Okay, these are ncb's. Nova Control Bits. Missions activate or deactivate them on accpet, refuse, complete, fail, and abort. They can be set in other ways, but don't worry about that right now.
If a mission "tests" for "b1", this means b1 must already be set for you to be offered this mission. If it checks "!b1", this means that it must NOT be set. "&" means and, "|" means or, brackets mean everything inside must be true. For instance, "b5 & !(b511|b12)" means that b5 must be set, and either b511 or b12 can not be set. (for information, b511 is used to lock out major strings)
This means you can have a mission the test bit "!b222" means you can get the mission if b222 is not set. You can make it set "b222 & b333". This means you cannot get the mission again, as b222 is set. You can, however get the next mission in the string, "test: b333", which can only get is b333 is set, by completing the first mission. This is how all mission strings are made, though often with vastly more complicated series of bits.
------------------
What if God smoked dope like us,
drove a purple flowered hippie bus...
(This message has been edited by GOD (edited 21-12-2012).)