What is the Nexus Skirmisher?A simple mission creation utility for Nexus - The Jupiter Incident. You can create very simple battles against the AI using customizable fleets with it.
Where can I download it?The official download site is located at
http://arparso.de/nexus.
Which version should I download?Generally you'll wish to download the newest version, which currently is v0.61. Go for the self-installing .exe as that will make installation a breeze complete with shortcuts and an uninstallation feature.
How do I use it?This is pretty straightforward: you select one of your installed mods (or use the default one, "NEXUS Skirmisher"), choose a name and battle location for your mission and start outfitting the fleets, both yours and the AI fleet. You can select up to 10 ships per fleet and even customize them with the click on the small "C" button next to that ship. Shiptype and Equipment names use the internal format of the game, so might be somewhat hard to read, though. Just use a little trial and error combined with some common sense and you'll soon have no problems creating your own custom battle.
Clicking on "Create mission" will create all necessary files for you. You can now start the modification you just created the mission for and start playing.
What's up with the "mission number" setting?Each mission you create with the Skirmisher needs to have its own number assigned to it.
Don't use the same number twice for the same mod or the game will crash when starting up! The only exception is when creating missions for the same mod, that use the same number AND the same mission name. You can do that, though you'll overwrite the previous mission each time you click on "Create mission".
I made a mistake with the mission numbering... how do I fix it?Go to your mods/
/universe/mod_missions folder and do one of the following:
a) delete all mission files starting with duplicate numbers except the one you'd like to keep. These files will be named "#_.mission" where # represents the mission number
OR
b) open these mission files and change the first line of these files to a different number... e.g. change "MISSION 1" to "MISSION 27" ... you won't need to rename the files, but it won't hurt either
Where can I set up fighters and bombers?
Unfortunately you can't with the current version of Nexus Skirmisher. Sorry. You CAN alter the created .mission files directly to add in fighters and bombers manually, but that is pretty much out of scope for this FAQ. Check the Nexus modding manual on how to do that.
How can I select additional star systems to wage war in?
Simply select a different location in the top right or use the "alternative location" tab. It depends on the mod how many locations will be available to you. However, you can always create your own star systems using the editor, that is provided with the game itself. Simply create a new star system for your desired mod and it'll be available in the Skirmisher. Instructions on how to do that can be found in the modding manual of the game.
Modding manual? Solar system editor? Where can I find that?
These utilities come with your copy of the game. When installing the retail version you can deliberatily choose to install the mod utilities, which will supply you with everything you'll need. If you didn't install these, you'll need to uninstall and then reinstall the game in order to get access to them.
