Privateer 2: Can't complete mission "Davis & Co. Armaments and Supplies, Nerve Weapon - Part C"

[avengah]

It's the final part of a three-part mission: https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Davis_&_Co._Armaments_and_Supplies,_Nerve_Weapon_-_Part_C

I've been sent to Nav #221. When I get there, there are two Duresses and two Heretics. Sometimes a few other pirates appear; usually Kiowan but not always. According to the wiki and official guide, there are supposed to be CRUISERS, which seems overkill for this mission. But they never show. I've waited ages, I've even tried jumping away and back again, and one time I killed all enemy ships that spawned then landed somewhere to save, only to find nothing of interest at the nav point when I returned.

Is this mission glitched? Is there a way to beat it? And if I fail the mission, does it matter at all; i.e. has anyone been through the source code if available (or decompiled it or something) to see if failing a mission is saved to your profile? Thanks for any help you can give me.

I've tried both the unofficial patch and DOSBOX version, and had the same problems with both.

EDIT: I can provide a save file or two if necessary. Maybe someone can have a look at it? I think I have one save on its last landout before the mission fails, and possibly a save from the previous landing (which was the save I used to destroy the ships then land, only to find nothing but random encounters at that Nav Point upon revisiting it afterwards). I suppose it's also possible the other active missions are somehow clashing and causing the win condition to fail to trigger? I know missions can clash; it's happened to me before and one time the game even crashed due to two missions simultaneously trying to add large ships to the same Nav Point; I had to go back and select a different mission to avoid a crash upon entering the Hades sector.

I don't know if I have a save far enough back, but if so I'll try selecting different or fewer missions to see if that makes any difference. I was hoping not to have to accept a mission failure on this file; I think it doesn't matter; it doesn't seem to affect anything if you fail a mission but I would prefer to know for sure.

So if necessary, I'll upload my current save along with any others that might help. Thanks again!

 

[avengah]

GAME00.IFF (Slot 1) is the newer save. The other one was from the previous time I landed. The mission will fail 2 landouts from Slot 2 and 1 from Slot 1. If these help with troubleshooting why it won't register as complete or if I'm doing something wrong, that would be great! Thanks.

EDIT: I tried reloading an earlier save which was on Part B of this mission, and I got to Part C with no other active non-main plot missions; the main plot is just before Shernikov on Crius. The mission still refused to complete after destroying the four non-pirate enemy ships plus a few Kiowan ships that appeared afterwards. I waited ages again, and tried jumping away and back again only for nothing to happen yet again. I think I'm going to have to fail the mission, unless someone finds a way to beat it.

 

[avengah]

I had a similar problem with this mission: https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Hermes_Lumber_Co._-_Part_B

The first time I did this mission, it worked fine. The second time, quite some time later, Part B wouldn't register as complete upon dropping the hairpigs in Hermes local space, no matter what I did or how many times I reloaded the save to try again (even if I reloaded from before accepting Part A of the mission). I wonder if it's because I already beat the mission on the same file, or maybe something glitched out on the Bulletin Board that caused problems down the line after accepting the mission?

This makes me wonder if the Davis mission might work correctly another time; maybe there was a similar glitch that stopped Part C registering as complete but it might be OK another time; I'll have to see.

EDIT: Found a workaround that guarantees Hermes Lumber Part B completes properly. The best part is, you don't need to do anything different up to the point at which you're supposed to pass the mission and get paid. Basically, drop the two crates of Hairpigs in Hermes local space, and if you don't get paid immediately, LAND. Upon taking off, you will be paid on your first jump away. You have to land before jumping away otherwise you'll fail the mission on jumping.

EDIT 2: A second way to beat the mission if it doesn't automatically complete, this time without having to land: Drop the crates of hairpigs and fly to about 2,000 km away (that's how far it was for me, this may vary) for the mission to complete. (EDIT 3: This doesn't always work. If it doesn't work, you may have to land on Hermes so leave this mission for last in the current trip. Upon reloading and doing the other active missions first, this mission completed successfully without having to mess about, so maybe the existence of other crates or items to tractor in other areas affects this mission?)

 

[Bob McDob]

And if I fail the mission, does it matter at all; i.e. has anyone been through the source code if available (or decompiled it or something) to see if failing a mission is saved to your profile?

All non-FMV missions repeat, so I would assume not.

 

[avengah]

OK, thanks. I was hoping someone had reverse engineered the mission logic, because I have still not been able to trigger the Louissa Phillips follow-up, where she appears during your next three missions. Does anyone know anything about this? Which missions count? I'm wondering if this part of the mission was removed due to glitchiness, which is why I can't trigger it.

 

[AD]

OK, thanks. I was hoping someone had reverse engineered the mission logic, because I have still not been able to trigger the Louissa Phillips follow-up, where she appears during your next three missions. Does anyone know anything about this? Which missions count? I'm wondering if this part of the mission was removed due to glitchiness, which is why I can't trigger it.

I guess it depends on how you are playing. Any 'no-cd' method that doesn't simulate a disk change will require you to manually tell the game a disk change has happened will make some missions not trigger. The thing that triggers them aside from a degree of randomness is the disk change. If you are using the P2 upgrade patch, you should be able to tell the game which CD to use if you are trying to trigger specific missions by editing CD.DAT and changing the number to whichever CD you're interested in.

The way that patch works is that it tries to detect when the game calls for a CD change. But the random missions that are disk specific won't call for a change, the missions just won't trigger when that disk isn't "present". So unless you get to a story point that forces a disk change you will have to change it manually to get the other missions.

 

[avengah]

Yeah, I've been doing that. Everything works fine except for the second part of the Louissa mission, which never triggers for me, ever.

There's nothing random about how the side missions trigger. It's based on time. 40 minutes after the start, then as soon as one is triggered, the next one will be available after another 60 minutes. If there isn't one available on the current CD, it will just wait until one becomes available. More details in the other thread. Once the main plot is complete, the game no longer requires the correct CD to be set.

There are other requirements too, such as the Nelson Ramirez mission, although it's on CD 1, requires you to have seen the second Hassan cutscene on CD 3. The Nelson and Auntie missions don't start with an email but if one of their missions is next in line, the variable will change to the current time elapsed + 60 and the character will appear in the bar. If it's a space email, it will queue it up and you'll get it shortly after taking off. If it's a land email, you'll get it straight away. The checks are only done while landed.

I'll note down the requirements next playthrough. I know there is one instance where you can screw yourself out of the main plot and another instance where you can screw yourself out of cinematic missions: If you do cinematic missions as early as possible, you can be offered the Dr Graham Gould mission after first meeting Angus Santana. But you must speak to the Shernikov receptionist BEFORE taking Dr Gould's package to Angus, because the return delivery will stop you speaking to the Shernikov receptionist as part of the main plot, permanently locking yourself out of any further progress.

Another problem is with the two taxi missions (Auntie and Nelson). Once you arrive at their destination planet, if the game queues up another cinematic mission to start via a space email, if you go into the booth system and back out again, you'll see the email from Auntie or Nelson again. This will stop the space email from arriving, permanently locking you out of at least one of the side missions. This is usually not an issue but there is a chance it could happen, especially if you leave either taxi mission until after the main plot is complete - they're on CD 1 which has no space email missions except Xavier 1 which you should get early, but after the main plot is complete, the game can pick missions from other CDs to queue up.

EDIT: You might not even have to go into the booth system for this to happen. Meeting the character for your payment might stop any queued email from arriving. Not sure, though. For now, it's best to be careful. If you know a mission isn't due, you'll be fine. You can get Auntie done early in the game when there's unlikely to be a clash, and if you do Nelson either just before beating the main plot or just afterwards when he's just appeared in the bar, the game probably won't be ready to offer another mission just yet, so you should be safe. Keep it set to CD 1 if you do these missions before beating the main plot and you won't go wrong.

If you complete the Uncle Kashumai mission the wrong way, by giving the item to Alberto Fossa, you're permanently locked out of future cinematic missions. Most of the cinematic missions need you to be at a certain point in the main plot, with the exception of Xavier 2 which requires Xavier 1 to be complete, and Xavier 1 and Auntie which have no requirements and are the first two to trigger on CD 1, usually. (Nelson can actually trigger before either of these but only if you use a no CD method that avoids it being set to 1 at any point before Hassan's second cutscene - if you haven't been offered any missions on CD 1 by the time you reach this point, Nelson's mission will be the first one "offered" i.e. he will appear in Sinners Inn before Xavier's first email comes through.)

 

[AD]

Yeah, I've been doing that. Everything works fine except for the second part of the Louissa mission, which never triggers for me, ever.

There's nothing random about how the side missions trigger. It's based on time. 40 minutes after the start, then as soon as one is triggered, the next one will be available after another 60 minutes. If there isn't one available on the current CD, it will just wait until one becomes available. More details in the other thread. Once the main plot is complete, the game no longer requires the correct CD to be set.

There are other requirements too, such as the Nelson Ramirez mission, although it's on CD 1, requires you to have seen the second Hassan cutscene on CD 3. The Nelson and Auntie missions don't start with an email but if one of their missions is next in line, the variable will change to the current time elapsed + 60 and the character will appear in the bar. If it's a space email, it will queue it up and you'll get it shortly after taking off. If it's a land email, you'll get it straight away. The checks are only done while landed.

I'll note down the requirements next playthrough. I know there is one instance where you can screw yourself out of the main plot and another instance where you can screw yourself out of cinematic missions: If you do cinematic missions as early as possible, you can be offered the Dr Graham Gould mission after first meeting Angus Santana. But you must speak to the Shernikov receptionist BEFORE taking Dr Gould's package to Angus, because the return delivery will stop you speaking to the Shernikov receptionist as part of the main plot, permanently locking yourself out of any further progress.

Another problem is with the two taxi missions (Auntie and Nelson). Once you arrive at their destination planet, if the game queues up another cinematic mission to start via a space email, if you go into the booth system and back out again, you'll see the email from Auntie or Nelson again. This will stop the space email from arriving, permanently locking you out of at least one of the side missions. This is usually not an issue but there is a chance it could happen, especially if you leave either taxi mission until after the main plot is complete - they're on CD 1 which has no space email missions except Xavier 1 which you should get early, but after the main plot is complete, the game can pick missions from other CDs to queue up.

If you complete the Uncle Kashumai mission the wrong way, by giving the item to Alberto Fossa, you're permanently locked out of future cinematic missions. Most of the cinematic missions need you to be at a certain point in the main plot, with the exception of Xavier 2 which requires Xavier 1 to be complete, and Xavier 1 and Auntie which have no requirements and are the first two to trigger on CD 1, usually. (Nelson can actually trigger before either of these but only if you use a no CD method that avoids it being set to 1 at any point before Hassan's second cutscene - if you haven't been offered any missions on CD 1 by the time you reach this point, Nelson's mission will be the first one "offered" i.e. he will appear in Sinners Inn before Xavier's first email comes through.)

That's great that you're noting these in detail. I replied here before I saw your other post, but I know for a long time nobody had really documented anything regarding what actually makes the game tick in this way.

 

[avengah]

Two more issues with missions: https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Conrad_Bikunski_-_Part_B

It says go to Nav #202 but the transport comes to you. Even if you go straight to #202 you won't get there before it leaves. After killing the transport, sometimes not enough Papogod fighters appear to make the mission complete, but I got the complete email after killing some more Papogod fighters in a completely different area: near Hephaestus. Also, the first part of this mission is too hectic and generally crashes the unofficial patch; this applies to other very hectic missions too. I had to play the DOSBox version to not have it crash here.

Kain Borman - Kill Yolsen - Wing Commander Encyclopedia

www.wcnews.com

You do get paid (7,000 Cr) for this mission. It's the "Kill Borman" option you don't get paid for.

 

[avengah]

Any escort mission will automatically complete if you jump away while you're both at the destination point (and the ship is moving). It's possible to glitch out the escort missions involving just getting a ship to land at a planet, no jumping required - if you tell the ship to get moving then land, upon taking off again the ship will wrongly think it's not reached its destination Nav Point yet and it will start jumping towards Karatikus (Nav Point #0). This applies to the following mission, at least: https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/SPORT.SAKKUHR.ROMPERS-ADMIN@CRIUS.NET . I'm not sure if it also applies to https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/ANONYMOUS@CRIUS without checking, because in this case there are two ships to escort and I'm not sure if you need to tell them to start moving or not. Either way, though, landing and taking off might make them think they need to jump towards #0.

 

[avengah]

I got the DOSBox version to work better. If you disable the Keep Aspect Ratio option it speeds things up on my old laptop and makes the interlaced videos watchable (with Keep Aspect Ratio the interlacing looks awful and uneven, and the videos are jerky and the sound stutters). The game runs slightly faster but still slows down a bit when planets or ships are close, but this isn't a problem. It crashes far less than the unofficial patch, and of course the credits music works fine too. So this is the way I'll play it from now on. Graphic mode set to Surface and Full Screen with no scaling enabled.

EDIT: I got slightly better performance manually editing the config file to set cpu to dynamic instead of normal. However, sometimes the cutscenes crash upon finishing or pressing Esc if it's in dynamic mode, so I disabled Video Transitions. So if this happens it's better to leave it on normal when doing main or cinematic missions.

 

[avengah]

More weirdness, in the player's favour:

Harding Construction - Wing Commander Encyclopedia

www.wcnews.com

This mission says 5200 Credits on the Bulletin Board, but the actual reward appears to be 9360 Credits. Just for destroying 9 Skulls. A very lucrative mission!

EDIT: This makes sense if you read the mission offer literally then double it. 520 per kill, so 520 x 9 x 2 is 9360. Why doubled I have no idea.

 

[Bob McDob]

I have nothing to add but I'm really happy that you're documenting these issues. Privateer 2 has been one of the most neglected games and these issues have sat for decades. I think we have the source code but nobody knowledgeable has taken a look at it, which is more necessary here than with other games.

I don't know what the staff thinks but I think it'd be great if you added these issues to the relevant wiki pages. The old game guide had a comment section but those were only for the story missions, and they haven't been updated in years.

 

[avengah]

My current file is at Ice Man (over 2,100 kills), continuing on from getting all the cinematic missions as early as possible. I've done all SOS missions twice and have just started the third lap (although the very first SOS mission never repeats), and I'm trying to do as many different BBS missions as possible, although a few keep repeating. I found a good trick for certain escort missions, especially if you're escorting something defenceless and there are fixed enemies along the way: simply patrol the route first from the end to the start and kill them all before telling the ship to set off. As you're not in a rush doing it this way, you can clear out the fighters then take each cruiser on one at a time with lasers from a blind spot just behind it; my Freij Mk II is currently equipped with three Kravens and two Mass Ion Cannons, which take a very long time to overheat so are perfect for shooting Cruisers as well as picking off ships at a distance with the three Kravens on the middle three mounts (middle and outer two in the menu as they're swapped). I've tried different setups including four Kravens and one Ion in the middle, or three Kravens and two Stream Mk IIs on the outside, and I decided two Ions work best as you only lose a bit of distance on the outer two mounts but they're still very powerful. The Ronula Smitts mission is a good one for patrolling the route beforehand: I like to clear out the four Kiowan Cruisers at Hades before starting the mission properly. Meek Mining is another one: you're escorting a defenceless Gea Transit, and it's only a short escort mission, so it really helps to clear the whole route out first.

A lot of SOS missions don't pay you until you land. Some of them tell you to go to a specific place then land, but as long as you go to the place and get the email once there, you can then land anywhere. The game only checks that you visited the correct Nav Point, then that you landed, but it doesn't check that you landed AT that Nav Point.

The very last SOS mission, CIS Forgen, asks you to take an escape pod to Hades and drop it off there, to get paid. However, you get paid after destroying all the Lasertowers (4,000 Cr) and you don't get paid again when you drop the pod at Hades, unfortunately. I tried deliberately failing the final part but nothing different happens. I've killed Arl Shoeyer and Good Time Gang, and taken Olenka Yolsen's pod to Youri (Kain Borman) multiple times as those missions have a choice and that's the better choice in each case, but I've also chosen the alternative Good Time Gang path once (defeat the CIS), and I'll do the alternative paths for the other two missions too even though you get nothing for doing so; I have more than enough money now for a fully decked out ship so it's a good time to do that. I'm hoping to get some of the really interesting missions like the Slade "Tex" Carver one, but I haven't seen it yet. I wonder if I have to reach Privateer level to be offered it? I doubt it, but I'm surprised I've never seen it. That's another mission with a branching path - you can choose whether or not to follow him to Draknor.

EDIT: Ah, there's an annoying glitch with the Carver mission. If you've angered the CIS in any way since you last took off, the Carver entity at Nav Point #59 becomes an enemy. That version of Carver has different communication options than the versions you see in other Nav Points, and some of the Carver entities are pre-scanned (saying COL. CARVER under ID before getting close enough to scan) and some aren't. They're all different entities as storing one doesn't help when you reach the next one. Since Carver is invincible at this point (and many other points, especially while enemies are there), the only way to get out of the area is to afterburn far enough away. No afterburner? You're screwed. He's still angry at later Nav Points, but once the enemies are killed you can force him to jump by damaging him enough. But that isn't possible at Nav Point #59. There also doesn't seem to be a way to fail the mission if you get to Draknor and back to #154, because if you don't pick up the pod for 9,000 Credits, you're given the credits upon either destroying the pod or landing with an email from Brett Stryker. I'll test some more. I do know that you only get 7,000 Credits for turning back just before Draknor.

 

[avengah]

If anyone's interested, I've attached my current file. My net worth just surpassed a million credits (that's including ship and equipment), and I've just hit Privateer rank for 3,000 kills. On this file I did all cinematic missions as early as possible; they're all complete and I waited until after the Louissa Phillips cutscene before speaking to Melissa Banks in Sinner's Inn (for the Space Bimbo cutscene), and once everything else was complete, I just did missions, and lots of them. Ideally three BBS missions per takeoff if enough BBS missions were available, and maybe an SOS mission too but only if the BBS missions that launch were easy - I didn't want to screw things up so if the BBS missions were hard enough, sometimes I wouldn't complete all three but I'd leave one and land next to where it starts so I could save.

Many missions have repeated, and when there's a choice mid-mission I'm trying to do the bad choice if I've already done the good choice. I'm getting good at destroying capital ships without missiles, especially cruisers and cargo ships. But I do normally keep missiles in this order: Prox Prox Banshee Hell Banshee Hell Hell, just in case I need torpedos for capital ships (and the Banshees are for the extra-strong capital ships that don't die to a single Hellraiser); I rarely need to use them though. Only if I need to destroy something in a hurry before it destroys what I'm protecting, or if I can't get into a blind spot because capital ships are covering each other. The Helena Shlegel mission has a Military Prototype to destroy, and a Banshee and Hellraiser make quick work of it; it's guarded by a lot of fighters so rather than pick the fighters off first and get into a blind spot, I just fired a Banshee and Hellraiser at the same time from close range. I have all the best equipment (Coolant 4, Repair 2, Afterburner 3, Shield 3, BSE 2, Signal Filter, Warp Shield) and as I said before, my lasers are Kraven Kraven Ion Ion Kraven. I've used all 18 ships on this file to see what they're like, and there really is no contest - the Freij Mk II is the best by far. It beats the Danrik in almost every category.

EDIT: If I'm not destroying capital ships, sometimes I change my laser loadout to Kraven Kraven Kraven Kraven Ion, with the Ion in the middle. Overheating isn't too much of a problem here, and the only reason I was taking two Mass Ion Cannons was to be able to shoot an almost continuous stream that takes ages to overheat. However, this isn't necessary unless I'm destroying things like Cruisers. So I put a Mass Ion Cannon back in the middle amongst four Kravens for now, and I'll put two Ions on the outer slots instead for missions with Cruisers.

EDIT 2: On second thoughts, four Kravens do overheat fairly quickly. Three Kravens with two Ions on the outside are definitely my preferred loadout.

I'll keep playing and see if anything's different now I'm a Privateer. Eventually I hope to have done every mission if possible, and be a true millionaire not including ship and equipment! Notwithstanding the unfortunate glitches, I really like Privateer 2 and I did complete it many years ago, but it's great getting back into it again and properly understanding it!

EDIT: Found another minor glitch in a mission: https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Military_Emergency_Control_HQ_-_Cargo_Distress_Signal - If you destroy all the pirates in the first wave quickly enough, the cargo ships will jump away before the military ships arrive with the antivirus software. I think the cargo ships are wrongly set to jump when the area is clear of enemies, but they shouldn't jump until the mission is complete. It doesn't stop you beating the mission though.

This one has a problem too: https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Military_Emergency_Control_HQ_-_Pirate_Clans - If the mission takes place at a planet or space station, the shuttles can land, making the mission unbeatable; alternatively, the cargo ships can land, making the mission easier. Having been caught out before, I take out the shuttles early when I do this mission now.

 

[avengah]

I'm convinced the Ex-Mining Base mission is unbeatable: https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Messineo_Couriers_-_Ex-Mining_Base . I just went in with three Nuke 'Ems and guessed where the first two Stolen Military Transports would spawn (this took a few tries to get the position right and be at least 500km away from the Mining Base to not destroy it as well), and took them out straight away. A third Stolen Transport appeared about 900km away, too far to afterburn there in time. I wasn't even half way there when the Mining Base went up. I genuinely can't see how this mission is possible, even with perfect play. It's possible to get the Transports to shoot at you instead of the mining base if you hit them with a weapon, but even doing this there isn't enough time to get to them all to redirect their weapons.

I'm going through the rest of the mission list to see which ones I've done and which ones have weird things happen, or don't work as they should. I'll update later.

EDIT: As for Davis Nerve Weapons Part C, I discovered something by messing with Lin's editor. I added Part C as a standalone mission to the BBS, and I set every number to 4 apart from the first (Parameter 01) which had to be 0 to make the mission available to accept. So I assumed (correctly) that it would pick Nav Point #4 as its "random" Nav Point. I don't know what most of the other parameters are, but it seems that 07-09 are random Nav Points and 10 is a random planet (only selecting from the major planets, and by index number not Nav Point - press 1 on Nav Map to hide planets, 4 to hide Space Stations and System Jump nodes and 3 to show numbers; numbers where planets and System Jumps were are not Nav Points but index numbers; this is probably an oversight).

I don't know what else is different and what the other parameters change, but I can confirm that the mission (sort of) worked correctly. The four non-pirate enemy ships were there, and the Kiowans arrived shortly afterwards. There were indeed Kiowan Cruisers, but they didn't pose much of a threat; they simply taunted and approached me without firing their turrets. After they were all destroyed, one final Kiowan Vector arrived; killing this completed the mission.

Having attempted this mission normally a couple more times, I have no idea why it doesn't work properly most of or all the time. I'll investigate some more. I have a save just before accepting the mission, so I can check all the parameters in the editor and see if I can work anything out (maybe by checking other Nav Points).

EDIT: It's Missions 340-342 in the editor. Parameter 07 is the Nav Point selected for Mission 342. It works fine if you manually add Mission 342 to the Bulletin Board, but the later waves don't spawn if you start from Mission 340 as normal and progress to 341 then 342. I have no idea why; maybe something alters the parameters and it doesn't work correctly as a follow-up mission? I'm going to try doing all three legs of the mission in a single flight and see if that helps. Parameter 07 in this case is 213 so that's where the third part of the mission will take place; that's nice and near where the second part ends so it shouldn't take long to test.

So I've finished testing it, and unfortunately it seems it works fine as a standalone mission, but something about following on from a previous mission stops it working properly. The later waves don't spawn if you start from Part A or Part B (340 or 341) on the BBS. Start from Part C (342) and it works fine. I don't get it, and I don't think there's a workaround. But if I discover one, I'll add it to the thread.

EDIT: I may have some idea of what's causing the issue - random encounters are suppressed if you edit the save to start at Part C, but not if you progress there normally. Maybe random encounters need to be suppressed for the later waves to jump in, and maybe the game forgets to suppress them when a mission follows on like this. I don't know if I'll be able to work it out but I will try hex editing the save and comparing before and after accepting the mission, as well as the differences depending on whether you start Part C directly or not. If it fixes this glitch, I think editing a couple of bytes to fix the mission doesn't count as cheating!

 

[avengah]

I set up a save with no active missions and edited the BBS so that Parts A and C were available directly, and I ran the games in parallel. I haven't worked out what makes it suppress random encounters when starting directly at Part C but not when following on from earlier parts, but I did notice a big difference in a chunk of the save. If I'm reading the save correctly, some of the enemies are already set as killed (FF FF after the D5 00 D5 which is the Nav Point, 213 in decimal) but not enough of them; it looks like only three out of the five Cruisers are listed as killed. I changed them from FF FF to 86 00 to make them spawn so I could see what's what, and only three Cruisers spawned.

It looks like 18 enemies are supposed to spawn at the Nav Point - it looked like there was maybe supposed to be a 19th but I think that might be what suppresses random encounters in the area. Changing it from FF FF to various other things matching the other enemies didn't spawn anything, so it doesn't appear to be an enemy. If you mark some of the enemies as pre-killed by putting FF FF in the right place, the mission won't complete - the game has to actually record the enemies being killed. So since the saves are parallel, things are in roughly the same place and I was able to fix the mission on the file that started at Part A by overwriting the bytes between 2CC and 3851 with the bytes from the file that started at Part C. If the name of the save is a different length, the offset will be slightly different so start at the PUSH string. Whatever happens when you beat Part B normally, it's clear that Part C simply doesn't initialise the enemies properly; a lot of them are marked as pre-killed and there aren't as many in total. Still, this messy fix works if this is the only active mission. If it's the second or third active mission, it probably still works if you locate where in the save it's keeping the data in question.

GAME08.IFF started at Part A and beat Parts A and B, then saved at RS:Bestinium, two jumps away from 213 where Part C is supposed to happen this time. GAME09.IFF started at Part C directly by save editing, then saved at the same place. For some reason, RS:Bestinium thinks it's 22 jumps away, not 2 if you check the PAD while on the station; I'm guessing some of the stations were swapped around or something and they forgot to update everything back then. I hope this helps!

You won't be able to load the files in Lin's editor because they're saved at Bestinium. If you want to do so, load them in Midnight Editor first and change the location. I notice Midnight Editor is currently missing from here so I'm attaching it as well.

EDIT: Sometimes doing this with multiple missions makes it complete the wrong mission. The fix for this is to hex search for 00 02 00 FF FF and change the 02 to 03 or 04. Do this for all 33 occurrences in the block copied over, but not for any that were already in the file to start with. If you look at the file you're copying the block TO, before you copy it over, you can see which number you need to use. Sorry this is so complicated. I don't think I'll be doing this again, but at least I found a way to beat that mission, sort of.

 

[avengah]

I'm reconsidering my statement that the Ex-Mining Base mission is impossible. No, I haven't beaten it legitimately yet. I did set the mining base to not spawn (changing the two bytes before MESSINEO BASE from 83 00 to FF FF) to play the mission out, but nothing special happens - playing normally, even if you lose the mission very early, the rest of the enemies still spawn in time so you can practise.

I just had an unbelievably good run. I went in with Liston Sativa and a Monolith (carrying one piece of Fertilite to avoid the alert for an empty Cargo Ship), and I sent Liston after the first couple of Blades while I camped by the Mining Base. The Military Transports die to a single Hellraiser so I just brought seven Hellraisers with me; my Monolith did a great job defending the base against the first two Transports while I torpedoed them both. Unfortunately I didn't get past the third Military Transport, but that is the best run I've ever had; with a Monolith I think the mission could barely be possible! I'll experiment some more. Unfortunately I wasn't able to edit the save to put the base at Nav Point #202, one away from Hermes, so I could retry quicker. Doing this still has the things spawn at #225 but unable to be selected; they can be selected from #202 but show as EXTREME distance. So as things are, the quickest way for me to retry is to use the System Jump next to Hermes. If I manage to get a good strategy down, I'll go back to my main unedited save and try and do it properly!

 

[avengah]

Ex-Mining Base IS POSSIBLE!

I beat it with Liston Sativa and a Monolith in tow. I hacked my save to give myself Liston Sativa but you can just land at Hermes to find a wingman, and reload if a decent one isn't there. Same goes for if a Monolith isn't there, and arguably the Monolith is more helpful. I'll try to do it properly at some point.

The method I use is to predict where the first two Military Transports will spawn. I think a good angle is to start at the Mining Base and select the first two Lasertowers, and fly between them to about 500km away from the base, roughly. This will take a few tries to get right. Shoot them both with lasers as quickly as possible to stop them shooting at the base, and torpedo them. The Monolith can really help here. Once the first two Transports are down, the rest is easy; just kill everything and wait for more enemy capital ships to spawn (there are three separately-spawning Destroyers; the last two may take a while to spawn, and Blades will spawn with the first two).

One time it glitched out on me; one of the enemy capital ships didn't spawn properly but the game thought it was in the area (with the red jump meter). The second time I got that far, I successfully finished it! You don't have to kill the Messineo ships or the Duress that flies around; just the Blades and the stolen capital ships.

So I've finally put this to rest: the mission is possible to complete. Horrendously unfair and difficult, but possible.

EDIT: Going for a proper completion now. I'm saved at Crius where this mission was offered and I've hired a Monolith, which I've filled with cargo. I have a nearby quick mission then I'm going to Hermes to sell the cargo. If there's a decent wingman, I'll save there otherwise I'll reload. Then it won't take long from there to keep trying until I beat it again, this time fully legitimately!

 

[AD]

Ex-Mining Base IS POSSIBLE!

I beat it with Liston Sativa and a Monolith in tow. I hacked my save to give myself Liston Sativa but you can just land at Hermes to find a wingman, and reload if a decent one isn't there. Same goes for if a Monolith isn't there, and arguably the Monolith is more helpful. I'll try to do it properly at some point.

The method I use is to predict where the first two Military Transports will spawn. I think a good angle is to start at the Mining Base and select the first two Lasertowers, and fly between them to about 500km away from the base, roughly. This will take a few tries to get right. Shoot them both with lasers as quickly as possible to stop them shooting at the base, and torpedo them. The Monolith can really help here. Once the first two Transports are down, the rest is easy; just kill everything and wait for more enemy capital ships to spawn (there's another Transport and a couple of Destroyers; they may take a while to spawn).

One time it glitched out on me; one of the enemy capital ships didn't spawn properly but the game thought it was in the area (with the red jump meter). The second time I got that far, I successfully finished it! You don't have to kill the Messineo ships or the Duress that flies around; just the Blades and the stolen capital ships.

So I've finally put this to rest: the mission is possible to complete. Horrendously unfair and difficult, but possible.

EDIT: Going for a proper completion now. I'm saved at Crius where this mission was offered and I've hired a Monolith, which I've filled with cargo. I have a nearby quick mission then I'm going to Hermes to sell the cargo. If there's a decent wingman, I'll save there otherwise I'll reload. Then it won't take long from there to keep trying until I beat it again, this time fully legitimately!

I don't have anything really to add to what you're saying but I wanted to make sure you know that even if nobody is replying you're doing amazing work at cataloguing all this and it will be invaluable to someone in the future in a way that maybe can't be predicted right now. I don't think I'd have the patience for what you're doing at working all of this out and I enjoy reading what you have to say about how you're working it all out. Keep up the good work.