Snafu's guide to GENERIC missions in X3:TC

Original post here

My first guide! Please let me know of any errors & suggestions, as this is pretty much all from memory; I'll update as & when necessary. Comments in square brackets are bits that need checking, so be aware (& gentle! )

Preamble for generic (ie non-plot) missions:

Generic missions are divided into categories: Fight, Trade , Think, Build. All such missions start with a low reward that grows as you progress in race reputation (of the employer’s race)

Missions that require a fight element will have more and/or heavier ships to defeat as you progress in Fight rank. Missions with a time limit will have that limit 'changed' according to how fast <playership> is when you accept the mission. A jumpdrive is always an advantage when playing any mission, whether it be fitted to <playership> or another of your assets, so make getting one or more a priority.

During this guide I’ll be giving occasional keyboard shortcuts; these are invariably based on a UK ‘Enhanced AT’ desktop keyboard layout of 103/105 keys as that’s all I have access to (& can be bothered with); if your keyboard is different, or you’ve changed the default key bindings in the game don’t blame me!

I’ll try to be specific & consistent when using the oft-interchangeable terms ‘cap’ (capture), ‘bailed’ & ‘board’.

• If a pilot has ‘Bailed’ they have ejected, usually due to sale (they sold you their ship) or combat (see Morale [needs further explanation] & General Mechanics), & their vacant ship is dead in space, waiting to be capped if necessary. The ex-pilot may still be nearby if you care to pick them up for further use (CLSS & suitable cargo space required!), otherwise they'll their way (slowly) to the nearest friendly (to them) station
  • The resulting empty ship may hang around in the sector forever provided it’s not rammed to death by another ship/object or caught up in a missile or similar AoE (area of effect) blast until capped: no hostiles will /actively/ bother it while it's unclaimed (though in-flight missiles locked on target prior to the bail event may damage/destroy it)
• ‘Cap’ (capture) means an M3/4/5/8/TS/TP pilot has bailed, & you can claim it as your property (usually requiring a brief EVA process). This also applies to any other /pilotless/ ship, including up to M7x class later on
• ‘Board’ always means a marine boarding party is required (eg TM, M6 or up) to capture <target> while <target> is still piloted: if there's no pilot the ship can be easily capped (captured) as above; however see later for why you may not wish to always choose this method

Always remember a JD (jumpdrive) uses f + (f * g) fuel per jump, where

 f = amount of fuel required for 1 jump, used as per ship type

 g = number of gates traversed by the shortest route (look at your universe map). Note that size of sector makes no difference to fuel consumption: all you want is the total number of gates bypassed. (For completeness I’ll add that jumps to Aldrin, HUB & Ka’ahk sectors always take 12 jumps worth of fuel (eg an M6 can jump from anywhere to HUB using 120 Ecells) before connection by jumpgates)  

For ship types 

• • • M5, M4, M3, M8 - -- - - f = 05 Ecells per gate travelled 
    • M6, TS, TP, TM - - - - - f = 10 Ecells 
    • M1, M2, M7, TL - - - - - f = 20 Ecells

Every time you cancel a mission, you lose race rep with the mission giver (employer). If you fail a mission you lose more rep (than if you’d cancelled); if a mission fails due to circumstances beyond your control (eg target destroyed before you got to them but within time limit) I believe the rep loss is similar to cancelling [needs checking]  

E & OE
 

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minor mods made; added some explanations; added some colour v0.91.12

Added trick for some TP lightbulb missions - needs more data
Minor mods to some other sections (build, fight)
v0.9.1.2

This is v0.9.2 [added Morkonan's advice about 'build' sats NOT moving while IS; trick for TP lightbulb missions needs more data].
v0.9.1.21

v0.9.2 Minor edits & layout changes for the Wiki

v0.9.2.01 minor edits & corrections on Wiki page only

v0.9.3 split out sections for wiki to make less of a wall of text; no text edits

v0.9.4 adjusted text for clarification

v0.9.5 adjusted text for clarification