7. Mission Design
7.1 Mission Types
Surveillance Observe and log without being detected — track movement patterns, identify contacts, map routes
Ledger Theft Extract documents or trade records from secured locations — stealth or social access required
Informant Handling Recruit, test, protect, or silence informants — social negotiation with physical contingency
Internal Purge Eliminate a target whose death must appear as an accident, legal outcome, or trade dispute
Sabotage Disable infrastructure (ships, warehouses, trade routes) without attributable evidence
Extraction Move a person or object through contested territory while avoiding detection
Counter-intelligence Identify and neutralise an enemy operative who is themselves running intelligence against Malacca
7.2 Design Mandates
- Every mission must have a stealth path, a social path, and a violent path
- Assassination missions must frame the kill as accident, legal action, or trade dispute — no obvious stabbings in public
- No mission should require a specific approach — paths adapt to player style
- Preparation phase is mandatory design — players should be able to scout and plan before committing
Design Rule
- The player character’s legitimacy is maintained through absence of evidence, not absence of action.
- If the player leaves behind a body that can be found and traced, they have failed — even if the target is eliminated.
7.3 Social Stealth Language
Social stealth is not a costume system. The protagonist’s Peranakan fluency forms the full toolkit:
- Language code-switching: Shifts perceived community membership; unlocks different dialogue trees and contact willingness depending on which language is used
- Contextual legitimacy: A merchant courier has reason to be in a warehouse; the same person with no plausible purpose does not. Context is always the first line of clearance.
- Tukar Sirih exchange: Timed public interaction — exchanging betel leaves — to pass or receive intelligence in plain sight. Visible to guards; appears entirely mundane.
- Outfit contextual reads: Community dress increases NPC warmth and reduces ambient suspicion in the relevant quarter. See Section 3.3 for full outfit system rules.
- Gender flavour: Baba and Nyonya receive contextually different dialogue and NPC reactions — same intelligence, different texture. Not a mechanical fork. See Section 3.2.