NW/ED Mission List and Guide

Here I provide links to my mission packs and short descriptions of each mission.

They are grouped into the standard (non-warp) missions, and the warp missions (though the latter are still pretty experimental.

Standard Missions
(without in-game warp)

The most server-friendly (IMO) scripts are in the EDPatrols pack

Every script listed below is in the NWPack

The blurb below describes the current status of the missions in more detail, read only if you're really interested.

I've broken them up by their maximum drafting capabilities, and listed what the sides will be by default (i.e. if it's just you and the AI the sides may be different than if there are humans involved).

The missions in italics are the ones I'd probably take as a core set for a server (just my opinion of course), all the scripts should be suitable for single-player.

The following missions handle 3v3 drafting WITH AI stripping:

In Enemy Hexes:

In Friendly Hexes:

The following missions handle 3v3 drafting WITHOUT AI stripping:

In Enemy Hexes:

In Friendly Hexes:

The scripts below do NOT support 3v3 drafting

The following missions handle 2v2 drafting WITHOUT AI stripping:

In Enemy Hexes:

In Friendly Hexes:

The following missions handle 1v1 drafting (AI stripping irrelevant):

In Enemy Hexes:

In Friendly Hexes:

The following missions handle 1vN drafting WITHOUT AI Stripping

In Enemy Hexes:

In Friendly Hexes:

Missions with in-game warp

 These missions are available in the EDWarpPatrols Pack

There are two broad categories of mission: combat, and patrol scenarios.

The combat missions are precisely that, kill/capture/drive off your enemy.

The patrol scenarios require you to scearch an area of space looking for a "disturbance", perform a more detailed scan and analysis of the disturbance, and then solve whatever problem it poses. It may turn out to be just a friendly merchant or naval vessel, it could be a smuggler, monster, pirate, hostile invader, someone needing rescue, or you may receive instructions to carry out one of a variety of special missions.

These scripts allow the use of warp drives to disengage when you want to quit the mission. The maps in the missions are HUGE by SFC standards (it may take 30 minutes or more to cross a map at speed 31), so warp disengagement is the only practical way to run away.

Furthermore, there are allied-space and enemy space versions of each, and a base-assault version of the combat script, making for a total of 5 scripts:

PATROL SCENARIOS

OK, here's the rundown on the candidate "Patrol Duty" scripts that try to reflect more typical patrol activities. (Note, this doesn't replace the standard combat patrol scripts, it's a pair of additional scripts if an admin wants to include them.)

This also now includes the Piracy and Privateering scenarios, which are invoked only if you're flying for one of the cartels.

In a PvP situation they operate like the standard big-map/warp-disengagement combat script: 3v3 drafting, stripping AI, etc.

When you're flying against the AI (solo or with a wing or two) things work as follows: you're notified that there is a disturbance of some form in your sector of space, and you have to find it, investigate it, and (if possible) deal with it.

Find the problem

First you have to find the source of the disturbance (the ability of the 'nearest enemy' key to reveal enemies at any distance has been blocked)

The range at which you can detect the enemy depends on a number of factors

Identifying the problem

You'll often need to scan an entity or vessel from close range (sometimes 5 or less if your ship doesn't have a lot in the way of labs) to determine what to do.

Here's the scenario list, the numbers are scenario ids from your Battlelog.txt file

Note that firing on innocent vessels causes you to lose the scenario, and firing on a potential hostile before you've confirmed they really ARE hostile can earn you a reprimand, so verify your target before attacking!

Calling for help and jamming communications

The size of enemy vessels will be randomly determined, but with a curve making CL-CA class ships the most likely opposition. (I.e. the enemy strength won't be based on your strength.) As such, it may be necessary for you to call for help and wait for it to arrive -- if you're forced to disengage before help arrives then the enemy is assumed to slip away into your space and you lose. Calling for help is currently done automatically, I may replace that with a dialogue box eventually)

Needless to say, the enemy will attempt to jam your communications. Similarly, in a number of the scenarios listed it helps if you can jam their communications. [i](Jamming is also handled automatically at the moment, you're just informed if it's taking place.)[/i]

Each ship is assigned a jamming capability, based on their lab space, control stations, and scout channels (again, scouts will be much better at this than other vessels). Based on the relative abilities of the two sides, there will be a probability of success in jamming each other's communications.

Piracy and Privateering

Blackmail, finder's fees, and protection rackets

In various scenarios, the pirate captain will have the opportunity to rescue someone (for a fee), charge someone protection fees, salvage or capture valuable cargo, protect someone who [i]has[/i] paid their protection fees, try to smuggle items past naval/customs vessels, etc. Most of these scenarios operate under the same mechanism as the naval scenarios in the new mission pack.

Pirates can carry contraband

All pirate vessels, but only pirate vessels, can carry a certain amount of contraband.

You can carry one item of contraband per hull box, and ten items of contraband per cargo box.

Contraband items carry over from mission to mission, and are transferred over when you buy a new ship (if there is sufficient space in the new ship)

Contraband items are lost if your ship is captured or destroyed.

Limitations

I've had to add a couple of restrictions in the contraband rules to handle limitations in the scripting api:

I might simply set up the storyline so that if more than one human is in a mission then the black market opportunity falls through (there are too many witnesses or some such thing)

Carrying contraband makes you a smuggler

Many of the scenarios you encounter will involve naval vessels from the different empires, and they will want to scan your vessel to make sure you aren't smuggling anything.

Sometimes they won't detect the contraband even when they do scan you (you put a lot of effort into masking it). Sometimes when they detect it you'll have the opportunity to put a team aboard their vessel with a hefty bribe, and they'll let you go. Sometimes you'll be forced to either fight or run away.

Fighting with or running from the cops makes your vessel wanted

If you run away, or pick a fight with the navy and don't finish them off, then they will issue a warrant for your vessel, and in subsequent scenarios you will automatically be assumed guilty. How badly you are wanted increases every subsequent time this happens, but goes down in missions where you manage to bribe the naval officer. At some threshold a shoot-on-sight order is issued. (Hmmmm .. I should probably set this up so that each different navy has their own classification of how badly wanted you are.)

The warrant goes with the vessel - if you sell the ship most of the grief goes to the new owner. Of course, when you buy a new ship there is a chance you'll inherit its history.

Acquiring contraband

You can acquire contraband in three different ways:

(1) salvaging wrecks: if you destroy a vessel carrying contraband then 10-20% of the contraband survives and can be salvaged if you have space available

(2) capturing vessels: if you capture a vessel carrying contraband then 30-60% of the contraband survives and can be transferrred to your vessel if there is space

(3) the black market: when you encounter non-hostile pirates, civillians, bases, and planets there is a chance you'll be able to purchase contraband from them (you quartermaster knows the going rates, and will ensure you don't get ripped off)

Selling contraband

You can sell contraband on the black market when you meet a non-hostile pirate, civillian, base, or planet.

The prices at which contraband items are bought and sold depends on the type of item and the race, inidicated here as High/Medium/Low. I haven't put any rhyme or reason into who pays well for what (I'll rework that later) but each commodity has an equal price distribution across the races, and each race has an equal price distribution across the commodities. I've also rigged it so that, using traditional alliances, each side has an equal distribution of prices/commodities.

Oddball/Legacy Missions
(without in-game warp)

These missions are generally not included in the packs I distribute any more, but might appear in collections hosted by others.

Disclaimer: Most of these missions have very unusual circumstances, and/or notable flakiness in behaviour [not for the impatient or faint of heart!] I haven't examined most of these in a long long time, and in many cases can no longer remember what the specific issues were.

NOTE ON Config.gf and Config.scr - also in the ancient mists of time, some script pacts were released that made use of some (text) configuration files with names such as NWMissionConfig.gf and Met_NWConfig.scr. These are no longer used by any scripts I distribute, but could still be used by some of the old legacy ones floating around. (Note to budding software developers - never release anything you don't want to be plagued by for a long time to come ;-) )

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