Glossary

Term	Meaning in this project
Core / upgrade	A temporary ranked run bonus, acquired during a run. Does not replace equipped abilities.
Passive	An equipped persistent behaviour/stat contribution; two distinct slots.
Normal active	One of Q/F/C; uses normal-active charges and sequential recharge.
Ultimate	Separate Z slot/resource; not a normal-active cooldown.
Melee	Separate V action; excluded from normal-cast/charge rules.
Base stat	Loadout-derived stat before temporary run modifiers.
Direct damage	Accepted primary gun/ability output with explicit effect provenance.
Secondary damage	Bleed, echo, shard, arc, pierce or other derived output; offensive recursive chains are restricted.
Proc	An effect triggered by an accepted event; eligibility, interval and damage budget still apply.
Intensity	Whole guaranteed activations plus a fractional roll; may exceed one without being a capped probability.
Normal shield	Persistent defensive capacity that recharges after a damage delay.
Overflow / overshield	Temporary shield above normal capacity, constrained by source/family/global budgets and expiry.
Precision / weakpoint	A validated precision volume hit; body damage is not precision. Scan points are separate consumable volumes.
Mark	A status; ordinary marks do not automatically create Scan points.
Root / stun	Root prevents movement; stun also interrupts attacks. Target profiles and immunity rules apply.
Birth group / pack	Members of one admission purchase, with stable provenance. Current tactical assignment and temporary cooperation are separate; the old mandatory formation/contact policy is retired.
Cover grace (historical)	Retired pack stopping episode after sight loss. Current opt-in shooters use individual bounded investigation.
Credit / cost / weight	Bank resource / complete purchase price / relative eligible selection probability. Kills refund no spawn credits.
Reservation	Paid unborn member capacity held before native birth; cancelled unused members may refund once into the valid capped bank.
Saving intent	One fixed expensive composition with finite original deadline; owns no capacity or credit until purchase.
Arrival readiness	Authoritative birth deadline; arriving actors are damageable but normal movement/hostile actions are held.
Nonboss admission limit	Director's live-plus-pending capacity (at most 16); singleton boss excluded, legitimate finite children can exceed then block purchases.
Personal evidence retention	Time from genuine sight before memory expires; also caps local search.
Prediction / hypothesis	Assumed hiding location from frozen evidence and geometry, never unseen live tracking.
Viewpoint	Safe place/orientation from which predictions can be inspected; one inspection may check several.
Checked history	Predictions actually visible during completed inspection, not proof the whole area was cleared.
Information gain	Newly visible unchecked weight / original total weight; distinct from travel-penalized viewpoint score.
Pressure assignment (planned)	Temporary reachable coarse purpose/region for a group; never personal sight or exact hidden aim permission.
Squad report	Original observed position/time/observer/target lifetime; validated intake exists, coordination transport remains planned.
Roaming cooperation (planned)	Temporary useful pack/elite relationship retaining identities and paid state.
Stage	One active encounter/checkpoint/travel cycle, with its own stage identity.
Run	Shared participant/session gameplay lifetime spanning stages and temporary upgrades.
Downed	Revivable state while teammates remain; not final defeat.
Final defeat	Team run end, result snapshot and temporary-state cleanup.
Current	Source-defined/referenced content; validation remains a separate axis.
Planned	Design direction without implementation acceptance.
Legacy	Specifically identified old content outside the current roster.
Authored value	A field serialized in a definition/scene; not necessarily final resolved runtime tuning.

Start with game structure, combat, or technical authority.

See spawning, perception/search and ownership/acceptance for examples and tuning.