I don't seem to be able to get to Mission 2 in Act 1, where the Stepsons ask me to do something for them. Am still doing free form pirating without a way to advance.

Received the "Impressed" email from the Stepsons, and have pirated 122 pods with value of 431,000. I have a score of 2185. No outstanding missions on Mission Objectives.

Maybe I accidentally shot some Stepson ships or their allies, but never received a warning message. Appreciate any help, am open to hacking the savegame if I can advance. Thanks

You went back to base twice and nothing?

Yes, I did a lot more pirating after I got that "Impressed" email and did not get the next email. Did I miss something?

Hmm, it sure has been some years since I played (2009). You clearly have not triggered some trigger but I just cannot remember anymore.

I wonder would the game run on my new pc.... Not running properly, yet :-(

https://i-war2.com/documents/help/faq/faq-acts-0-1

You need to call Jafs and have him collect and bring home 50+ containers. If you have been just leaving them in space or bringing them home one at a time using your tug, that will not work.

I suspect your problem is solved by this, right?

You might have to keep trying. The progression system is based on total value of pirated cargo, so it's possible you just don't have enough yet.

Thanks everyone for replying.

Still don't know what happened. As I said, I had 122 pods with value of 431,000 which is higher than the 50 pods that the FAQs said was needed to progress the Stepson emails.

If this doesn't trigger soon, I guess I will use download a savegame provided on the IWAR2 site to make progress.

Frustrating!
Did you pirate it all from the same spot? Try going places! Trade some of your loot for more/better equipment in case that is a trigger. It would not even take too long to replay up to that point if you want to.

But then, I also got stuck on a trigger not triggering and quit, though much later. Always wanted to return though.