Terminology

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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.

Aether

[Nothing in here yet]

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

Symbol	Meaning	Description
G	Grounded	Aircraft which have been rendered unflyable or otherwize nonfunctional by a game update, but which you expect to bring into service again.
J	Temporary
N	Testbed	For example, you may refit a particular aircraft (a large transport, for example) as a "missile testbed" with every guidance system (Laser designator + multiple Lua boxes + GPP cards to spare), 12(+?) different sizes and length of missiles, and multiple variations of each to compare homing/guidance systems, APN Gain, etc. It's a unit that's probably not going into combat unless you're desperate, so putting an "N" in front of its name will keep it from being mixed up with other airplanes.
X	Testbed	in-service aircraft modified to test new technologies like stealth, thrust vectoring, Lua-based AI, etc.
Y	Prototype	WIP projects. Stuff you're currently working on and expect to actually use in combat once finished.
Z	Napkin Drawing	Stuff you haven't actually started building yet. Most people won't have any "Z-planes" in their blueprint folders because once you've created a blueprint you've already entered the Prototype "Y-plane" stage of development.

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

Symbol	Meaning	Description
A	Attack	Modified to function as an attacker.
C	Cargo	Modified to carry materials.
D	Drone control	Refitted with Control terminals and Video screens for remotely controlling other units.
E	EWAR	Modified to perform some sort of EWAR function. See the EWAR basic mission for more information.
F	Fighter	Modified to act as a fighter.
K	Tanker	Modified to resupply friendly units with Fuel.
M	Multi-mission
O	Observation	Modified to act as a spotter aircraft.
P	Patrol	Modified to also function as a patrol aircraft.
Q	Drone-ified	Refitted with a Remote vehicle controller and Wireless camera.
R	Reconaissance	Modified to perform reconaissance missions.

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

Symbol	Meaning	Description
A	Attacker	Originally designed as an attacker (for tactical missions against enemy ships and ground vehicles)
B	Bomber	Originally designed as a bomber (for strategic missions against Fortresses and structures.
C	Cargo	Originally designed to transport materials
E	EWAR	Designed to perform some kind of detection-related function such as: ECM: Electronic Counter Measures - Messing with the enemy's detection/fire control systems: Blinding the enemy with Smoke shells. Dispensing chaff. Using a Sensor Scrambler to reduce the range accuracy of the enemy's detection systems. ECCM: ECM Counter Measures - Messing with the enemy's ability to mess with your detection/fire control systems: Using a Radar Warning Reciever to detect and destroy the nearest enemy ECM Sensor Scrambler usually helps. Carring large numbers of sensors to "burn through" the enemy's sensor scrambling through sheer number of detections per second is a viable strategy. ESM: Electronic Support Measures - Helping friendly units find the enemy: Launching Sticky Flare-equipped missiles at the target to help your IR missiles find it. Pointing a Laser Designator at the enemy to guide friendly missiles.
F	Fighter	Originally designed as a Fighter
K	Tanker	Originally designed as a Tanker
O	Observation	Broadcasts target data using a Inter-vehicle transmitter, perhaps also using a Laser designator to guide friendly missiles onto the target. Think of this guy as a small, expendable
P	Patrol	Originally designed to lug around a big Strategic antenna.
R	Reconnaissance	Flies through map squares to detect enemy vehicles (redundant unless auto-detection has been disabled). Likely carries several different sensor types and possibly sonobouys. Although currently irrelevant, recon aircraft
S	ASW	Originally designed for anti-submarine operations.
X	Research

• Aircraft Type - For anything out of the ordinary.

Symbol	Meaning	Description
H	Helicopter	It's a helicopter.
Q	Remotely controlled.	Technically refers to UAVs, but since virtually every unit in FtD has an AI mainframe, we'll use Q to indicate that an aircraft is designed to be remotely controlled. That is to say, it lacks a Seat and Vehicle controller, but is fitted with at least one Wireless camera and a Remote vehicle controller
S	Spaceplane	Capable of ascending to and maneuvering in space.
V	VTOL/STOL	Designed with Vertical- or Short takeoff and landing capabilities.

• 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:

Status prefix	Mission (modified)	Mission (Basic)	Aircraft type	-	Design number	Series letter	Name	=	Designation	Description
Y		A		-	4				YA-4	Prototype attacker
		A		-	4		Anteater		A-4 "Anteater"	Attacker
	Q	A		-	4				QA-4	Remotely controlled version
Z		B		-	12				ZB-12	Napkin drawing
Y		B		-	12				YB-12	Prototype bomber
		B		-	12		Branta		B-12 "Branta"	Bomber
	E	B		-	12		Eagle Owl		EB-12 "Eagle Owl"	Refitted for EWAR
	P	B		-	12		Albatross		PB-12 "Albatross"	Refitted for patrol operations
X		B		-	12				XB-12	Refitted as a testbed
Y		C		-	6				YC-6	Prototype transport
		C		-	6		Condor		C-6 "Condor"	Transport
	A	C		-	6		Argentavis		AC-6 "Argentavis"	Refitted as a gunship
	E	C		-	6		Eagle eye		EC-6 "Eagle eye"	Refitted for EWAR
	K	C		-	6		Kea		KC-6 "Kea"	Refitted as a tanker
Z		F		-	3				ZF-3	Napkin drawing
Y		F		-	3				YF-3	Prototype fighter
		F		-	3		Falcon		F-3	Fighter
	A	F		-	3				AF-3	Refitted as a Strike fighter
	E	F		-	3				EF-3	Refitted for EWAR
	R	F		-	3				RF-3	Refitted for Reconnaissance
		X		-	1				X-1	Research aircraft
Y		A	H	-	17				YAH-17	Prototype attack helicopter
		A	H	-	17				AH-17	Attack helicopter
		S	H	-	17				SH-17	ASW version

Land

Designation	de-acronymized	Description
MBT	Main Battle Tank
MLRS	Multiple Launch Rocket System	A katyusha-style rocket-launcher vehicle
SPAAG	Self-propelled anti-aircraft gun	Mobile anti-aircraft artillery
SPG	Self Propelled Gun	A gun on wheels (or tracks)
TD	Tank Destroyer	Specialty anti-tank vehicle, typically with very heavy frontal armour.
TEL	Transporter Erector Launcher
TELAR	Transporter Erector Launcher And Radar
TLAR	Transporter Launcher And Radar

Sea

Aircraft Carriers

Hull Symbol	Designation	Description
CV	Fleet Carrier	A cruiser-style hull fitted with a large flat flight deck for launching fighters and light bombers.
CVE	Escort Carrier	A carrier built from some kind of cargo vessel. Not a bad idea since a cargo ship will likely have enough space to fit the ammo and fuel storage needed to resupply a small airgroup. It might not be as fast as a proper fleet carrier though, and you may find that the weight of the flight deck hurts its seakeeping qualities.
CVS	ASW Carrier	A carrier fitted for ASW duties. This usually means a lot of torpedo bombers, cram bombers, magnetic mine bombers, and heavy anti-torpedo and anti-missile defences. Traditionally, ASW carriers also employed a fairly large number of helicopters.

Surface Combatants

Hull Symbol	Designation	Description
BB	Battleship	Carrying the heaviest guns in the fleet, and built to take a punch and keep going at a steady -though not exactly rapid- pace, a battleship is a floating fortress of a ship, although the later Fast Battleships increased the speed somewhat (at some cost to their maneuverability).
CB/CC	Battlecruiser	Evolved from the Armoured Cruiser, battlecruisers are traditionally of either the English or the German variety. Both feature higher speeds than a battleship, but the former sacrifices armour in favour of carrying battleship-grade weapons while the latter offers near-battleship armour at the cost of slightly lighter armament. Eventually a third type evolved, which favoured increasing the waterline length and displacement instead of sacrificing protection or firepower. This third type causes some confusion as to the origin of the term "Fast Battleship".
CA (Early)	Armoured Cruiser	Featuring both a waterline armour belt and the Protected Cruiser's angled internal belt and protective coal bunkers, an Armoured Cruiser was typically similar in length to the battleships of the day, but with a narrower beam, higher speed, and lighter weapons, their main armament typically being similar to the secondary armament of a battleship. This classification was also bestowed upon the Deutschland-class of Panzerschiffe built by the German navy in 1929-1936 for use as commerce raiders, although their heavy armament granted them the unoficcial designation of "Pocket Battleships" by the british.
CA (Late)	Heavy Cruiser	An evolution of the Light Armoured Cruiser, the Heavy Cruiser was defined by the London Naval Treaty as having a main gun caliber no larger than 203mm. In FTD terms this might mean a gun armament slightly favouring hitting power over rate of fire and shell speed.
CL	Light Armoured Cruiser	An evolution of the Protected Cruiser, the advent of oil-fired boilers made storing fuel along the ship's side for protection a questionable idea, and so Light Armoured Cruisers had a simpler armour scheme consisting of a vertical waterline belt attached to the sides of the hull, and a flat armoured deck. Eventually the London Naval Treaty redefined the "Light Cruiser" as having a main gun caliber of no more than 155mm. In FTD terms, this might mean a gun armament with a bias towards fighting agile, perhaps aerial, targets with a high rate of fire and/or shell speed at the cost of hitting power.
C	Cruiser (Protected)	These gun-armed ocean-going vessels are fairly fast, but lightly protected. Their armour protection typically consisted of a single armoured deck, the sides of which were extended downward below the waterline to form a sort of angular upside-down bowl-shape that protected (ahem) the ship's boilers, engines, and ammunition stores. In addition to the sloped internal belt, the ship's waterline was also protected (ahem) by storing the fuel supply (coal) in the triangular space between the sloped armoured belt, the ship's side, and the deck above. Their main gun armament is heavy enough that they typically use two or even three different sizes of guns, the main battery being made for heavy anti-ship use, and the secondary and tertiary batteries being successively lighter and increasingly optimized for use against Torpedo Boats, Motor Torpedo Boats, and other small, fast targets.
DD	Destroyer	Ocean-going torpedo-boat with a secondary gun armament for destroying other torpedo boats as well as other targets of opportinity. Later advancements included dual-purpose guns, and eventually replacing some (or all) of their torpedo armament with anti-ship missiles.
FF (Post-WWII)	Frigate	Also referred to by the US Navy as a Destroyer Escort (DE) during the cold war, these were large dedicated high-endurance anti-submarine vessels with a secondary anti-aircraft role, and were used as convoy escorts.
FS	Corvette	Small ASW ship intended for convoy defence and patrolling coastal waters. Expected to be shielded from air and surface attack by friendly land- or carrier-based air cover or by larger friendly ships, they're liable to lose a fight against a gunboat
PG	Gunboat	A long-range patrol vessel intended to roam foreign coastal waters independently of the main fleet. Typically armed with two or more medium-sized guns for coastal bombardment and anti-surface work and a few light anti-aircraft weapons, larger models may even carry torpedoes.
PM	Missile Boat	Though small and fragile, these boats are cheap enough to be used in swarms, and they pack a mean punch! In addition to their missiles, they typically also carry some kind of autocannon, possibly a dual-purpose (DP) gun. Advanced models may also carry a CIWS, and the largest may even be fitted with a light SAM system.
PT	Torpedo Boat	Small high-speed coastal vessel intended for use in swarm attacks. They were/are mainly intended to prey upon large and unmaneuverable opponents such as battleships, carriers, and cruisers, and the occasional cargo ship. The may also useful as cheap reconnaissance craft, but are all but uncontrollable in rough seas.

Submarines

Hull Symbol	Designation	Description
SS	Attack Submarine	An underwater counterpart to the destroyer, the attack submarine preys upon surface vessels and other submarines alike, mainly relying on torpedoes to punch holes in the enemy's hull. While perhaps less interesting than SSBs or SSGs, attack submarines may be better suited for fighting other submarines.
SSB	Submarine; Ballistic Missile	Mainly intended to attack surface vessels and ground targets, ballistic missile submarines in FtD typically either carry subvehicles with Tactical Nukes, or use vertically launched Large Missiles. The large missiles, in this case, may have a very slow turn rate or guidance delays to strike the enemy from above.
SSC	Submarine; Coastal	Similar to the Attack Submarine in purpose, coastal submarines operate in shallower waters where enemy craft have an easier time attacking them with CRAM and APS mortars, magnetic mines, and the like. As such, coastal submarines tend towards smaller size to decrease the risk of detection, as well as having greater maneuverability to navigate in confined waters.
SSG	Submarine; Guided Missile	Similar to the SSB in execution, SSGs typically forego the expensive complexities of trying to bring heavy firepower onto an enemy's deck from above. Instead, their missiles go straight to the target, hitting their sides without unnecessary complications.
SSM	Midget Submarine	A tiny submarine, perfect for sneaking up close to enemy vessels and capturing them. Alternatively, you could fit the SSM with an inter-vehicle transmitter and use it to provide targeting data for other ships. A third option is to mount a Missile Controller with a Laser emitter on a mast and use the boat to mark targets for long-range Laser-homing missiles launched by other vessels.

Support Vessels

Hull Symbol	Designation	Description
AC	Collier	Because FtD's steam boilers burn plain old materials rather than coal, there's no need for colliers. Of course, that doesn't stop anyone from building some of their cargo ships to look like colliers and designate them accordingly.
AE	Ammunition Ship	Potentially a more dangerous assignment than being on the front lines, ammunition ships carry ammo from production facilities to the combat units.
AGD	Dredge Ship	A ship fitted with equipment for removing material from resource zones on the sea.
AK	Cargo ship	Moving material from resource zones to fuel and ammo processing plants may not be a glamourous taks, but it's one that needs to be done. Of course, your repair ships on the fronlines will need to be resupplied sooner or later, so a cargo ship's carreer might not be entirely uneventful.
AO	Oiler	While it's perfectly acceptable to build every combat vehicle with enough fuel storage to travel across Neter and back on one tank, there's some merit to the idea of offloading some (or most) of a fleet's fuel onto a purpose-built oiler. For starters, it saves some space and weight on your combat crafts.
AR	Repair Ship	We've got Simple fuel processors and we've got refineries. We've got ammo processors and we're about to get ammo factories. At some point the repair tentacles may or may not be pushed aside by a more material-efficient multi-block construction system. Until we know for sure, there's no benefit to sailing your damaged craft all the way back to your fortress to patch up their battle scars, so go ahead and slap some repair tentacles on a spare hull and give your fleet some mobile repair capability!
AT	Ocean Tug	A small ship with a Docking Station, used to move around Ammo, Fuel, and Material barges.
ATF	Fleet Ocean Tug	As above, but used to tow damaged combat craft over to the nearest repair ship. Because these tugs may operate as part of a fleet, you way want them fitted with some light defensive weapons in case a stray enemy fighter decides to have a go at them.
YM	Dredge Barge	Like a dredge ship, the dredge barge collects materials from the sea floor, but it has a very limited (if any) propulsion system, which makes it cheaper to build.
YO	Fuel Barge	They're like oilers, but with no propulsion system, which makes them much cheaper. On the off hand, you'll need a tugboat to move them around.
YR	Floating workshop.	Like a repair ship, except it's just a cheap barge with a few repair tentacles, some material storage, and enough engine power and fuel to keep the tentacles working.

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.