wolfee wrote: ↑Wed, 2. Jun 21, 21:18
I realize this is an old thread but it's a very good thread that I have to comment on
I got to "Professional" for Jonferco and I received the mission to return to their base BUT I didn't make it in time and I got a new message that they have a new mission for me. When I got there and comm'ed the base, there was just the mission and no ship docked. I have not docked, as I understand it you aren't supposed to dock. I did the mission, got another message to just return to base, and still no ship. I switched ships and comm'ed them, no ship. What's broken here? Or am I supposed to dock the first time? I haven't docked yet.
you receive the reward after docking. if you manage to complete several missions in a row without docking after hitting the "reward rank", you will receive multiple copies of the ship - one per each mission completed without docking.
missions possible to complete without docking are:
- kill before ship reaches destination
- kill at any time
- defend station
- follow ship
- taxi from HQ
- taxi to HQ
Despite the looks of it, it takes about 3 seconds for the reward to trigger after you dock. that is why if you undock quickly after picking the passenger up for taxi mission (or dropping him off at HQ), you still get to complete the mission without triggering the reward, getting 1+ to your reward ship counter.
taxi to HQ is actually easiest to trick this way, because the passenger gets off instantly after you dock. disable auto save, save before docking using insurance, dock and instantly undock. you should pull this off easily
taxi from HQ is trickier, the passenger doesn't get on your ship instantly, it takes him some brief amount of time, and it's just a fraction of second before you get rewarded with the ships after docking. usually accepting mission before docking, then saving the game, and undocking exactly as Betty finishes speaking the very last syllable of "successfully docked" does the trick for me, but your experience may vary.
deliver missiles is too slow, can't do it without triggering the reward.
good luck.