end of Nova mission

[Smivs]

I haven't seen these I'm afraid, but they sound very nice
I did the Nova in the old days when you didn't find out till you'd docked, and could sunskim there first

[Cody]

I did the Nova in the old days when you didn't find out till you'd docked, and could sunskim there first

Ah yes, I remember it well... damn fiendish, those devs!

[Eric Walch]

I did the Nova in the old days when you didn't find out till you'd docked........., and could sunskim there first

On the first: YES.
The fuel failure did make sure you were left without fuel. Most people then went to the station to refuel. However, since more and more people start using fuel pods and had no need to go to the station, the beacon now transmits a distress message. That message should not have gone unnoticed by a hero captain.

On the second: SOMETIMES.
I always thought that you could sunskim until Kaks told me it does not always work. And I tested it repeatedly: because the nova is a bit bigger than normal suns, you can't reach the sunskim point in time when in a system with a big sun, even not with heatshielding. In systems with average suns and smaller, sunskimming still does work.

[another_commander]

Where does it say that rescuing the refugees is a test? It's the real thing people!
Well, as real as it can get in a futuristic space trading game, I guess...

As mentioned above, you do get distress calls upon entering the system. There are four different messages transmitted by the witchspace beacon at regular intervals (the first one arrives almost as soon as you exit hyperspace), three of which directly tell you to report to main orbital station, while the last one strongly hints that you have to get there. I think your complaints are not exactly justified, mandoman.

[SandJ]

My opinion (as low as it may sound) is that the NOVA mission is a complete failure in determining whether a person is a Hero, or Coward. I didn't even know it was a test, and in fact I was suppose to react in a certain manner to pass the test. ... If I had known it was a test of that nature, my reaction to the pronouncement of the sun about to go nova would have been completely different.

So when nobody's watching, you run away. When watched, you'll do the right thing.

No, sir, you are not a coward. You are a cad.