Multiplayer lingo

Following lists some of the terms commonly seen on multiplayer chat screens.

• AE: Area-Effect weapon. These include EMP missiles, Infyrnos and Piranhas.
• AI: Computer controlled ships
• Coop: Cooperative game. All players are on the same side and work together to accomplish the mission objectives.
• Dogfight: A free-for-all type of game, essentially the Deathmatch of Freespace. All players are on their own and fight for survival.
• EMP: The EMP missile
• Fire: The Infyrno missile
• Fish: The Piranha missile
• Lag: "Jumpiness" in a multiplayer game due to slow internet connections. FreeSpace has always had a lag problem, and even modern, high-speed connections have trouble hosting and playing online FreeSpace games. Can be greatly migitated by having all players set their "Object Update" setting to Low.
• Lag bombing: Double-linking your secondary slot, firing, then quickly switching to your other secondary slot and firing it. Continue cyclcing and firing secondary slots until the server finally updates and you must wait to reload. This is often outlawed in multiplayer games.
• Lock/Unlock: Refers to the 'Lock' button on the mission briefing screen. The host (or in TvT game, team captains) have to click the "Lock" button to allow other pilots/wingmates to make ship/loadout changes.
• LOW (object updates): Setting the "Object Updates" on "LOW" on the multiplayer options page - the preferred setting for MP clients. Limits the connection bit rate between the MP host and the client in order to make the game run smoother for everyone. Using something else tha LOW against host instructions may get you kicked! Later FS2 OPen builds provide a means for the host to force low object updates (the -cap_object_update flag).
• SD: Self Destruct (by pressing SHIFT+END)
• STD rules: Standard Rules - A set of rules commonly followed in TvT matches: no AI, no EMP, no Fire, no Fish, no SD allowed during the game.
• Tab loading: A procedure by which server lag allows one to load a ship with a weapon that it isn't able to carry by default, eg, Helios on a Perseus. Specifically, keep the TAB key held down while you switch ships and quickly jump to the weapons loadout screen to load a prohibited weapon on to your new ship. The server still thinks that you have your old ship selected, and so its "weapons permissions" will not update in time to prevent you from loading something illegal. This usually considered a cheat, but some of the old multiplayer maps were actually made to acommodate this tactic.
• TvT: Team versus Team game. The players are divided into two sides and fight for supremacy.