AE failed missions

[Garrickwest]

Hey everyone,

I know that when you create a mission you can set up dialogue from your contact in case you fail.

But is there any way to go to a "next" mission if you fail?
I don't believe so but figured i'd ask in case I was wrong.

Would be kinda neat if you could make a storyline that changes depending on if you succeed or fail.

[Heraclea]

Branching trees of missions would be absolutely great, but AFAIK they are not possible in AE.  All you can really change is the  dialogs given if a mission ends in failure. 

[cranebump]

You can proceed to next mish on a failed timer, I know that. It's built in to Full Circle. I would argue that the occasional failure isn't a bad thing. However, the way AE works (without branches) means the next mish is the next mish, regardless of outcome. it has to be a failure that advances to the same point. Just the way it is. This makes writing the mish completion (failure) box key . What this ends up being (for me) is a lot of Deus Ex Machina stuff, for example, "Well, you didn't get to the macguffin in time, but not to worry. You kept them busy long enough for a PPD stealth team to get in there and bring it out."  In the case of Full Circle, said mish (which is VERY hard to complete successfully), is tangential to the main plot, and is mainly used as away to set the stakes for the arc (I'd say more, but people might want to play it, so I'll leave it a that). 

[Darmian]

Essentially what cranebump said. The end result is the end result, regardless of fail or win, but it's the HOW of it that you must engender in the players. So you succeed at A and B happens, or you fail at A and B happens but for different reasons and those reasons must make sense in the context of the mish you are doing. So yes, use a Deus Ex Machina but if you can hide that it is one that works better.

[Dollmistress]

*Appears from a dark ally*

 

Psst! Hey, you there! There is actually one thing you can do...

 

1) Create a story arc where the final mission has a success and fail condition, plus differing contact messages for each outcome

2) Within the 'success' message, tell the player the registration number of the story arc for proceeding on the success branch of the story

3) Within the 'fail' message, tell the player the arc registration number that continues the fail branch

 

For multiple branches, maybe just add global alts to give you more story arcs to publish.

 

If you make each AE story quite long, it will take the player a while to discover all the arcs you've created, representing the branching paths. 🙂

 

For bonus points, make the fail conditions in the branching missions/arcs a matter of player choice, empowering them so it feels more like they can choose between X vs Y instead of succeed vs fail. e.g. "Escort the hero to the exit, OR deliberately walk them into a mob of enemies and gett them killed, just like your contact or a different NPC suggested earlier..."

 

[Darmian]

2 hours ago, Dollmistress said:

*Appears from a dark ally*

 

Psst! Hey, you there! There is actually one thing you can do...

 

1) Create a story arc where the final mission has a success and fail condition, plus differing contact messages for each outcome

2) Within the 'success' message, tell the player the registration number of the story arc for proceeding on the success branch of the story

3) Within the 'fail' message, tell the player the arc registration number that continues the fail branch

 

For multiple branches, maybe just add global alts to give you more story arcs to publish.

 

If you make each AE story quite long, it will take the player a while to discover all the arcs you've created, representing the branching paths. 🙂

 

For bonus points, make the fail conditions in the branching missions/arcs a matter of player choice, empowering them so it feels more like they can choose between X vs Y instead of succeed vs fail. e.g. "Escort the hero to the exit, OR deliberately walk them into a mob of enemies and gett them killed, just like your contact or a different NPC suggested earlier..."

 

I like this a lot.  However I do not have the patience to do it!!!  Nor the slots to spare frankly.

Edited September 19, 2020 by Darmian