A Guide for Missions

[Callistonian]

The mission is created spontaneously if the target character is nearby and within reach of your assassin.

Yes, there is a proximity condition between target and assassin and between target and owned settlements and both must be satisfied for the mission to be created. Hence the mission is never created if the target is further away than a neighboring region, which is the whole point of the inquiry - to try to circumvent this somehow.

It can also be created regardless of distance if done via script.

Yes, but only if the target's label is known. We can change labels with EOP but this is problematic if the character happened to have a label beforehand which would be overwritten at least temporarily.

Believe it, you probably will not want this to change. It would suck if the game could give you impossible missions. Even if you increased the mission duration, it would suck to always be ordered to assassinate someone who is half a world away.

So you're saying: "CA didn't want to do this thing, so why should you?" to which I would reply... we're modders.

You can believe that I do want the mission to change because my mod has need for an assassination mission targeting characters on the other side of the map. The proximity condition for assassin-to-target is all that's really needed for this mission type as this mission would be viable even if the target is on the other side of the map so long as you have a nearby assassin. The inclusion of a target-to-own-settlement condition seems like a bug on CA's part. I would prefer if they'd made both of these conditions parameters (like for the blockade mission) rather than hard coding them.

[Jadli]

Maybe try putting tiles of regions to other regions, perhaps that would make it happen

Maybe some island off the playable map, where most major regions would neighbor each other...

[es157]

Dont mistake guild_build (as I assume thats what you meant) with what it is. It gives you a building as a reward, its not tasking you with building something. However, one can fortunately use papal_build_church as non pope mission, it works.
But otherwise no...

Oh sorry. I didn't mean the gifts you gain in the form of buildings. I meant the missions that ask you to build certain buildings.

I heard that the pope missions work with the non_pope line, but I still have many issues about them. First, which pope mission type should I use? (I think there are several different types such as build_small_church, build_cathedral, etc). I heard that there are differences in mechanics between those types. And second, I couldn't get those mission types to trigger. What are their hardcoded requirements, any clue?

Edit: An afterthought I had in regards to custom sources. In case I want to make a particular character the mission's source, I fear one inevitable downside is that said character's death will not cause the mission to fail or expire. Besides, in most cases the mission will be issued even if the source character is already dead to begin with, unless it is issued by script and "I_CharacterExists" is used as a parameter. Am I correct?

[Gigantus]

...I fear one inevitable downside is that said character's death will not cause the mission to fail or expire.

If the assigned target is dead by other means then it triggers the 'EXPIRY_DEATH' message which terminates the mission. At least that's how I think it works for all the default assassinate missions (cardinals, heretics etc). Have you got that message for your custom mission? Add 'EXPIRY_ALLIED' for good measure, it's bad manners to kill your new allies.

[es157]

If the assigned target is dead by other means then it triggers the 'EXPIRY_DEATH' message which terminates the mission. At least that's how I think it works for all the default assassinate missions (cardinals, heretics etc). Have you got that message for your custom mission? Add 'EXPIRY_ALLIED' for good measure, it's bad manners to kill your new allies.

Oh no, what I mean is that if I create a custom source (the people who give you the mission), I can't put together a way to make the mission expire in case the source dies.

For example, if I make Sauron the mission source, even if Sauron dies the mission will not expire, and you can still fail or succeed normally. You can't create your own custom parameters for expiry.

[Jadli]

Interesting... you mean Sauron as a source faction (take settlement) or as a character (regicide, or what else could you possibly mean)? With the take settlement, perhaps the only_dead_source_faction could do somth... or maybe using some diplomacy command to lift it?

Oh sorry. I didn't mean the gifts you gain in the form of buildings. I meant the missions that ask you to build certain buildings.

I heard that the pope missions work with the non_pope line, but I still have many issues about them. First, which pope mission type should I use? (I think there are several different types such as build_small_church, build_cathedral, etc). I heard that there are differences in mechanics between those types. And second, I couldn't get those mission types to trigger. What are their hardcoded requirements, any clue?

Not sure what do you mean about non pope missiob parameter.i literally referenced you to the post where I list the missions that work with it

I discussed the build mission with Withwnar in this thread.. it appears this mission type works only for the first building in the tree chain, i.e., the small church one. Hence all the other missions except small church are never given apparently.

[es157]

Interesting... you mean Sauron as a source faction (take settlement) or as a character (regicide, or what else could you possibly mean)? With the take settlement, perhaps the only_dead_source_faction could do somth... or maybe using some diplomacy command to lift it?

Not sure what do you mean about non pope missiob parameter.i literally referenced you to the post where I list the missions that work with it

I discussed the build mission with Withwnar in this thread.. it appears this mission type works only for the first building in the tree chain, i.e., the small church one. Hence all the other missions except small church are never given apparently.

Is there a script command to cancel missions?

This... Only the first building in the tree works. That's what I was asking for. I'll make a test and see if the mission triggers now.

EDIT: The mission still doesn't trigger! Maybe there is some hardcoded parameter such as minimum number of heretics?

Here is what my mission looks like:

mission papal_build_church build_drinking_house
{
POPULAR_MISSION
duration 20
exclude_duration 25
score_modifier 1.0
turn_start 1
factions { byzantium, venice, england, denmark, spain, scotland, france, sicily, milan, moors, }
paybacks
{
payback_id pop_mission_big
}


non_pope_mission ; this mission does not rely on the pope being a valid faction
min_treasury 1000 ; minimum treasury for issue of this mission
buildings { brothel }
}

I intended it to be issued spontaneously instead of having to issue it through script. But apparently having the minimum treasury and lacking the brothel building is not enough for the game to assign this mission to me.

[Jadli]

You didnt answer, what exactly is your source? You cant cancel mission directly, only by expiring, failing, etc

Did you use correct console command format? The create mission also needs a target settlement, hence its "create_mission papal_build_church faction settlement" (or shuffled around). Did you delete some of the original parameters of the mission? If so, put them back I guess...

[es157]

You didnt answer, what exactly is your source? You cant cancel mission directly, only by expiring, failing, etc

Did you use correct console command format? The create mission also needs a target settlement, hence its "create_mission papal_build_church faction settlement" (or shuffled around). Did you delete some of the original parameters of the mission? If so, put them back I guess...

The "source" is just whatever I write in the source entry in missions.txt. It doesn't mean anything to the game, it's pure aesthetics. In place of COUNCIL_MISSION, I simply put something else such as SAURON_MISSION. But that doesn't make the mission connected to the character Sauron in any way. That's what I was pointing as a problem. Apparently one can't establish a true link between the mission source and its namesake character.

I don't want to use console_commands. I was thinking that I could let the mission be issued spontaneously by the basic mission mechanics. Was I wrong? That would be frustrating to know.

[Jadli]

Well, there is quite a literal way to establish the connection... the source text is just a decription, its not tied to any kind of game mechanic, so why would you assume it would be lifted in case when the source faction/character dies, as it has zero connection to the custom text you use . I was talking about actual in game sources, i.e., a faction (source_faction in take_settlement), a guild (guild missions), pope or for example a faction heir (regicide)... Though, in case you test this, let me know, would be interested to see what happens to a mission if the source faction or source character dies. Afaik, if I remember correctly, a guild mission is not lifted even if you lose the guild after the mission was issued by the guild... not sure about the other sources though.

Yea, the mission ofc works spontaneously... (you receive it in vanilla quite often....) but for testing purposes its ofc faster to use create_mission to see if the mission itself actually works. If you want to test wherether its given spontaneously, delete all other missions temporarily, or incease its score (or both)

[es157]

I didn't assume. I asked if there was a way. As far as testing goes, it doesn't work (no surprise here). The death of the "source" character doesn't cause the mission to expire because they aren't connected in any way.

[Jadli]

Well, I found out this was coded partially incorrectly. While it works, it also gave you the reward recruitment even when you failed the mission

I can probably fix it by "LeaderMissionSuccess" or "MissionSucceeded", but not sure if it exports what I need, will have to test...

Yea, using it like:

monitor_event LeaderMissionSuccess PaybackID guild_fighters_min1

fixes the issue. The Recruitment is enabled only when the mission is succesful

[Jadli]

Not sure if this has been already posted here, but I would advise everyone to replace "best_buildable_unit" reward with "buildable_unit". The best buildable_unit is unfortunately bugged, eventhough its used by several vanilla missions (and hence in most mods, as most of them use unmodified vanilla missions.

The bug is that for ecample if you write

 best_buildable_unit  1000 4

, it is supposed to give you 4 pieces of the best unit available, with price of the unit up to 1000 florins/septims/whatever... But unfortunately, the price part doesnt do anything, it simply gives you 4 of the best units available, no matter their price.

Hence, this is very problematic and disbalancing feature, that can be (unknowingly) exploited by players a lot. This is of course mainly an issue in mods with longer recruitment, where elite units are rare/hard to get, or when there for examle are various OP AoR units and so on. (btw, a unit is considered "available" for the reward, if at least one full unit is replenished in your recruit pools... so you can easily affect which unit you can get by moving units in a recruitment queue)

So, you all should replace the instances of "best_buildable_unit" reward with "buildable_unit" in your mods, such as like this

 buildable_unit  1000 4

This gives you 4 units with a price per each max per 1000, but it doesnt give you the best one, but a randomly selected unit within the price cap....

Maybe this should be added to the OP by mods, as this is one of the greatest bugs for sure, especially as its used in almost every mod out there.

PS:

 best_exotic_unit 1200 2

Gives you the best units from the price interval that are NOT yet available to you (via recruit pools)
Maybe while at it, to the OP could be also added some less known reward types for missions (though they were all discussed in this thread I think

 income_percent 0.33

gives you for example 33% precent of your income as a reward (might be better to use this instead of usual "money" reward, as its naturally scaled to the factional size...

 assassination_chance    0.1

this is a kinda fun one, its used as a penalty (from assassins guild), not as a reward. Written like this, each of your generals has 10% chance that he dies upon failing such a mission

[Callistonian]

Have you tested that 'best_exotic_unit' works? The comments at the top of the vanilla file only list 'minor_exotic_unit' and 'major_exotic_unit'.

Does 'income_percent' actually work? It only shows up in comments for the 'money' reward in the vanilla file.

Are there any other working paybacks that aren't listed?

[Jadli]

Yes, I tested all of them, and using them in my mod. All I wrote in the thread is valid.

For income_percent, go back a a page or two, jojo explained it. As I said, best_exotic_unit simply gives you units from your roster, that is yet not available (not high enough barracks, etc), so could be a nice unique reward to be used in mods for sure.
"'minor_exotic_unit' and 'major_exotic_unit" Apparently dont exist, only best_exotic_unit afaik (this is dicussed by Withwnar and so on on the first page I think)

These are all the hardcoded rewards I think... (tho you can do whatever reward you want via null_payback and so on ofc )

EDIT

For your documendos, this might be also useful... tested for which missions I can get create_mission command working

; missions that can be given via create_mission:


; create_mission assassinate_general receiving_faction target_character_label
; create_mission council_take_settlement receiving_faction (workss also for guild_take_settlement and council_take_rebel_settlement)
; create_mission council_blockade_port receiving_faction
; create_mission send_emissary receiving_faction
; create_mission reinforce_region receiving_faction
; create_mission send_emissary receiving_faction
; create_mission give_ancillary receiving_faction
; create_mission gift_from_council receiving_faction (gift_from_pope also works) 
; create_mission adventure_crusader receiving_faction character_label
; create_mission council_marry_princess receiving_faction
; create_mission assassinate_witch_heretic receiving_faction
; create_mission papal_build_church receiving_faction settlement


;these dont seem to work

; guild_build
; guild_trade_agreement
; guild_recruit_agent
; guild_acquisition
; regicide
; annex_settlement ( I suspect that one can perhaps work with right circumstances?)
; recruit_priest
; give_cash
; convert
; break_alliance ?????
; papal_blockade_port
; assassinate_cardinal
; cease_hostilities
; return_papal_settlement
; give_settlement
;
; missions that can be linked via link link_mission_id 
; give_settlement, convert, council_take_settlement, gift_from_council, give_cash, convert, recruit_priest

[bitterhowl]

Hmmm, can we use reinforce_region mission for AI to avoid garrison script using?

[Callistonian]

Have you seen anything in the AI data files to suggest the AI acts on missions? For that matter, is there any evidence the AI acts on campaign victory conditions?

[bitterhowl]

I saw mention about "AI chance to mission modifier" or something like that, so I decided that AI use missions too.

As for victory conditions - first is target_faction_to_outlive in CAI config file, and second is that AI often won campaign in my hotseat tests first than my test faction, you think it was just random?

[Callistonian]

In which file did you find this modifier and is 'target_faction_to_outlive' a valid decision entry in descr_campaign_ai_db.xml? If so, do you have a usage example? I'm guessing it comes from one of the expansions as I don't see it in the vanilla file.

I don't know what your campaign looks like, but the fact that the AI can win the campaign doesn't necessarily mean they pursued their victory conditions to do so. It seems like it would be really difficult to conclusively demonstrate that the AI acted on their victory conditions to win a campaign as opposed to just winning through coincidence (pursuing their regular invade/defend decisions until they eventually satisfy the victory conditions). I don't think it's possible to prove the AI intentionally tries to satisfy a number of regions condition because the AI just captures regions as they can. Outliving particular factions also seems really difficult to prove because it depends on diplomacy stuff. The easiest, but still challenging, would be testing the condition that they control specific regions. I'm imagining a circular campaign map with the AI capital at the center and one of the regions on the circle as a victory condition - if the AI primarily targets that region first, then it would prove the AI acts on their victory conditions. But that would be a pain to set up and test...

Testing if the AI gets missions would probably be somewhat easier, but still a major time investment if you want to test all mission types.

It would probably be better to get a definitive answer from someone who's looked at the game code rather than trying to test if the AI acts on all mission types or all victory conditions.

Edit: I'm surprised I'm not finding many threads on this topic. Some old threads seem really convinced that VCs work for the AI but only in specific wand-waving circumstances like eliminating the total regions held conditions, which disagrees with other threads. In my own experience, it seems the AI does indeed prioritize the regions they must hold in their VCs, but this is extremely anecdotal.

[bitterhowl]

Well, yes, I'm using outlive parameters in my CAI TrueGeneral and give some instructions such as restricted peace, alliance and protectorates treatment between this factions. I also add invade_priority and desire_points to outlive_target. This way AI behaviour could simulate victory conditions achieving.

But you're right - let's speak those who saw engine machinery from inside. My question is just how to use missions mechanics in-game.

And another question from me - do the mission parameters hardcoded to mission types, for example - assassination_chance working only for assassins_guild? Or I can use it in every mission I lke as a penalty?