GRAVITIC MINE BOX CHALLENGE

Planet Konix, a Federation ally, has lost contact with their stranded spy ship, the Datalist, somewhere inside the Orion Pirates' gravitic minebox surrounding their homeworld, Kunnog. With engines damaged beyond repair, the Datalist is running out of time. Though the ship is hidden from sensors using its stealth system as they wait in hopes for a rescue, at any moment a passing pirate ship might see them out their viewscreen and discover them.

With the Datalist hidden from ship sensors, the Infinity Knights are called upon to rescue the Datalist's crew and destroy the Datalist so that its advanced technology does not fall into pirate hands. For this, the Infinity Knights will need to work with stealth and precision because when they do find the Datalist, they will discover that not only are its engines not repairable but that it is leaking massive amounts of radiation from its engine room. It will be a race against time as the crew attempts to transport the entire Datalist crew of 108 aboard their ship and get them back to Konix safely.

Mission Mechanics:

The crew will not be able to see the Datalist on their sensors and must venture into the gravitic minebox to search for it. The gravitic mines can fire upon the crew's ship as well as cause damage if the crew were to collide with one. This scenario produces a lot of incoming enemy fire. You, as the flight director, have the choice to turn on the 75% absorption shield(recommended) or give them a spicier challenge without it. Additionally, you have a cue card that allows you to turn off the gravitic mines from the outset so that when the crew enters the gravitic minebox, there is only damage upon a collision(much easier). There is also an optional story element where the crew can hack the Pirate Mother Ship's computers and retrieve a Pin Code Decoder challenge with which, if solved, the crew can disable [or self destruct- your choice as FD) the gravitic mines.

This challenge involves 3 Progress Meters that are working against the crew, any of which if they reach their maximum, the crew loses the challenge. These meters include:

1) Radiation Level Meter: this meter is a measure of the amount of radiation the Infinity Knights' ship is taking on from the Datalist. Once the crew comes upon the Datalist and begins transporting the crew, the meter will increase 10pts every 4 minutes. If the meter reaches 100% the crew loses and it's game over. The crew can decrease the radiation level by 30pts every time they complete transporting 36 Datalist crew members. Each transport is initiated by a special procedure and bring over 6 crew members at a time. The captain has to give the order to beam the crew members on board. This will pose a teamwork challenge to the crew while fending off Orion Pirates. Every time this meter increases, the Life Support and Medical Chamber are automatically damaged to zero (you can change this amount in the script if you want it to be a lesser amount, or if at all)

2) Sheild Integrity Meter: the Orion Pirates are collectively hacking to degrade the Infinity Knights shield integrity, Every 4 minutes the Shield Integrity meter is decreased by 10pts. Start this meter 2 min. after the radiation meter so that every 2 min one of the meters changes. Every time the crew destroys a pirate ship, the Shield Integrity meter increases 30pts. Once the meter reaches zero, the crew no longer has shields for the remainder of the mission, even if they have a ship failure and reboot the ship. Hence, if this meter reaches zero, the crew will likely start burning through their extra lives. Every time this meter decreases, the Shield Generator and Anti-Virus are automatically damaged to zero (you can change this amount in the script if you want it to be a lesser amount, or if at all)

3) Ship Failures (extra lives) Meter: the crew is allowed a set amount of extra lives, up to 10, as determined and conveyed to the crew by you the Flight Director before the mission begins. This has a considerable influence on the overall difficulty in completing the mission. As time goes by, Flight Directors will gain a feel for the appropriate amount for there crews' capabilities and set it accordingly. I suspect most crews will need all 10.

Konix Drone Fighters: the Konix offer the crew 10 drones ships which can be programmed by a special procedure to attack a designated target. This drone ships are outside the gravitic minebox and will couple of minutes to reach their target but can be of substantial help if used wisely. Perhaps they are used to clear a path in the minebox or attack a pirate ship, leave it up to the captain's imagination of how to strategize their use. When the Drone Ship Targeting procedure is complete, you as the FD set it to attack the target.

Pirate Mother Ship: when the crew completes transporting the 54th crew member from the Datalist, send in the Mother Ship to approach the Datalist and capture 12 crew members and then return to planet Kunnog, their homeworld. The crew will have to at some point chase down the Mother Ship and get those crew members safely onboard their ship. If the crew attempts to hack the computers of the Mother Ship they will find a Pin Code Decoder challenge with which, if solved, the crew can disable [or self destruct- your choice as FD) the gravitic mines. Alternatively, you can skip having the Mother Ship capture the 12 crew members and just have it as a part of the general pirate attack, moreover, you could also eliminate the Pin Code Decoder challenge, your choice.

Orion Pirate Ships: the pirate ships are set to not attack, even if the crew comes near them. This gives you options: you might choose to have the pirate ships set to hostile and not hold their fire by toggling the combat switch on, or leave them passive until you decide when they attack. This latter scenario can tie in with the crew having to decide if and when to use shields and stealth. When stealth is off, you can toggle the nearby waiting pirate ships to hostile, and when the crew gets too near, they will start attacking. In most cases, the crew is going to need their shields on except when conducting a transport of Datalist crew members- the gravitic mines will be reining down shots on the ship. However, it could be that the crew clears the area around the Datalist of mines and turns on stealth to avoid detection- so many strategic choices!

Diloni Trading Post: the crew will have 30M Galactic Pesos as their starting budget in the Ship Ledger, enough to buy 4 ship modules. These are stored in the cargo bay and used when needed. For example, a smart crew will have some extra Shield Generator, Anti-Virus, Medical Lab, or Life Support modules on hand to quickly repair these modules when the shield integrity decreases or the radiation level increases. Crews will most likely strategize this way after their first playthrough of the challenge and understand which modules are most valuable to mission success. The crew can earn more money by finding it on the pirate ships or mining the comet on the map. Many of the pirate ships also have ship modules in their cargo bays instead of galactic pesos which can be beam aboard the ship as well.

To Win: the crew will need to make it back to planet Konix orbit to win the mission. As they leave the gravitic minebox, send some pirate ships to chase them. There are some extra pirate ship spawn cards in the script if you need them. The crew may choose to leave the gravitic minebox with less than the full 108 Datalist crew members. They will earn points according to the number they are able to save. Refer to the Mission Scorecard for details. This mission plays in the vein of a video game, replay is required to achieve mastery. Crews can try to up their previous scores or better those of other crews in a competition scenario.