I was reading the Holy Book of Horse and read about the civilian escort missions for medics. If security medics can get that mission then they care about innocent bystanders as well. So wouldn't it be a bad idea for someone to fire on a medic that's escorting a civilian? I wonder how that's addressed. Or maybe it just might not make sense with that aspect of play. A security medic capping a resistance medic and taking his civilian escort hostage or something. Because they aren't gonna shoot them right? I've always found that civilians in warzones don't work out too well in games. With some people being trolls and all. Imagine all the scenarios that could happen there.

When resistance has a mission, the other team thinks the civvie is a resistance leader of some sort.
When the security has a mission, the other team thinks the civvie is an informant.

I guess that works.

Edit: A little standard black and white for a game that makes no claims to that way of thinking but I could see some scenarios in which it COULD make sense. And some in which it would be crazy to shoot an unarmed civie.

One example of the escort mission is in aquarium: the resistance have kidnapped an important figure to the founders. Security has to go in, find him, then bring him back. Once they find him, the resistance is ordered to kill on sight.

I think the game mechanic behind it will be similar to the defusal robot. The robot can get damaged, engineers need to repair it. The robot takes too much of a beating and stops moving, the engineers repair it.

Now let's switch over to the civilian escort missions. Let's say you need to rescue a captured engineer (NPC). He will follow a certain route, someone has to stay near him to move. When he gets hit, you heal him. When he gets incapacitated, you revive.

Well, it's not confirmed that it'll work this way, but I think this makes sense.

So these NPCs aren't random innocent bystanders. Because that'd be insane if security was escorting some poor person to safety and the resistance shot that person out of spite.

Correct, all main missions in Brink are part of the story, side missions are given to help you out with the main mission, so there wouldnt be any generic "help random person in the battlefield from A to B"

I remember hearing about how a Security helicopter pilot was shot down and had to be rescued. This seems like the kind of mission it would be.

According to someone on SD forums who went to QuakeCon, that is how it works.

Error. System failure. No information available.

In other words: they said NPC which could mean innocent bystanders or game related characters or any other person you can think about that needs to be escorted.

@CaptAwesome

Well, educated guessing isn't so bad after all. ^^

I think there are 2 types of escort mission. There are the civilian escorts, that are sort of a side mission that will grant benefits to the team if completed, and then there are the core escort objectives, are needed to progress the game (and win)

Even the side mission escort missions would need to have a story though, I assume it would be rescuing people who have intel, more than enough reason for the other team to take them out. Rescuing grandma from her apartment wouldn't do much to benefit your team.

It wouldn't need any story - it could simply be civilians that are on the battlefield you need to escort to safety. Depending on where the map is (Security or Resistance territory) could determine which side gets the mission.

Haha hopefully no one shoots grandma out of pure unbridled spite. Wraith might though. Right before he stabs us all.

But you just said that rescuing civilians as a side mission would offer a team benefit, how would they have a benefit (that made sense) from rescuing random people?

Because they would be "your" people. Saving them could work as a morale booster, or any number of things. It could also tie into the mission. Maybe one side has to rescue them, while the other side has a mission to kill them.

They added side missions to help your team when you're getting completely dominated. I'm certain that collecting intel by using less frequent used routes is one of them (I think Richard Ham said this in the mega interview, you can look it up by searching for mega brink interview on youtube) There are 2 benefits if you complete this:
- You gain map knowledge.
- you gain for example (also from the interview) half the respawn time. (like 10 seconds per wave instead of 20)

All side missions aren't there solely to help teams who are getting dominated. Most side missions will be available regardless, and serve as other ways for players feel helpful and/or have fun.However, the intel mission is one that is designed to help a badly using team.

Yes, I know it's not the same as a side mission like capturing a command post. I thought it would be obvious in this context.

Also why is the a medic only mission, anyone can escort, only a medic can revive/heal.

Well certain CP's are supposed to provide an overall team bonus. Not sure if all of them do.

Even if it's just a point where you can switch class, it still gives the team a little bonus because you don't have to run so far back. I guess every CP has a bonus. Some might be spawn points, others might give you recharge bonus on your pips. Just coming up with some reasonable examples.

I mean bonus besides having the CP. Faster respawn, health boost, damage boost. All options I heard.

If i remember correctly, engineers can alter the bonus that CPs give

Alter not sure boost I have heard. Makes sense though. Crafty engines. Interesting idea operatives hack it into a negative effect but its simpler to simply take the CP.