1.1 In order to enjoy basic gameplay on the server, you must know and follow the Community, Server Gamplay, and Cheating rules in sections 1-3. If you intend to hire other players ingame, create your own faction, or build or attack a player owned base, read the corresponding sections of 4-6. Sections 7-10 provide details on how rules are to be understood and enforced. In case of remaining questions, additional clarifications can be found by clicking on the Info-bar in the rules post of discoverygc.com, or ask us directly in the "help-and-support" channel on discord.
1.2 Discovery is a Freelancer-based role-playing community. Character, ship, and station 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 wouldn't receive in the game universe) is forbidden.
Character name should not contain:
- swear words
- indication of player origin or language
- 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
1.3 Don’t insult, harass, or threaten players outside of role-play. Don’t use racist, (real life) political or commercial advertizing, 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 a Game Master or “friend of a Game Master” to gain an advantage.
You may insult and degrade role play characters, but not 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.
1.4 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.
Try to restrict non role-play chat to PM or group chat. If people in your group ask you to role play in the group, stop OOC.
2.2 A player character must follow the permissions and restrictions of a single used ID, as well as of ship and equipment infocards.
Humans characters may:
- attack Nomads and Wild, claim bounties (if made eligible by the employer, see section 4.), and defend allied ships within their own Zone of Influence (ZoI)
- attack Nomads and Wild to defend allied or neutral ships, or to defend ships of same affiliation (including oneself), in and outside their ZoI.
See rule 6.1 before attacking a Player Owned Base (bases with health bar).
You may travel and engage in role play only if you have one, and only one, ID on your ship. You may buy additional IDS for other players to help them set up their characters, but this should not interfere with in-role play activities.
Permissions/restrictions written in ID and ship/equipment infocards override server rules in case of contradiction.
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.
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) fight, you must leave the system(s) 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 character 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 You are also "PvP dead", and same as 2.5 applies, if you dock within 15K of your enemy while in PvP. If you are flying a transport, you may keep your cargo while leaving the system, the enemy may still attack you, and you may re-enter the system for the sole purpose of trading.
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 Piracy and Law Enforcement against transports require reasonable demands (which for example, don't exceed the maximum value of the cargo, and are not impossible due to game mechanics). Only one monetary and/or cargo demand can be issued during each interaction. Players who complied to it may not be attacked in the same encounter, unless they provoke further. Quasi-lawful and unlawful transports that have equipment mounted in the CD slot are considered combat ships, and do not require reasonable demands prior to engaging them.
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 it's not abused to circumvent PvP rules against others.
3. 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:
3.1 Modifying your Discovery Freelancer installation, using third-party tools, or abusing glitches/bugs in order to gain advantages over other players.
3.2 Running the game with framerates above 155fps. Computers running uncapped framerate must use a third party program to limit the FPS to below 155.
3.3 Using cruise disruptors or missiles in order to track a ship that has successfully cloaked.
3.4 Intentionally ramming a capital ship in order to ''flip'' it or ''catapult'' your ship away from it.
3.5 Suicide trading and intentionally self/team-killing during Combat-Event-Plugin battles in order to prevent the opponent from scoring points.
3.6 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.
3.7 Storing POB crew on a ship in order to reduce consumption.
4. HIRED GUNS & BOUNTIES
4.1 All contracts and bounties must be justified within roleplay and have a minimum value of 1 million credits. The reputations of employer and employee must be neutral or friendly to each other, and they must both be neutral or hostile to the target. Targets must be informed of the contract/bounty before an attack, and must be able to verify the existence on the server or forums.
"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.
4.2 Players using Freelancer or Bounty Hunter Guild IDs may be hired ingame by non-Freelancer and non-Pirate characters. Bounties that are open to other IDs and/or active while the employer is offline must be posted in the "Bounty Offices" sub-forum. Bounty threads must specify the employer's name and affiliation, as well as 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.
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.
4.3 Forum-Bounties on factions instead of named individuals may only be issued by official factions. All non-generic IDed factions may sponsor internal blanket bounties that are only open to members of their player or NPC faction.
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.
4.4 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. Employer 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.
5. FACTIONS
5.1 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.
5.2 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.
6. PLAYER OWNED BASES
6.1 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.
6.2 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.
6.3 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.
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.
8. SYSTEM AND ZOI CLASSES
8.1 HOUSE SPACE
"House Space" in ID lines refers to the class of "Sovereign House space". House Military, Police, and Intelligence Factions (MPIFs) may do the following in the ZoI classes mentioned below:
- Sovereign Space: 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.
- Hard Border: Systems only adjacent to hard borders are not included when determining their inclusion in "Systems directly bordering..." ZOI clauses.
*House Capital
Liberty - Sovereign Space: New York*, Alaska, California, Colorado, Ontario, Texas, Virginia. - Controlled Space: Pennsylvania - Outer Region: Kansas
Bretonia - Sovereign Space: New London*, Cambridge, Manchester, Newcastle - Controlled Space: Dublin, Leeds, Omega-3, Omega-49, Poole - Outer Region: -
- Hard Border: Omega-3
Rheinland - Sovereign Space: New Berlin*, Hamburg, Stuttgart - Controlled Space: Frankfurt, Munich, Omega-7, Sigma-15 - Outer Region: Cologne, Dresden, Thuringia
- Hard Border: Omega-7, Sigma-15
Kusari - Sovereign Space: New Tokyo*, Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku - Controlled Space: Nagano, Tau-29, Tau-53, Tohoku - Outer Region: Chugoku, Tottori
- Hard Border: Tau-29, Tau-53
Gallia - Sovereign Space: Ile-de-France*, Burgundy, Champagne, Dauphine, Languedoc, Loraine, Orleanais, Picardy - Controlled Space: Provence, Tau-23, Tau-53, Zurich - Outer Region: -
- Hard Border: Tau-29, Tau-53
8.2 INDEPENDENT SYSTEMS
Some Independent Systems are also controlled by House forces (see above).
Factions with zone of influence in systems bordering an uncharted system have their zone of influence extended for the duration of the connection
9. SHIP CLASSES
- 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
10. DEFINITIONS
"Alien(s)" - AI, Nomad, Vagrant, or Wild
"Allies" - Ships of the same non-Generic affiliation or ID; Ships defined as your ID's allies on the in-game faction rep sheet; Ships working under a valid escort contract; or Ships you are currently flying in group with.
"Combat Ship" - Fighters, Bustards, Capital Ships; Freighters or Transports carrying equipment in a Cruise Disruptor slot and using an ID or affiliation that is considered hostile by your ID. danger); or Bounty Services (being paid to attack a target or assist in a fight).
"Contract" - Agreements for services with payment of credits or cargo.
"Generic ID" - Freelancer and Pirate IDs, used by characters who are otherwise not affiliated with each other.
"Hostile" - Ships defined as your ID's enemies on the in-game faction rep sheet or Ships or factions that have been subject to Faction Right 5 and set hostile to your faction.
"Nomad" - Nomad, Vagrant, or Wild
"Nomad Equipment" - Nomad faction guns, equipment, or consumable items (ammunition); Wild faction guns or equipment.
"Nomad Materials" - Artifacts, Sorted Artifacts, Xeno Artifacts, Liquid Cardamine, Nomad Power Cells, Nomad Remains, and Azurite Gas.
"Piracy" - A demand issued to another ship, which can be attacked if it fails to comply. Piracy can include requests for credits and cargo or a roleplay requirement, such as following a reasonable instruction or answering a question.
"Trade Ship" - Freighters and transports except as described under Combat Ships.
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