This page lists a few useful definitions that will help you familiarize with the STFC jargon. These terms are now commonplace and they are used extensively in game chats and on Discord.
Cracked Station
A station is said to be cracked when all its ships and defenses have been destroyed. Typically, an peace shield will be raised automatically and it will stay on for 10 minutes, during which it will not be possible to scan the station. Therefore, only the attacked can determine if a station is effectively cracked or not by looking at the attack report (see the example below), until the station becomes open.
Empty Miner
An empty miner is a ship (any ship, not just a Survey ship) that is currenly mining and its current cargo is within the protected threshold. This means that killing such miner will not give the attacker any loot, and therefore killing empty miners is considered a violation to the standard Rules of Engagements by practically all alliances. To check if a miner is empty, just scan it: if it shows no cargo to be looted, it is empty and it should be left alone (unless it is also sitting on a zero node).
Open Station
A station is said to be open when it was previously cracked, it didn't repair, has no ships in it and — most importantly — its peace shield is not activated. Open stations can be raided even by ships that are considerably smaller than their power; but note however that your ships will always get damaged when attacking an open stations, and that high-powered stations (400k+ typically) normally cannot be raided by envoys because they will typically destroy anything under 50k power.
Over Cargo (OC)
A ship is said to be over cargo when it is possible to steal cargo from it when attacked. Over cargo ships can be easily identified if when scanning one or more resource types are displayed in the Rewards box at the bottom. Over-cargo ships are generally considered OK to attack and loot by most alliances.
Zero Node (0 node)
A mine is considered a zero node if its counter goes to zero. In this situation, the ship currently on it is no longer mining any resource unit and therefore it is considered a fair hit, because it is preventing the mine from being used by other players. It is good etiquette - although not required by our Code of Condict - to send a private message to the player on a zero node a few minutes before attacking, to warn him and also to avoid disputes afterwards.
