SS2 Training Missions Project

[67437f168c0d6icemann]

In continuation of the conversation going towards this in the thread https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=5567.0, regarding turning the text based descriptions of the training missions that go on at the start of SS2 into full blown but short FMs. These would only need to go for 5-10 minutes each and generally (depending on the mission done for that segment) revolve around completing 1-2 simple tasks.

The following is a list of the training missions available, as each is taken on as a FM to do by a forum user a line will be put through that listing with the name of the user doing the mission.

Training Missions (Navy):

Year 1 - UNN Lucille

1. Ships's Ops - Reward: +1 hack, +1 Strength
2. Engineer's Mate - Reward: +1 Repair, +1 Strength
3. Military Police - Reward: +1 Modify, +1 Strength

Year 2 -

4. Navigator's Mate - UNN Carfax - Reward: +2 Cyber-affinity
5. Ordnance Master - UNN Pierce - Reward: +1 Maintenance
6. Tactical Training School - Laverne Tactical Training School - Reward: +2 Standard Weapons

Year 3 -

7. Lab Assistant - Marie Curie Research Facility - Reward: +1 Research
8. Survival Training - Io Survival Training School - Reward: +2 Endurance
9: Zero-G Training - Yamamoto Zero-G Training - Reward:  +2 Agility

Mission Detailed Overviews:

Year 1 - UNN Lucille

1. Ships's Ops - Reward: +1 hack, +1 Strength

February 13, 2112

Your tour of duty aboard the UNN Lucille has concluded. You've spent a productive year. Captain Mayer was pleased with your work, especially with the initiative you showed in physical training. A friendly ensign showed you some backdoors into the ship's primary data loop and you spent your time off pumping good old fashioned iron.

* Conduct physical training exercise lifting weights
* Learn how to hack into a system with help from a fellow ensign

2. Engineer's Mate - Reward: +1 Repair, +1 Strength

February 13, 2112

Your tour of duty aboard the UNN Lucille has concluded. You've spent a productive year. Captain Mayer was pleased with your work, especially with your willingness to getting your hands dirty. You also showed a special aptitude for fixing what got broken and lugging out what couldn't be fixed.

* Conduct physical training exercise of some sort (not directly hinted at but you do get the +1 to strength)
* Fix several broken pieces of equipment

3. Military Police - Reward: +1 Modify, +1 Strength

February 13, 2112

Your tour of duty aboard the UNN Lucille has concluded. You've spent a productive year, though you didn't make a lot of friends. Between toughening up by putting drunken middies in the sickbay, you had plenty of down time in the armory to play the pretty toys.

* Break up a bar fight
* Spend time in the armory learning how to modify weapons

Year 2 -

4. Navigator's Mate - UNN Carfax - Reward: +2 Cyber-affinity

February 11, 2113

Your stay aboard the UNN Carfax has concluded. It was a good year for you, but not a good one for the Carfax. After taking a surprise hit by a small meteorite that separated from the larger mass, the Carfax was forced to limp home, with 123 casualties, including the chief navigation officer. You stepped in and filled his shoes and by the end of the year, you became quite skilled the neuro-nav interface.

* Ship hit by meteor. Numerous causalities (123 casualties mentioned in the text including the chief navigation officer).
* Step in for the chief navigation officer, assisting with navigation tasks to help the ship get home.

5. Ordnance Master - UNN Pierce - Reward: +1 Maintenance

February 11, 2113

Your stay aboard the UNN Pierce has concluded. Your year's tour was carried out without a hitch, except that one of the "prisoners" turned out to be a dissident spy. Before and after the excitement of his summary execution, you learned a fair bit about weapon's maintenance from each of the lifer's onboard.

* On board the prison ship one the prisoners turns out to be a dissident spy.
* Perform maintenance on your weapon (gun) before beginning the execution.
* Execute the prisoner

6. Laverne Tactical Training School - Reward: +2 Standard Weapons

February 11, 2113

Your tour of duty at the LaVerne Tactical Training School has concluded. A year of firing ranges, mock boarding parties and war games has done you good. You spent plenty of time with military grade pistols, assault rifles and even auto-shotguns.

* Set at a shooting range
* Perform training exercises:
  * Shooting range in which you get to test the pistol, assault rife and the shotgun
  * Take part in boarding party exercise

Year 3 -

7. Lab Assistant - Marie Curie Research Facility - Reward: +1 Research

February 9, 2114

Your tour of duty at the Marie Curie Research Facility has concluded. Congratulations on surviving the disaster, sailor. When the saboteurs removed the safety seals and released the virus into the atmospheric control regulators, you were one of the few to reach safety in time. However, you were able to pick up a few odds and ends of research techniques before the crap hit the fan.

* Conduct research on artifacts or compounds.
* Saboteur's release virus into the atmospheric control regulators
* Escape the facility before you die from the virus

8. Survival Training - Io Survival Training School - Reward: +2 Endurance

February 9, 2114

Your tour of duty at the Io Survival Training School has concluded. You managed to survive your time there... barely. The encounter with a descendant of a Citadel Station tiger mutant put you in the sickbay for a month. You learned to respect the wonders of biogentics and have trained your body to excellent physical condition.

* Wander around the training facility
* Get into a fight with a citadel station mutant tiger
* After the fight you go to sick bay and spend a month there

9: Zero-G Training - Yamamoto Zero-G Training - Reward:  +2 Agility

February 9, 2114

Your tour of duty at Yamamoto Station has concluded. You certainly weren't prepared for the events of this year. Captain Willits was never popular with his men, but you never expected half the crew to mutiny. The taut days spent regaining control of the ship with the Captain lent you a grace and agility you never knew you were capable of.

* Half the ships crew mutiny against its captain "Captain Willits"
* Help the captain regain the ship back

Training Missions (Marines):

Year 1 -

1. Ordnance Master Mate - Supply Ship Gallo - Reward: +2 Strength
2. Survival Training - Io Survival Training School - Reward: +2 Endurance
3. Zero-Grav Training - Guadalcanal Zero-Grav Training - Reward: +2 Agility

Year 2 -

4. Gunnery Mate - UNN Antigua- Reward: +1 Energy Weapons, +1 Cyber Affinity
5. Asteroid Pickets - JM-432/Asteroid Belt - Reward: +1 Heavy Weapons, +1 Cyber Affinity
6. Staff Assistant, Weapons Range - Port MacArthur - Reward: +2 Standard Weapons

Year 3 -

7. Honor Guard, MP - UNN Home Office - Reward: +1 Maintenance
8. Quash Rebellion - Poledes Training Station - Reward: +1 Modify
9: Ship's Systems Consultant - UNN Antigua - Reward: +1 Repair

Mission Detailed Overviews:

Year 1 -

1. Ordnance Master Mate - Supply Ship Gallo - Reward: +2 Strength

February 12, 2112

Your stint aboard the UNN Gallo is finished. Well, you spent more exciting years, haven't you, marine? If you ever look at another UNN packing crate, you'll put in a bullet in your head. But you used the time well and bulked up considerably.

2. Survival Training - Io Survival Training School - Reward: +2 Endurance

February 12, 2112

Your stint Io Survival School is finished. You managed to survive your time there... barely. The encounter with a descendant of a Citadel Station tiger mutant put you in the sickbay for a month. But now your one tough marine.

3. Zero-Grav Training - Guadalcanal Zero-Grav Training - Reward: +2 Agility

February 12, 2112

Your year on Guadalcanal Station is finished. The place served you well, leatherneck and your sleeker than ever. Maybe if you spent less time drinking the lighter fluid they serve in the commissary, you might have done even better.

Year 2 -

4. Gunnery Mate - UNN Antigua - Reward: +1 Energy Weapons, +1 Cyber Affinity

February 23, 2113

Time to get off the UNN Antigua and back to Wake Island Station, and not a month too soon. Five months into your posting, the Gunnery Sergent snapped during a training exercise, and killed half a troop with live plasma fire before you tackled him. After that, you were in charge of the exercises, and in the months after, got pretty good with low-energy beam weapons.

5. Asteroid Pickets - JM-432/Asteroid Belt - Reward: +1 Heavy Weapons, +1 Cyber Affinity

February 23, 2113

Time to get out off the Asteroid Belt and back to Wake Island Station. You'll probably have nightmares about cramped little tunnels for years, but you and the team got the jobs done. A combination of EMP grenades and high explosives will stop most hostile machinery, and in your year in the Belt, you got a lot of practice at knocking the "Borgs" and "bots" right back to the assembly line.

6. Staff Assistant, Weapons Range - Port MacArthur - Reward: +2 Standard Weapons

February 23, 2113

Time to get out off Port MacArthur and back to Wake Island Station. You got to pickup and refill more shell casing than you can count. You even got the occasionally play the live targets in an expert exercise. Still, you can't spend a year at the Mac without learning something. You picked up a good amount of standard weapons skill and even impressed some of the Mac's technicians.

Year 3 -

7. Honor Guard, MP - UNN Home Office - Reward: +1 Maintenance

February 9, 2114

Get back to Wake Island Station pronto - your tour of duty at the UNN Home Office is finished. After a year of practice in the honor guard, you look sharp in a uniform. And you're a lot better at keeping at keeping your rifle in tip-top shiny condition. If you had been bored much longer, you might have been tempted to take pot-shots at the tourists. Still, the maintenance skill might come in handy someday.

8. Quash Rebellion - Poledes Training Station - Reward: +1 Modify

February 9, 2114

Get back to Wake Island Station pronto - your year on Polides Station is finished. Taking on the Magnate's forces was a cakewalk - you hardly spent any ammo at all. The second fight, when his lieutenant made a play for the station, wasn't much harder. The only thing you thought was mildly interesting was taking apart the black market weapons afterwards to see what fancy mods they'd made.

9: Ship's Systems Consultant - UNN Antigua - Reward: +1 Repair

February 9, 2114

Get back to Wake Island Station pronto - your tour of the UNN Antigua is finished. You kept the Antigua working for six months, when every system in the book crashed daily. But your real problems came when the convicts the Air Service was shipping through decided to try a revolt. It took you the rest of the trip to get the smell of explosives out of the air scrubbers, but you learned how to repair the damn things.

Training Missions (OSA):

Year 1 -

1. Sens Dep 925/NP5: Cyber Empathy - Shao Ling - Reward: Two Tier 2 Disciplines, Cyrokinesis and Psychogenic Cyber Affinity.
2. Sens Dep 437/WH1: Kinetic Empathy - Ru Nang - Reward: Two Tier 2 Disciplines, Cyrokinesis and Kinetic Redirection.
3. Sens Dep Tank 003/MU5: Mass Alteration - Chu Lun - Reward: Two Tier 2 Disciplines, Cyrokinesis and Psycho Reflective Screen.

Year 2 -

4. Telepathic Interrogation/Engramanalysis - OSA Central Core - Reward: +2 Psionic Ability
5. Experimental Lab, TOS Ki Luan - Ki Luan Research Lab - Reward: +1 Research
6. Tactical Psionic Training/Deep Cover - Io Facility - Reward: +2 Endurance

Year 3 -

7. Field Operations, Anti-Terroism - OSA Central Core - Reward: +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Cyber Affinity and Psychogenic Agility
8. Field Operations, Selections Group - OSA Field Base - Reward: +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Cyber Affinity and Neuro Reflex Dampening
9. Tactical Psionic Training/Deep Cover - OSA Field Base - Reward: +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Cyber Affinity and Remote Electron Tampering

Mission Detailed Overviews:

Year 1 -

1. Sens Dep 925/NP5: Cyber Empathy - Shao Ling - Reward: Two Tier 2 Disciplines, Cyrokinesis and Psychogenic Cyber Affinity.

15 February 2112

Your year in the tanks of the Shao Ling is finished. Your will has grown. Your mind can Freeze your foes in their tracks and you can attune your mind to the inner workings of machines. Second tier disciplines are within your grasp. You may now take your skills into the field, to pit them against our enemies.

2. Sens Dep 437/WH1: Kinetic Empathy - Ru Nang - Reward: Two Tier 2 Disciplines, Cyrokinesis and Kinetic Redirection.

15 February 2112

Your year in the tanks of the Ru Nang is finished. Your will has grown. Your mind can Freeze your foes in their tracks and pull distant objects to you. These talents will serve you well. Second tier disciplines are within your grasp. You may now take your skills into the field, to pit them against our enemies.

3. Sens Dep Tank 003/MU5: Mass Alteration - Chu Lun - Reward: Two Tier 2 Disciplines, Cyrokinesis and Psycho Reflective Screen.

15 February 2112

Your year in the tanks of the Chu Lun is finished. Your will has grown. Can you feel it gather to strike? You have learned how to freeze your foes in their tracks and how to shield yourself from them as well. Second tier disciplines are within your grasp. You may now take your skills into the field, to pit them against our enemies.

Year 2 -

4. Telepathic Interrogation/Engramanalysis - OSA Central Core - Reward: +2 Psionic Ability

23 February 2113

Your time of service at the OSA Central Core has reached its end. Your year was mostly peaceful, with one major exception. The hired assassin tried to disguise her intentions under a layer of quite explicit daydreams, but you were not deceived. Near the end, you felt the presence of her fading thoughts enter your own mind, and then vanish like a clearing mist.

5. Experimental Lab, TOS Ki Luan - Ki Luan Research Lab - Reward: +1 Research

23 February 2113

Your time of service at the Ki Luan has reached its end. Maintaining patience for a year under the emotional Dr. Chandrisvilan's patronage was difficult. However, careful observation of his technique [and a careful, if illicit, examination of his laboratory notebooks] has led you to a better understanding of the process of research.

6. Tactical Psionic Training/Deep Cover - Io Facility - Reward: +2 Endurance

23 February 2113

Your are directed to return to Station 74/34A. Your year at the Io Facility has reached its conclusion. You know now that the only real opponent is one that is more cunning than you. You used the cadets around you as prey and learned from their failings. You sense the struggle has greatly increased your physical prowess.

Year 3 -

7. Field Operations, Anti-Terroism - OSA Central Core - Reward: +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Cyber Affinity and Psychogenic Agility

9 February 2114

You are directed to return to Station 74/34A. Your year with the OSA Central Core has reached its conclusion. You learned the ways of lifting secrets from the minds of enemies and disarming their devices. But when it came time to act, speed, both naturally and mentally enhanced was critical.

8. Field Operations, Selections Group - OSA Field Base - Reward: +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Cyber Affinity and Neuro Reflex Dampening

9 February 2114

You are directed to return to Station 74/34A. Your year with the OSA Field Base has reached its conclusion. You have enjoyed your power over life and death, and your careful moves served to prevent great chaos and further death. You learned the art of deadly motion, and the art of complete stillness.

9. Tactical Psionic Training/Deep Cover - OSA Field Base - Reward: +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Cyber Affinity and Remote Electron Tampering

9 February 2114

Your time of service at the OSA Field Base has reached its end. Even now your mind is somewhat clouded and you do not recall all the details. You played your part well for most of a year, and your enemies called you friend, until you fell upon them with all your talents.

[67437f168c23eTricky]

Isn't that only the navy?

I think we should get the full mission texts this board as well and decide what to do with them. It's hard to summarize a year long experience in a short map, it should probably only contain one interesting portion of it. I don't think it will flow well story-wise if you just do a series of mini tasks that give you all respective stat upgrades.

[67437f168c3bevoodoo47]

and remember, for this to make any sense, the full, military grade cyber interface needs to be avoided. so probably no hud - this will make things difficult.

[67437f168c49cicemann]

You'd not be able to do research or maintenance without the interface though. Hmm.

[67437f168c5ccvoodoo47]

yes, something new would have to be made for that, for example a research terminal where you would have to load the chems and objects, and would also provide a research interface. as I've said, no easy task, if you don't want this to be half-assed.

still no idea how to convert the "uneventful honor guard maintenance +1 year" into a working mission though.

[67437f168c6c4Tricky]

Make the player stand still for two or three minutes, while a boring conversation occurs within earshot?

And then there's the sensory deprivation tank. That should be the easiest map to create. No light no sound.

[67437f168c7b6Tricky]

There should also be a serious drawback to not having that internal cyber gear. Maybe every special action costs power? Fail too many times and you have to return to maintenance to recharge your 'portable battery'.

[67437f168cdc0unn_atropos]

yes, something new would have to be made for that, for example a research terminal where you would have to load the chems and objects, and would also provide a research interface. as I've said, no easy task, if you don't want this to be half-assed.

The minstrel had something like that. You had to put an organ into an device to research it.

[67437f168cedeicemann]

First post updated with the full text briefings from the Navy and Marines missions. I'll add the OSA one soon. If any of the missions interest you (in being the mapper for) be sure to post and I'll put your name next to it.

It looks like the total amount of missions is 27. 9 per class.

[67437f168d2c3Olfred]

and remember, for this to make any sense, the full, military grade cyber interface needs to be avoided. so probably no hud - this will make things difficult.

As I've already said in the starting thread. I would say there are probably some kind of devices you just put on, instead of getting them implanted. Some augmented reality device (like google glass).
And the training on earth, you also get a HUD.

As for helping out with the FMs. I could provide help in regards of creating models, but I can't texture them so someone else would be needed for that.

[67437f168d3c3Tricky]

We still need to make some decisions on how long they're going to be. Size of the map vs time to complete, etc. Consistency between modders will be a major issue.

[67437f168d4e4icemann]

I think aiming for maps that take no more than 5-10 minutes to complete should be fine.

[67437f168d678Hikari]

Re Interfacing: Keep in mind the von braun had upgrade stations for a reason. Just because the R-Grade set of implants was illegal didn't mean implants in general weren't near-universal especially in millitary.

Probably the key differences were in the fact 'normal' implants aren't as flexible, and only psi-ops spooks have the psi set of upgrades (probably very expensive hardware.)

[67437f168d7caJoin2]

Wow, most of these will be tough and require a lot of custom assets. Sure this is a good idea?

If it's going down I'll probably do the Zero-G one.

[67437f168d935ZylonBane]

I really don't see this happening. A tiny handful of the described events might make for fun mini-missions, but most of them sound either tedious or impossible to do in Dark with any degree of fidelity. A mission that isn't fun or interesting has no business being inflicted on the player.

[67437f168dbfdKolya]

Awesome! Let's make a contest. Systemshock.org will give 75 EUR (or 100 USD) via Paypal to the author of the best training mission.
The winner will be decided by the community on 26th October. (About 3 months from now.)

Your mind cannot conceive of the stakes we are dealing with here...
Everyone can raise the winners prize for this contest by donating via the Paypal button in the top right. Please mention the "training missions contest" in the comment box while donating.   

Smallprint
There have to be at least two different entries by different persons for this contest to take place (no prize otherwise, donated money will be returned). You can make multiple entries. The mission has to work as a training mission.

[67437f168dd31Tricky]

That's nice, Kolya.

I've been looking at all these descriptions. So all these events are happening over a time span of a year, but you're learning all the relevant skills in a matter of five minutes..

Yah. Tedious is putting it lightly. A five minute symbolic mission just breaks the immersion.

I'm sorry, my mind is going back and forth on this. 

[67437f168e009Join2]

I'm sorry, my mind is going back and forth on this. 

Agreed, but money 

Couldn't we just modify some of the more boring mission summaries to allow better gameplay, or is modification of Shock's writing an unspoken felony around here?

[67437f168e106Kolya]

If it's a great mission I doubt anyone will hold you to the exact words in the description. I know I won't.

[67437f168e20bJoin2]

Ground rules? No modification of gamesys? Assets used from other mods? etc.

[67437f168e398JamesRossi]

Looking at the list you can significantly shorten the required physical mapping. You'll need to do new scripting though.

Locations like the Ships. There's the UNN Lucille (x3), UNN Carfax, UNN Pierce, UNN Gallo, UNN Antigua (x2), and any others in the OSA missions not yet listed. Really there does not need to be 5+ custom designs. Reusing the same basic simplistic layout and altering the item placements and door textures is all you'd really need. It seriously cuts down on the work required.

I'd say you could cut things down to:

Ship Archetype
Station Archetype
Interplanetary Base Archetype
Earth Based Base Archetype
Sensory Deprivation Setup
Tunnels (Marines Year 2, could be rethought such as base minus windows)

Could even merge the interplanetary and earth bases by altering just the outdoor skyboxes and such. When you view it like that the work starts to offload more on scripting than level creation which is certainly still a challenge but there may be people who are good enough to script, but not into the mapping portion.

[67437f168e675Kolya]

Ground rules? No modification of gamesys? Assets used from other mods? etc.

If this was directed at me, I didn't quite understand the first question.
Modifying the gamesys is probably not desirable for a mod like this. That's not a rule though. If your mission is so awesome that people go with it, more power to you.
As for using assets from other mods: As long as you get the authors permission (if they can be reached) I guess that's cool. Of course a mission that consists too much of other people's work may not get voted very high, but that's not up to me.

[67437f168e9e3unn_atropos]

Your mind cannot conceive of the stakes we are dealing with here...

Oh yeah! Now it's finally time for the joke that I was carrying in my brain for years!

[Your mind cannot conceive of the steaks we are dealing with here....jpg expired]

[67437f168eaebZylonBane]

"Steakes"?