Hi Metman,
You have an understandable gripe. It can be very frustrating to be unable to complete a mission, for whatever reason.
You need to make a distinction, when reading the problem reports, between missions that are actually flawed (and there are quite a few), and those that are merely very difficult for some players.
The missions, including most of those installed with the game, are written by users, not by the developers.
The faults in those included with the game arise from two basic causes:
1. Older missions that were retained from prior versions are sometimes broken by subsequent modifications to an environment or the dynamics of ships. For example, a change in the depth in a harbor can leave a ship sitting in mud and impossible to move. That those older “known to be working†missions were never re-checked is an oversight on the part of VSTEP. In most cases, the team of user CMMs has provided a repaired or substitute mission for download.
2. New missions, written by users and selected for inclusion in New Horizons were all checked by the user CMMs. However, at that time the CMMs were handicapped because they received locked missions and could not examine them in the Mission Editor. Missions had to be accepted if three CMMs were able to complete them. That was an unrealistic constraint. CMMs are very skillful players and, being experienced mission creators, understand the importance of navigating carefully and paying close attention to directions. That they could complete a mission does not necessarily mean that all players, regardless of skill, could complete them.
If you have studied the Missions Manual and the Mission Editor tutorial, you should have an understanding of the problems caused by hidden triggers, especially hidden jumps (environment changes), and triggers to un-hide waypoints or ships. Many players have difficulty coping with these.
The Missions Manual was written in an attempt to explain the difficulties players might encounter.
In summary: Missions are, for the most part, created by users (not by the developers) for your entertainment. An attempt is made, either by CMMs or by peer review to make them error-free.
However, missions vary in difficulty. Many are very challenging and require careful navigation, attention to detail, knowledge of basic seamanship, and some practice in handling the player ship.
Regards,
Marty
