Terminology

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See also

• Category:Terminology
• Species - Category:Species
• Factions - Category:Faction
• etc...

A

Aera | AI | Ancients | Andolians | Antimatter | Antimatter Weapons | Aristocracy | Artificial Gravity | Artificial Intelligence | Autotracking

B

Bzbr -> faction/Species?

C

Cloaking | Cloaking Device | Communication (Insystem/Interstellar)

D

Dgn | Disruptor Weapons

Old Data

Terms

Terms-Index: #A #B #C #D #E #F #G #H #I #J #K #L #M #N #O #P #Q #R #S #T #U #V #W #X #Y #Z

[A] - Index

   *

     Aera - Link
         o Category: Species/Factions
         o See also VsManualDbSpecies
   *

     AI - Link
         o short for "Artificial Intelligence"
         o

           You may ask: "How advanced is Artificial Intelligence in the VS universe?" The answer would be like this: "Quite - but implementations of true AI are limited to research stations and university planets. This limitation is the result of several different events and trends in the past of the VS universe."
               + General Paranoia. Ever since the first moderately succesful forays into AI were made by #Humanity centuries ago, there has been some overarching distrust of true artificials, especially since many of the early models proved to have dangerously high risk of sanity loss. Research beyond this point has thus been, not only difficult due to the nature of the research, but heavily hampered by regulatory restrictions. The #Rlaan appear to have never had much interest in building thinking machines, and the #Aera are hostile to the concept of introducing a new entity which may at any point come to oppose them. Therefore, we will limit the the rest of the discussion to #Humanity (A discussion of whether the #Ancients or TWHON used true AIs would be tangential).
               + Limited Usefulness vs. other technologies. However, the much more stunting trends for AI were, from AI research itself, auto-generated expert systems, and from the fields of genetics and cybernetics, SuSims (Super Simians) and SuSim Cyborgs. For those tasks which #Humanity had no interest in doing itself, #Humanity had already developed viable alternatives that it knew it had a great measure of control over. For dry computational tasks and rule interpretation the expert systems' lack of self-awareness was a blessing rather than a burden. For physically manifested tasks considered too menial, too dangerous, or too monotonous, the SuSims and SuSimCys proved cheaper, more reliable, and, through advancements in genetics, easy to dominate. Only for those applications where it was difficult to keep the organic components of the cyborg alive were robots necessary, and for only for a few of those applications did it make sense for the robots to be independent operators, and for only a fraction of those did the independent operators need intelectual capacity.
               + The Nano-Plague. Even in those societies where the use of SuSims was seen as inhumane or otherwise frowned upon, as with many technologies, the Nano-plague disrupted AI research. Having to switch from cheap, efficient nanite vats to slow and, particularly for such a complicated process, ponderously expensive nano-forges to produce AI "Brains" did as much as anything to discourage AI research.
               + Thus, the true AIs are few and remain, especially to themselves, objects primarily of research interest.
               + Much more common than the true AIs are PAIs: Pseudo-Artificial Intelligences. PAIs are wet-ware embedded in hardware - genetically engineered brain-in-boxes that distribute the tasks of thinking between the organic and inorganic components. Commercial PAIs are almost universally designed as idiot-savant systems, capable of limited self-motivation and direction, easy to manipulate, but capable of extraordinary problem solving power for the problems they were designed for and trained to assault. PAIs tend to be able to present more natural user interfaces than the expert systems they compete with, tending to be at least vaguely self-aware, and much more responsive to and on emotional levels. In particular, niche market and custom built models are limited only by legislation requiring that entities surpassing a specified set of standardized metrics cannot be considered property, and must be registered as either custom children or custom dependent employees. While the difference is clear for low end models, standards aside, most will agree that the line between a high end PAI and a designer cyborg human is exceptionally blurry.
               + (Source: JackS http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=15472#15472)
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Artificial_intelligence
   *

     Ancients - Link
         o Category: Species/Factions
         o See also VsManualDbSpeciesAncients
         o xxx
   *

     Andolians - Link
         o Category: Factions
         o See also VsManualDbFactionsAndolians
   *

     Antimatter - Link
         o A combination of quantum mechanics and relativity allows us to examine subatomic processes in a new light. Symmetry is very important to physical theories. For example, conservation of momemtum is required for symmetry in time. Thus, the existence of a type of `opposite' matter was hypothesized soon after the development of quantum physics. `Opposite' matter is called antimatter. Particles of antimatter has the same mass and characteristics of regular matter, but opposite in charge. When matter and antimatter come in contact they are both instantaneously converted into pure energy, in the form of photons.
         o Antimatter is produced all the time by the collision of high energy photons, a process called pair production, where an electron and its antimatter twin (the positron) are created from energy (E=mc2).
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Antimatter
   *

     Antimatter-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o xxx
   *

     Aristocracy - Link
         o Category: Form of government
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Aristocracy
   *

     Artificial-Gravity - Link
         o xxx
   * Artificial Intelligence -> #AI
   *

     Autotracking - Link
         o xxx

[B] - Index

   *

     Bzbr - Link
         o Category: Species/Factions/VsManualDbFactions?
         o #Aera memegroup
         o See also VsManualDbSpeciesBzbr
         o See also VsManualDbFactions (should be VsManualDbFactionsBzbr?)

[C] - Index

   *

     Cloaking - Link
         o xxx
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Stealth_technology
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Camouflage
   *

     Cloaking-Device - Link
         o xxx
         o See also: VsManualCombat#Cloaking-Device
   *

     Communication (Insystem/Interstellar) - Link
         o

           General
               + There are multiple means of communicating between ships, depending on the equipment that each ship mounts, the nature of the communication, and the distance at which it must be conducted, different technologies are employed.
         o

           System to System
               + The only practical ways to get a message to another system are to either send a courier ship or get a relay station to send a message probe through the wormhole linking to that system. Some vessels carry their own message probes for work outside the relay network.
               + You need not contact that particular relay station directly, as relay stations throughout the Confederation are part of the above mentioned linked network. One need only contact the nearest or otherwise most convenient. This intermediate relay station will, based on the urgency of your message, use one of the following 4 methods to deliver it to the next relay in the system:
         o

           Insystem
               +

                 Emergency/Command and control communique priority:
                     # Using a modified mini-jump drive, a ship (almost exclusively, either a relay station, large vessel, or communications specialty ship, as smaller ships do not tend to have room to mount such) creates a small wormhole between its present location and the vicinity of its sender, and pulses the message through using standard Confederation EM frequencies. Highly energy intensive, but when time is of the essence, it's what you need.
               +

                 Directed Burst Transmission
                     # This is a normal transmission over standard EM frequencies as partitioned by the Confederation. Most communication takes place via laser focused directional microwave antenna. As lasers have very low effective bandwidth, being mono-phase and mono-frequency, they are used only for calibrating the focus of the multi-phase, multi-frequency, multi-amplitude pseudo-parallel emission, directional microwave array.
               +

                 Omni-directional Burst Transmission
                     # Same as above, except that everyone gets to hear it. Useful if you're on the cheap with comm equipment or just don't have a good lock on the location of the craft you're communicating with. Encryption is a must if you don't want the whole neighborhood to know what you're saying.
               +

                 Spread Spectrum Omni-Directional Continuous Re-transmission
                     # Common use: Distress Beacons/Warning Bouys/People who find an intense need to speak in ALL CAPS and feel that they can run away if anyone decides to express their annoyance.
         o

           Additional Comment by JackS:
               + Is this currently modeled correctly in VS? No. I imagine parts of it (the relay network) will work their way in. Whether or not we'll introduce some form of light-lag for communications - who knows?
         o (Source: JackS http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=15472#15472)

[D] - Index

   *

     Dgn - Link
         o Category: Species
         o See also VsManualDbSpeciesDgn?
   *

     Disruptor-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o xxx

[E] - Index

   *

     Earth - Link
         o Category: Planets/Homeworlds
         o Homeworld of the Human species.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Earth
   *

     ECM - Link
         o Short for "Electronic Counter Measures"
         o When activated your EMC-device will cause incoming missiles to be confused.
         o The EMC-device will constantly draw energy from your reactor.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Electronic_counter-measures
         o See also VsManualCombat#ECM
   * Electronic Counter Measures -> #ECM
   *

     Entertainment - Link
         o Entertainment standards vary wildly between the factions. The #Andolians and (albeit to a lesser degree and less focused on group aspects) the #Mechanists tend to engage in immersive group fantasy-reality excursions via their links. For the #Andolians, a 3-d holo-interface is remarkably retro. The #Unadorned tend towards complex logic-puzzle games. The #High-Born and #Merchants have spawned countless descendants of poker and monopoly. The #Shapers are not much given to traditional gaming, but are known to spend time working with virtual pet simulations. The #Purists enjoy all manner of games over 3-d holo and tactile response interfaces or in more traditional formats.
         o The most popular games the #Rlaan play seem to involve judging each others' efforts at creating video montages from stock footage of public service announcements and setting them to #Rlaan pop-music in real-time, cross-cutting between myriad songs and clips to stretch the performance into dozens of minutes.
         o The #Aera limit their gaming to tactical and strategic simulations and sports tournaments.
         o The #Uln have a distinct preference for sexually explicit courtship simulations played on full tactile rigs. Running a close race for second are sales of Event Security and fight club simulations... also played on full tactile rigs.

[F] - Index

   *

     Flak - Link
         o short for german word "Fliegerabwehrkanone"
         o xxx
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Antiaircraft_missile
         o anti aircraft/spaceship weapon
   *

     Flak-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o xxx
   *

     Forsaken - Link
         o Category: Factions
         o See also VsManualDbFactionsForsaken?
   *

     FTL - Link
         o short for "Faster Then Light"
         o Alternative word: "supraluminal"
         o RLD: General term to describe travelling faster than #Lightspeed.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Faster-than-light
   *

     Fusion (Nuclear-) - Link
         o RLD: Nuclear Fusion is the energy-producing process which takes place continuously in suns/stars. In the core of a sun at temperatures of 10-15 million degrees Celsius, Hydrogen is converted to Helium providing enough energy to sustain life on earth.
         o RLD: link
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Fusion
   *

     Fusion-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o xxx

[G] - Index

   *

     Gauss - Link
         o RLD: A unit of measurement of the strength of a magnetic field; one gauss = 1 Maxwell / cm^2.
         o RLD: The gauss-unit is used when expressing the flux density produced by magnets of the sort commonly encountered in consumer products. The flux density of the earth's magnetic field at the surface is about 1 G. In industrial electromagnetics, the tesla (T), a much larger unit, is used to express magnetic flux density. The gauss is one ten-thousandth of a tesla (1 G = 10-4 T).
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Gauss
   *

     Gauss-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o xxx
   *

     Gravity - Link
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Gravity
         o xxx

[H] - Index

   *

     Heat-Seeking-Technology - Link
         o RLD: WikiPEdia:Guidance_system -> "Optical guidance"
         o See also #Missile
   *

     High-Born - Link
         o Category: Factions
         o See also VsManualDbFactionsHighBorn
   *

     Humanity - Link
         o Category: Species
         o See also VsManualDbSpecies
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Humanity
   *

     Hunters - Link
         o Category: Factions
         o #Rlaan memegroup
         o xxx

[I] - Index

   * Identification Friend Or Foe -> #IFF
   *

     IFF - Link
         o Short for "Identification Friend Or Foe"
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Identification_friend_or_foe
         o See also #Missile
   *

     Image-Recognition-Technology - Link
         o Short: "Imrec"
         o xxx
         o See also #Missile
   *

     Inertial-Compensators - Link
         o Wikipedia:Inertial_compensator (not an RLD)
         o xxx
   *

     Insystem-Jump - Link
         o You can use some Jumppoints to jump from one side of an system to another. You can recognise them by their name. It points to the same system you are currently in.
         o See also VsManualInterstellarWarpTransit
   *

     Insystem-Travel - Link
         o #Insystem-Travel is a normally used to describe the travel inside a star-system (like #SOL)
         o Traveling bewteen starsystems is commonly called #Interstellar-Warp-Transit
         o See also the #SPEC Drive
         o See also: VsManualAdvancedFlight
         o See also: VsManualMatchVelocity
   *

     Insystem-Travel-Highspeed - Link
         o See also the #SPEC Drive
   * Intertial Targeting and Tracking System -> #ITTS
   *

     Interstellar-Warp-Transit - Link
         o See also VsManualInterstellarWarpTransit
   *

     Ion - Link
         o RLD: An ion is an atom or group of atoms in which the number of electrons is different from the number of protons. If the number of electrons is less than the number of protons, the particle is a positive ion, also called a cation. If the number of electrons is greater than the number of protons, the particle is a negative ion, also called an an ion.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Ion
   *

     Ion-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o xxx
   *

     ISO - Link
         o Category: Factions
         o See also VsManualDbFactionsIso
   *

     ITTS - Link
         o Short for "Intertial Targeting and Tracking System"
         o ITTS displays a little dot on your HUD for where it thinks you should shoot your guns in order to hit a moving target. A slow moving target's ITTS dot is a little bit in front of them, and a fast moving target's ITTS dot is much farther in front.
         o See also VsManualCombat#ITTS

[J] - Index

   *

     Jump / Jumping - Link
         o See also #Insystem-Jump
         o See also #Interstellar-Warp-Transit

[K] - [Index

   *

     Klkk - Link
         o Correct Notation: Klk'k
         o Category: Species
         o See also VsManualDbSpeciesKlkk

[L] - Index

   *

     Laser - Link
         o Short for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation"
         o RLD: A device that produces a coherent beam of optical radiation by stimulating electronic, ionic, or molecular transitions to higher energy levels so that when they return to lower energy levels they emit energy.
         o RLD: Lasers work as a result of resonant effects. The output of a laser is a coherent electromagnetic field. In a coherent beam of electromagnetic energy, all the waves have the same frequency and phase.
   *

     Laser-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o RLD: Link
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Laser
         o

           Laser types
               + pulsed laser
               + beam laser
   *

     Leech-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o xxx
   *

     Light - Link
         o RLD: Light consists basically of #Photons (in two states, waves and particles).
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Light
   *

     Lightspeed - Link
         o RLD: The speed of light (light= #Photon)
         o RLD: Lighspeed is approximately 186,282 miles (299,792 kilometers) per second.
         o terms also used: "speed of light" and "Light speed"
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Speed_of_light
   *

     LIHW - Link
         o Category: Factions
         o See also VsManualDbFactionsLihw
   *

     Lmpl - Link
         o Category: Species
         o #Rlaan memegroup
         o See also VsManualDbSpeciesLmpl
   *

     Luddites - Link
         o Category: Factions
         o See also VsManualDbFactionsLuddites
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Luddites

[M] - Index

   *

     Mars - Link
         o Category: Planets/Homeworlds
         o The Terraforming of #Mars was well underway, but not complete, at the onset of the #Nano-Plague. Now, several hundred years of genetically modified flora, a few comets, and a plethora of atmospheric processing stations later, #Mars is not too horribly worse than many places in Tibet. Which is to say, the temperatures are cold, the air pressure is somewhat low, the oxygen isn't actually that bad, but a facemask and thermal suit is still considered normal outerwear, even if not strictly necessary at all altitudes and times of year. The population of #Mars is much smaller than #Earth's but boasts higher percentages of modified human gene stock and #Mechanists. This is both because these types are often more comfortable in Martian climes than unmodified humans, and because the Purist plurality on #Mars is both much smaller and less extreme than the Purist majority on #Earth. (Source: JackS http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=17402#17402)
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Mars_%28planet%29
   *

     Mass-Driver - Link
         o xxx
   *

     Mass-Driver-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o xxx
   *

     Mechanists - Link
         o Category: Factions
         o See also VsManualDbFactionsMechanists
   *

     Meson - Link
         o RLD: An elementary particle responsible for the forces in the atomic nucleus; a hadron with a baryon number of 0.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Meson
   *

     Meson-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o xxx
   *

     Merchant-Marine - Link
         o Category: Factions
         o #Aera memegroup
         o xxx
   *

     Merchants - Link
         o Category: Factions
         o See also VsManualDbFactionsMerchants
   *

     Meritocracy - Link
         o Category: Form of government
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Meritocracy
   *

     Mishtali - Link
         o Category: Species
         o See also VsManualDbSpeciesMishtali
   *

     Missile - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o RLD: An object or weapon that is fired, thrown, dropped, or otherwise projected at a target.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Missile
         o See also #Torpedo
   *

     Music - Link
         o It has long been the case that very cheap means of self-publishing, distribution, and information dispersal have crushed the corporate stranglehold on the generation of music prevalent in the 20th century.
         o That being said, the blurring of the definition of "instrument" has made the first part of that question somewhat more difficult to answer, especially as some of the more noted composers are #AI entities who generally go without particular embodiments. Rather, while the most popular musicians are well versed in various accessories to their selves that allow for more interesting musical constructions, whether these accessories would be considered instruments today is a matter of semantic pedantry. Likewise, there is the gap between knowledge of use of an instrument and use of that instrument in popular music. These factors combine to render any answer to the first part of this question as markedly ambiguous.
         o Source: JackS http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=18777#18777

[N] - Index

   *

     Nanites - Link
         o xxx
         o See #AI
   *

     Nano-Plague (The) - Link
         o xxx
         o See #AI
   *

     Neutron - Link
         o RLD: Of the three elementary subatomic particles (electrons, protons and neutrons), the neutron is the only one without a net charge. It resides in the nucleus along with protons in its natural state and will decay with a half-life of about 15 seconds when not bound in a nucleus.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Neutron
   *

     Neutron-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o A particle weapon (#Particle-Weapons) that makes use of neutrons as projectiles. Neutron weapons have the special burden of accelerating their projectiles without the use of electrical charge or field based methods.
   *

     Nuclear-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o Although nuclear weapons are no longer the most feared devices to have been wrought by the hands of mankind, they are still useful and thus still in use. It is, for example, not at all uncommon to see 100 megaton warheads being lobbed at capital ships. In deep space, nuclear weapons have finally found a realm where they can be fully used in tactical military situations rather than (if only for political reasons) strategic ones.
         o Use against inhabited civilian targets, like all massacres of civilians is sufficiently abhorrent to the #Rlaan that no major entity feels comfortable doing so without a very handy explanation, cover story, or assurance of no witnesses. Fringe groups are not constrained by such political concerns and have, on numerous occasions, attempted to detonate nuclear devices in heavily populated areas. They have met with both spectacular success and spectacular failure.
         o The teeming, technology driven, metropolitan planets of the #Andolians have long been a prime target for the #Luddites, but the combination of hierarchical sensor networks and defensive installations (orbital, airborne, and ground based beam and kinetic interceptor batteries) has so far foiled every attempt to hit a groundside installation on any developed world of the #Andolians. The only successful nuclear attack by the #Luddites on the #Andolians ocurred on a small colony world, killing off much of the port population. However, this primarily served to give the #Andolians a free hand to ignore political fallout from the #Purists while pursuing a particularly aggressive counter-offensive, putting into play the assets of organizations in Purist and #LIHW space known to have ties to the #Luddites. The relative losses in both physical and political capital so severely favored the #Andolians that the #Luddites have since publicly renounced the practice of planetside use of #WMDs, although they continue to use nuclear devices in attacks on space-based installations and craft.
         o Rather more successful was the assault launched by a radical subsect of the Crusade for Bob. These individuals carpet nuked their own port city, thereby killing all individuals participating in that year's pilgrimage to the "great emptiness" and effectively silencing five sects of Fundamentalist Agnosticism.
         o All of the major powers have ordinance interception systems which work fairly well at intercepting (among other types) nuclear attacks against a planet, provided that orbital superiority has not been lost. During a prolonged assault, however, these systems rapidly degrade in efficacy as component installations are damaged or destroyed. The systems of minor entities and underdeveolped worlds, however, are much riper targets.
         o The largest recorded survived nuclear exchange (a handful of incidents, including the notable sectarian dispute in the "Church of Scientography Reborn, reformed" resulted in case studies in M.A.D.) occurred on the planet Ktah during the Lightbearer occupation. Upon realizing their imminent defeat during the Hoshino uprising, the Lightbearers detonated a series of nuclear devices that were responsible, in the short-term, for 400+ million Klk'k deaths, and, in the long term, for over a billion more. Had they had them available, the Lightbearers would likely have used much dirtier devices, salting the entire planet, and almost certainly rendering the Klk'k effectively extinct. However, the only devices they had brought with them were laser induced pure fusion devices tuned for beachheadding rather than for salting. Nevertheless, the resurrection of Ktah stalled the Andolian war effort far more than any Lightbearer defenses, allowing time for the Lightbearers to prepare. Absent this time, the war would have been even more lopsided and swift than it was.
         o (Source: JackS http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19899#19899)
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Nuclear_weapons
   *

     Nuhln - Link
         o Category: Species
         o #Rlaan memegroup
         o See also VsManualDbSpeciesNuhln

[O] - Index

   *

     Oligarchy - Link
         o Category: Form of government
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Oligarchy

[P] - Index

   *

     PAI - Link
         o Short for: "Pseudo Artificial Intelligences"
         o See #AI
   *

     Particle-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o Weapons which use very small projectiles, usually sub-molecular, but in very large quantities per shot.
   *

     Pause - Link
         o RLD: To cease or suspend an action temporarily.
         o RLD: link
         o

           In Vegastrike you can 'pause' the whole time/space-continuum in singleplayer-mode by pressing the assigned key for pause.
               + See also VsManualKeyboardLayout#Game-Commands
               + See also VsManualGameplayFunctions#Pause
   *

     Photon - Link
         o RLD: The name given to a small bundle or quantum of electromagnetic energy. It is used when describing the particle-like behavior of electromagnetic waves (including #Light waves).
         o RLD: Photons travel through empty space at a speed of approximately 186,282 miles (299,792 kilometers) per second also called #Lightspeed. This is true no matter what the electromagnetic wavelength. In media other than a vacuum, the speed is reduced. For example, visible #Light travels more slowly through glass than through outer space.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Photon
   *

     Photon-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o xxx
   *

     Plasma - Link
         o RLD: Low detail definition: Plasma is the 4th state of matter, beyond solid, liquid and gas. It is a collection of positively and negatively charged particles whose numbers are approximately equal.
         o RLD: A plasma is a very hot gas, where some or all of the atoms are separated into ions & electrons. As the negative and positive charges are free to move, plasma is an excellent conductor and is influenced by magnetic and electric fields. Most space plasmas have a very low density, for example the Solar Wind which averages only 10 particles per cubic-cm. Inter-particle collisions are unlikely - hence these plasmas are termed collisionless.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Plasma_physics
   *

     Plasma-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o xxx
   *

     Point-Defense - Link
         o Point defense systems in Vegastrike roughly correspond to anti-missile systems. While doing so is a bit of a misnomer insofar as the actual definition of point defense is much broader, we felt it more useful to split the other forms of primarily defensive armaments (which is what light anti-fighter weapons mounted on a capship really are) from the anti-missile armaments, which we have therefore been able to make purely defensive in their targeting behavior, and in general treat as special cases.
         o Basically, considering a spacecraft large enough to mount a few turrets as an element sufficiently special to warrant protection, then those turrets, if they are mounting defensive weaponry, correspond to the fixed installations present at such a site whose role is to defend that site.
         o RLD: (DOD) The defense or protection of special vital elements and installations; e.g., command and control facilities or air bases.
         o See also #Missle
         o See also #ECM
   *

     Purists - Link
         o Category: Factions
         o See also VsManualDbFactionsPurists

[Q] - Index

[R] - Index

   *

     Rlaan - Link
         o Category: Species
         o See also VsManualDbSpeciesRlaan
   *

     Rlaan-Merchants - Link
         o Category: Factions
         o #Rlaan memegroup
         o xxx

[S] - Index

   *

     Saahasayaay - Link
         o Category: Species
         o #Rlaan memegroup
         o See also VsManualDbSpeciesSaahasayaay
   *

     Shapers - Link
         o Category: Factions
         o See also VsManualDbFactionsShapers
   *

     Shields - Link
         o xxx <insert general description of shield technology>
         o Combining heavy local space warping via gravitic effects with magnetic deflection for lighter charged particles, a vessel is protected from external sources of injury by what are colloquially known as "shields"
         o

           You may now ask: "If the shield protects me from external damage, how can i still fire through it?"
               + Short version - you know how space has been locally warped - an adversary will not (you can time the creation of holes and thin points in your own shields)
   *

     Shmrn - Link
         o Category: Species
         o See also VsManualDbSpeciesShmrn
   *

     SOL - Link
         o Category: Planets/Homeworlds
         o RLD: The latin name for the sun in the human homesystem.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Sol
         o See also #Solar-System
   *

     Solar-System - Link
         o Category: Planets/Homeworlds
         o RLD: The human homesystem.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Solar_system
         o terms also used: "SOL-System"
         o Sometimes also referred to as #SOL though this is the name of it's central star.
   *

     Space - Link
         o RLD: That which is between objects of interest.
         o A rather large, dark, and primarily empty expanse where, contrary to one’s initial fears, one is exceptionally unlikely to be eaten by a grue.
         o The void in which one must travel if one does not wish to spend ones existence wandering around the underdeveloped worlds of minor political entities.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Space#Astronomy
   *

     Space-Travel/Faring - Link
         o Space Travel is the physical exploration of outer-homeplanet objects and generally anything that involves the technologies, science, and politics regarding space endeavors.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Space_travel
   *

     SPEC (drive) - Link (currently only in development version of Vegastrike)
         o How to use the #SPEC drive: VsManualInsystemTransit
         o Short for "Spatial Partitioned Expansion-Contraction (drive)"
         o This drive will enable you to travel at very high speed from one point to another inside a system. Of course it's not as fast as using the #jump points, ... just try it out. (Currently) The only disadvantage is that you can't use it properly near large objects.

[T] - Index

   *

     Tachyon - Link
         o RLD: A hypothetical subatomic particle that always travels faster than the speed of light.
         o RLD: link
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Tachyon
   *

     Tachyon-Weapons - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o xxx
   *

     Terraform - Link
         o RLD: To transform a landscape (the climatic conditions and more) on another planet into one having the characteristics of landscapes on #Earth.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Terraform
         o This is a Human term for this since Terra is just another word for #Earth the Humans homeworld.
         o The first planet terraformed by Humans was #Mars.
   *

     Torpedo - Link
         o Category: Weapons
         o RLD: link
         o RLD: A cigar-shaped, self-propelled underwater projectile launched from a submarine, aircraft, or ship and designed to detonate on contact with or in the vicinity of a target.
         o RLD: WikiPedia:Torpedo
         o In space there is no real difference between a #Missile and a #Torpedo, but the term #Torpedo is often used to name a slower and not that agile #Missile.
   *

     Tractor - Link
         o terms also used: "tractor beam" "tractor device"
         o A device/beam that forces the target to be attracted to the one that is using it. Considering Newtons 'laws' both objects are drawn straight to an imaginary midpoint (the speed is of course depending on their particular mass)
         o See also VsFaqPlaying#Q12

[U] - Index

   *

     Uln - Link
         o Category: Species/Factions
         o See also VsManualDbSpeciesUln
   *

     Unadorned - Link
         o Category: Factions
         o See also VsManualDbFactionsUnadorned

[V] - Index

[W] - Index

   *

     WMD - Link
         o RLD: short for "Weapons of Mass Destruction"
         o Examples:
         o #Nuclear-Weapons

[X] - Index

[Y] - Index

[Z] - Index TODO

   * Add all homeworlds correctly <OPEN>
   * Add all Factions and link to the faction-part of the wiki. <mostly done>
   * Add/complete all Species and link to the species-part of the wiki. <mostly done>
   * fill the remaining gaps in the descriptions (searchg for xxx in this page) <OPEN>
   * Check if any of the insite links doesn't work (e.g factions/species) and add an entry. <mostly done>
   *

     add content from this posts:
         o http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=18564#18564 <OPEN>
         o http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=18777#18777 <all DONE>
   * Add descriptions of the various weapon types <OPEN>
   *

     Make some of he long descriptions subpages (see NOTES below for more infos). This will improve the load time of this site (which is meant as index not a centent dump) and provide a better overview too. Some candidates fro subpages would be:
         o VsManualDbTermsAi? from #Ai <OPEN>
         o VsManualDbTermsNuclearWeapons? from #Nuclear-Weapons <OPEN>
         o VsManualDbTermsCommunication? from #Communication <OPEN>

NOTES about this site

   *

     Anchors
         o Please add an anchor tag (#[xxx]) to each term you add, so everybody can easily refer to it.
         o link from an extern page: http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/phpwiki/index.php/VsManualDbTerms#Tractor :-)
         o for an wiki-intern link use this code: [VsManualDbTerms#Tractor]
         o for an page-intern link use this code: [#Tractor]
         o Also please don't use spaces inside of an anchor name. Use "-" instead (example #Antimatter-Weapons)
   *

     Real life descriptions
         o Please set a RLD: in front of a real life description to seperate fiction from reality a bit.
   *

     Subpages
         o If one topic grows over an acceptable limit a subpage would be the solution of choice. Example: VsManualDbTermsNuclearWeapons?
         o Some, as the categories (species/factions) may have a special section in main manual structure. But it would be good to clear that up in the forum under "Documenting The Vega Strike Universe".

Links

   * Excerpts from the Ivan kltakln guidebook (TXT)
   * Masterpart List - Volunteers wanted: to add some of the above terms to this list

PSEUDO DISCLAIMER: Some of these term-descriptions may not reflect the real world (TM) so don't blame us if you use this for your diplom/final exam ;-)