[MISSION] "Real" Invasion Defence

[Mysterial]

This Mission Director script generates missions to destroy the Xenon attack groups that normally fly into Commonwealth sectors from time to time. It will also trigger off the groups that sometimes fly from one Xenon sector to another and should trigger off Xenon invasions triggered by other scripts/mods as well (like "Improved Races")

Download Link (FileFront)

Installation:
Extract the archive to your base X3:TC directory with folder information enabled. Or copy the files to the matching directories in your X3:TC installation directly.

Resources used:
-Text file 1172
-Text page 7171 (shared by all my stuff)

[ThisIsHarsh]

This is an awesome idea. Finally someone making missions that actually have something to do with the game state!

[Alkeena]

This is an awesome idea. Finally someone making missions that actually have something to do with the game state!

I agree wholeheartedly I'll definitely give this a try =)

[someone else]

looks cool. finally a MD "coder" (dunno how I can call people who work wit MD) that tries to make the game spawn missions without creating enemies from thin air. :thumbs_up:

just in case you have too much free time in your hands:
-a mission that asks you to bring wares to a NPC station when it needs resources
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php? ... 65#3011365


a more off-shot:
-Corporations that act like a Corporation would do. build stations, interfere with economy, steal you trading opportunities (not all, but making them annoying is good)

[Goldfinch]

just in case you have too much free time in your hands:
-a mission that asks you to bring wares to a NPC station when it needs resources

Pretty sure trade missions are generated like this in vanilla (the bring x amout of wares type, rather than the junk item courier ones), although at higher trade ranks they ask for far more than the station can hold.

Edit: Either that or it sets the station resources low when the mission is generated, I suppose that's possible.

[Mysterial]

Pretty sure trade missions are generated like this in vanilla (the bring x amout of wares type, rather than the junk item courier ones), although at higher trade ranks they ask for far more than the station can hold.

This is correct, although unfortunately I think the relatively high frequency of fake cargo requests results in this fact being difficult to notice.

a more off-shot:
-Corporations that act like a Corporation would do. build stations, interfere with economy, steal you trading opportunities (not all, but making them annoying is good)

If I had the time I'd love to write AI privateers that basically act like players themselves (corporation controlled or otherwise). Unfortunately, I don't think it's likely I'll find that kind of spare time

[djrygar]

a more off-shot:
-Corporations that act like a Corporation would do. build stations, interfere with economy, steal you trading opportunities (not all, but making them annoying is good)

If I had the time I'd love to write AI privateers that basically act like players themselves (corporation controlled or otherwise). Unfortunately, I don't think it's likely I'll find that kind of spare time

hah - I just imagined that. Xenon invasion mission taken by AI privateers. Or hundreds of new stations built by them. Or other stations destroyed by pirates (privateer unable to cope with 6 pirate corvettes in defend station mission). Or even AI privateer who became filthy rich by buing and repairing used ships from other npcs ;>

Funny ;D

[ThisIsHarsh]

Pretty sure trade missions are generated like this in vanilla (the bring x amout of wares type, rather than the junk item courier ones), although at higher trade ranks they ask for far more than the station can hold.

This is correct, although unfortunately I think the relatively high frequency of fake cargo requests results in this fact being difficult to notice.

Regarding this, and moving slightly off topic...

I would love it if you, or someone else (err, someone else as in anyone else), would make an MD/MOD thingy that would remove all the random spawned missions and just leave the missions that have something to do with the game state... Go on, you know you want to...

[someone else]

Regarding this, and moving slightly off topic...

I would love it if you, or someone else (err, someone else as in anyone else), would make an MD/MOD thingy that would remove all the random spawned missions and just leave the missions that have something to do with the game state... Go on, you know you want to...

that would kill all the "station defend missions"... not that I am a lot disappointed by that. All the M6 annoyed me too much.

most trading missions will go down too.

all assasination missions will go down.

actually what you said is good only on trading missions, maybe even too much nerf.

I actually like the idea of "killing all the Egosoft standard missions that I hate" but they must be replaced with something else that feels more "part" of the game.

we definetly need a "offered missions" overhaul.

p.s. my knowledge of MD is negligible, i HATE MD because my head
each time I open up a director file.

[ThisIsHarsh]

Regarding this, and moving slightly off topic...

I would love it if you, or someone else (err, someone else as in anyone else), would make an MD/MOD thingy that would remove all the random spawned missions and just leave the missions that have something to do with the game state... Go on, you know you want to...

that would kill all the "station defend missions"... not that I am a lot disappointed by that. All the M6 annoyed me too much.

most trading missions will go down too.

all assasination missions will go down.

actually what you said is good only on trading missions, maybe even too much nerf.

I actually like the idea of "killing all the Egosoft standard missions that I hate" but they must be replaced with something else that feels more "part" of the game.

we definetly need a "offered missions" overhaul.

p.s. my knowledge of MD is negligible, i HATE MD because my head
each time I open up a director file.

Personally, I never take missions, except for plot, simply because I don't like randomly spawned stuff. I would like to play the missions that rely on game state, but there's no way to know without stripping the random ones.

[imperium3]

Has no one ever written a dedicated editor for the MD? (like doubleshadow's superb X3 editor I mean). Because I feel like that too sometimes, open up the director file with my head full of brilliant mission ideas (rescue hostage, board ship, that sort of thing) and then the xml code melts my brain

[ThisIsHarsh]

Has no one ever written a dedicated editor for the MD? (like doubleshadow's superb X3 editor I mean). Because I feel like that too sometimes, open up the director file with my head full of brilliant mission ideas (rescue hostage, board ship, that sort of thing) and then the xml code melts my brain

I believe what you want is MS Visual Studio (theres a free version). Assuming the MD has schema files etc, Visual Studio will be able to do syntax highlighting, auto complete, maybe even inline help.

EDIT: apologies to Mysterial for this bit of hijacking...

[killerog]

Md dose have a schema file, you get it with all the documentation when you download the MD files.

I guess the reason no editor has been created is A. Its still very new B. Not many people know how to use it and C. As those who do use MS Visual Studio.

[djrygar]

yeah. I already stopped taking all invasion-like missions, to not spoil immersion created by Improved Races. Next rev of it will have some rewarding options. I actually would love to see Mysterial's script working seamlessly with Imp Races (and expanded on khaak and race invasions), not removing xenons it generates. Those two scripts are born to live together in symbiosis ;>, maybe you guys talk to each other, hm?:))

[Mysterial]

Regarding this, and moving slightly off topic...

I would love it if you, or someone else (err, someone else as in anyone else), would make an MD/MOD thingy that would remove all the random spawned missions and just leave the missions that have something to do with the game state... Go on, you know you want to...

Well, it'd break the game (at the very least corporations wouldn't work; all of their missions are fake unless you consider the "bring us missiles" mission close enough to be valid), so actually, no

Personally, I take a middle ground stance on this issue. While I think missions should use already-existing universe resources when possible (why are the escort/destroy convoy missions using random ships that don't even match race owner to builder like the "real" ships?) and I really hate it when ships magically appear out of the thin...err...space a few km from you, I don't entirely frown upon spawning things that are required to make the mission available at a reasonable rate so the player can enjoy them. Especially in a universe where it's established that pretty much anyone can get/salvage a Jumpdrive if they have the resources, I don't have a problem with e.g. spawning ships through a nearby gate. I'd rather have that than no combat missions in half the universe because e.g. no hostiles can ever make it to Kingdom End (although I can understand your point of view). Also, some mission types wouldn't realistically be possible without some fudging, e.g. the "follow this ship back to its base" mission.

I believe what you want is MS Visual Studio (theres a free version). Assuming the MD has schema files etc, Visual Studio will be able to do syntax highlighting, auto complete, maybe even inline help.

It does, although it doesn't match brackets (or if it does I don't know how), which the MD really needs. So many bugs I've had due to missing a }

yeah. I already stopped taking all invasion-like missions, to not spoil immersion created by Improved Races. Next rev of it will have some rewarding options. I actually would love to see Mysterial's script working seamlessly with Imp Races (and expanded on khaak and race invasions), not removing xenons it generates. Those two scripts are born to live together in symbiosis ;>, maybe you guys talk to each other, hm?:))

The mission should work with the Xenon invasions spawned by other scripts like Improved Races if they're within a few jumps of a Xenon-owned sector. I haven't extensively tested it, though, since I don't yet run IR on my normal game, so any feedback on how well it works would be appreciated.

[5c0rch!]

Awesome, another MD scripter! I wouldn't call myself a completely competent MD'er yet, I am still learning, but I am glad to see that there are other people willing to work in it.

Cool idea Mysterial, can't really try it out, got my own missions to code, but I do like the idea of it.

For making and editing MD scripts, get your hands on Visual Web Developer Express 2008, its probably the most useful when it comes to the MD and it allows proper use of the schema. Its free, and only requires a signup to use it indefinitely. If you need anything else to help, let me know, I'd be glad to help.

[Lancefighter]

As a random idea - would it be possible to make the mission spawned by the hostile force? ie, you have a galleon rolling through argon sectors, could the galleon show the red crosshairs, but when you com it it would say 'argon officials have placed a bounty on this ship and its escorts', or something similar?

Then it would be possible to differentiate between missions spawned by your MD thingie and other MD stuff that spawns random ships.

[Mysterial]

I thought about making it context-sensitive instead of the standard mission style, but decided against it for two main reasons:
-I was worried about annoying the player about things they might not care about.
-The current mission offers also serve as a kind of notification for the invasion even if you don't want to take the mission, since they can be posted in sectors far away from the invasion area.

[chrisrico]

As a random idea - would it be possible to make the mission spawned by the hostile force? ie, you have a galleon rolling through argon sectors, could the galleon show the red crosshairs, but when you com it it would say 'argon officials have placed a bounty on this ship and its escorts', or something similar?

Then it would be possible to differentiate between missions spawned by your MD thingie and other MD stuff that spawns random ships.

Your idea actually gave me another, similar idea. How about there's a Galleon flying through Argon space and they have a red crosshair on them. You comm them, and they request your assistance in extracting money from a certain station owner, or harassing the locals in some way shape or form...

[Raumkraut93]

So does this work together with Improved Races Invasions?

How do you take the mission, on stations like the others (patrols, station defence)?

and hwats the reward?