Glossary¶
Authoritative top-level glossary for SectorWars 2102. When other docs reference a term, this is what it means. Definitions here are intentionally short — one or two sentences each. For deeper consolidated reference (full tables, code paths, edge cases), see FEATURES/definitions.md.
Terms are listed alphabetically.
A¶
Advanced Genesis Device — Top-tier Genesis Device that sacrifices a Colony Ship to spawn an instant Settlement-phase colony. See FEATURES/galaxy/genesis-devices.md#advanced-tier-colony-ship-sacrifice.
ARIA (Adaptive Response Intelligence Assistant) — Per-player AI companion. Tracks consciousness levels (1–5) and a bonus multiplier (1.0×–1.5×) that affects turn regeneration and trading. Used heavily in first login (as the security guard) and in trading/haggling. See FEATURES/gameplay/aria-companion.md, SYSTEMS/aria-dialogue.md, OPERATIONS/aria.md.
ARIA Bonus Multiplier — A 1.0×–1.5× scalar stored on the player record that increases turn regeneration rate and trade margins as ARIA consciousness grows. See SYSTEMS/turn-regeneration.md#aria-multiplier-table.
ARIA Consciousness Level — Integer 1–5 representing ARIA's developmental stage for a given player. Higher levels unlock richer dialogue and larger bonuses. See FEATURES/gameplay/aria-companion.md#consciousness-tiers.
Abandoned (ship state) — A ship the registered owner has explicitly relinquished at a port via the abandon action. Owner-relinquishment is irreversible; the first player to dock and claim the ship at the same port becomes the new registered owner with no transfer fee. Auto-archives if unclaimed for 7 real-time days (CargoWreck spawns from the contents). See SYSTEMS/ship-registry.md#abandonment.
Asteroid Field — Sector special type. Mineable; presents movement hazards. See FEATURES/galaxy/sectors.md.
B¶
Black Hole — Sector special type. High danger; may enable unique travel. See FEATURES/galaxy/sectors.md.
Border Zone — Mid-security zone within a region. Policing 5, danger 4, limited PvP. See DATA_MODELS/galaxy.md#zone (Zone schema).
Borrowed — Ship state when someone other than the registered owner is piloting it (Ship.current_pilot_id != Ship.registered_owner_id and not NULL). Borrowing is OK by default — not a crime to fly someone else's parked vehicle unless they file a stolen report. See SYSTEMS/ship-registry.md.
Bounty — Credit-denominated reward placed on a player or NPC for elimination. Tracked alongside personal reputation. See FEATURES/gameplay/bounties.md, SYSTEMS/bounty-and-reputation.md#bounty-placement.
C¶
Cabal — Hostile-only NPC adversary faction. Single fixed Headquarters in Terran Space, randomly placed at universe creation in a Border-zone sector (101–200). Endgame antagonist — pursues forbidden technology and treats violence as one tool among many; cannot be allied with. See FEATURES/gameplay/faction-lore.md#the-cabal.
Cargo Hauler — Heavy freighter ship class. 1,000 cargo, 2 drones, 2 Genesis capacity, slow. See FEATURES/gameplay/ships.md.
Cargo Wreck — Salvageable container of cargo dropped into a sector by a destroyed ship. Damage-type-modulated recovery (EMP 80–100% / laser 60–80% / kinetic 50–70% / plasma 40–60% / missile 20–40%). Visible to all players in-sector; persists indefinitely until salvaged; salvage costs 1 turn per 100 cargo units (interruptible by combat). For the first 1 hour, only the original owner and team-mates can salvage without consequence — anyone else triggers temporary Suspect Status + a small permanent personal-reputation hit. See FEATURES/gameplay/ships.md#cargo-wreck.
Carrier — Capital combat ship. 12 drones, 5 Genesis capacity, +20% to nearby allies via Fleet Coordination. The only ship of capital size — cannot itself be docked into another Carrier's hangar and cannot be tractor-towed. The only ship that carries a ship-hangar (8 size-units; separate from the 12-drone bay — see Carrier Hangar). See FEATURES/gameplay/ships.md, SYSTEMS/fleet-coordination.md.
Carrier Hangar — 📐 Design-only. The Carrier's 8-size-unit ship-hangar capacity, separate from its 12-drone bay. Holds player ships sized by the ship_size axis (1 unit per tiny, 2 per small, 4 per medium, 8 per large; capital-class ships cannot be hangared). Docked ships are inert in transit; on Carrier destruction they are jettisoned as Drifting and pilots eject to Escape Pods. See FEATURES/gameplay/ships.md#carrier-hangar.
Capital Sector — The welcome hub of any region; hosts a population-hub planet and a Class-0 station that issues pioneer migration contracts. In Terran Space the Capital is fixed at sector 1 (canonical first-arrival landmark). In player-owned regions the Capital is randomly placed within the Federation Zone, so visitors must explore to find it. In the Central Nexus the Capital is anchored in the Gateway Plaza cluster (Central Nexus Starport Prime). Stored as Region.capital_sector_number. See SYSTEMS/galaxy-generation.md#step-8-capital-sector.
Central Nexus — The 5,000-sector universal hub region (central_nexus). Single zone "The Expanse"; sparse infrastructure; partitioned into 20 named clusters in a 5×4 grid. Capital anchored in the Gateway Plaza cluster. Player regions attach to the Nexus via warp gateways like petals on a flower. See SYSTEMS/central-nexus-clusters.md, OPERATIONS/multi-regional.md#central-nexus.
Citadel — Fortified player structure on an owned planet, levelled up over time. Tracked as part of player progression. See FEATURES/planets/citadels.md.
Citizenship — Subscription tying a player to a player-owned region. $5/month; grants residency rights subject to the region owner's governance settings. See OPERATIONS/monetization.md#12-galactic-citizen-5-month, OPERATIONS/multi-regional.md.
Cluster — Proximity-based grouping of 10–25 sectors used for navigation. Carries nebula properties when applicable. A sector belongs to exactly one cluster. See DATA_MODELS/galaxy.md#cluster, FEATURES/galaxy/generation.md#step-4-clusters.
Colonist — A settled pioneer on a colony world. Pioneers are contracted in transit at each region's Capital Sector at 30–80 cr per pioneer (1 cargo space per pioneer in cryosleep transit pod) and become colonists when delivered to the destination planet. See FEATURES/planets/colonization.md#pioneer-migration-contracts.
Colony Ship — Slow, high-capacity vessel with 5 Genesis capacity and Terraforming Modules (−30% Genesis sequence time). See FEATURES/gameplay/ships.md.
Combat Drone — Drone used in offensive or defensive engagements. Attack drones 1,000 cr; Defense drones 1,200 cr at military stations. See DATA_MODELS/combat.md#drone, FEATURES/galaxy/sectors.md, FEATURES/gameplay/combat.md#drones.
Combat Resolver — The subsystem that turns drone counts, weapon types, ship-class matchups, shields, hull, and RNG into a CombatResult. See SYSTEMS/combat-resolver.md, FEATURES/gameplay/combat.md#combat-resolution-model.
Credits — Universal currency. Stored on the player record, never on the ship; never lost on ship destruction. See FEATURES/economy/lifecycle.md.
Crimson Nebula — Nebula type with the highest Quantum Shard yield. Quantum field 80–100. See FEATURES/galaxy/quantum-resources.md#nebula-types-and-field-strengths.
D¶
Defender — Combat-oriented ship class. 6 drones, 3 Genesis capacity, Shield Projection ability. See FEATURES/gameplay/ships.md.
Drone — Autonomous combat or utility unit. Types per DroneType enum: attack, defense, scout, mining, repair. Attack drones 1,000 cr / Defense drones 1,200 cr at military stations. Ships, sectors, and planets can host drones. See DATA_MODELS/combat.md#drone, FEATURES/galaxy/sectors.md, FEATURES/gameplay/combat.md#drones.
Drifting — Ship state when nobody's piloting it (Ship.current_pilot_id IS NULL); the registered owner has manually ejected and no one has boarded. Visible to all players in-sector. Boarding requires the hatch pin (or a completed salvage break). See SYSTEMS/ship-registry.md.
E¶
Escape Pod — Indestructible failsafe craft. Every player has one. On ship destruction the player ejects to it, retains all credits, loses all cargo. Pod movement consumes substantially more turns than a normal ship. See FEATURES/gameplay/ships.md#destruction-escape-pod, FEATURES/gameplay/combat.md#escape-mechanics.
Expanse Zone — Central Nexus's sole zone. Policing 3, danger 6, open PvP. See DATA_MODELS/galaxy.md#zone (Zone schema).
F¶
Faction — NPC organization. Seven allyable factions (Terran Federation, Mercantile Guild, Frontier Coalition, Astral Mining Consortium, Nova Scientific Institute, Fringe Alliance, Shadow Syndicate) plus two hostile-only adversary factions (Pirates, Cabal). Per-faction reputation scale −1000 to +1000. See FEATURES/gameplay/faction-lore.md, FEATURES/gameplay/factions-and-teams.md#factions-npc.
Fast Courier — Light, fast ship with 25% pirate-encounter avoidance via Stealth Systems. See FEATURES/gameplay/ships.md.
Federation Zone — High-security zone. Policing 9, danger 1, restricted PvP. See DATA_MODELS/galaxy.md#zone (Zone schema).
Fleet — Multi-ship combat formation owned by a team. Five formations: Standard, Wedge, Defensive, Offensive, Scatter. See FEATURES/gameplay/fleet-tactics.md, SYSTEMS/fleet-coordination.md.
Frontier Zone — Low-security zone. Policing 2, danger 8, unrestricted PvP. See DATA_MODELS/galaxy.md#zone (Zone schema).
G¶
Galactic Citizen — $5/month subscription tier. Unlocks cross-region travel via the natural Nexus warp (per ADR-0043) and standard ARIA features within tier-appropriate cost caps. Free-tier players are confined to their home region; Region Owner ($25/mo) is a strict superset. See OPERATIONS/monetization.md.
Galaxy — The full game universe. Default seed: Terran Space (300 sectors) plus Central Nexus (5,000 sectors); player-owned regions add 800–1,200 sectors each (Standard tier; ±20% from 1,000). See DATA_MODELS/galaxy.md#galaxy, FEATURES/galaxy/generation.md.
Genesis Device — Planet-creation tool. Three tiers: basic, enhanced, advanced. See FEATURES/galaxy/genesis-devices.md, SYSTEMS/genesis-deploy.md.
Governance — The rules a region owner sets for their player-owned region: taxes, PvP, citizenship requirements, treaty terms. See FEATURES/gameplay/regional-governance.md, SYSTEMS/regional-governance.md.
H¶
Hatch Pin — Owner-settable 4–8 character code on every ship that gates boarding. Generated randomly at registration; owner shares with team-mates / friends out-of-band. Without the pin, a stranger can force entry only via a salvage break (1–12 hours real-time depending on ship class). See SYSTEMS/ship-registry.md#hatch-pin-lock.
Hull — Ship structural integrity. Range 200–900 by class. Weapons differ in shield vs hull effectiveness. See FEATURES/gameplay/ship-systems.md#21-hull.
I¶
Insurance — Ship coverage tier. BASIC (50% / 5% deductible), STANDARD (75% / 10%), PREMIUM (90% / 15%). One-time purchase at commissioning; payout on destruction; doesn't cover cargo or upgrades. See FEATURES/gameplay/ship-insurance.md.
L¶
Light Freighter — Entry-level player ship. 500 cargo, 2 drones, 0 Genesis. See FEATURES/gameplay/ships.md.
Lumen Crystals — Rare material for sensor and weapon enhancement; only in specific nebula types. See FEATURES/galaxy/quantum-resources.md.
Luxury Goods — Core trading commodity, 75–200 cr range. High-margin, volatile market. See FEATURES/economy/trading.md.
M¶
Market Pricing — Dynamic price formula based on supply ratio: midpoint = base_price × (1.5 − supply_ratio), with a 15% spread. See SYSTEMS/market-pricing.md#pricing-formula, FEATURES/economy/trading.md#pricing-model.
Message — Persistent in-game communication record between players or team broadcast. Three kinds (player / team / system); four priority levels (low / normal / high / urgent); supports threading via thread_id + reply_to_id; admin moderation via flagged + moderated_at/moderated_by. Distinct from realtime chat (see SYSTEMS/realtime-bus.md) — messages are persistent records, chat is transient. See FEATURES/gameplay/messaging.md.
Military Rank — Achievement-based progression, 18 ranks across five tiers (Enlisted, NCO, Warrant, Officer, Flag). Earned via rank points; never lost. Trading bonus 0%→+50%. See FEATURES/gameplay/ranking.md#military-rank.
N¶
Natural Warp Tunnel — Pre-existing FTL connection between sectors. Must be discovered. Most are bidirectional; ~5% of sector_warps and ~15% of WarpTunnel rows are one-way. Of one-ways, ~80% are marked (visible glyph in player UI) and ~20% are latent (look bidirectional until revealed by a Warp Jumper scan). Federation Zone (sectors 1–10) carries no natural one-ways by worldgen invariant. Costs 1 turn to traverse. See FEATURES/galaxy/sectors.md#one-way-warps, DATA_MODELS/galaxy.md#warptunnel (WarpTunnel schema).
Nebula — Cluster-level property; six types (Crimson, Azure, Emerald, Violet, Amber, Obsidian) ordered by descending quantum-field strength. All yield Quantum Shards as the primary resource; each color carries a distinct secondary effect (combat concealment, warp stability, production bonus, rare-spawn bias, hull hazard, sensor masking). See FEATURES/galaxy/quantum-resources.md#nebula-types-and-field-strengths, FEATURES/galaxy/generation.md#nebulae-cluster-level.
O¶
Ore — Core trading commodity, 15–45 cr range. Construction baseline. See FEATURES/economy/trading.md.
P¶
Personal Reputation — Player alignment, separate from faction standing. Range −1000 to +1000, eight tiers from Villain to Legendary. See FEATURES/gameplay/ranking.md#personal-reputation, SYSTEMS/bounty-and-reputation.md#reputation-tier-table.
Pirates — Hostile-only NPC group; not a faction in the standing/reputation sense. See FEATURES/gameplay/faction-lore.md#pirates.
Planet — Colonizable celestial body. Seven active types (Terra, Mountainous, Oceanic, Desert, Volcanic, Barren, Ice) with distinct habitability, growth, and resource multipliers. See FEATURES/planets/colonization.md#planet-types, DATA_MODELS/planets.md#planet.
Player-Owned Region — Player-funded region of 800–1,200 sectors (Standard tier; ±20% from 1,000). $25/month ownership, $5/month citizenship; owner sets governance. See OPERATIONS/multi-regional.md#regional-territories, OPERATIONS/monetization.md#13-region-owner-25-month.
Population Hub — The population-hub planet at every region's Capital Sector; the only place pioneer migration contracts can be secured. The Pioneer Office at the Hub registers volunteers seeking transit to frontier worlds and dispatches them to ships fulfilling contracts. See Capital Sector, FEATURES/planets/colonization.md#pioneer-migration-contracts.
Port — Synonym for Station in user-facing docs. The codebase uses station. See DATA_MODELS/stations.md#station.
Prismatic Ore — Rare material for superior hull reinforcement; ~1 in 10,000 asteroids. See FEATURES/galaxy/quantum-resources.md.
Q¶
Quantum Charge — 📐 Design-only equipment-slot consumable refined upfront from 1 Quantum Shard at any Class 3+ station or SpaceDock (same venue rule as Quantum Crystal assembly per ADR-0009). Required for each Warp Jumper Quantum Jump (consumed at commit). Without a charge loaded, the jump tab is greyed out. See ADR-0030.
Quantum Compass — 📐 Design-only passive directional readout on the Warp Jumper. Updates in real-time as the player rotates the reticle, projects a wide ~60° half-angle cone, and fuses warp-activity + sector-presence into a single 3-tier signal (Cold / Stirring / Active). Free — no turns, no Shards, no cooldown, no detection ping. The compass nudges the player toward bearings worth a paid scan; the scan still controls all detailed disclosure (resonance band, texture, echo). See FEATURES/galaxy/sectors.md#quantum-compass-passive-free, ADR-0031.
Quantum Crystal — Crafted from 5 Quantum Shards at any Class 3+ station or SpaceDock (per ADR-0009). Required for player warp gates (1 per gate, consumed at Phase 1 source-beacon deploy per ADR-0029). See FEATURES/galaxy/quantum-resources.md#refining-shards-into-crystals, FEATURES/galaxy/warp-gates.md#quantum-crystal-supply-chain.
Quantum Jump — Special ability of the Warp Jumper ship; multi-phase loop (bearing/scan → commit → resolve). Player picks a 3D bearing and one of three range bands — Near (5–6) / Mid (7–8) / Far (9–10) sectors — then runs a long-range scan that returns a fuzzy resonance reading on the destination. Commit consumes 1 Quantum Charge + 50 turns + sets a 24-hour cooldown. Sensor L3 unlocks an Extended (12–15) tier. See FEATURES/galaxy/sectors.md#quantum-jump-warp-jumper, ADR-0030, ADR-0031.
Quantum Shard — Found in nebulae (mostly Crimson). Five shards combine into one Quantum Crystal. See FEATURES/galaxy/quantum-resources.md#refining-shards-into-crystals.
R¶
Radiation Zone — Sector special type. Causes hull damage if a ship is unshielded. See FEATURES/galaxy/sectors.md.
Region — A logical division of the galaxy. Three types: Central Nexus, Terran Space, Player-Owned. See entries above, DATA_MODELS/galaxy.md#region (Region schema), OPERATIONS/multi-regional.md.
Registration Number — Player-visible stable identifier of a ship, of the form REG-XXXX-YYYY (4-char alphanumeric block + 4-digit registration year, e.g. REG-A47B-2103). Immutable for the lifetime of the hull, even across ownership transfers. The Ship Registry tracks who currently owns each registration number. See SYSTEMS/ship-registry.md.
Reputation — See Faction (per-faction reputation) and Personal Reputation. Both are detailed in FEATURES/gameplay/ranking.md#personal-reputation and FEATURES/gameplay/faction-lore.md.
Resonance Band — 📐 Design-only fuzzy-disclosure category returned by a Warp Jumper long-range quantum scan. Four bands describe destination warp density without exposing the exact count: Bright resonance (5+ warps), Steady resonance (3–4), Faint resonance (1–2), Silent (0 warps / cone empty / off-region edge). The "Silent" reading honors the rule that the player should never see "0 warps" outright — only sense that the bearing is weak. See ADR-0031.
S¶
Scout Ship — Light, fast ship with Advanced Sensors. 1 drone, 0 Genesis. See FEATURES/gameplay/ships.md.
Salvage Break — Forced-entry mechanic against a Drifting ship whose hatch pin a stranger doesn't know. Time-cost operation that scales with ship class: Scout / Fast Courier / Light Freighter 1 hour, Cargo Hauler / Defender / Colony Ship 4 hours, Carrier / Warp Jumper 12 hours. Salvager must remain in-sector; combat or sector-leaving resets the timer. On completion, the hatch unlocks; the new pilot may set their own pin and / or proceed to legalize ownership via salvage transfer at a port. See SYSTEMS/ship-registry.md#salvage-break.
Sector — Lowest navigable unit. Special types: STANDARD, NEBULA, ASTEROID_FIELD, BLACK_HOLE, RADIATION_ZONE, WARP_STORM. ~85% are STANDARD. See FEATURES/galaxy/sectors.md, DATA_MODELS/galaxy.md#sector.
Shadow Syndicate — One of seven allyable factions. A coordinated criminal trade network — fences, racketeers, money-launderers, traffickers in stolen tech and contraband. Distinct from Fringe Alliance (frontier rebels) and Pirates (raiders) — Syndicate is the fence who buys what the Pirates steal. Rival of Mercantile Guild (combined-rep cap 600). See FEATURES/gameplay/faction-lore.md#shadow-syndicate.
Sector 1 — In Terran Space (the operator-run vanilla starter region), Sector 1 is the canonical Capital Sector — the universe's first landmark, fixed by design. In all other regions, "Sector 1" is not special; the welcome hub is the Capital Sector, whose number is randomized within the Federation Zone. Sector numbers are region-scoped (compound (Region, Cluster, sector_number) is the canonical identifier), so Region A's sector 47 and Region B's sector 47 are distinct sectors.
Shield — Ship energy defense. Range 150–800 by class. Weapons differ in shield vs hull effectiveness. See FEATURES/gameplay/ship-systems.md#23-shield.
Ship — Player vessel. Carries cargo, drones (0–12), Genesis Devices (0–5). Nine types in code. See FEATURES/gameplay/ships.md, DATA_MODELS/ships.md#ship.
Ship Size — 📐 Design-only ship_size enum (tiny / small / medium / large / capital) on ShipSpecification. Drives Carrier hangar fit checks (capacity 8 size-units) and Tractor Beam tow per-move turn surcharge. Escape Pod = tiny; Scout / Fast Courier = small; Light Freighter / Defender = medium; Cargo Hauler / Colony Ship / Warp Jumper = large; Carrier = capital. See FEATURES/gameplay/ships.md#ship-size-axis.
SpaceDock — Full-service infrastructure station. Lives outside the Class 0–11 trading enumeration (carries is_spacedock=True or an equivalent kind discriminator), mirroring the TradeDock pattern. Two per non-Nexus region: SpaceDock #1 anchors the starter cluster near the Capital (capital_sector_number + 9 or fallback inside the starter cluster); SpaceDock #2 anchors the frontier at total_sectors − 5 (or fallback in the Frontier Zone). Both offer identical services (genesis_dealer, mine_dealer, drone_shop, refining_facility, luxury_amenities) and serve as faction headquarters / quest hubs. Class 11 in the trading enumeration is the unrelated Premium Tech Specialist trading pattern, not "Advanced Tech Hub". See SYSTEMS/galaxy-generation.md#step-9-spacedocks-two-per-region.
Station — Trading station. Class 0–11 determines commodity buy/sell pattern. See DATA_MODELS/stations.md#station, FEATURES/economy/trading.md#stations-ports.
Stolen — Ship state after the registered owner files a stolen report (Ship.stolen_status = True). Whoever's piloting the ship enters Wanted Status with severe consequences. The registered owner can retract the report at any time. See SYSTEMS/ship-registry.md.
Suspect Status — Temporary "gray" flag on a player, distinct from persistent personal reputation. Triggers from antisocial-but-not-criminal actions (currently: salvaging another player's Cargo Wreck during the 1-hour grace window without team affiliation). While flagged: name color renders gray/yellow; fed-space immunity is suspended (anyone can attack the player without normal policing penalties). Auto-clears 1 hour after the triggering event; stacks up to a 4-hour cap. See FEATURES/gameplay/ranking.md#suspect-status-temporary-flag.
T¶
Team — Cooperative alliance. Default cap 4 players (configurable per-team). 10,000-credit creation cost. Roles: Leader, Officer, Member, Recruit. Shared treasury holds 12 resource types. See FEATURES/gameplay/factions-and-teams.md#teams-player.
Terran Federation — Designed faction; one of seven allyable factions (with two hostile-only adversaries — Pirates and Cabal — bringing the canonical roster to nine total). Rivalry with Fringe Alliance (combined reputation cap 800). See FEATURES/gameplay/faction-lore.md#terran-federation.
Terran Space — The 300-sector new-player starting region. Standard density; three zones split Federation/Border/Frontier in thirds. See FEATURES/galaxy/generation.md#step-2-regions, DATA_MODELS/galaxy.md#region.
Tractor Beam — 📐 Design-only equipment slot (40,000 cr; installable on Cargo Hauler / Defender / Carrier / Warp Jumper). Dual-use: as a weapon it locks the target and reduces effective speed by 50% for 3 rounds, suppressing flee actions (no damage); as a tow rig it enables ship-towing through natural warp tunnels with a per-move turn surcharge based on the towed ship's ship_size (+1 / +2 / +3 / +5 turns for tiny / small / medium / large; capital ships cannot be towed). Tow through player warp gates is permitted at +2 turns flat surcharge. Tow through Quantum Jump is permitted only when the hauler is a Warp Jumper using its own Tractor Beam — medium-max towed size, one ship per jump, +5 turns flat surcharge; other ships' Tractors cannot tow through QJ. See FEATURES/gameplay/ships.md#tractor-beam-tow-operations and FEATURES/gameplay/combat.md#weapons.
Trading (ship sale) — Peer-to-peer ship sale between two players docked at the same port. Owner sets a price; buyer accepts; credits transfer; registry update is instant (no dispute window because both consented). No marketplace listings — discovery is via external coordination. The trade protocol that governs this exchange is specified in ADR-0089. See SYSTEMS/ship-registry.md#trading-peer-to-peer-sale.
Treaty — Diplomatic agreement between regions or between players and a region. See FEATURES/gameplay/regional-governance.md#treaties-between-regions, SYSTEMS/regional-governance.md#treaty-negotiation.
Turn — Atomic unit of player action. Daily allocation 1,000, regenerated continuously (≈0.0116 turns/s base, modified by ARIA bonus multiplier). No carryover above the cap. See FEATURES/gameplay/turns.md.
Turn Cost — Number of turns an action consumes. Travel = 1 (modified by ship speed), dock/undock = 1 each, trading while docked = 0, combat costs vary by defender's ship type. See FEATURES/gameplay/turns.md#action-cost-matrix.
Turn Regeneration — Continuous accrual of turns up to Player.max_turns. See SYSTEMS/turn-regeneration.md.
V¶
Villain — Lowest tier of personal reputation, at −1000. See FEATURES/gameplay/ranking.md#tiers-personal_reputation_servicepyreputation_tiers.
W¶
Warp Gate — Artificial one-way warp structure built using 1 Quantum Crystal (consumed at source beacon deploy) plus the Warp Jumper hull itself (consumed at destination focus anchor), ~1.1M+ all-in credits amortising the WJ, and ~14–17 real-time days for the first gate (2–5 days subsequent if a Warp Jumper is already in production). 0 turns to use; two gates required for round trips. See FEATURES/galaxy/warp-gates.md, ADR-0029.
Warp Jumper — Built-only ship class. 1,000,000-credit construction cost; jump-only movement (Quantum Jump signature ability); the prerequisite ship for warp-gate construction. The hull is consumed at Phase 3 of warp gate creation (destination focus anchor; Ship.destruction_cause = WARP_GATE_ANCHOR); the pilot ejects to escape pod in the destination sector. Non-insurable — the 1,000,000 cr is the gate-builder's risk capital, not a hedged premium. See FEATURES/gameplay/ships.md, FEATURES/galaxy/warp-gates.md, FEATURES/gameplay/ship-insurance.md#non-insurable-ships, ADR-0029.
Warp Storm — Sector special type; temporary; disables nearby tunnels. See FEATURES/galaxy/sectors.md.
Warp Tunnel — Generic term for any FTL link between sectors. See Natural Warp Tunnel and Warp Gate. Schema: DATA_MODELS/galaxy.md#warptunnel.
Wanted Status — Persistent "criminal" flag on a player, fired by piloting a ship that the registered owner has reported stolen. Stronger than Suspect Status: name renders red, federation-zone immunity is suspended, NPC patrols hunt the player, an automatic bounty equal to 50% of the ship's value is placed by the registry, and personal reputation drains −100 per real-time day while the player remains in the stolen ship. Port-docking results in ship impound + fine + ejection. Clears the moment the pilot leaves the stolen ship (eject, destruction, impound, or owner retraction). See FEATURES/gameplay/ranking.md#wanted-status, SYSTEMS/ship-registry.md.
Z¶
Zone — Security/policing band defined by sector-number range within a region. Four types: EXPANSE, FEDERATION, BORDER, FRONTIER. A sector belongs to exactly one zone (orthogonal to its cluster). See DATA_MODELS/galaxy.md#zone.
Deeper reference¶
This page lists short, single-sentence definitions optimised for quick lookup. For the full consolidated reference — including price tables, ship stat tables, nebula effect tables, code path citations, and game-rule details — see FEATURES/definitions.md.