[mod][wip] Emergent Missions (v0.5.3 briefing and debriefing gameplay for sector patrols and raids)

[kuertee]

NOTE: Current version in my last post of this thread. Here: viewtopic.php?f=181&t=442475&start=15#p5085691

Does anyone wanna play-test a very early version of my mod, Emergent Missions? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bR3mEi ... sp=sharing

Only 2 of 4 mission types are built. But both of them should be 95% complete.

Here's the read-me:

Spoiler

Show

Emergent missions
(v0.5.0 beta)
https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/X
by kuertee

Mod effects:
============
Four new missions that eventuate from events in the game: (1) Mayday! Mayday! (available), (2) Escort (available), (3) Sector raids (WIP, not available), (4) Station assault (WIP, not available)

Requirements:
=============
-SirNukes Mod Support APIs mod (https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/503) - for Lua Loader and Simple Menu Options

Mission: Mayday! Mayday!:
=========================
A mission offer will be created when a ship requests back-up.

To complete this mission, ensure that the ship docks at any station or any ship, exits the sector, or detects no enemies within radar range.

The base value of the reward is the usual value for a medium-difficulty mission adjusted by the size of the enemy attackers.
(Base reward: medium difficult reward * total enemy sizes / ship size)

Note that the Request For Back-up feature of my other mod, NPC Reactions, is disabled when this Emergent Missions is installed. Also, in this version, the ship doesn't hail you with a video communication.

Mission: Escort:
================
A trade or mining ship will create a mission offer when they start a trading run.

In this beta version: Ships from anywhere in the sector will create mission offers. In the final version, only ships nearby (within 40km) will create mission offers.

To complete the mission, ensure that the ship completes all their trade orders. New trade orders that they receive during the mission will extend the mission duration.

The base value of the reward is the usual value for an easy-difficulty mission adjusted by the number of sectors they traversed, the number of trades they complete, and the time any of your ships were in escort (i.e. within 100km of the ship).
(Base reward: easy difficulty reward at the level that equals to the number of sectors traversed * the number of completed trades * total mission time / time in escort)

Mission: Sector raid:
=====================
(WIP - not yet available. No work has been done on this.)
When a combat ship receives an attack order, they will create a mission offer for wingmen.

Mission: Station assault:
=========================
(WIP - not yet available. No work has been done on this.)
When a combat ship receives an order to attack a station, they will create a mission offer to join their fleet.

Work-in-progress (WIP):
=======================
No work has been done on these features.
But based on my work on my Galactic Councils mod (also in WIP), I know where from the game the required events trigger.
I just need to write the code then test my planed user-flow.

Plans:
1. if an L or XL ship, the first objective is to get a briefing on the bridge.
2. you need a war subscription. because not all factions have the war subscription systems, an NPC handler will be created for those factions.
3. to complete the mission and get the reward, a debriefing is required back on the bridge or with the NPC handler if the fleet leader was destroyed.

Other features:
===============
The ship will notify you of damage reports.

When you don't have an active target, the ship will give you attack orders that best suits your ship size. They will not override your current target. There may be more dangerous ships that are attacking your mission.

Combat rewards:
===============
Additional reward, based on the amount of damage your ships dealt, is added to the base reward.

Max reward for each type of target:
Station: reward for very hard level difficulty
XL Ship: reward for hard level difficulty at level 10 (note that level 10s are double level 1s)
L Ship: reward for hard level difficulty (at level 1)
M Ship: reward for medium level difficulty
S Ship: reward for easy level difficulty
Others: reward for very easy level difficulty

Kill bonus: 25% of the reward.

Install:
========
-Unzip to 'X4 Foundations/extensions/kuertee_accessibility_features/'.
-Make sure the sub-folders and files are in 'X4 Foundations/extensions/kuertee_accessibility_features/' and not in 'X4 Foundations/extensions/kuertee_accessibility_features/kuertee_accessibility_features/'.

Uninstall:
==========
-Delete the mod folder.

Credits:
========
By kuertee.

v0.5.0, 8 Oct 2021:
-Initial release.

[Shuulo]

ill do with pleasure

[tomchk]

I think these are the mods I've been begging for

[Mycu]

Sounds interesting - I'll try it on next playthrough.
Gotta few questions:

• if player accepts a mission and will be passive - so in case of Mayday! Mayday! ship requesting backup will destroy/evade attacker without player help or in case Escort mission - ship will complete its trade routes without any player activity - will player be rewarded?
• can those missions be completed by a wingman?
• could there be some rep/money hit in case of a failure? This would be especially good if first question answer is: yes

[kuertee]

ill do with pleasure

thank you.

I think these are the mods I've been begging for

yah, the 2 other missions (that i've not yet created) are specifically from your request.

Sounds interesting - I'll try it on next playthrough.Gotta few questions:

• if player accepts a mission and will be passive - so in case of Mayday! Mayday! ship requesting backup will destroy/evade attacker without player help or in case Escort mission - ship will complete its trade routes without any player activity - will player be rewarded?
• can those missions be completed by a wingman?
• could there be some rep/money hit in case of a failure? This would be especially good if first question answer is: yes

yes, the missions are designed to respond to any of your ships. so you can send AI pilots to do them.

note, however, that, in the base game, you can't order your ai pilots to defend ships owned by another faction.
so the best you can do is to send your ai pilots to follow the mission target (i.e. escorts) and manually order them to attack the enemies of your mission target (i.e. mayday! mayday!).
i have yet to create custom AI orders so that your AI pilots can actually defend your mission target - rather than attacking targets just because they are also your faction's enemy.

there's no penalty for failing. in regards to mayday, mayday, your mission target MAY kill their enemies themselves - resulting in no reward to you.
edit: ... May kill their enemies themselves before you do any damage against their enemies.
any damage you deal to enemies' *hull points* will be rewarded. end edit.

[Mycu]

Ok, so quick feedback on escort mission.

Escort missions shows doubled: https://i.imgur.com/eRlKPYd.png - every escort mission is displayed twice in Mission Offers screen.
When accepted - the other one gets expired: https://i.imgur.com/G4MdQXT.png
It's also doubled in Mission manager screen: https://i.imgur.com/kmLleUd.png

After little time objective changed from escort ship: https://i.imgur.com/A8BIJ9i.png to escort factory: https://i.imgur.com/WzXGyjU.png
It was the factory that ship was heading to. Also second guidance showed pointing to that factory: https://i.imgur.com/udrtGnh.png, https://i.imgur.com/4c4Ks21.png

When ship approached the station - objective changed to "wait" state.
After a minute - ship undocked from station, but objective hasn't changed (it was still "wait" with guidance pointing to station).
Ship was not a mission target https://i.imgur.com/Kx2uav8.png

When ship was aprox 130km from station - mission target switched back to escorted ship with another objective: https://i.imgur.com/7rYNeNk.png

Upon completition I was paid twice: https://i.imgur.com/CmR7eVF.png

-----
Idea#1: reward could also depend on number of potential attackers - so each attaker that was dealed by the player in escort trade run would give Cr bonus.
Idea#2: reward could also depend on traversed sector type. Core sector - smaller reward because it's quite safe. Border sector - bigger reward. Xenon/Khaak - huge reward.

[Mycu]

It seems that escort missions are multiplied for every trade mission of escorted ship:

https://i.imgur.com/epGBxYf.png
https://i.imgur.com/MwOsx5u.png

[Shuulo]

To add to Mycus feedback - it is currently very easy to get a lot of money from escort missions as ships offer them even for intra-sector travel. I suggest to change it so only those ships that need to travel at least 2 sectors will give this mission.
Like, I jumped into the sector and accepted 3 escort missions (i took only those that were nearby to see how it will work when limited to 40km) to the stations in the same sector, waited for few minutes and all 3 were completed and I was rewarded.

Is there a check that prevents being rewarded if there are no ships in radar range of the escort target when it lands on stations it headed for? I think it would be nice addition to reduce possible exploits and so player really needs to send someone for the escort.

[kuertee]

Ok, so quick feedback on escort mission.

Escort missions shows doubled: https://i.imgur.com/eRlKPYd.png - every escort mission is displayed twice in Mission Offers screen.
When accepted - the other one gets expired: https://i.imgur.com/G4MdQXT.png
It's also doubled in Mission manager screen: https://i.imgur.com/kmLleUd.png

ohhh, that's a bug.

After little time objective changed from escort ship: https://i.imgur.com/A8BIJ9i.png to escort factory: https://i.imgur.com/WzXGyjU.png
It was the factory that ship was heading to. Also second guidance showed pointing to that factory: https://i.imgur.com/udrtGnh.png, https://i.imgur.com/4c4Ks21.png

When ship approached the station - objective changed to "wait" state.
After a minute - ship undocked from station, but objective hasn't changed (it was still "wait" with guidance pointing to station).
Ship was not a mission target https://i.imgur.com/Kx2uav8.png

When ship was aprox 130km from station - mission target switched back to escorted ship with another objective: https://i.imgur.com/7rYNeNk.png

that's not a bug. the mission pointer will switch in different situations.
if you're within escort distance: both the ship you're escorting and its destination will be your mission targets. so you know where the ship is headed to next, and fly ahead of it.
when outside of escort distance: only the ship will be your mission target.
when the ship docks, it will switch to "wait" as it completes its trading order. it may receive more - extending the mission duration. you can terminate it early by conversing with the ship.
i need to change the objective type when it targets the station so that it doesn't say "escort station".

Upon completition I was paid twice: https://i.imgur.com/CmR7eVF.png

that's because it doubled up the mission offer. acceptance of one, is an acceptance the other.
the "accept button" in both map and the mission briefing screens are actually attached to the pilot and not the offer.
this is an egosoft "functional" feature.
in regards to X4 coding: the <event_offer_accepted> doesn't actually work. this is because that event never triggers. mission acceptance event is triggered on an actor with the <event_object_signal object="#npc" param="accept" /> (or something like that).
so ... when you click on one of those accept buttons, both are missions are accepted. if other missions happened to be attached to the same actor - all those missions will be considered as accepted by you.

Idea#1: reward could also depend on number of potential attackers - so each attaker that was dealed by the player in escort trade run would give Cr bonus.
Idea#2: reward could also depend on traversed sector type. Core sector - smaller reward because it's quite safe. Border sector - bigger reward. Xenon/Khaak - huge reward.

idea #1: already active in that version on my google drive.
the ship needs to be attacked for it to register as an enemy. the ship will ignore enemies that don't attack it.
if you attack them, you won't get rewarded. edit: you will get rewarded attacking enemies that it registers. you will get notified of them - if you don't have an active target. end edit.
this is an escort mission.

idea#2: possible. at the moment that version already adjusts the reward based on the number of sectors it traverses.
classifying each sector (like my Galactic Council mod does) is just a matter of another multiplication factor.
i'll add it to the next version.

[kuertee]

To add to Mycus feedback - it is currently very easy to get a lot of money from escort missions as ships offer them even for intra-sector travel. I suggest to change it so only those ships that need to travel at least 2 sectors will give this mission.
Like, I jumped into the sector and accepted 3 escort missions (i took only those that were nearby to see how it will work when limited to 40km) to the stations in the same sector, waited for few minutes and all 3 were completed and I was rewarded.

i see what you mean. the escort distance of 100km is large. that's sometimes half the sector.
and, yes, i'll create mission offers only if the ship needs to travel outside of the sector.

Is there a check that prevents being rewarded if there are no ships in radar range of the escort target when it lands on stations it headed for? I think it would be nice addition to reduce possible exploits and so player really needs to send someone for the escort.

the escort distance needs to be large because
(1) if you're in combat, you could be outside the escort range if it's short, (2) your npc ships lags when following ships. and (3) how long you're in escort affects the reward.
so ... you will be rewarded when the ship lands safely and you're 100km away.

[Shuulo]

so ... you will be rewarded when the ship lands safely and you're 100km away.

ah yeah, 100km sounds reasonable

[tomchk]

idea#2: possible. at the moment that version already adjusts the reward based on the number of sectors it traverses.
classifying each sector (like my Galactic Council mod does) is just a matter of another multiplication factor.
i'll add it to the next version.

Is there an existing classification of sectors? I haven't seen this in vanilla XML, but it could be very useful for my XSLT generators!

[kuertee]

idea#2: possible. at the moment that version already adjusts the reward based on the number of sectors it traverses.
classifying each sector (like my Galactic Council mod does) is just a matter of another multiplication factor.
i'll add it to the next version.

Is there an existing classification of sectors? I haven't seen this in vanilla XML, but it could be very useful for my XSLT generators!

nah. not in vanilla. i classify sectors like so in my unreleased Galactic Councils (in WIP) mod:
faction's hq: home
owned: territory
contested: frontier
other faction hq: foreign home
other faction-owned: foreign territory
otherwise: unowned / free

Spoiler

Show

Code: Select all

<run_actions ref="GetSectorClassification" result="$sectorClassification">
	<param name="Sector" value="X" />
	<param name="Faction" value="Y"
</run_actions>

<!-- where X is the sector in question. and y is the faction the qualification is the subject. -->
<!-- e.g. this will return the classification of the sector the player is in in regards to the argon.
if the sector is contested, it will return $sectorClassification as "frontier".
<param name="Sector" value="player.ship.sector" />
<param name="Faction" value="faction.argon" /> -->


<library name="GetSectorClassification" purpose="run_actions">
	<params>
		<param name="Sector" />
		<param name="Faction" />
	</params>
	<actions>
		<set_value name="$class" exact="'free'" />
		<do_if value="@$Faction.headquarters.sector == $Sector">
			<set_value name="$class" exact="'home'" />
		</do_if>
		<do_elseif value="$Sector.iscontested">
			<set_value name="$class" exact="'frontier'" />
		</do_elseif>
		<do_elseif value="$Faction == $Sector.owner">
			<set_value name="$class" exact="'territory'" />
		</do_elseif>
		<do_else>
			<do_if value="@$Sector.owner.headquarters.sector == $Sector">
				<set_value name="$class" exact="'foreign home'" />
			</do_if>
			<do_elseif value="$Sector.owner != faction.ownerless">
				<set_value name="$class" exact="'foreign territory'" />
			</do_elseif>
		</do_else>
		<debug_text text="'$class: ' + $class" />
		<return value="$class" />
	</actions>
</library>

[kmunoz]

I'm noticing that escort missions can end up with messed up text in the lower left panel due to length of station names:

https://i.imgur.com/GLeSHju.jpg

[kuertee]

I'm noticing that escort missions can end up with messed up text in the lower left panel due to length of station names:
https://i.imgur.com/GLeSHju.jpg

thank you. i'll trim that notification to "(ware name) to/from (station name without the idcode)".

[kuertee]

v0.5.1 beta: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vs5_qP ... sp=sharing

i just finished a test run of the Sector Raid/Patrol mission. Was pretty good.
It works similarly as Mayday! and Escort missions in that the mission assigns you targets - except that stations may be included.
And you will be forced to actually take sides.
E.g. in my test, I was supporting the Argon against HOP. And until that time, I stayed neutral against HOP.
But because I took the mission, I was compelled to sacrifice my relationship with them to satisfy the mission.
So ... gameplay-wise, it's just another mission: fly there, attack that.
But the impression on you is that your participation is much more active (rather than passive) in the context of your relationships with factions.

EDIT: Here's the read-me:

Spoiler

Show

Emergent missions
https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/X
by kuertee

Updates:
========
v0.5.1 (beta), 14 Oct 2021:
-New feature: Sector patrol mission and Sector raid mission. Read the Mission: Sector Patrol/Raid section below.
-New feature: Sector classifications used to modify rewards: home, territory, frontier, foreign territory, foreign home, enemy territory, enemy home.
-Bug-fix: prevent duplcation of Escort missions. Duplication occured because the game assigns multiple trade orders to the ship at one time based on the ship's cargo and the supply/demand of surrounding stations/sectors.
-Tweak: Mayday! and Escort mission offers time-out at 5min.
-Tweak: Mayday! and Escort missions:: If you're not within escort range for a total of 5 min, the mission will end - unless you have an assigned target.
-New feature: Relationship points awarded on mission completions.
-Tweak: Target asssigments are limited to factions attacking the mission ship and to factions that the mission ship attacks.
-Tweak: Escort missions: use station counts of trade orders instead of the trader order count. I.e. several trade orders can be assigned to one station on a trade run.
-Bug-fix: Mission texts.
-Tweak: Ship greeting when in zone - instead of when in nearby attention.
-Tweak: Target assignment priority. Read the Other Features section below.
-Tweak: Escort missions: The mission pointer will point to the ship initially. When you enter escort distance (100km), the mission pointer will point to both the ship and its destination. In the previous version, the mission pointer switched between the ship and the ship and its destination depending on whether you're in or out of escort distance.
-New version: Escort and Sector patrol/raid missions: Communicate with the ship to finish your escort duties and end the mission.
-Tweak: Escort: Only trading runs that will take the ship outside their current sector are offered as missions.

Mod effects:
============
Four new missions that eventuate from events in the game: (1) Mayday! Mayday!, (2) Escort, (3) Sector patrol, (4) Sector raid.

Requirements:
=============
-SirNukes Mod Support APIs mod (https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/503) - for Lua Loader and Simple Menu Options

Mission: Mayday! Mayday!:
=========================
A mission offer will be created when a ship requests back-up.

To complete this mission, ensure that the ship docks at any station or any ship, exits the sector, or detects no enemies within radar range.

The base value of the reward is the usual value for a medium-difficulty mission adjusted by the size of the enemy attackers.
(Base reward: medium difficult reward * total enemy sizes / ship size)

Note that the Request For Back-up feature of my other mod, NPC Reactions, is disabled when this Emergent Missions is installed. Also, in this version, the ship doesn't hail you with a video communication.

Mission: Escort:
================
A trade or mining ship will create a mission offer when they start a trading run.

In this beta version: Ships from anywhere in the sector will create mission offers. In the final version, only ships nearby (within 40km) will create mission offers.

To complete the mission, ensure that the ship completes all their trade orders. New trade orders that they receive during the mission will extend the mission duration. You can finish your duties earlier by requesting it with the ship's pilot.

The base value of the reward is the usal value for an easy-difficulty mission adjusted by the number of sectors they traversed, the number of trades they complete, and the time any of ships were in escort (i.e. within 100km of the ship).
(Base reward: easy difficulty reward at the level that equals to the number of completed trades * the number of sectors traversed based on the sector's danger level to the faction * total mission time / time in escort)

Mission: Sector patrol/raid:
============================
Factions will request support for patrols and raids. These missions emerge from functions within the faction's defend and invade sub-goals. You will directly help the faction with their operations in the mission sector when accepting these missions.

In this beta version: You only need to accept the mission to start. In the final version, you'll need need a war subscription and to receive a briefing on the flagship of the operation (or another NPC at a station).

The mission completes when the mission's flagship completes their orders when they dock. New combat orders that they receive during the mission will extend the mission duration. You can finish your duties earlier by requesting it with the ship's pilot.

Plans:
1. face-to-face briefing and debriefing.
2. war subscription and prerequisites.

Other features:
===============
The ship will notify you of damage reports.

When you don't have an active target, the ship will give you attack orders that best suits your ship size and current mission situation. Targets are assigned to you in this order of priority: best suited to your ship's size, the largest target, a station target, the ship's target, a non-combat target, a target from an enemy faction that is not the primary target faction of the mission, extra small ships or drone targets.

They will not override your current target. There may be more dangerous ships that are attacking your mission.

Combat rewards:
===============
Additional reward, based on the amount of damage your ships dealt, is added to the base reward.

Max reward for each type of target:
Station: reward for very hard level difficulty
XL Ship: reward for hard level difficulty at level 10 (note that level 10s are double level 1s)
L Ship: reward for hard level difficulty (at level 1)
M Ship: reward for medium level difficulty
S Ship: reward for easy level difficulty
Others: reward for very easy level difficulty

Kill bonus: 25% of the reward.

Install:
========
-Unzip to 'X4 Foundations/extensions/kuertee_accessibility_features/'.
-Make sure the sub-folders and files are in 'X4 Foundations/extensions/kuertee_accessibility_features/' and not in 'X4 Foundations/extensions/kuertee_accessibility_features/kuertee_accessibility_features/'.

Uninstall:
==========
-Delete the mod folder.

Credits:
========
By kuertee.

v0.5.0, 8 Oct 2021:
-Initial release.

[tomchk]

Amazing! I hope to test these new ones (and the others) ASAP. Great work and much appreciated!

[kuertee]

Amazing! I hope to test these new ones (and the others) ASAP. Great work and much appreciated!

Sorry, that the briefing/debriefing features are not yet available. From the read-me:

...In this beta version: You only need to accept the mission to start. In the final version, you'll need need a war subscription and to receive a briefing on the flagship of the operation (or another NPC at a station)...

[tomchk]

Amazing! I hope to test these new ones (and the others) ASAP. Great work and much appreciated!

Sorry, that the briefing/debriefing features are not yet available. From the read-me:

...In this beta version: You only need to accept the mission to start. In the final version, you'll need need a war subscription and to receive a briefing on the flagship of the operation (or another NPC at a station)...

Yep no problem. That'll be great when ready. Will the missions just appear on certain ships on the map for now? Or stations?

[Shuulo]

Had a bug with Support ship mission when took sector raid.
When docked at a ship that gives support mission and got up from the chair I was unable to sit back in, it felt like mission ship is always in the cursor and i can only interact with it, but nothing happens as im not in ship.
Can this be the issue in the mod or some bug?