Staged Missions
Offline Missions have been renamed Staged Missions. This was because offline missions aren't strickly offline anymore. They can still be run offline but
now have the ability to run in custom and special arenas as well.
To distinguish the staged online missions with the classic online missions, where a player would design and run a mission in the main arenas, the classic mission interface is now found under the Pickup Missions options. The Pickup Missions have not changed.
In order to run a Staged mission in a custom arena, all the players coming into the arena need to have the mission on their computer (and have the same version of the mission as everyone else). This is done by the Aces High servers and operates much like a terrain download - if a player goes into an arena that's running a staged mission, the system will automatically download the latest version of the mission. These missions will still be player-built in the Mission Editor and uploaded to the Aces High servers via the Terrain Resource Builder.*
The creator of the custom arena has control of the mission. The Staged Missions menu controls Which missions to run (can be selected from a list of missions on the servers), if the players are assigned to different countries or flights, and the time the mission starts. Coordinate with the arena creator if you have a preference for a particular side, plane, and/or flight. All slots in a mission that are not filled by actual players will be handled by AI.
When a mission starts all players will automatically be launched to their assigned positions. But anyone not assigned will remain in the tower and be unable to fly.
- sudz