I'm currently undertaking a strange mission idea. It goes something like this:

- You get a fony mission to get someone and return, which also includes a boring Renegade whom you have to observe (this is to ensure that they don't accidentally complete the mission by prematurely landing on the ReturnStel)
- The AcceptBitSet field sets bit xxx, and a pers (who has the same type of ship as the one you're looking for) with a LinkMission apperars in the system you observe the ship in, and is set to disappear after you complete the LinkMission
- The LinkMission creates several ships and auto-aborts (so as not to confuse the user if he/she looks at the mission info dialog)

This is where the problem arises. I want to simulate how I could have you pick up the person on one of the ships (as cargo :p), and return to the original mission's ReturnStel to finish it all off.

So, question 1: is this possible?
And question 2: if so, how?

I'll bet this is a new one...

Same principle as if you want to have a mission with multiple special ship goals, or a chain-type mission. Use invisible missions, auto-start, and auto-abort (as well as syst contribute fields, if necessary).

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Auto-start? Wha?

Oh, and also, I was kind of hoping for something a little more specific...

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(This message has been edited by orcaloverbri9 (edited 10-12-2003).)

Mmm, I'm not completely clear as to what's going on but...
I'm guessing you have everything going fine up until where you want to pick up the person from one ship out of several. I think I did something similar in a plug I'm working on. In my mission, your task is to track down a person in a given region of space (govt) but with no idea what system they're in. To make it more complicated so that a player can't "know" what system they're in, the ship's location is random. But tracking down a single ship is a horrible pain. So I created 3 missions with 3 ships. The mission that asks you to find this person starts the three other missions which are all identical and all invisible. The initial mission only contains the first half of the ENITRE MISSION. The 3 others contain the second half (return steller, completion text, etc.) Each mission puts a ship in a random location and has the same objectives with the same text descriptions. When you spot a ship, you board it, retrieve the cargo and return to the where the initial mission completes. Once the cargo has been retrieved, the 2 other hidden missions are aborted so that those ships are no longer in play. Completing the hidden mission (capturing and returning cargo) also aborts the initial mission.

From what I can tell you're trying to do something along the same lines. The difference it sounds like is that you want the return steller to be the same place you got the mission from (random). But because so many missions are involved, I think the only way to use this method is to have a specific destination in mind. Anyway, I hope this helps somehow. Hopefully if it is similar you can apply the same concepts. If not, maybe you can explain what you're doing a little more.

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Don't worry, I have a destination in mind. Invisible missions? That pretty much solves my problem...

Yeah, it's sort of along the same lines. You're sent to go to a fighter in a specified system, and pick up (cargo-wise :)) the pilot. The ship appears deserted, and a fleet of hostile ships appear. you hear a distress signal from one that was sent by the pilot, and you have to find the ship with him on it. You get him, and return to the ReturnStel (same as AvailStel for original mission) for payment.

The Renegade thing is, once again, so they don't accidentally land on the planet and complete the mission without going there. Wait, it might not matter...oh well. I'll play it safe.

Okay, I think I've got it:

You get a mission that sets bit xxx on accepting.

The pers of a ship identical to that you are looking for appears 100% of the time in the system you have to go to to complete the mission (a Renegade Krait is there to bug you and possibly (though it probably. The pers is flagged to disappear after giving you its LinkMission, which is invisible.

A fleet of ships appear via the invisi-mission, and one of them has the cargo. You board said ship and take its cargo.

You return to the ReturnStel, which is the same for both missions, and get one ending text for the invisi-mission, and only it pays, but nothing happens in the original.

Will this work?

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If the pers isn't necessary to the storyline I'd cut it out. A mission can't complete if one of 3 things happens: the objectives aren't met (capture cargo, destroy ship, etc.), the player never goes to the Destination (if no other objectives), or the player simply fails by dieing or scanned, etc. If you've set up the missions the same way I used them then you can include all of these. So for the initial mission there is no Destination or Return stellar and there are no objectives. All I used this mission for was to start the hidden missions. But this first mission has no way of being completed so you don't have to worry about the pilot returning anywhere prematurely. The hidden missions contain the ship objective and return stellar. If the pilot dies, hidden mission fails and aborts all said missions. If the player fails to capture the cargo and returns to the return stellar, the mission remains incomplete or fails and aborts all missions. So the only way to complete the first mission is to complete one of the hidden missions. Bit of a long winded explaination there, sorry 'bout that.

That'll work though. Just make sure you cause the other hidden missions to abort in the OnShipDone field (I think that's it). You don't want to risk getting another hidden mission objective before you land and finish the one hidden mission. But you will see only the text descs of the one hidden mission you completed.

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At the risk of sounding like an old fogey, a few moments in the EV Nova Bible would sort this out.

You don't need any invisible missions, auto starts or anything like that. One regular mission will sort it out.

You make your ship goal to rescue the cargo (person) from the fighter, and you make your aux ships some nasty dude that will instantly attack you. You can have bits setting etc when you achieve the ship goal if you want to. The mission will only complete when you land on the return stellar - which can be the same as the initial stellar - after the ship goal is completed.

Everything else is window dressing - you can have the pers appearing if you want. You can also put anything you like in the Mission Info text - you don't have to refer to what the mission is actually about. Of course, you will in some way have to let the player know they need to board the fighter. When they do, of course, you set the ship text to appear and tell them what to do next.

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No...couldn't do that. I want to let them know the guy isn't actually on the fighter (with a desc), and then I want to have a fleet of ships appear, one of which has him. that's why I have the pers - to have it make the ships on the fly (rather than them appearing instantly). That's why I don't think it could be done with just one mission.

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The programmer's code of etemology: there's always another bug.