Missions

Missions are structured objectives you take on in a zone — deliver items, hit targets, use structures. They are how you progress, earn rewards, and drive a lot of zone content (alarms, kiosks, and some PBS/transport hooks are mission-related).

UI locations follow the client UI overview. Mechanics below are confirmed against the server.

flowchart TD
    A{"Where do you start?"} -->|docked| B["From your current base"]
    A -->|in a zone| C["At an explicit location"]
    A -->|field terminal| D["Zone-tied start"]
    B --> E["Mission runs\nradar shows the marked area,\ndeadline ticks down"]
    C --> E
    D --> E
    E --> F{"Outcome"}
    F -->|objectives done in the marked area, in time| G["Success: NIC + relation with the contractor"]
    F -->|deadline missed / failed| H["Failure: the mission is lost"]

Starting a mission

You start a mission by choosing a category and a level (levels are clamped to a valid range), at a location:

• If you're docked, the mission starts from your current base's location.
• If you're in a zone, you specify the location explicitly.
• Missions can also start from a zone directly (a zone-tied start) or from a field terminal.

Not every category/level is available everywhere — availability is content-driven. The complete list of missions (type, category, level, duration, reward fee, and reward items) is generated in Missions.

What missions are for

Missions serve two purposes at once: they pay NIC, and they build your relation with the issuing (contractor) corporation. A better relation is a key factor in getting a higher facility ratio at that corporation's terminals — production and other facility runs become cheaper and faster for you. Relations can also drop: some missions conflict with another corporation's interests, and the brief notes when that will cost you standing.

• Training missions — easy, highlighted for rookies; do all of them, the rewards are a nice early injection.
• Regular missions come in three flavors:
  • Combat — recon (scan enemy robots), bounty hunting (kill targets in a marked circle), destroy & recover (kill + retrieve + deliver), recon & recovery, special bounties (hard-to-reach targets).
  • Industry — geology (scan for a mineral with the right charge), harvesting, mineral exploitation, skilled exploitation (guarded dig sites — bring armed help).
  • Logistics — transportation (deliver a package between terminals) and retrieval (a big package through dangerous ground — escort it).
• There is no such thing as a safe mission: if you see enemies on the route and lack the gear to defend yourself, ask for help before you lose everything on the way.
• Objectives only count in the marked area — the mission map marks it with a red circle on the radar; kills and scans elsewhere count for nothing. Miss the deadline and the mission fails instantly.
• Private transport contracts — a Syndicate-run system (second tab of the mission window) where players post containers for other players to haul between terminals, with a set reward and a collateral the hauler stakes (refunded on success, lost if the container is destroyed; aborting mid-way refunds only half). Keep containers small enough that someone can actually carry them.

Mission data & options

• Mission data — details of a mission.
• Mission options — the choices/variants available for a mission.
• Mission supply — the supplies a mission involves.
• Start items — the items a mission begins with.

Running a mission

• List running missions — what you're currently doing.
• Abort — cancel a mission you're running.
• Add a participant — bring another character into the mission (multiplayer missions).
• Mission log — the event log for a mission.

Delivery

• Deliver — complete a delivery target. This can be done docked (at a base) or in a zone (at a specific location/eid), depending on the mission.

Agents

• List agents — the mission agents available (NPCs/factions that issue missions).

Field terminals

• Field terminal info — inspect a field terminal in a zone (a structure that can start or service missions).

Practical notes

• Missions are the connective tissue — alarms, kiosks, and some structures are mission objects (see gathering and combat).
• Multiplayer — you can add participants to cooperate on a mission.
• Delivery context matters — some deliveries need you docked, some need you at a zone location.
• Level is clamped — requesting an out-of-range level is corrected, not an error.
• Abort is your out — if a mission goes bad, abort it.

Mission structures

Missions are anchored in zones by structures. The server implements these types: