Never

The word "never" is a FLAG used on Quests and Races.

Never in Quests

When the "never" FLAG appears in a quest, it's used in the first flag line, at the top of the quest, before anything else.

• If a quest is flagged "never", then the quest can only be activated by the mission settings, not by any other random or always method.
• Quests with "never" may only be called up by the QEST line of the mission.ini file.
• For example, the pirates and military use different quests for their game messages, so game_brass.ini and game_pirate.ini feature both the "never" and "gamemsg" flags.
• While the main game only uses never and QEST for gamemsg, that isn't a hardcoded restriction. I haven't tested it, but I believe you can put in other quests this way. For example, if you wanted to add a special merchant vessel to the map for players to attack only when on the pirate mission, you could use a never FLAG, and then have the mission.ini trigger it only when playing a pirate.

Never in Races

When the "never" FLAG appears in a (race).ini file, it's always near the top. The FLAG line is the third in line, after NAM1 and NAM2.

• The "never" FLAG prevents the race from being located randomly on the map, unless a quest places them. They won't just randomly spawn as an enemy fleet without some greater context.
  • A good example of a race with the "never" FLAG is the Ravians. They have the line "FLAG hostile never simulator". They're bad guys that you can fight in the combat simulator, but only ever find in-game if the Brood2 mainquest is running.