Terminology

*This article is a stub. You can help From the Depths Wiki by expanding it.*

A lookup-sheet for many of the terms commonly used by From the Depths' community.

For ease of finding new words, they're all sorted into categories. If you're looking for a word for some aspect of, for example, hull design, then you'll find it in the "Hulls" category.

If you want to know the meaning of a particular word, press Ctrl+F (Windows), or Command+F (Mac) and type the word into the search bar.

## General

* CC: Custom Campaigns
* Tetris: Placement of components within a certain space for maximum efficiency. Most commonly components of one subsystem.
* Spam: The practical implementation of the belief that "If X doesn't fix the problem, you need to use more X". This is most obvious in the context of weaponry (e.g. encountering an enemy which is almost immune to lasers, and fixing this problem by using five times more lasers than usual), and in terms of the number of vehicles sent into a battle, but is also available in more subtle flavours such as using one hundred and thirty eight prefabricated torpedo boat engines to drive a battleship.

## Hulls

* V-hull/U-hull/box-hull: Refers to a hull's cross-section when looking from front/back.
	+ V-hulls are generally built using 4m beam slopes and triangle corners, and because of this they are more likely to cause shots to bounce off, and may also experience less drag. Unfortunately this triangular hull shape also offers a somewhat low volume relative to its surface area.
	+ U-hulls are an in-between concept seeking to optimize internal volume for any given surface area. Their primary advantage over the V-hull is that they are typically flat-bottomed along the centreline, which simplifies the fitting of prefabricated engines and weapons into the hull. In terms of armour, their beam is at its widest at the wateline, which provides ample space for side armour, but protection weakens towards the bottom as the sides begin to curve inwards toward the keel. As projectiles and laser beams rapidly lose their destructive potential when moving through water, this lack of protection near the bottom of the hull may be acceptable, through torpedo resistance may be insufficient.
	+ Box hulls are fairly simple to build, consisting of a simple bottom plate with two thick walls of armour running along the edges and an armoured deck closing off the top. They also easily accommodate prefabricated modules, but may appear a bit crude.
* Aft/Stern: Refers to the rear of the ship
* Bow/Stem: Refers to the front of the ship
* Beam: Designates the width of a hull, generally at its widest. having a wider boat makes it more stable with regards to roll.
* Bulkhead: If a boat was a house, bulkheads would be its walls.
* Compartmentalization: Refers to the way compartiments are made in a ship, placement of bulkheads and decks; it becomes important if you want to optimise the floatability and durability of a ship, alongside the armor scheme.
* Deck: If a boat was a house, decks would be its floors.
* Draught (Draft): How far down the bottom of the hull is below the ocean surface.
* Flare: When the sides of the hull are angled outward aboard the waterline, giving it a \/ -shaped above-water cross-section. .
* Freeboard: The distance from the ocean surface up to the lowest piece of exposed decking.
* Keel: Common nickname for the bottom of the hull.
* Tumblehome: When the sides of the hull slope inwards above the waterline, giving the hull a /\ -shaped above-water cross-section.
* Sheer: Refers to the angle at which the bow of a ship elevates, most noticeable from a side view.
* Slope Staggering: A method for approximating smooth curves, typically used when shaping the bow or stern of a ship.
* Spinblock Sheering: Designates a method using a couple of spinblocks to create a smoother sheer than when using slopes witout spinblocks.
* Weather deck: Refers to the upper most deck, that which takes the waves and bad weather.

## Weapons

* APHE: Armor-Piercing High-Explosive, a CRAM or APS shell designed to penetrate armor and then explode, typically using a penetration depth fuze.
* APS: Advanced Projectile System, the system used to assemble projectiles for use in Advanced Cannons or APS-compatible simple weapons such as the 3.7-inch AA guns or 130/150mm casemates.
* Dakka: slang for quick-firing projectile weaponry. Direct reference to the Orks from the Warhammer 40k universe.
* HEAT: High Explosive Anti Tank, it refers to a missile or APS shell with a shaped charge warhead, regardless of weather its intended target is a tank.
* LAMS: Laser Anti Munition System (formerly Laser Anti Missile System)
* Noodle-Barrel: Excessively long barrel for Advanced Cannons, or more rarely CRAM Cannons.
* PAC: Particle Accelerator Cannon
* VLS: Vertically launched missiles, typically using a one-turn module to steer themselves onto the proper course to target after launch.

## Turrets

* Barbette: A somewhat cylindrical armoured structure built into a vehicle's hull to protect the "neck" of a turret. Whereas the neck is part of the turret construct, the barbette is a part of the vehicle's hull and thus the barbette armour does not slow down the rotation speed of the turret.
* Cap: The lump of armour blocks which protects the firing piece of a gun turret. Also known as a Gun House.
* Decapitation: A term referring to what happens when a turret's "neck" is destroyed, separating the "cap" from the rest of the turret. Typically caused by improper armouring of the neck and/or barbette.
* Neck: A relatively narrow structure containing CRAM connectors or APS Gauge increasers/coolers, which connect the "tetris" inside the vehicle or fortress' hull to the "cap" outside the hull.
* Superfiring: A term describing a turret which has had its neck and corresponding barbette extended so that it can fire over the cap of another turret.

## Unit Designations/Hull symbols

*Most are taken from the standard US Tri-service aircraft designation system and USN hull classifications*

*Ordered by approximate size.*

### Air

##### Basic aircraft

* Attacker - Precision anti-surface
* AWACS - Flying command post, typically fitted with a strategic antenna as well as multiple normal detection systems to support friendly units.
* Bomber - Anti-surface. Typically big and lumbering, but able to carry a very heavy payload.
* Fighter - Anti-air. Typically small and agile, able to dodge enemy weapons.

#### Deciphering the tri-service system

Some player-made aircraft, and a few of those in service with the Steel Striders Air Force, are designated according to the US Tri-service aircraft designation system. The system is laid out in the format: (Status prefix)(Modified mission)(Basic mission)(Aircraft type)-(Design number)(Series letter) (Name).

* Status prefix - Shows what's currently going on with the aircraft, for example if it's grounded due to a game update messing with one of its systems, or if the aircraft is still a prototype

 J
 X
 Y
 Z

* Modified Mission - Shows that the aircraft was modified to perform a different misison than originally designed.

* Basic mission - What the aircraft was originally built to do.

* Aircraft Type - For anything out of the ordinary.

 Q
controlled.
 S
 V

* For each basic mission or vehicle types, design numbers are assigned consecutively.

* Series letters denote various modifications that don't modify the mission type.

Example tri-service system aircraft designations:

### Sea

Aircraft Carriers
 CVE
 CVS

Submarines
 SSB
Ballistic Missile
 SSC
Coastal
 SSG
Guided Missile
 SSM

Extensions

* -C: Extension meaning it's a coastal vessel, most notably used for coastal submarines (SSC).
* -L: Extension meaning it's a lighter version of its original designation, most noticably used for CVL- Light aircraft carrier, which were smaller CVs carrying less planes and with a shorter naval range.
* -V: Extension signifing the ship has aicraft carrying capacities while its class is not originaly intended to, generaly used for conversions (CAVs, BBVs, etc...).
* -G: Extension signifing the ship uses missiles and/or guided missiles, came in during the cold war on most standard ship types, FFG, DDG, DEG, .
* -N: Extension signifing the ship uses nuclear propulsion, came in during the cold war, used most notably for SSN- Nuclear powered submarines and CVN- nuclear powered aircraft carriers. Since nuclear ractors don't yet exist in FtD, we mostly use this extension for vehicles powered by RTGs.