The Basics

Things You should know

From New players to New players

As a newer player I was dismayed to find that this page didn't exist, so I have decided to start it up. I encourage new players who are serious to add thoughtful comments to this page. Please, no complaining or flaming, just advice for our new friends. These are not "THE RULES" persay, but a summary of the rules you ought to be familiar with. There are more complete rules available on the forums, and, possibly on this site at a later date.

This is an RP server

Freelancer Discovery is a Role Playing Server and as such everyone is expected to remain in character for the majority of their time on the server. Chat should be kept to in chracter chat. If you have to say something out of character, and try to avoid it if you can, use // before your sentence. Other players will get offended or ignore you entirely if you say things in chat out of character especially without //. Even with the use of //, it is still against the server rules to use out of character (OOC) system chat, and it is recommended that any OOC chat be done in private chat if possible. Ship and Weapons must be in character! Your ID should specify what types of ships you can use, but you should not use a ship or weapon unless you can justify it through roleplaying. For instance, flying a pirate vessle is a bad idea in poliece controlled space, even if you aren't a pirate, since you must be friendly with pirates to buy their ships.

For more information on role playing see the Guide to Roleplay page.

Sign up For The Forums

This isn't a rule, but it's a good idea. The forums have rules posted and from there you can lodge complaints (Hopefully few of these) post comments or questions, and talk to the other players when they're offline. Also, the forums are kept much more up to date and accurate than the wikipedia (An unfortunate fact I would like to see changed).

Discovery Gaming Community forums

No PVP Below Level 30

Read the PVP rules and acquaint yourself fully with them before reaching level 30. If you fail to do this, You'll just end up looking foolish. Do it for you, do it for all of us. When you are below level 30, nobody over level 30 is allowed to attack you unless you start it, or have an ID other than Civilian. Level is based on money, so if you suddenly get a bunch of money, you will be a higher level! Usually the only ships who get attacked are trade ships or ships breaking in-game rules (Breaking server rules usually gets you in more trouble than dying).

What is an ID?

In your internal equipment screen you have a Civilian ID equipped (Clicking the blue puzzle icon will equip or un-equip it ). This will un-equip when you buy new ships and will be sold. Simply buy it back after selling the ship and re-equip it. If you don't have an ID equipped, everyone will hound you until you do, and if the admin catch you there will be trouble. Police may fire at you if you refuse to equip one. The same thing goes for having more than one ID on your ship at once, although that is more serious breach of server rules.

ID Change at Level 40

At level 40, you are no longer allowed to carry a civilian ID and must buy a new one from one of the stations or planets around. Freelancer ID may be found at Huston Texas if you're in New York and need an ID quick. Mercenary ID is fairly common in NY as well. Often, players will just buy any old ID that is near until they can get to a base with one they want. Remember:

Factions and Systemwide Player enforced Policies

Player created factions are powerful entities in the game. Many control systems or enforce strict policies regarding what ships, IDs and weapons are allowed in the sectors they patrol. For instance, in Liberty, the navy and police players have a rule that certain ships and all liberty capitol ships are off limits to civilians and will engage anyone flying these ships who have not been authorized to use them by their faction. Similar policies involving the restriction of capital class vessels have been enacted by Rheinland and the Outcasts. There is also a No Nomad weapon policy in Liberty and Bretonia (A license for Nomads and Nomad equipment can be bought for 5 million credits, see the forums). There are also regular patrols of the jumpgate to Alaska to keep any player from entering there. Remember that when you break a faction's rules you had better have a good RP reason for doing it, and that engaging any faction has consequences. These may include blacklisting and/or death.

Be sure to check with local military and or police factions to find out what their policies are! That way if you cross the line, at least you know that you've crossed it.