Terran (Cradle of Humanity) arcs

The Cradle of Humanity DLC (Terran) ships 6 distinct story arcs spanning ~2.3MB of MD code. The arcs cover the Solar system (Earth, Mars, Venus, Moon, Asteroid Belt), the Pioneer faction, the Yaki pirate faction, the discovery of the Player Headquarters, and the Terran terraforming research line — the largest content addition vanilla has received.

At a glance

Arc	Script	LoC	Theme
Terran Prelude	`story_terran_prelude.xml`	807	Mars Gate scene — first encounter with Terran-restricted core
HQ Discovery	`story_hq_discovery.xml`	1,664	How player finds + unlocks the Player Headquarters
Terran Core	`story_terran_core.xml`	744	Restricted Core enforcement (persistent gameplay system, not a chapter arc)
Covert Operations	`story_covert_operations.xml`	521KB	Terran espionage — Antigone Saman, satellite/EMP/bomb covert ops (8 chapters)
Terraforming research	`story_terraforming.xml`	860KB	Terran-DLC terraforming story (9 chapters Ch0-Ch8 with Torus + Betty Research Ship)
Yaki arc	`story_yaki.xml`	18,732 (1.1MB)	Yaki pirate faction story — LARGEST single arc in vanilla (23 chapters Ch1-Ch23)

Plus DLC support scripts:

setup_dlc_terran.xml (37KB) — DLC setup + faction initialization
x4ep1_war_terran.xml (132KB) — Terran war subscriptions
x4ep1_trade_terran.xml (79KB) — Terran trade subscriptions
yaki_supply.xml (11KB) — Yaki supply system
gs_terran1.xml (77KB) — “Terran Cadet” game start
gs_terran2.xml (51KB) — “Pioneer” game start

Solar System sectors

The Terran arcs anchor specific Solar-system sectors:

Sector macro	Vanilla name	Arc role
`cluster_100_sector001`	Asteroid Belt	Terran Core — patrol restricted area
`cluster_101_sector001`	Mars	Terran Core + Prelude — Mars Gate scene
`cluster_102_sector001`	Venus	Terran Core — restricted territory
`cluster_104_sector001`	Earth	Terran Core — restricted core
`cluster_104_sector002`	Moon / Luna	Terran Core — Luna battleship patrol
`cluster_110_sector001`	Neptune	HQ Discovery
`cluster_114_sector001`	(HQ Sector)	HQ Discovery — where HQ spawns
`cluster_115_sector001`	Brennan’s Triumph	HQ Discovery
`cluster_01_sector001`	Grand Exchange	HQ Discovery — start hub

Your mod must not change ownership / accessibility of these sectors without considering Terran arc compatibility.

Persistent characters

Character	Role	Anchored where
Boso Ta	HQ scientist / Pioneer ally	HQ + Pioneer territory
Pioneer	NPC commander (HQ Discovery dialogue)	HQ Sector
Terran Cadet	Tutorial NPC (Terran Cadet game start)	Terran territory
Yaki Captain/Boss	Yaki arc main NPC	Yaki territory
Various Pioneer NPCs	Across HQ Discovery sub-cues	Multiple

Faction interactions

Terran arcs interact with these factions (your mod’s relation changes affect arc availability):

faction.terran (Terran Protectorate)
faction.atf (ATF subfaction — Covert Operations heavy)
faction.pioneers (Pioneer faction — HQ Discovery)
faction.yaki (Yaki pirates — Yaki arc)
faction.terraintrigger (alternate Terran detection check)

Custom game start hooks

The Terran DLC adds two game starts that directly hook into HQ Discovery:

x4ep1_gamestart_terran1 — Terran Cadet — player starts as a Terran cadet
x4ep1_gamestart_terran2 — Pioneer Variant — player starts allied with Pioneers

HQ Discovery’s Start condition checks player.module == 'x4ep1_gamestart_terran1' or player.module == 'x4ep1_gamestart_terran2' or gamestart.storystate.story_hq_secret_service. Other game starts can also trigger HQ Discovery via the story_hq_secret_service storystate flag.

Mod conflict risks (Terran-specific)

❌ Mods that disable Pioneer faction break HQ Discovery
❌ Mods that change cluster_114_sector001 (HQ Sector) ownership break HQ Discovery
❌ Mods that make Yaki docile break Yaki arc
❌ Mods that change Solar-system sector ownership break Restricted Core patrols
⚠ Mods affecting faction.atf relations can prematurely trigger Covert Operations
⚠ Terraforming-altering mods must respect HQ-anchored Terran terraforming arc

Mission encyclopedia — landscape
Story arcs catalog — high-level
Game starts catalog — Terran Cadet + Pioneer Variant starts
Wiki: DLC handling — DLC presence checks

The Terran DLC adds more story content than any other DLC — Yaki arc alone is larger than the entire Paranid Civil War. Your mod’s DLC-handling discipline matters here more than anywhere.