Subscription

A Subscription is a Pirate-DLC feature — the player subscribes to a faction’s mission feed (war, trade, pirate, mentor themes), and the script repeatedly offers missions of that theme. Implemented entirely in MD, not as a vanilla scriptproperties.xml datatype.

For full content + per-faction details see → Faction subscriptions catalog

Vanilla subscription types

Type	Script	Theme
War	`x4ep1_war_subscriptions.xml` (17K lines)	Help faction X fight faction Y
Trade	`x4ep1_trade_subscriptions.xml` (6.5K)	Deliver supplies / clear pirates from trade lanes
Pirate	`x4ep1_pirates_subscriptions.xml` (3.8K)	Raid faction X
Mentor	`x4ep1_mentor_subscription.xml` (3K)	Personal-progression coaching

How subscriptions work

Player encounters subscription contact NPC
    ↓
gm_joinsubscription mission offered → player accepts → subscribed
    ↓
Background polling cue (Check_Cooldown, 5s interval) checks state
    ↓
When cooldown elapses + subscription active → generate mission
    ↓
Mission piggybacks on existing gm_* template (with subscription-specific context)
    ↓
Tier advances based on success rate + count

Subscription state

Stored in MD globals per-faction-per-subscription:

md.X4Ep1_War_Subscriptions.$subscribed.{faction.argon} = true
md.X4Ep1_War_Subscriptions.$tier.{faction.argon} = 3
md.X4Ep1_War_Subscriptions.$mission_count.{faction.argon} = 12

Tier system

Each subscription advances through tiers (typically 5 levels):

Tier 0: Easy missions, small rewards
Tier 1: After 5 successful + relation milestone
Tier 2: After 10 successful + larger relation milestone
Tier 3: Unlocked after scripted milestone
Tier 4: After 25 missions + max relation
Tier 5: Endgame, locked behind significant progression

Tiers reset on unsubscribe.

Faction subscriptions catalog — full per-type breakdown
Subscription missions (technical) — how to write your own
Mission encyclopedia — landscape of all missions

Cross-DLC subscription scripts

Note that Terran DLC adds Terran-specific subscription extensions:

x4ep1_trade_terran.xml (79KB) — Terran trade
x4ep1_war_terran.xml (132KB) — Terran war
Split DLC: x4ep1_war_split.xml (96KB)

These extend the base subscription system with faction-specific content.

Mod conflict risks

❌ Pirate DLC required for the entire subscription system
❌ Mods that disable Scaleplate / Loanshark / Yaki factions break their subscription paths
❌ Mods changing faction relations affect subscription gating
⚠ Custom factions can’t slot into vanilla subscriptions without diff’ing DefineNonSubscriptionWars for War or analogous for other types

Faction — subscription is faction-driven
Mission group — subscriptions categorize their missions
Subscription missions — how to write subscriptions
Architectural overview: Mission framework — bigger context

Subscription is X4’s deepest faction-loyalty mechanic — and the most code-heavy in vanilla (war subscriptions alone = 17K lines). Your mod’s interference with faction relations, contact NPCs, or subscription gating breaks the system.