Updated for version 4.20
Introduction
The X-universe is filled with people needing help in the form of missions. Missions can be accepted to earn reputation with the giving faction, along with credits and occasionally other rewards.
Available missions are listed in the Mission Offers tab on the map:
Guidance missions
These are player-determined and only apply to the playership. Objects such as ships, stations, gates and lockboxes may be selected as destinations via the HUD, radar or Map and guidance will show the way to them. It is also possible to set a position in empty space as a destination via the map.
Generic missions
'Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got!' Until, or even after, you've found your place in galactic society, "generic" missions let you swap effort for hard cash, or occasionally for other random looted goodies.
There are a multitude of them:
- Assassination
- Clearing military objects
- Criminal termination
- Delivering crew
- Deploying objects
- Espionage
- Item or ware deliveries
- Lost item recovery
- Mining ship escort
- Passenger transport
- Repairing satellites
- Rescuing trapped ships
- Secret missions
- Station construction
- Theft recovery
There are multiple ways of finding and accepting these missions. When the player passes within radar range of stations, any generic missions offered by their population will be visible through icons on the HUD, radar and map, and will be listed in the Available Missions tab. Mission details are available from the "Open briefing" menu that is offered via the Available Missions tab or a right-click on the Map icon. The instant a mission is added to the Mission Offers tab and map, these icons also blink for a moment.
In contrast to most generic, publicly-available missions, some are secret and often illegal missions. The nefarious Individuals offering these missions do not post them openly: instead they try to contact potential pilots using disguised audio transmissions. Use the SCAN MODE (SHIFT + 2) near stations to find signal leaks that may offer secret missions: often the rewards for these types of missions are significantly higher than those of normal missions.. but of course the risk is higher too!
Upkeep Missions
The upkeep mission category holds small tasks related to player property. A ship that does not have a pilot, a station in urgent need of a manager and similar tasks to regain or improve functionality in the players empire. Completing these missions do not give rewards but help keep things running smoothly throughout your empire
Guild Missions
Faction missions are the highest and most important tier. A player must first gain a very good standing with a faction and be invited to the faction representative to get access. During the visit to the faction representative (i.e. at level +10 reputation) an offer to join a faction mission may be given. The most prominent but also most dangerous such examples are the war effort missions: several large wars are happening in the universe and the player can join either side.
After joining a War Effort Faction its path works as a subscription for many further missions. The player can choose which to pick from a list of offers.
Playing Multiple Missions At Once
There is no limit as to how many missions can be accepted at the same time with the exception of guild missions where only one can be accepted per guild at one time. While there can only be one mission active, many more can be accepted. Failing or aborting missions usually has no consequence, however in some cases failing a mission may be punished, especially during faction missions or if the mission is time-critical.
Crystal Clusters
In the depths of space there are treasures to be found and collected. When traveling through asteroid fields the player may spot small glints of light coming from asteroids. These glints are reflected from asteroid-placed Crystal Clusters which can be specifically targeted and shot at until they release their contents (if you shoot the asteroid itself it's unlikely to release the valuable crystals). The sale value of collected crystals can range from 1,000-250,000 credits each depending on their type, and also provide crafting materials.
Lockboxes
Use of the long range scanner or flying in the right place at the right time may reveal Lockboxes floating in space. Lockboxes require the player to accurately shoot between 1-16 glowing red locks off the spinning box to open without dealing enough damage to destroy the box along with the contents. Lockboxes usually drop items for the player inventory, with the number of dropped wares being proportional to the number of locks. It's recommended to use a low power weapon to do this, as some boxes can be very dangerous if destroyed at close range
Tips: The Lockboxes can spin quite fast sometimes. By carefully nudging the Lockbox with a ship the rotation speed of the Lockbox can decrease, making it easier to aim correctly at the locks: the locks don't appear to (currently) react to collision damage: only the entire structure is affected, if at all
Data Vaults
Occasionally the player will encounter large satellite shaped Data Vaults floating in space. These puzzles require the player to use a combination of techniques to open, including damage, repair and scanning.
In order to open these all pressure valves & power relays on the outside must be repaired (red illuminated displays). To to this you'll have to approach the display in a space suit, then use its repair laser to repair the displays at a target distance of 25 meters or less