Campaign structure

This page outlines the campaign structure of Naev.

Campaigns
Stories in Naev are told by means of missions. Each story is comprised of one or more missions that progress the story by means of text dialogues and in-game happenings. A coherent series of missions that tell a single story together is referred to as a campaign.

In general there are two types of campaigns: faction campaigns and neutral campaigns. Neutral campaigns are generally independent from all other campaigns and offer some sort of reward at the end, but have no further effect on the player's progress through the game. Faction campaigns are specific to one of the major factions and generally affect the player's standing with those factions. Each major faction has one major, central campaign that is mutually exclusive with all other central campaigns. When the player completes one such campaign, the game is considered "complete", and will proceed as a sandbox thereafter. In other words, any one pilot can only complete one central faction campaign.

The remainder of this document will focus on faction campaigns only.

Missioning structure
In general, there are three types of faction-specific missions:

Generic missions

 * Randomly generated BUT specific to one faction in particular. The Empire Shipping missions would fall in this category.
 * These missions allow the player to increase his reputation with a faction, up to the current maximum reputation cap.

Minor campaign missions

 * These are unique but modest missions, telling a short story set within the faction. The collective campaign could be an example of this.
 * The maximum reputation cap with the faction is raised upon completion of the campaign.
 * The minor campaigns can be completed in any order, though it's certainly thinkable that one minor campaign could be the sequel to another, and that some campaigns require a certain reputation with the faction that is above the initial maximum reputation cap.

Central campaign missions

 * These make up the big faction story, at the end of which the player "wins" the game, meaning Zied becomes accessible and the game continues as a sandbox.
 * During the course of the central campaign the player joins the faction, thereby locking out all other central campaigns (though the player can still do any amount of generic faction missions and minor campaigns, if conditions permit).
 * During the course of a central campaign, the player will likely find himself on hostile terms with one or more other factions.
 * The player will need an increasingly higher reputation with the faction to progress through the campaign.
 * Central campaign missions do NOT modify the player's reputation (or at least not enough), so the player will have to do minor campaigns to unlock the higher central missions.

Unlocking factional content
Factions use unique ships and equipment that are a cut above what is publicly available. The player must gain access to these ships and outfits if he wants to use them. This is done by following the relevant faction's central campaign, which means the player won't be able to use all ships and equipment in the game in the course of a playthrough.

Unlocking factional ships and weaponry is bound to the player's reputation with that faction. A certain level of reputation is needed to purchase them, and higher level equipment requires a higher reputation. Because higher reputations can only be attained by playing the faction's central campaign, this results in factional ships and weaponry being mutually exclusive.

Chapters
Each central campaign is divided into four chapters. Chapters have no effect other than to organize the campaign both for the player and for content developers. The chapter structure is as follows:

Chapter 0
This is the default start chapter for all campaigns. The player is in no way associated with the faction, and only the lowest level faction missions will be available.
 * Default chapter at game start.
 * No factional equipment available to the player.
 * Reputation cap at 20.

Chapter 1
This chapter opens up after the initial series of faction missions has been completed. In this chapter the player starts getting more important missions, though his position with the faction will be little more than a trusted mercenary. No political involvement yet.
 * Not mutually exclusive with other chapter 0 or 1 level missions.
 * No factional equipment available to the player.
 * Reputation cap at 40.

Chapter 2
Once this chapter is reached, the player is committed to the faction, and all other faction missions are disabled. The storyline will become more involved, and the player's role in the unfolding events will be more important.
 * Mutually exclusive.
 * Low range factional equipment available to the player.
 * Reputation cap at 70.

Chapter 3
In this chapter the player becomes a prominent figure within the faction, and his actions are critical to the faction's future. At the end of this chapter, the storyline concludes and the player completes the story-driven portion of the game.
 * Mutually exclusive
 * High range factional equipment available to the player.
 * Reputation cap at 100.