You know how sometimes you want one or two additional descs beyond what Nova offers by default? (Note to self if I ever develop an engine: Don't impose such restrictions.)

Right now, my solution is to put in the onAccept field "S123 S124 S125" etc, with each of those misns auto-aborting and showing some text in the Briefing desc.

Is there a way to get more out of each one, to reduce the number of do-nothing misns? A way that's completely invisible, I mean; so putting an invisible ship in orbit with the Observe objective, and Axxx'ing the mission OnShipDone isn't an option. That ship will still show up on radar.

Will the OnAbort text be shown for an auto-abort?

Load/Drop cargo? Not sure if it would work if you had zero cargo.

Doesn't happen with auto-aborting missions, and there's no set expression evaluation for the events, so I can't abort that way.

Brifing, acceptance, and Load Cargo would work, then you could make the mission OnLoadCargo Axxx instead of auto-aborting. You could probably do a drop cargo if the drop cargo was at the same destination, in which case it can be a cargo mission and then it can have completion text.

Can you have a mission start and complete immediately like that?
Could you put Axxx in the same sequence that starts the missions?

@guy, on Nov 24 2007, 05:22 AM, said in How many descs can you cram into a fake mission?:

Can you have a mission start and complete immediately like that?
Could you put Axxx in the same sequence that starts the missions?

I'm not positive, but I think the answer to the first one is no and the second is yes.

@lnsu, on Nov 24 2007, 05:01 AM, said in How many descs can you cram into a fake mission?:

then you could make the mission OnLoadCargo Axxx

There is no OnLoadCargo. Not in MC, anyway.

There should be, but there isn't.

If you do something like "S123 A123" in a set expression, will that give you both the Briefing text and the abort text for that mission?

@Guy: If you Axxx the mission in the onAccept expression, then won't it skip the cargo loading?
@lindley: yes there is. "Show when the cargo is loaded"

Its possible for at least 3 descs. Offer, Acceptance/briefing, and load cargo.

Test both options to see how many of the offer, acceptance/briefing, load cargo, drop cargo, and mission completion descs you can show in a row. Make the Destination Spob the same as the offer spob, with no Return spob.

Also try this scenario: S123 A123 (but I don't think that will work well)
and this one: S123, onAccept A123.

@lnsu, on Nov 24 2007, 05:21 PM, said in How many descs can you cram into a fake mission?:

@lindley: yes there is. "Show when the cargo is loaded"

You can only use test expressions in descs, not set expressions. There is no way to Axxx when cargo is loaded.

Lindley's right.

You guys talking about "OnLoadCargo" are thinking about "OnShipDone."

"OnShipDone" exists.

"OnLoadCargo" does not.

@lindley, on Nov 25 2007, 06:02 AM, said in How many descs can you cram into a fake mission?:

If you do something like "S123 A123" in a set expression, will that give you both the Briefing text and the abort text for that mission?

Abort text? I was thinking it might allow the load cargo text to be displayed before it gets aborted. If not, what you could do is just make the mission invisible and abort it at the next opportunity.

@lnsu, on Nov 25 2007, 06:21 AM, said in How many descs can you cram into a fake mission?:

Its possible for at least 3 descs. Offer, Acceptance/briefing, and load cargo.

What actually happens when you Sxxx a mission? Wouldn't it go straight to the briefing?

@lindley, on Nov 24 2007, 12:36 PM, said in How many descs can you cram into a fake mission?:

You can only use test expressions in descs, not set expressions. There is no way to Axxx when cargo is loaded.

I know that. I'm not saying that at all. The mission will load the cargo, drop the cargo, and commplete normally. No Axxx needed.

@guy, on Nov 24 2007, 03:30 PM, said in How many descs can you cram into a fake mission?:

Abort text? I was thinking it might allow the load cargo text to be displayed before it gets aborted. If not, what you could do is just make the mission invisible and abort it at the next opportunity.

What actually happens when you Sxxx a mission? Wouldn't it go straight to the briefing?

I haven't tested any of this.

@guy, on Nov 24 2007, 08:30 PM, said in How many descs can you cram into a fake mission?:

What actually happens when you Sxxx a mission? Wouldn't it go straight to the briefing?

Yup, there's no offer text when you Sxxx a mission.

@lnsu, on Nov 24 2007, 08:33 PM, said in How many descs can you cram into a fake mission?:

I know that. I'm not saying that at all. The mission will load the cargo, drop the cargo, and commplete normally. No Axxx needed.

I don't think that will work. MC doesn't give an option for "Drop cargo at mission start", and so you'd have to make the TravelStel the same as the starting stel. Which means you'd probably get hit by the "must take off and land to complete mission" thing.

Making it invisible may actually be useful in some cases, because it could give you extra ships to play around with in battles.

Next time an EV engine is designed, I'd love it if descs could be multiple-page without these acrobatics, and if there were a "Battle" resource which could offer more scripted control over specific engagements.

If a mission Axxx-s itself in the onAccept set expression, will it still show the Acceptance/load cargo desc if the cargo load point is set to "At Mission Start"?

Not sure. Here's a question, though----does Mxxx'ing to the travel planet complete missions?

Ha ha, I wish. An operator to take you to a planet would be awesome. Unfortunately those operators move you to another system , not another planet.

The operators keep you on the same nav index you're currently on when executed, so if you're on nav 0 and Mxxx to another system that has a nav 0, you'll be on it.

But I'm not sure if the mission-complete evaluation will occur.

You mean when you're landed? Hm, that's interesting. Well I'd guess no but you'd have to try it.

@lindley, on Nov 25 2007, 04:15 PM, said in How many descs can you cram into a fake mission?:

The operators keep you on the same nav index you're currently on when executed, so if you're on nav 0 and Mxxx to another system that has a nav 0, you'll be on it.

But I'm not sure if the mission-complete evaluation will occur.

Mxxx puts you on the first nav object (or center if there are none), Nxxx puts you at the same coordinates. Neither moves you to the same nav object.

Also, while you may end up on top of another planet in-system , you remain on the original planet until you leave or get Qxxx'd. There is no way to force a player onto a planet.