more than one jump hole/gate away while hiring, the contract must be documented with a forum bounty post. An already started engagement may continue if the employer dies during the engagement.
You may claim bounties that your character placed using another one of your characters, as long as the Bounty can also be claimed by other characters than your own and is publicly placed and claimed on the forum.
3.3 Forum-Bounties on factions instead of named individuals (blanket bounties) may only be issued (or sponsored within roleplay) by official factions and governments. These may also be compensated through flat rate payments of at least 30 million credits per month to individuals or factions. Non-generic IDed unofficial factions may sponsor internal blanket bounties for members of their player or NPC faction only.
The flat rate contract contract and all acts under it must be posted.
Sponsoring a bounty means that the payments are guaranteed to be made by the sponsor.
Every official faction may only sponsor one unofficial faction bounty.
3.4 Attacking someone for non-existing contracts or non-claimable bounties, as well as not visibly claiming payment within 7 days of an alleged forum-bounty kill, will result in sanction. Payments must be made within two weeks of a legitimate claim.
If several employers placed bounties on the same target, it's permitted but not required to claim payment with more than one of them.
4. FACTIONS
4.1 Players may create a faction for any publicly available ID they want, if the faction uses a single ID, IFF, and tag. Every faction must have one leader and at least one second-in-command who speak for it. It’s recommended but optional for unofficial factions to post descriptions in the Unofficial Factions and Groups sub-forum, explaining their background, diplomacy, goals, and to ask for community feedback. It’s also recommended to create roleplay message logs on the forum.
All ships in the same faction must follow common diplomacy.
Having faction ships that don’t use an IFF or tag is acceptable.
4.2 Official status is awarded following the "Achieving Official Faction Status" post on the forum. Official Factions (OFs) must have a public feedback thread they answer to on the forum. They have the following Official Faction Rights (OFRs). All instances of OFR use must be documented by forum roleplay.
- OFR 1: OF leaders ranked first or second in command have in-roleplay authority over characters of the same NPC affiliation, regarding diplomacy and strategic/tactical direction. They may not require anyone to follow non-canon or unreasonable roleplay. Disobeying legitimate orders may result in roleplay consequences such as ingame arrest, court-martial, and in extreme cases ingame force.
- OFR 2: OFs who planned an event with at least 24 hours notice on the forum can restrict the participation of others in that event. It shouldn't severely limit another faction’s activities in their own ZoI or provide unfair protection from logical roleplay consequences.
- OFR 3: OFs may request that the reputation of a player's ship be set hostile towards their NPC faction, by posting in the appropriate Violation Reports sub-forum. They must provide evidence of forum roleplay and interaction between the OF and the character. Ships subjected to OFR3 may treat ships of the issuing faction (except transports) as hostile targets.
- OFR 4: OFs may bounty or attack a player who uses their affiliation's technology without the faction ID nor official permission, regardless of their diplomacy with the user's faction. Permissions may only be given by an OF affiliated with the manufacturer of the technology, and must be documented in roleplay on the forum.
In cases where affiliated OF leaders disagree on exercising any OFR, server administrators will decide the course of action, for example by making OF leaders vote.
Irresponsible use of OFRs may result in warnings or sanctions, including removal of official status.
5. PLAYER OWNED BASES
5.1 Dealing more damage to a Player Owned Base (POB) than is needed to prevent a ship from taking refuge inside or behind the base must be preceded by forum roleplay and a post in the Attack Declaration Thread at least 8 hours (core 1 bases) or 24 hours (core 2 and higher) prior to the attack. Attack declarations are valid for 2 weeks.
5.2 No roleplay is required prior to building a Core 1 base, but it must make sense in roleplay. Name, location and IFF of bases are permanent and can’t be changed after construction. Bases within 15k distance of mining fields may not advance beyond Core 2. Core upgrades have requirements listed in the "Player Owned Base Upgrades" forum thread.
5.3 POBs are destructible when unprotected, so it's recommended you inform yourself about House laws and fees and local diplomacy in order to build in a well protected location. POBs in systems bordering House space may not be engaged by House forces for lack of payment of fees, but can still fall prey to other factions.
6. CHEATING
In addition to players reporting cheaters, the Discovery 24/7 RP Server automatically detects most of them. Cheating will result in automated or admin-administered bans. The following cheats and exploits are forbidden:
6.1 Modifying your Discovery Freelancer installation, using third-party tools, or abusing glitches/bugs in order to gain advantages over other players.
6.2 Running the game with framerates above 155fps. Computers running uncapped framerate must use a third party program to limit the FPS to below 155.
6.3 Using cruise disruptors or missiles in order to track a ship that has successfully cloaked.
6.4 Intentionally ramming a capital ship in order to ''flip'' it or ''catapult'' your ship away from it.
6.5 Suicide trading and intentionally self/team-killing during Combat-Event-Plugin battles in order to prevent the opponent from scoring points.
6.6 Connecting to the server with more than one character at a time (Multiboxing). Players sharing a network connection may not engage in trading/mining at the same time.
6.7 Storing POB crew on a ship in order to reduce consumption.
7. SANCTIONS
7.1 Game Masters will impose sanctions on players who violate rules or harm server gameplay. Game Masters are obliged to:
- Safeguard the community, server, and forums
- Be fair and treat all players equally
- Not mix server roleplaying with server administration in any way
- Not ignore reported rule violations
- No teleporting players to give them an IRP advantage
7.2 Depending on severity and amount of rule violations, sanctions can range from a warning, credit fine, loss of equipment, probation periods with removal of certain privileges, and bans of varying duration. Sanctions will appear in forum threads detailing the offenses and punishments.
A "permaban'' is a sanction where the punished player and all his assets are removed from the community for an indefinite amount of time. Permanent bans will only be lifted if a ban appeal is submitted and positively voted on by the administration team. If the vote fails, the player may not submit another appeal for another six months.
When players are "permabanned", their ingame assets are frozen. Shared characters are included in the freeze to avoid situations where shared banks and expensive ships are saved/bumped by a third party Member. The only ships not hit by the freeze are shared Faction ships that have a been shiplocked. Requests to unban them will be viewed on case-by-case basis.
Please only share access to your accounts with people you trust, as losing these accounts is within your own responsibility.
7.3 If someone shows disregard for the rules even after being informed of rules and violations, players can file a rule violation report in the appropriate sub-forum. Playing Discovery Freelancer as a community is less anonymous than other games, and therefore things are often taken more personal. Don’t attempt to use violation reports for personal revenge. If you’re angry, take time to gather and present the evidence properly and make sure you’re not mistaken when you’re calm.
Fair play, a level head, and consideration for others are paramount. The rules are not a sword or shield to be used for or against someone, but are there to ensure that the server environment has structure and allows everyone to have fun. If you make a mistake apologize. Attempts to intentionally bait someone into violating rules or attempts to exploit loop holes will not be tolerated.
(02-16-2018, 04:56 AM)Karlotta Wrote: 2.2 Every character must use one ID and follow its restrictions and permissions. ID lines override server rules when they conflict. Factions may use only one type of ID per faction tag.
The line about IDs overriding server rules has been left out.
(02-16-2018, 04:56 AM)Karlotta Wrote: 2.4 All attacks must be a result of roleplay. Players must say more than one line such as “Engaging!” and give reasonable time for the opponent to react before initiating an attack. Nomads and non-nomads may always attack eachthe other (except Recruit and Neutral ID), but role-play is still required.
Feels as though the objects and subjects in this statement are not sufficiently clear if you use 'each other'. Could be misconstrued to mean that nomads may attack each other (nomads) and non-nomads may attack each other (non-nomads) at all times. Obviously not the intention of the rule, but might be easily misunderstood by new players.
(02-16-2018, 04:56 AM)Karlotta Wrote: 2.9 Don’t disconnect in space to escape interaction. If you get disconnected log back on immediately and apologize to the players you were interacting with. If you can’t apologize ingame, do so in the appropriate forum thread. Don’t rejoin a fight without permission from your adversary.
I don't think this is inside the current ruleset?
(02-16-2018, 04:56 AM)Karlotta Wrote: The following cheats and exploits are forbidden:
3.1 Modifying your Discovery Freelancer installation or using third-party tools in order to gain advantage over other players.
3.2 Running the game with uncapped framerate that exceeds 155fps. Computers running uncapped framerate must use a third party program to limit the FPS to below 155.
3.3 Using cruise disruptors or missiles in order to track a ship that has successfully cloaked.
3.4 Intentionally ramming a capitol ship in order to ''flip'' it or ''catapult'' your ship away from it.
3.5 Intentionally self-killing or team-killing during Combat-Event-Plugin enabled battles in order to prevent the opposing team from scoring points.
3.6 Connecting to the server with more than one character at a time (Multiboxing). Players who share a network connection and play together must not engage in trading/mining while doing so.
3.7 Suicide trading.
3.8 Abusing known glitches and bugs to gain an advantage over other players.
Might be good to have because this has been enforced when it is reasonable to do so.
(07-12-2018, 05:54 PM)Sciamach Wrote: Outcast slavery is actually far better for the victim than the corporate slavery and crime-less imprisonment of the Houses down in places like Liberty Rheinland and Bretonia
(02-16-2018, 04:56 AM)Karlotta Wrote: 2.4 All attacks must be a result of roleplay. Players must say more than one line such as “Engaging!” and give reasonable time for the opponent to react before initiating an attack. Nomads and non-nomads may always attack eachthe other (except Recruit and Neutral ID), but role-play is still required.
Feels as though the objects and subjects in this statement are not sufficiently clear if you use 'each other'. Could be misconstrued to mean that nomads may attack each other (nomads) and non-nomads may attack each other (non-nomads) at all times. Obviously not the intention of the rule, but might be easily misunderstood by new players.
I don’t think the line about nomads belongs in 2.4, anyway. However, if we intend to keep it, I propose:
Non-nomads may always attack Nomads, and vice versa; however, roleplay is still required.
I’m open to thoughts. I think the bit before the semicolon removes any ambiguity.
(02-16-2018, 04:56 AM)Karlotta Wrote: 2.2 Every character must use one ID and follow its restrictions and permissions. ID lines override server rules when they conflict. Factions may use only one type of ID per faction tag.
The line about IDs overriding server rules has been left out.
Are there still IDs that conflict with server rules? I think it used to be the case when nomads could engage without RP and "cant destroy transport without piracy demand" was still written in the rules, but both are no longer the case.
(02-16-2018, 06:46 AM)Ends Wrote:
(02-16-2018, 04:56 AM)Karlotta Wrote: 2.4 All attacks must be a result of roleplay. Players must say more than one line such as “Engaging!” and give reasonable time for the opponent to react before initiating an attack. Nomads and non-nomads may always attack eachthe other (except Recruit and Neutral ID), but role-play is still required.
Feels as though the objects and subjects in this statement are not sufficiently clear if you use 'each other'. Could be misconstrued to mean that nomads may attack each other (nomads) and non-nomads may attack each other (non-nomads) at all times. Obviously not the intention of the rule, but might be easily misunderstood by new players.
I don't really think so, but maybe it would be better to leave that line out entirely, since it's also written in the nomad ID. Or just write "non-nomads may always attack nomads" since the nomad ID says they can attack all non nomads. What do you think?
(02-16-2018, 06:46 AM)Ends Wrote:
(02-16-2018, 04:56 AM)Karlotta Wrote: 2.9 Don’t disconnect in space to escape interaction. If you get disconnected log back on immediately and apologize to the players you were interacting with. If you can’t apologize ingame, do so in the appropriate forum thread. Don’t rejoin a fight without permission from your adversary.
I don't think this is inside the current ruleset?
You're right. But I think it's still practiced by players. Possibly not needed anymore since the ships stay in space long enough to get killed. But in a situation where a fighter keeps a battleship CDed until backup arrives, a player could still gain an advantage from disconnecting before the backup gets to him. What is the admin stance on this? Is it not necessary to ask permission to rejoin a fight after getting disconnected in it?
(02-16-2018, 06:46 AM)Ends Wrote:
(02-16-2018, 04:56 AM)Karlotta Wrote: The following cheats and exploits are forbidden:
3.1 Modifying your Discovery Freelancer installation or using third-party tools in order to gain advantage over other players.
3.2 Running the game with uncapped framerate that exceeds 155fps. Computers running uncapped framerate must use a third party program to limit the FPS to below 155.
3.3 Using cruise disruptors or missiles in order to track a ship that has successfully cloaked.
3.4 Intentionally ramming a capitol ship in order to ''flip'' it or ''catapult'' your ship away from it.
3.5 Intentionally self-killing or team-killing during Combat-Event-Plugin enabled battles in order to prevent the opposing team from scoring points.
3.6 Connecting to the server with more than one character at a time (Multiboxing). Players who share a network connection and play together must not engage in trading/mining while doing so.
3.7 Suicide trading.
3.8 Abusing known glitches and bugs to gain an advantage over other players.
Might be good to have because this has been enforced when it is reasonable to do so.
(02-16-2018, 02:56 PM)Karlotta Wrote: Are there still IDs that conflict with server rules? I think it used to be the case when nomads could engage without RP and "cant destroy transport without piracy demand" was still written in the rules, but both are no longer the case.
Filtered through a lot of IDs; you are right, there doesn't seem to be anymore contradictions. That line might even be detrimental in that it bypasses rule 2.3. (e.g. OC in penn shooting underleveled players because of "Can engage any ship within ZoI"). Not sure what kind of ID lines might pop up in SRPs though.
(02-16-2018, 02:56 PM)Karlotta Wrote: You're right. But I think it's still practiced by players. Possibly not needed anymore since the ships stay in space long enough to get killed. But in a situation where a fighter keeps a battleship CDed until backup arrives, a player could still gain an advantage from disconnecting before the backup gets to him. What is the admin stance on this? Is it not necessary to ask permission to rejoin a fight after getting disconnected in it?
No idea. If he just logs back in while in the middle of a fight and starts opening fire immediately, it's probably an abuse of game mechanics anyway. People used to try these F1 ambushes as pirates in Dublin, and the precedent is that they aren't allowed and the current mechanics are supposed to stop these kinds of plays, so if someone tries it and gains an unfair advantage, it should not be allowed anyway.
(02-16-2018, 02:56 PM)Karlotta Wrote: Or just write "non-nomads may always attack nomads" since the nomad ID says they can attack all non nomads. What do you think?
I think that is a better solution.
(07-12-2018, 05:54 PM)Sciamach Wrote: Outcast slavery is actually far better for the victim than the corporate slavery and crime-less imprisonment of the Houses down in places like Liberty Rheinland and Bretonia
1. The Community Rules apply to server, forum, and Skype/Discord/Teamspeak channels required for official community activities. Posting things on the forum that have the intent of swinging community opinion against named community members (a.k.a "Trial by Forum") is considered harassing, and is therefore forbidden. If you feel the need to criticize the behavior of certain people, try to do it constructively and not in a personal way. If they violated rules, report them to the admins and not to the community.
2. When replying to a roleplay post or using the contained information in roleplay, be sure your character has access to it (check for receivers/participants and message encryption). Don't mix roleplay and non-roleplay when posting.
3. When participating in an out-of-roleplay discussion, please read the original post carefully and make sure you understand it properly and are on topic when you answer. Stay polite and try to avoid logical fallacies (straw-man, ad-hominems, appeals to authority, false equivalences), as well as mindless spam posts.
4. No commercial advertising of services or products, and no posting links to to things that violate community rules.
5. Embedded pictures can't be wider than 700px. Signatures can't be larger than 700*250px and 1mb.
Achieving Official Faction Status
1. After a player faction has three or more active members and posted a faction description, ID status, RP story, member list, and diplomatic relations with relevant factions, it can request to become official in the Faction Creation Requests sub-forum. The request may be discussed by other players and administrators, but only administrators can approve or reject official status.
2. To start the approval process, the faction has to provide the admin team with 500 million credits. The amount will only be refunded if the faction gains official status. Once the process starts, the faction tag will be added to the faction activity tracker. Tag-less ships and ships in Connecticut don’t contribute tracker time.
3. The request will remain open for discussion for two months, during which faction performance on both server and forums will be reviewed. The status request will then undergo an admin vote and the result will be posted in the request thread. If rejected, the reasons will be explained and you may still be given a chance to improve and get approved.
4. Upon approval, the faction will receive its own sub-forum in the official factions section, and a free CAU 8 upgrade. Moderation requests for faction sub-forums should be posted here, by the faction leader or a second in command, preferably using the faction forum account. At this point you must also create a faction feedback thread.
5. Once the faction has gained officialdom, it’s required to fill out a Faction Status Report once a month in the Faction Activity sub-forum. It must shed light on the faction's goals, roleplay efforts, and in-game activity.
6. Official factions may request their own ID based on the one of their NPC faction, to allow for specialized roleplay or remove certain restrictions. The faction ID can be requested from the admins if the faction's roleplay, or that of a sub-group in the faction, can't be fulfilled within the original ID. If restrictions are lifted for only a sub-group, it will be specified in the ID.
7. If an official player faction’s activity sinks below the required threshold, its status is changed to “suspended”. It will have 4 weeks to either rebuild activity or lose officialdom and associated rights.
Core upgrades can only be done after fulfilling requirements depending on core level and by then requesting the necessary blueprints. Requests must be posted in the appropriate subforum, and are invisible to non-admins. The blueprints given upon successful request are non-transferable. Abuse will result in loss of the base.
Ugrade requirements:
Core 2: Post the name, IFF, system, and purpose of the base.
Core 3: Provide more detailed roleplay and demonstrate responsible behavior for at least one month as Core 2. Base may not be within 15k of a mining field.
Core 4: Provide proof of responsible and productive roleplay for at least two months as Core 3.
Core 5: The base must be owned by an official faction for at least three months as Core 4. Only one Core 5 base per official faction is permitted. Wear & tear damage is disabled at Core 5, and food/water/oxygen consumption can be disabled through a special roleplay request.
Player Owned Base Attack Declarations
This is a dedicated thread for players/factions to state their intent to attack POBs.
The Player/Faction must provide role play on the forums stating in some fashion their intent to attack the base. This can be in any RP section of the forum, Message Dump, Communications Channel, etc.
When posting here they must follow the template below and post at least 8 hours (Core 1 bases) or 24 hours (Core 2 or higher) prior to attacking the base.
Code:
Name of player(s)/faction(s): [color=#32CD32][b]Name[/b][/color]
Name of Player Owned Base: [color=#32CD32][b]Name[/b][/color]
Link to RP showing intent to attack: <Link>
An Attack Declaration is valid for 2 weeks after posting, and will be removed from this thread 2 weeks after posting.
System Classifications
Factions are bound by server rules as well as ID restrictions and allowances. In case of conflict, IDs over-ride server rules.
House Space
-Sovereign Space: This is called "House Space" in ID docking rules, quasi-lawful piracy, and quasi-lawful house law enforcement. House Military, Police, and Intelligence Factions (MPIFs) may enforce roleplay consequences on players, factions and POBs found breaking House Laws here. -Controlled Space: MPIFs may enforce roleplay consequences on players, factions, and POBs found breaking House Laws, only if they personally witnessed the legal infraction while uncloaked. -Outer Region: Like Controlled Space, except that MPIFs may not enforce roleplay consequences on non-hostile POBs, whether they break House Laws or not.
Liberty -Sovereign Space: New York*, Alaska, California, Colorado, Ontario, Texas, Virginia. -Controlled Space: Alberta, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Cortez, Hudson, Magellan -Outer Region: Cassini, Kansas
Bretonia -Sovereign Space: New London*, Cambridge, Manchester, Newcastle -Controlled Space: Dublin, Poole, Omega-3, Cortez, Magellan -Outer Region: Edinburgh, Leeds
Fighters/Snubs: Light Fighters, Heavy Fighters, Very Heavy Fighters, Super Heavy Fighters and Bombers Freighters: Trader ships with cargo holds smaller than 650 units Transports: Trader ships with cargo holds larger than 650 units, including Liners Cruisers: Destroyers, Cruisers and Battlecruisers Battleships: Battleships, Dreadnoughts, Juggernauts and Carriers Capital Ships: Gunboats, all Cruisers and all Battleships
This post is a merged copy of rules and explanations.
1. Community Rules (Server and Forum)
1.1 This is a Freelancer-based role-play community. Character names and behavior must be realistic in the Discovery Freelancer universe (no player nationality tags, memes, pop-culture references, or direct imports from other universes like Star Wars). Realistic role-play also means that characters can’t use information they didn’t receive in the game universe.
Name regulations:
- no swear words
- no indicating of player origin
- no faction tags if you're not a member
- no excessive use of random symbols, capital letters, numbers, symbols, leet speak, emoticons
- no references to real-life atrocities
- no memes
Examples:
No Little Ponies, Furries, Care Bears, Ewoks, Luke Skywalkers, Jean Luc Piccards, supergamer72, |\/\/\$N00P-DAWG/\/\/|.
No using Outcast characters to tell the identities of cardamine smugglers to law enforcement.
No using information from a communication channel that a character has no access to.
No using of cloaked nomad ship to acquire information for enemies of Nomads.
1.2 Don’t insult, harass, or threaten players outside of role-play. Don’t use racist, graphic, pornographic, obscene, or law-violating materials in or out of role-play. Don’t repeatedly target specific players or groups with the intention of ruining their game experience. Don’t mislead players about rules or pose as an admin or “admin friend” to gain an advantage.
No insulting or degrading real people. For example "you stupid lolwhut", "go kill yourself", "people of X nationality/ethnicity/religion are sub-human")
No using Discovery to promote political views or historic/scientific revisionism. Not even in role play, or disguised as role play.
No pornographic role play or links to sites that feature pornography or propaganda. Keep in mind that there are people of all ages playing here.
No systematic attacking or public smearing of certain player(s) with the intention of removing them as players from the community or from what you consider "your turf".
You may remind players of rules and point it out if they are violating them. However, be careful not to misrepresent them, because misrepresenting them to threaten with sanctions will get you sanctioned.
1.3 Everything must be in understandable English. Some non-English words can enhance role-play, but the meanings should be kept understandable to English-only speakers.
You may travel and engage in role play only if you have one, and only one, ID on your ship. You may buy an ID for another player to help set up up a character, but it should be done quickly, should not involve traveling, and not be done while role-playing is taking place within radar range.
2.3 Players using Recruit ID and players below level 30 may not be attacked unless they: attack first, fire cruise-disruptors, refuse to stop stalking, carry a codename weapon, or take active part in role-play.
This rule is there so people don't target new players who have no way of defending themselves and little understanding of the rules and game mechanics. It shouldn't be abused by using low level or recruit ID in order to bother others.
2.4 All attacks must be a result of roleplay. Players must say more than one line and give reasonable time for the opponent to react before initiating an attack. Non-Nomads may always attack Nomads, but role-play is still required.
This rule exists so people don't just go around shooting everyone out of the blue. Leave your opponent enough time to at least notice you, and give him a chance to react to you before you open fire. You don't have to give up the element of surprise completely, as you don't have to state your intention of attacking someone before attacking. You can, for example, have a friendly conversation out of radar range (system chat or pm), use an IFF that doesn't arouse suspicion, and then surprise-attack him after you won't be suspected of wanting to do any harm.
2.5 If you die in any way during PvP, you must leave the system the fight took place in and not re-enter it on any characters for two hours. You may not carry cargo, engage in player interactions, or be attacked while leaving. You also can’t attack the player(s) you died to on any of your characters for two hours.
Without this rule, battles would be endless and pointless, so please obey it. Instead of taking revenge by re-engaging with the same or another character before two hours are up, you have much better options available: Put up an IRP bounty on who ever killed you. Play on another character in another corner of Sirius. Go to Connecticut and train your combat skills. What ever you do, don't break the rules while you're angry. You'll only end up harming yourself and giving your opponent more ways to harm you. Revenge is a dish best served cold.
2.6 The same as 2.5 applies if you dock within 15K of your enemy while in PvP, with the exceptions that you may re-enter the system to trade, keep your cargo, and players may attack you while you're leaving the system.
If you dock while in PvP and you are flying any ship (fighter, miner, or transport), you are permitted to leave the system keeping your cargo. However, players are permitted to attack you again, for example for piracy, while you leave. You will also not be allowed to engage players in the system you died even for the purpose of defending an allied ship. You may only re-enter the system in a transport or freighter, and the only thing you'll be allowed to do is trade (no following people around and no initiating role play with anyone). These restrictions last for two hours after the moment you docked during PvP.
2.7 Demands should be reasonable and only one monetary or cargo demand can be issued during each piracy interaction.
An unreasonable demand is a demand that only serves as an excuse to destroy the other player because no player (or character) would realistically obey it. An example would be asking for credits that exceed the total value of a transport's cargo. Another example for an unreasonable IRP demand is for the transport to reply "Just kill me so I can re-spawn where I bought my cargo and resume trading." A better alternative to the later is to die in a fight.
2.8 Don’t disconnect in space to escape interaction. If you get disconnected, log back on immediately and apologize to the players you were interacting with. If you can’t apologize ingame, do so in the forum thread titled "DISCONNECTED". Don’t rejoin a fight without permission from your adversary after getting disconnected.
When a ship loses connection, people within its radar range will see a green message that says it's trying to disconnect. It will drop its shield and stay in space for a certain amount of time, often long enough for it to be destroyed by an enemy. No matter the circumstances, the safest way to avoid a sanction for disconnecting during interaction is to apologize for disconnection ingame or on the forum.
2.9 Connecticut is a system where players aren’t required to role-play and may only attack with the adversary’s consent. Bastille is a system that imprisons rule breakers until they agree to obey server rules.
3.1 All contracts and bounties must be within roleplay and conform to IDs. A character may be hired ingame or on the forum by non-generic IDed players, for a minimum of 1 million credits per target. Targets must be informed of the contract/bounty originator before the attack. The reputations of employer and employee must be neutral or friendly to each other, and they must both be hostile to the target.
Bounties must be placed before, not after, they're fulfilled.
You may claim bounties that your character placed using another one of your characters, as long as the Bounty can also be claimed by other characters than your own and is publicly placed and claimed on the forum.
Spying/scouting bounties must conform to rule 1.1 and reputation rules of 3.1, but it's not required to inform the target on the server if no attack occurs.
3.2 Bounties and contracts valid while the employer is logged off must be posted in the "Bounty Offices" sub-forum. Employers must specify their name and affiliation, and also specify and verify the affiliation of those who may claim the bounty. Payments must be made within two weeks of a legitimate claim. Employers may specify beforehand the number of available payouts or limit them to pre-registered bounty board members.
If someone is hired to attack someone ingame, the attack may only be initiated if the employer is still online and not PvP-dead. If the employer is PvP-dead or offline while hiring, the contract must be documented with a forum bounty post. An already started engagement may continue if the employer dies during the engagement.
3.3 Forum-Bounties on factions and groups instead of named individuals may only be issued or sponsored publicly by official factions, who may only sponsor one unofficial faction bounty. Players and player factions may enter into contracts with official factions or governments for flat rate fee payments of at least 30 million per month.
The flat rate contract contract and all acts under it must be posted.
3.4 Attacking someone for non-claimable bounties or non-existent ingame contracts, as well as not visibly claiming payment within 3 days of an alleged forum-bounty kill, will result in sanction.
If several employers placed bounties on the same target, it's permitted but not required to claim payment with more than one of them.
4. Factions
4.1 Players may create a faction for any publicly available ID they want, if the faction uses a single ID, IFF, and tag. Every faction must have one leader and at least one second-in-command who speak for it. It’s recommended but optional for unofficial factions to post descriptions in the Unofficial Factions and Groups sub-forum, explaining choice of ID, IFF, tag, background, diplomacy, goals, and to ask for community feedback. It’s also recommended to create roleplay message logs on the forum.
All ships in a faction must follow common diplomacy.
Having faction ships that don’t use an IFF or tag is acceptable.
4.2 Official status is awarded following the "Achieving Official Faction Status" post on the forum. Official factions must have a public feedback thread they answer to on the forum. They have the following Official Faction Rights (OFRs):
OFR 1. Official faction leaders ranked first or second in command have in-roleplay authority over characters of the same NPC affiliation, regarding diplomacy and strategic/tactical direction. They may not require anyone to follow non-canon or unreasonable roleplay. Disobeying legitimate orders may result in roleplay consequences such as ingame arrest, court-martial, and in extreme cases ingame force.
OFR 2. Official factions who planned an event with at least 24 hours notice on the forum can restrict the participation of others in that event. This should not severely limit another faction’s activities in their own ZoI or provide unfair protection from logical roleplay consequences.
OFR 3. Official factions may request that the reputation of a player's ship be set hostile towards their NPC faction, by posting in the appropriate Violation Reports sub-forum. They must provide evidence of forum roleplay and interaction between them and the character. Ships subjected to OFR3 may treat ships of the issuing faction (except transports) as hostile targets.
OFR 4. Official factions have the right to bounty or attack a player who uses their technology without the faction ID nor official permission, regardless of their diplomacy with the user's faction. Official permissions may only be given by official factions affiliated with the manufacturer of the technology, and must be documented in roleplay on the forum.
All instances of OFR use must be documented by forum roleplay. In cases where affiliated official faction leaders disagree on exercising an OFR, server administrators will decide the course of action.
5. Player Owned Bases
5.1 Dealing more damage to a Player Owned Base (POB) than needed to prevent a ship from docking must be preceded by forum roleplay and a post in the Attack Declaration Thread at least 8 hours (core 1 bases) or 24 hours (core 2 and higher) prior to the attack. Attack declarations are valid for 2 weeks.
5.2 No roleplay is required prior to building a Core 1 base, but it must make sense in roleplay. Name, location and IFF of bases are permanent and can’t be changed after construction. Core upgrades have requirements listed in the "Player Owned Base Upgrades" forum thread. Bases within 15k distance of mining fields may not advance beyond Core 2.
5.3 POBs are destructible and not safe when unprotected. It's recommended you inform yourself about House laws and fees and local diplomacy before construction. POBs in systems bordering House space may not be engaged by House forces for lack of payment of fees, but can still fall prey to other factions.
6. The following cheats and exploits are forbidden:
6.1 Modifying your Discovery Freelancer installation or using third-party tools in order to gain advantages over other players. The server will auto-ban you if you do. 6.2 Running the game with framerates above 155fps. Computers running uncapped framerate must use a third party program to limit the FPS to below 155. 6.3 Using cruise disruptors or missiles in order to track a ship that has successfully cloaked. 6.4 Intentionally ramming a capital ship in order to ''flip'' it or ''catapult'' your ship away from it. 6.5 Intentionally self-killing or team-killing during Combat-Event-Plugin enabled battles in order to prevent the opposing team from scoring points. 6.6 Connecting to the server with more than one character at a time (Multiboxing). Players who share a network connection and play together must not engage in trading/mining while doing so. 6.7 Suicide trading. 6.8 Abusing known glitches and bugs to gain an advantage over other players.
7. Sanctions
7.1 Administrators will impose sanctions on players who violate rules or harm server gameplay. Admins are obliged to:
-Safeguard the community, server, and forums.
-Be fair and treat all players equally.
-Not mix server roleplaying with server administration in any way.
-Not ignore reported rule violations.
- No teleporting players to give them an IRP advantage
7.2 Depending on severity and amount of rule violations, sanctions can range from a warning, credit fine, loss of equipment, probation periods with removal of certain privileges, and bans of varying duration. Sanctions will appear in forum threads detailing the offenses and punishments.
A "permaban'' is a sanction where the punished player and all his assets are removed from the community for an indefinite amount of time. Permanent bans will only be lifted if a ban appeal is submitted and positively voted on by the administration team. If the vote fails, the player may not submit another appeal for another six months.
When players are "permabanned", their ingame assets are frozen. Shared characters are included in the freeze to avoid situations where shared banks and expensive ships are saved/bumped by a third party Member. The only ships not hit by the freeze are shared Faction ships that have a been shiplocked. Requests to unban them will be viewed on case-by-case basis.
Please only share access to your accounts with people you trust, as losing these accounts is within your own responsibility.
7.3 If someone shows disregard for the rules even after being informed of rules and violations, players can file a rule violation report in the appropriate sub-forum. Playing Discovery Freelancer as a community is less anonymous than other games, and therefore things are often taken more personal. Don’t attempt to use violation reports for personal revenge. If you’re angry, take time to gather and present the evidence properly and make sure you’re not mistaken when you’re calm.
Fair play, a level head, and consideration for others are paramount. The rules are not a sword or shield to be used for or against someone, but are there to ensure that the server environment has structure and allows everyone to have fun. If you make a mistake apologize. Attempts to intentionally bait someone into violating rules or attempts to exploit loop holes will not be tolerated.
Both were very obsolete and worded in lengthy and confusing ways.
Again, please point out any errors.
Faction Rules
1. Players may create player factions for any ID they want, as long as they only use a single ID, IFF, and tag. Having ships in the faction that don’t use any IFF or tag is acceptable. Every faction must have one leader and at least one second in command who speak for it. All ships in the same faction must share a common diplomacy.
2. It’s highly recommended but optional for unofficial factions to post descriptions in the Unofficial Factions and Groups sub-forum. Explain the ID, IFF, and tag choices, as well as background,diplomacy, and goals of the faction there. It’s also recommended to ask for community feedback, and to create in-roleplay message logs where your members can post.
3. Official faction status is given and taken by server administrators, following the rules of the "Achieving Official Faction Status" forum post. Official factions must answer to public feedback on the forum, and have additional obligations and the following Official Faction Rights (OFR). In case of IDs with multiple official factions of which the leaders disagree when exercising these rights, server administrators will decide the course of action. All instances of use of these rights must be documented with forum roleplay.
OFR 1. Official factions have in-RP authority over characters of the same NPC affiliation if commands are reasonable within role play. Command authority applies to diplomacy and strategic/tactical direction, and is restricted to the rank of leader and second in command. If legitimate orders are disobeyed, it may result in roleplay consequences such as ingame arrest, court-martial, and in extreme circumstances ingame force. Official player factions cannot require anyone to follow non-canon RP.
OFR 2. Official factions who have planned an event with at least 24 hours notice on the forum (here) can restrict participation of others in that event. This should not severely limit another faction’s activities in their own ZoI or provide unfair protection from logical roleplay consequences.
OFR 3. Official factions may request that the reputation of a player's ship be changed to hostile with respect to their NPC faction, by posting the request in the Violation Reports sub-forum. It must include links to valid forum roleplay, as well as actual interaction between the character and the official faction. Ships that have been subject to this by a faction may treat ships from that faction (except transports) as hostile targets.
OFR 4. Official factions have the right to bounty or attack a player who uses their technology without either the faction ID or official permission, regardless of their diplomacy with the faction of the perpetrator. These permissions may only be given by official factions affiliated with the manufacturer of said technology, and must be documented in roleplay on the forum.
Achieving Official Faction Status
1. After a player faction has 3 or more active members and posted a faction description, ID status, RP story, member list, and diplomatic relations with all or most other factions, it can request to become official in the Faction Creation Requests sub-forum. Your request may be discussed by other players and administrators, but only administrators can approve or reject official status.
2. To start the approval process, the faction has to provide the admin team with 500 million credits. The amount will only be refunded if the faction gains official status. Once the process starts, the faction tag will be added to the Faction Activity tracker. Tag-less ships and ships in Connecticut won’t contribute tracker time.
3. The request will remain open for two months, and faction performance on both server and forums will be reviewed during this period. The status request will then undergo an admin vote and the results posted in the request thread. If rejected, reasons will be given and you may still be given a chance to improve and get approved.
4. Upon approval, the faction will receive its own sub-forum in the official factions section, and a free CAU 8 upgrade. Moderation requests for faction sub-forums should be posted here, by the faction leader or a second in command, preferably using the faction forum account. At this point you must also create a faction feedback thread in this section.
5. Once the faction has gained officialdom, it’s required to fill out a Faction Status Report once a month. This will give everyone a better chance to understand your faction, introduces your roleplay efforts in the activity equation, and shed some light on factions that are more active on the forums than in-game. In order to keep things clean with this system, all Faction Activity related posts will now be in the Faction Activity sub-forum.
6. Official factions may request admin approval for their own ID based on the ID of their NPC faction, to allow for a more specialized line of roleplay or to remove certain restrictions within reason. The faction ID can only be requested if the official faction's roleplay as a whole, or the roleplay of a sub-group of the faction can no longer be played out within the allowances of the original ID. If restrictions are lifted for only a sub-group, it must be specified in the ID.
7. If an official player faction’s activity sinks below the required threshold, its status is changed to “suspended”. It will have 4 weeks to either rebuild activity or lose officialdom and associated rights and responsibilities.
I re-arranged the factions rules to split them into rules visible both ingame and the forum, and rules only visible on the forum. Also included them in the OP.
![[+]](/forums/images/collapse_collapsed.png "[+]")
Info![[Image: indhtdn.png]](https://i.imgur.com/indhtdn.png)
![[Image: VkrWndz.png]](https://i.imgur.com/VkrWndz.png)
