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Paranid Civil War — Prologue

The Prologue of the Paranid Civil War arc is the trigger phase — what fires Dal Busta’s call to the player, the introduction conversation, and how the path choice is set up. There’s no “mission” in the UI sense yet, but it’s a fully-specified arc entry path that mods can break.

Entry conditions (when arc becomes available)

Section titled “Entry conditions (when arc becomes available)”

The arc activates when the player’s relation with either Paranid faction reaches friendly (UI value 10):

<set_value name="$EntryRelation"
    exact="faction.paranid.relation.friend.min"
    comment="0.01 (UI value 10) = friendly"/>


<conditions>
    <event_player_relation_changed faction="faction.holyorder"/>
    <event_player_relation_changed faction="faction.paranid"/>
    <check_value value="event.param2.{1} ge $EntryRelation"/>
</conditions>

Triggering on permanent relation change only (transient is filtered out via not event.object).

Story state — character setup

Section titled “Story state — character setup”

Before the prologue can fire, the script has already anchored these characters in vanilla:

  • Dal Busta (the antagonist contact — calls player)
  • Boso Ta (HQ ally — appears in Chapter 1 returns)
  • Cardinal (Holy Order leader)
  • The Sink location at cluster_25_sector002 (Cipher sector) — landmark referenced later
  • Paranid Monument (landmarks_par_monument_01_macro at cluster_11_sector001) — 8km no-trespass radius zone established

These are set up by Initialise cue at story start, regardless of whether prerequisites are yet met.

Mission entry: “Dal Busta’s Call”

Section titled “Mission entry: “Dal Busta’s Call””

Cue: Prerequisites_Trigger_Dal_Call

Section titled “Cue: Prerequisites_Trigger_Dal_Call”
  • In-game name: Not displayed (this is a comm call, not a UI mission)
  • Path/Chapter: Prologue
  • Find in game: Comm call from Dal Busta after relation prerequisite met
  • Prerequisites:
    • Player relation ≥ friendly (UI 10) with faction.paranid OR faction.holyorder
    • Player not yet in Chapter 1
  • What player encounters:
    • Dal Busta initiates a comm call
    • “Your recent exploits might have opened up a new opportunity for us.” (text refs {30200,30200003} male / {30200,30200004} female player)
  • Player choices:
    • {30220, 201} “And what might that be?” — Continue (accept prologue)
    • {30220, 202} “I’m not interested.” — Abort (decline arc entirely)
  • Where: Anywhere — comm call doesn’t require physical proximity
  • NPCs involved: Dal Busta (caller)
  • Reward: None — pure narrative entry
  • Chains to: Prerequisites_Dal_Conversation → Prerequisites_Dal_Conversation_Section_Accept
  • Code reference: story_paranid.xml Prerequisites_Trigger_Dal_Call_Parent block

Mod conflict risks — “Dal Busta’s Call”

Section titled “Mod conflict risks — “Dal Busta’s Call””
  • ❌ Mods that despawn Dal Busta at game start block the arc forever — the call can’t happen
  • ❌ Comm-disabling mods during the relation-up event miss the trigger window
  • ⚠ Mods that auto-max relations on game start trigger the call before player has context — confusing to new players
  • ⚠ Custom NPC mods that take over faction.paranid representative voicelines may collide with Dal Busta’s dialogue
  • ⚠ Custom mission mods using faction.paranid BBS slots may push the prerequisite trigger off the offer board

Mission entry: “Talk to Dal at the HQ” (special shortcut)

Section titled “Mission entry: “Talk to Dal at the HQ” (special shortcut)”

Cue: Prerequisites_Trigger_Dal_Call_HQ_Skip_Header

Section titled “Cue: Prerequisites_Trigger_Dal_Call_HQ_Skip_Header”

A special-case shortcut for players who reach high relation with both Paranid factions while Dal Busta is physically at the player’s HQ.

  • Cue: Prerequisites_Trigger_Dal_Call_HQ_Skip_Header
  • In-game name: “Paranid Civil War” (text ref {30220, 205})
  • Path/Chapter: Prologue (alternate entry)
  • Find in game: Talk to Dal Busta in person while he’s visiting the player HQ
  • Prerequisites:
    • $HQ exists AND Dal Busta is at the HQ AND player is at the HQ
    • Player relation with BOTH Paranid factions ≥ $TargetRelation (-0.0099, UI -9, “allowed to dock”)
  • What player encounters:
    • Conversation option appears in Dal Busta’s dialogue: “Paranid Civil War”
    • Bypasses the standard comm-call flow
    • Skips directly to Chapter 1 intro
  • Player choices:
    • {30220, 205} “Paranid Civil War” — Skip to Chapter 1
  • Where: Player HQ
  • NPCs involved: Dal Busta (in person), HQ context
  • Reward: Same as standard prologue (none — entry only)
  • Chains to: Ch1_Intro (skips standard prerequisite handover)
  • Code reference: story_paranid.xml Prerequisites_Trigger_Dal_Call_HQ_Skip_Header

Mod conflict risks — “Talk to Dal at HQ”

Section titled “Mod conflict risks — “Talk to Dal at HQ””
  • ❌ HQ-replacement mods break the $HQ context check
  • ❌ Mods that prevent Dal Busta from visiting HQ disable this shortcut
  • ⚠ Mods that change HQ dock context may confuse hascontext.{$HQ} check

Mission entry: “Accept Dal Busta’s Offer”

Section titled “Mission entry: “Accept Dal Busta’s Offer””

Cue: Prerequisites_Dal_Conversation_Section_Accept

Section titled “Cue: Prerequisites_Dal_Conversation_Section_Accept”
  • In-game name: Conversation continuation
  • Path/Chapter: Prologue (final entry step)
  • Find in game: Player has continued through Dal Busta’s conversation, reaches the “accept” choice
  • Prerequisites: Player chose to continue through prerequisites conversation
  • What player encounters:
    • Dal Busta: “Nice!” (text ref {30220, 30220359})
    • Arc commits — player is now in Chapter 1
  • Where: Wherever conversation started (HQ or remote comm)
  • NPCs involved: Dal Busta
  • Reward: Arc starts
  • Chains to: Ch1_Intro → Chapter 1 missions begin
  • Code reference: story_paranid.xml Prerequisites_Dal_Conversation_Section_Accept

Mod conflict risks — “Accept Dal Busta’s Offer”

Section titled “Mod conflict risks — “Accept Dal Busta’s Offer””
  • ❌ Mods that intercept event_conversation_next_section for Dal Busta block acceptance
  • ⚠ Mods that mass-bind Dal Busta conversations may collide

Mission entry: “Decline Dal Busta’s Offer”

Section titled “Mission entry: “Decline Dal Busta’s Offer””

Cue: Prerequisites_Dal_Conversation_Section_Abort

Section titled “Cue: Prerequisites_Dal_Conversation_Section_Abort”
  • In-game name: Conversation continuation
  • Path/Chapter: Prologue (declined)
  • Find in game: Player chose “I’m not interested.” in prerequisites conversation
  • Prerequisites: Player declined entry
  • What player encounters:
    • Dal Busta: “That’s too bad.” (text ref {30200, 30200005})
    • Arc enters declined state but CAN be re-accepted later via the same prerequisites mechanism (relation re-check)
  • Where: Same as conversation context
  • NPCs involved: Dal Busta
  • Reward: None — narrative branch
  • Chains to: Arc returns to Prerequisites_Trigger_Availability waiting state — relation re-meets prerequisite → fire again
  • Code reference: story_paranid.xml:Prerequisites_Dal_Conversation_Section_Abort

Mod conflict risks — “Decline Dal Busta’s Offer”

Section titled “Mod conflict risks — “Decline Dal Busta’s Offer””
  • ⚠ Multiple abort cycles — vanilla guards via $PrerequisitesAbortedAlready flag; your mod’s mass-relation-changes may exhaust patience
  • ⚠ Mods that disable conversation aborts may hang the prerequisite flow

Mission entry: “Escape — skip the arc entirely”

Section titled “Mission entry: “Escape — skip the arc entirely””

Cue: Prerequisites_Dal_Conversation_Escape

Section titled “Cue: Prerequisites_Dal_Conversation_Escape”

A permanent decline option. Player chooses to skip the arc forever (cutscene fires, arc state set to “completed-via-escape”).

  • Cue: Prerequisites_Dal_Conversation_Escape
  • In-game name: Escape sequence (cutscene)
  • Path/Chapter: Prologue (permanently declined)
  • Find in game: Player chose to escape during the prerequisites cutscene
  • Prerequisites: Player initiated escape flow
  • What player encounters:
    • Brief cutscene
    • Dal Busta speaks final line
    • Arc state set to permanently skipped — no further calls
  • Where: Cutscene
  • NPCs involved: Dal Busta
  • Reward: Player loses access to all Paranid Civil War rewards (Trinity blueprint, Haven blueprint, faction rep boosts)
  • Chains to: End of arc for this save
  • Code reference: story_paranid.xml Prerequisites_Dal_Conversation_Escape

Mod conflict risks — “Escape — skip the arc”

Section titled “Mod conflict risks — “Escape — skip the arc””
  • ❌ Mods that re-trigger story arcs that should be permanently skipped — check $HasCustomGamestartSkip flag before re-triggering
  • ⚠ Save-migration: Custom game starts that skip the arc via gamestart.storystate.story_paranid_esc_0..3 must respect this flag

Path commitment

Section titled “Path commitment”

After accepting Dal Busta’s offer in the prologue, the player enters Chapter 1. Chapter 1 is shared logic between Universal and Escalation paths — the path divides based on player decisions during Chapter 1 dialogues.

Specifically, the player’s response to the Sink Explanation event determines:

  • Choosing a mediation response → Universal path (Uni_1)
  • Choosing an escalation response → Escalation path (Esc_1)

For details of Chapter 1 missions and the path-split, see:

Section titled “Related”

The Prologue is short but critical — break it and the entire 20K-line arc is unreachable. Most “Paranid story doesn’t start” bug reports trace to mod side-effects in this 30-line window.