Introduction

There are many generic missions. types of missions available to the player. The following are repeatable (AKA "generic").

Several are duplicates with different titles but it is possible they have different requirements in terms of reputation and/or license ownership. The table below characterises ones that have been identified so far but it's incomplete so please feel free to help fill it in.

Many generic missions are found in the Mission Bulletin Board System (BBS) but some, from across the difficulty spectrum, are not found in the BBS and must instead be found by flying near stations to find their icons. Generally speaking, those hidden ones are more shady in nature (an exception being "My ship left me behind!"). Note that any mission is : hidden missions are available in the BBS once its icon has been found and scanned.

Available missions (some tips are below the table)

Ore **Resource Needed?

IconIcon	Type	Names	BBS entries?	Licence gate required	Info
Image Modified	Build	New Station Required	Yes	No	Reward for building a station for yourself in the sector
		Station Needed	Yes	?	Reward for building a station for yourself in the sector
Supply Reassurance	Yes	?	Reward for building a station for yourself in the sector
Image Modified	Explore	Supply Recovery	No	?	Scan down the lock box and deliver contents		Open lockboxes and deliver contents
		Lost In Transit	No		Open lockboxes and deliver contents (illegal)
		Medical Emergency	No		Open lockboxes and deliver contents
		Quick Pickup	No		Open lockboxes and deliver contents (illegal)
	Hack	Hacking Specialist Wanted	No	?	Piracy: Hack station module turrets (needs Security IDDecryption Device)
	Scan	Info Collection Required	No	?	Corporate espionage: Scan a faction's station
		Sensitive Data Required	No		Scan station
		Scan Anomaly (HoL DLC only)	Yes	?	Checking out peculiar signals in a new system
	Think	Anti-Smuggler Operations	?	Police	Seek and destroy smugglersScan ships and destroy ships with illegal wares
		Problematic Dealers	?	Police	Scan ships and destroy ships with illegal wares
		Deal Right Here!	??		Purchase rough coordinates to a lockbox and scan it down
		Exactly What You Need!	Yes	?	Purchase rough coordinates to a lockbox and scan it down
		Sale of the Century!	Yes	?	Purchase location for loot and scan it down
		Selling Fairly Priced Ship	Yes	No	Purchase location for a ship and scan it down
		Ship for Sale	Yes	?	Purchase location for a ship and scan it down
		Valuable Cache for Sale	Yes	?	Purchase location for loot and scan it down
		Valuable Items Going Spare	Yes	?	Purchase location for loot and scan it down
Image Modified	Delivery	<WARE> $WARE$ Shortage!**	Yes	?	Deliver a ware to a station
		Document Collection	No	?	Travel to someone and bring back some items
		$WARE$ for Victory!	Yes		Deliver a ware to a station
		$WARE$ Supply Required!		Yes	?	Deliver a harvestable ware to a station		Harvest resource in specified zone and deliver to station
		High-Grade $WARE$ Required!	Yes	?	Deliver a harvestable ware to a station		Harvest resource in specified zone and deliver to station
	Document Collection	No		Travel to someone and bring back some items
	Transport	Late for meeting!	Yes	?	Transport someone to a station
		My ship left me behind!	No	?	Transport Person to a capital ship
Passenger Transport		Yes	?	Transport someone to a station
Image Modified	Chain	Diplomatic Aid*	?	?	Multi-stage (Kill, Escort, Protect Station &/or Transport)
		Operation: Forge Guard (the Argon Secret Service)	?	+20 with Argon Government	Diplomatic Aid: Argon Government and Republic of Cantera
		A Dangerous Business	?	No	Scan hostile station and destroy turrets
Bodyguard Required	NoNo		Repel attacks and transport a person
Rising Tide (DLC: TO)	?	?	Unite the Teladi Cartels and the Union after the Great Dark.
A New Gate Open	?	Depends: Campaign: After Maelstrom attack Free play: After game starts	Help Heart of Albion find out what is behind the jump gate in Inner World, Albion.
? Xenon Invasion (DLC: HoL)	?		? The Xenon are trying to push into system Home of Light?
Image Modified	Destroy	Fragile Salvage	Yes	?	Free up a small ship
		? Deactivate Station Defences	NoNo		Destroy station turrets
		? Destroy station add signs	?	?	Destroy station add signs
		Capship Needs to Go!	No	?	Emergent piracy: Assassinate a neutral
		Disarmament	?Yes	?	Clear away mines
		Explosive Clearance	Yes	?	Clear away mines
		Its a Trap	Yes	?	Clear away booby-trapped asteroids
		Pirate Raiders	Yes	?	Emergent assassination mission
		Rigged Asteroids	Yes	?	Clear away booby-trapped asteroids
	Escort	Escort Required	Yes	?	Protect civillian travelling between stations
		Escort Ship	?	?	Protect civillian travelling between stations
	Kill	? Destroy a non-hostile ship	?	?	Corporate espionage: Destroy a non-hostile ship
		Cartel Boss Vulnerable	Yes	?	Assassinate hostiles
		Catch Dangerous Criminal	Yes	?	Assassinate hostiles
		Continued Xenon Threats	Yes	?	Assassinate hostiles
		Halting Marauder Activities	Yes	?	Emergent assassination mission
		Open Bountry Collection	?Yes	?	Assassinate hostiles
		Stop the Snitch	Yes	?	Assassinate neutral faction target
		Take Out Enemy Agent	Yes	?	Assassinate hostiles
	Patrol	Military Patrol	Yes	No	Multi-zone combat patrol
		Neighbourhood Watch	Yes	No		Multi-zone combat patrol
		Searching for Justice	Yes	?	Assassinate neutral faction target
		Seeking Patrol Pilots	Yes	No	Multi-zone combat patrol
		Xenon Scouts Spotted	?	?	Multi-zone combat patrol
	Piracy?	? Attack a friendly station	No	?	Piracy: Attack a friendly station
		? Steal wares from a friendly station	No	?	Piracy: Steal wares from a friendly station
		Prison Break	No	?	Piracy: Create a distraction by killing civilian ships
		Mass Chaos	No	?	Piracy: Create a distraction by killing civilian ships
		Random Acts of Distraction	No	?	Piracy: Create a distraction by killing civilian ships
	Protect	Criminal Attack Incoming	Yes	No	Station defensedefence
		Protection Detail	Yes	?	A 2-stage mission (Patrol and Transport)
		Protection Needed	?	?	A 2-stage mission (Patrol and Transport)
		Seeking Protection	Yes	?	A 3-stages stage mission chain
		Ship in Distress (HoL DLC only)	Yes	?	An emergent rescue mission
		Xenon Attack Incoming	Yes	?	Station defensedefence
		Xenon Targetting Targeting This Station	Yes	?	Station defensedefence

*  Diplomatic Aid missions have a video listed here.

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Hostile S+M ships tend to arrive via highways or super highways, whilst L and XL targets boost in. All hostiles are hell-bent on attacking the station so best arrive ASAP or you risk missing the action. As of v4.0, the payment is separated into a base reward and a bonus payment in order to minimise the affect effect of letting stations do all the killing.

With Xenon station defence missions the difficulty is an extremely rough approximation. On normal difficulty there is almost always at least 1 K L fighter and 3 P M fighters independent on of mission difficulty. Higher difficulty missions can have anywhere from 2 K L fighters capships to 16 P M fighters. It is worth noting that the fighter wing spawns are extremely biased towards P M fighters, which are the toughest M fighter and deal shield-penetrating damage. Unless the player brings along at least 2 to 3 XL fighter ships it is recommended that the K L fighters capships be left to the station defensesdefences.

Be careful around "Badlands Colony" and "Core Dig" stations. They don't have weapons, so if you start a station defence mission for them, you will have to kill all enemies yourself unless a friendly NPC patrol happens by..

Patrol Missions

This is similar to a chain of station defence missions in that you'll visit multiple zones and the various hostiles that may appear need killing. As with station defence missions, the payment is now separated into a base reward and a bonus payment.

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• The abandoned ships have the same ping colour as asteroids  so it is easiest to find them in zones without rocks.
• The mission marker disappears at the 50km mark. If you order a ship to your location and select it, you can use it's distance to help you move forward 

Ware shortage missions (v3.61-

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era notes; 4.0 seems to have improved this: see http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=4592177#4592177)

You're asked to deliver a specific quantity of <ware> to a station, but this order won't appear in the Trade Window until the mission is accepted. The station in question will probably have a trade offer up for the same ware, but the mission will not complete unless you fulfil the mission's demand (this prevents you auto-completing the mission with a suitable trade that's already on it's way: you'll have to set up or cancel & re-set-up a new trade to fulfil the mission's requirements).

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If you have (or can get) access to that ware for the mission's required amount through your own stations or discounts from NPCs (or simply stockpiling), take the mission first, then immediately set your tradeships to gather & deliver <ware> to take advantage of the trade bonus. If you don't do this immediately, the trade offers will update (as the mission committs commits you to fulfilling <ware> requirements, at a bonus) & you'll lose that opportunity..

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Sometimes when there's an existing order for the same ware, the mission order won't appear in the trade window and you'll only see the existing order (normally for a different quantity). If that happens, try making a sale to the existing order and the mission one may appear. If that works, quickly cancel the trade via you ship's info screen; hopefully the mission order will now be present alongside the original (cancelled) trade order. HINT: select <mission> <mission station's s> details from the map & look at their ware requirements: it's often easier than scrolling through the whole trade screen, even using the filter..

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