ok, im able to query the lobby server but could someone explain how i might go about interpreting the responces ? is it encoded somehow ?

What do you use to query the lobby server? Do you use the web frontend? do you mean the in-game lobby?
Be a bit more specific :)

the in game lobby and directly via UDP, i figured that would be obvious seeings html isnt encoded.

Well, obviously you're not supposed to use the "ingame lobby" outside Soldat.
If you want to use it for an external program, parse the web frontent..

if you insist, but i figured it would save server load + bandwidth to do it through the ingame lobby.