Elite Dangerous Field Manual:Editorial Policy

How EDFM articles should be written.

Core principles

1. Practical first. Field-manual tone: what to do, in what order, what to expect. Lead with the procedure, not the lore.
2. No invented facts. If a gameplay detail (a number, a requirement, a mechanic's exact behaviour) isn't confirmed, say so explicitly using {{Unverified claim}} or {{Estimated information}} rather than stating it as fact.
3. Version-aware. Elite Dangerous changes. Every gameplay-facing article should carry {{Article status}} recording the game version/mode it was last checked against.
4. Live vs Legacy vs Historical are different things and must not be silently merged. Use {{Legacy warning}} / {{Historical warning}} rather than mixing eras in one paragraph without a flag.
5. Plain, accessible language. Avoid unexplained jargon; where in-universe or community jargon is necessary, define it on first use.

Structure conventions

• Procedure-style articles: {{Prerequisites}}, then {{Procedure steps}}, then {{Expected result}}, then optionally {{Common mistakes}} and {{Troubleshooting}}.
• Reference-style articles: state values plainly, cite {{Source citation}} where the figure isn't from the article's own testing.
• Every article: {{Article status}} near the top.

See also Elite Dangerous Field Manual:Verification Policy, Elite Dangerous Field Manual:Source Quality Guide (`docs/source-quality-guide.md`), and Elite Dangerous Field Manual:Content Style Guide (`docs/content-style-guide.md`).