[Bubblehead1980]

Originally Posted by Nisgeis

The renown earned for completing the mission is set in "Renown Awarded" part and is for completing the mission only. No bonusses for each photo.

"Photo Value" is the total renown of the ships you photograph divided by ten that must be taken in order to complete the mission. E.G. if you have a "Photo Value" of 20, then you need to take a photo of, for example:

A single target equal or greater than 200 renown (large minelayer is 200 renown exactly).
Two targets worth equal or greater than 200 renown, e.g. Medium Old Split Freighter (180) and small old split freighter (70) for a total of 250.
Multiple targets worth greater or equal to 200 renown, e.g. three (separate) Small Gun Boats (70), or Small Old Split Freighters (70).

"Minimum Photo Value Threshold" is the renown (again divided by ten) that a target must have in order to go into your "report". For example, if it was set to 8, then any target of 80 or more renown is a candidate for taking a photo of. So you could take a photo of a Small Modern Composite Freighter (80) but not a Small Gun Boat (70). The game will still let you take any photos you like and will give you a reassuring click, but they will not count. I think also the photo lamp won't go out either, as it normally would if you had taken a photo. You can see this effect if you click on your photo log next to the mission short description on the messages panel. Only targets greater than the threshold will have their blank and white shots put in there.

How does this play into the objective? Usually the minimum threshold is used when you want to force a player to take photos of a certain ship. In stock there is a mission where you need to photo 'Troop Transports' and the mission file has a Liner docked there and the threshold is set quite high - 500 renown of something like that, so most of the usual traffic in port will not qualify. It's a bit of a kludge, as it doesn't guarantee they take a photo of a liner and not that big battleship next to it, but it does sort of work. There is also a mission where you need to photo escort carriers and this was broken in stock, I think because the threshold was set higher than the renown of the ships, so you could lock on and take photos, but they did not count.

Obviously you also need to be careful when assigning creating generic groups, e.g. generic cruiser, as some cruisers are worth more than others. You are also susceptible to making a change to renown and forgetting the knock on consequences of these missions (as it's quite easy to do).

EDIT: For future reference for anyone searching for this:

Traffic just has to be in the photo recon area and can be moving as well as docked.

In order to test, once you have a photo recon mission, you can save and then change the missions and just reload the save and the parameters should update, no need to restart the game or the whole mission.

Thanks for the clarification