Glossary

This glossary explains some common terms and abbreviations related to Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead briefly.

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead itself

C:DDA, CataDDA, or Cataclysm DDA

Abbreviation for “Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead”. Note that C:DDA is the preferred abbreviation here on the wiki.

Game

Friends and foes

monster, or critter

Generic term for all sorts of enemies or friends which may or may not attack the player character. Most monsters are hostile towards the player character. Importantly, all monsters are unlike the player character. This makes them different from NPCs, who have the same abilities and restrictions as the player. In C:DDA the term “monsters” does not restrict to living beings, even small creatures like squirrels, even robots are called “monsters” in C:DDA. See also our page on the various monsters.

zed

Slang term for “zombie”. The word “zed” probably comes from the fact that in console mode the symbol for zombies is the capital letter “Z”, which is also called “zed” in English. Most zombies in C:DDA can revive after being killed. See Zombies.

boomer

One of our zombie types, explodes into goop when near/killed. Unrelated to the generation. See Boomer or Huge boomer.

PC

Short for “Player Character”. It is the character which is controlled by the player.

NPC

Short for “Non-Player Character”. It is a character which has (more or less) the same abilities as the PC, but is controlled by the computer instead. A big difference between critters and NPCs is that the latter have multiple HP pools for each bodypart, and critters have only one big hp pool. See NPC.

Game concepts

Str

Abbreviation for “Strength”. See Stats.

Dex

Abbreviation for “Dexterity”. See Stats.

Int

Abbreviation for “Intelligence”. See Stats.

Per

Abbreviation for “Perception”. See Stats.

HP

Abbreviation for “Hit Points”. NPC's and the player have different Hit point pools for each bodypart, which when depleted disables that bodypart (which means death for the torso or the head). Monsters have one HP pool which if depleted means their death. See Stats.

Spd

Abbreviation for “Speed”. Determines how quickly you can act. See Speed.

Focus

Focus is your ability to learn. The higher your focus at that moment, the quicker your skills increase. It is best to try and keep this high when doing things that increase your skills, but it also increases/decreases back to a base level over time. Related to moral. See focus.

Morale

Morale is an indication of how well/happy/sad you are feeling at a moment, the higher or lower your morale, the higher or lower your basic level of focus. See Morale.

CBM

Short for “Compact Bionics Module”. Used interchangeably with Bionics, technically the CBM is an installer for Bionics, but the difference isn't that important. See Bionics.

Bionics

Bionics are our variant of robotic/high tech implants which give the player/NPC's various additional abilities, from cool shades which block out the sun, to timestopping superpowers. See Bionics.

Mutations

Various things (like radiation, or drinking sewage) in C:DDA can mutate you, which gives you strange new abilities. Very different from real life, where you just get very sick. See Mutation.

Traits

Mutations which you selected at character generation, some can only be selected at character generation and can never be randomly mutated. See Traits

Threshold

Thresholds are special mutation categories which lock you into a specific group of 'post threshold' mutations, only after 'crossing' a threshold can you get the specific post-threshold mutations, and you can only get one of these categories (and once selected it is permanent). See Thresholds

Disease

Disease means both disease and status effects in C:DDA. While we are trying to not say 'disease' when we mean 'status effect' anymore, it still happens in places. See Effects for a more info and a list of effects and diseases.

Field

Technical term for effects on the map, such as smoke or clouds of electricity. Standing in some fields has a high chance to give you a status effect. See Fields.

Teleglow

A dangerous status effect which you can get from monsters or teleporting. See Teleglow

Technical terms

MOTD

Abbreviation for “Message Of The Day”. In C:DDA the MOTD can be seen in the main menu and briefly shows the major changes in this version. The term “MOTD” is used by some other programs as well, maybe with the same or a slightly different meaning.

Stable, Release, or Trunk

The most current 'full' version of the game, which is tested to have as few bugs as possible. Usually way less likely to have bugs/break down than the experimental version, with older features however. See Download.

Experimental

The most current version of the game developers are working on, which can be a buggy mess of features which aren't working properly. See Download.

Curses, ASCII or Console

A version of the game without the improved graphics and tilesets. Only available for older versions, newer versions all can use graphical tilesets (some can be made to look like normal ascii however).

Reality bubble

C

DDA does not simulate the whole world you are playing in at the same time, only a small part of the map around you is active, this is called the reality bubble, a lot of effects are simulated to have run after it gets back into your reality bubble however. So you can't just drop some food in a pile, move away so it isn't in your bubble and come back later to food which isn't rotten.

RNG

Short for “random number generator”. A RNG creates a random number, like when you throw a dice. C:DDA uses these random numbers to determine success or failure of certain actions, like attacks, dodging, installing a bionic, etc. or to determine (to some degree) how much damage is dealt and to create the world and many other things.

SDL

Short for “Simple DirectMedia Layer”. SDL is a software library which is used (besides other uses) for 2D graphics. C:DDA uses SDL optionally to draw graphical tiles.

Vi keys

The keyboard keys “h”, “j”, “k” and “l”. They stand for the directions left, down, up and right, respectively. “Vi” is the name of a text editor which uses these key bindings to move the cursor in the said directions.