Missions

In x3, there are three classes of mission - Plot Missions, Other Missions and Offers.

Plot missions each follow a narrative, and are usually a series of "Quests" or "Missions", creating a story arc. A good example of this is the Terran Plot, where the player will have to patrol sectors, capture ships, and deal with large (potentially Universal) Catastrophes.

Other missions are the sort you find offered by people on stations or in ships - they are typically just people who need help and are willing to pay for it. While it might appear to have the largest variety of mission types, these missions are randomly generated. The player will typically get used to them fairly quickly.

Rewards are often large, but do not have to be, so the player would be wise to be careful which missions they follow.

Offers Are given by NPCs, and while not strictly missions, are "offered" in the same fashion as Other Missions - e.g. the player Comms. the NPC offering it, and they will be given a proposal. These services charge the player money, but can be very useful at times.

References

The Other missions and Offers with their description come from dragondream's egosoft forum topic. Thanks for giving us permission to copy it here =)

List of Missions