Mission Goals

Opens via Editors › Mission Goals.

Defines the goals shown to the player at the end of the briefing and tracked on the HUD during the mission. When a goal is completed or failed a HUD popup notifies the player. Goals are hidden during the briefing if the Toggle Showing Goals In Briefing flag is set in Mission Specs.

The UI uses the term Objective in some places (such as the New Obj. button) interchangeably with Goal. The canonical term is Goal, which matches the SEXP operator naming convention.

Goal types

Goal type is a classification that affects how goals are displayed and which music plays on completion or failure. The actual consequences of a goal being met or failed , which debriefing stage the player sees, whether the campaign advances, are determined by SEXPs in the Debriefing Editor and the Campaign Editor, which can query goal state using operators like goal-true and goal-false.

TypeDescription
PrimaryShown to the player from the start of the mission. Completion or failure triggers the primary goal music stinger. By convention these are the core objectives designers tie campaign progression and debriefing outcomes to.
SecondaryShown to the player from the start of the mission. Completion or failure triggers the secondary goal music stinger. Designers typically use these for optional objectives whose state is queried in the debriefing or campaign for bonus outcomes.
BonusHidden from the player until the goal is achieved, at which point the goal text appears on the HUD. Their state is queryable by SEXPs the same as any other goal type.

Goal list

The main area displays all goals as SEXP trees. The dropdown at the top filters the list to show one type at a time; Primary, Secondary, or Bonus. Use New Obj. to append a new goal of the currently filtered type.

Goal properties

FieldDescription
TypePrimary, Secondary, or Bonus. Changing this moves the goal into the corresponding type group.
NameInternal identifier used in SEXPs such as goal-true and goal-false, and in mission log entries. Not shown to the player.
Goal textText displayed to the player in the briefing goal list and HUD objective display.
ScorePoints awarded when this goal is completed.
TeamIn multiplayer missions, the team this goal belongs to.

Goal flags

FlagDescription
Objective InvalidMarks the goal as invalid from the start of the mission. Invalid goals are not shown to the player and are not evaluated. Goals can also be marked valid or invalid at runtime by SEXPs, making this useful for goals that are conditionally activated during play.
Don't Play Completion MusicSuppresses the event music stinger that normally plays when this goal is completed or failed.