🎯 Objectives¶

Objectives connect database entities to campaign flow, tutorials, notifications, rewards, map-specific logic, and progression. They are powerful, but they are also one of the riskiest modding areas because a broken objective chain can block a map or corrupt mission pacing.

Objective data appears in several places:

game-gdb/core/gdb/objectives.gd.xml
game-gdb/dlc1/gdb/objectives.gd.xml
game-gdb/core/gdb/campaign map *.gd.xml
game-gdb/core/gdb/campaign test map.gd.xml
game-gdb/dlc1/maps/meadowsong map database.gd.xml
game-gdb/core/gdb/campaignglobals.gd.xml
game-gdb/dlc1/gdb/globals.gd.xml

(campaign test map.gd.xml is an EE internal test/sandbox map that ships in core alongside the seven numbered campaign maps; the campaign map * glob above does not match its different name.)

For the broader map-specific relationship between objectives, POIs, treasure areas, shrines, artifacts, and scenario flow, see Map, POI, And Objective Systems.

Notifications and related UI data often appear in:

game-gdb/core/gdb/notifications.gd.xml
game-gdb/dlc1/gdb/notifications.gd.xml

What Objectives Usually Connect¶

Objective entities commonly reference or depend on:

resources and commodities
buildings
points of interest
NPC bases
units
notifications
rewards
trigger conditions
objective categories
map-specific state

This makes objectives less isolated than resources, recipes, or building costs. Always trace references before editing.

Common Objective-Like Components¶

The database uses multiple objective components. Examples seen in the current XML set include:

Component or Field	Likely Role
`ObjectiveOwnCommodityAmount`	Require the player to own or store a commodity amount
`ObjectiveSupplyPointsOfInterest`	Require resources to be supplied to points of interest
`ObjectiveNotifications`	Notifications shown during objective state changes
`ObjectiveCompletionTriggers`	Trigger hooks for started, completed, skipped, or failed states
`GeneralObjectiveCategory`	UI grouping/category for objectives
`UnlockConditions`	Links objective progress to unlock behavior
`RewardTime`	Defines when a reward is applied

The exact field meaning should be verified through examples and in-game testing.

Notifications¶

Objectives often use notifications to explain what happened or what changed. Notification references may appear inside:

objective components
building components
unit/NPC components
resources
map scripts
reward blocks

When changing an objective, search for its notification GUIDs and related text keys. If a notification is removed or disconnected, the gameplay may still function but become confusing.

Useful command:

rg --no-ignore "ObjectiveNotifications|Notification|RewardTime|ObjectiveCompletionTriggers" .\game-gdb

Rewards And Triggers¶

Rewards can be linked to objective lifecycle events, such as:

objective started
objective completed
objective skipped
objective failed

Fields such as RewardTime and ObjectiveCompletionTriggers should be treated with care. They may cause resources, units, buildings, unlocks, or narrative steps to appear at a specific point in the mission flow.

Safer edits:

change objective display text keys for local experiments
adjust small commodity amounts in a copied/test map objective
change notification text keys if you know where localization is handled

Riskier edits:

remove triggers
change reward timing
change objective dependencies
change map-specific objective chains
change objective GUIDs

Map-Specific Objectives¶

Campaign maps and DLC maps can contain their own objectives and overrides. These are especially risky because they are tied to a particular map setup.

Examples:

game-gdb/core/gdb/campaign map 1 - tutorial.gd.xml
game-gdb/core/gdb/campaign map 7 - final showdown.gd.xml
game-gdb/dlc1/maps/meadowsong map database.gd.xml

When editing map objectives:

Work on a copy.
Change only one objective at a time.
Start the map from the beginning after each change.
Check whether the objective appears, updates, completes, and rewards correctly.
Keep a clean backup of the original extracted XML.

Tracing An Objective¶

A practical tracing workflow:

Find the objective entity by name or GUID.
List its components.
Search every GUID referenced inside the objective.
Resolve each referenced GUID in generated/entities.json.
Check map files for additional references to the objective GUID.
Check notifications and rewards.
Validate the database.

Useful commands:

rg --no-ignore "OBJECTIVE-GUID-HERE" .\game-gdb
rg --no-ignore "ObjectiveOwnCommodityAmount|ObjectiveSupplyPointsOfInterest|ObjectiveNotifications" .\game-gdb

Generated Objective Flow Catalog¶

Run:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\generate_catalog.ps1

Then open:

generated/catalog/objective-flow.md
generated/catalog/objective-flow.csv
generated/catalog/filters/objectives/with-preconditions.md
generated/catalog/filters/objectives/with-rewards.md
generated/catalog/filters/objectives/with-notifications.md
generated/catalog/filters/objectives/tech-tree.md

The current local catalog reports:

Catalog	Count
Objective flow rows	814
Rows with preconditions	249
Rows with rewards	124
Rows with notifications	228
Tech tree rows	21

The catalog expands objective-like entities into requirement components, precondition objectives, skip/fail objectives, resource references, building references, unit references, POI/encounter references, start rewards, rewards, notifications, completion triggers, and localization keys.

Treat it as a navigation aid. It helps you find the important pieces quickly, but final campaign flow still needs in-game testing.

Risk Summary¶

Edit	Risk
Change objective display text key	Low to medium
Change a required commodity amount	Medium
Change notification references	Medium
Change reward resources or timing	High
Change trigger hooks	High
Remove objective components	High
Change objective GUIDs	High

For early modding, objectives are better for reading and tracing than for editing. Once you have a reliable test map workflow, start with small requirement changes.