Hmm...on second thought, maybe you should just distribute binaries :-).

-rc

vBot is now on version 2.0
which isn't working as smoothly as 1.0

1.0 worked through an internal vendetta script which loaded the "out" file of vBots script every second.

i wasn't happy with the 1 second delay for commands, or the lack of being able to interact with station menus and undock so v2.0 now uses a program that reads the "out" file and types it into vendetta, so new issues have arisen.

issue 1: vBot is apparently much slower than i thought, because sometimes the "out" file is typed in twice before it's wiped by vBot (which it does after reading any commands it issues) this should be fixed pretty soon, it's not a big deal, and at the moment only affects the "fire" and "turbo" commands because they have the same command for start and stop. also sometimes it causes messages to be sent twice, so if you see vBot messages twice you know why :D

issue 2: because the new way of loading vBot's "out" is to actually type it into vendetta, as opposed to loading the "out" directly, subtle changes to the script had to be made, and there may be some places i missed, due to this, i can no longer talk through vBot while it's running, so i must deactivate it, type a message, and reactivate it. i can't think of anyway to fix this issue because it's one of the drawbacks of using this method.

issue 3: vBot still can't undock, but it's closer than ever, and i know it can work, i just have to figure out a way to scan for the right variable

the good thing about v2.0 the delay has been cut in half down to a blazing 0.5 seconds, although after the 0.5 seconds it still has to type the command, so it's slightly longer. once issue 1 is fixed i should be able to eliminate the delay completely.

along with v2.0 being twice as fast i have changed some of the commands based on what players were attempting to do with certain commands, since nobody reads the help

new command list:

hire -> hires the bot
I originally assumed the following was common sense but vBots logs prove otherwise
if you have NOT hired vBot it will not follow your commands. except 'help' and 'help (command)'
only one player can hire it at a time.

free -> releases vBot so that others may hire it, this was originally the 'fire' command, i changed it because like i said no one read the help and the assumed fire = shoot

fire -> starts firing weapon, to stop firing type 'fire' again (not quite working, it may fire the weapon only once instead of holding it down)

left -> turn left
right -> turn right
up -> turn up
down -> turn down

go -> makes vBot go (i scrapped the spped+/speed- commands because it was just adding confusion so vBot goes full speed or no speed now)

stop -> makes vBot stop

turbo -> turns on turbo, if turbo is on then it turns it off (like stated earlier, may not work, also if turbo stopped because energy ran out, it would still be considered 'on' to vBot, so the command would have to be issued twice to make it turbo again)

jet -> jettisons vBot's cargo (this is a necessary feature for when vBot is complete, the idea is vBot could be a cargo drone, at present if you manage to get vBot to pick up cargo you could bring it to another sector and dump it so that you can pick it up and sell it, i'm hoping to eventually allow vBot to buy and sell the cargo itself and give profits to the player that hired it)

help -> displays the list of commands
help <command> -> describes what each command does example: 'help left' would msg the player "makes vBot turn left" or something like that i can't remember what it actually says :D

and that's it for now
as for giving others the code i'm all for it, once it's done, vBot is still in testing and as such, i am still refining the code, vBot isn't much more that a toy right now for players, i'll distribute the code to whoever wants it once vBot is in my eyes "ready"

I will also send out example scripts for players who wish to bind vBots commands to their keyboard so they could fly it more easily, but until i can get the delay down it's not needed

cheers guys, and thanks for the enthusiasm :D

-Cam-

If vBot destroys a player while you've got it for hire, will it count for your score?

Vbot is esentually another player, So it will only count for vbots score.

wait I haven't tried this yet, but how can it be fun if you have to type the thing a private msg every single time you want it to do something?

You can bind '/msg vBot left' to num pad 4, etc. Haven't tried it, but in principal it would seem to work.

-rc

Last time I checked msg wasn't an actual command, but this might have been fixed.

Excuse me "Cam" (vBot maker) can you send me the script?

Then I can trade without being pirated and cap without dieing,

I would appreciate it, Thanks

[off topic]Cam: Think very hard before giving YOUR work away [/off topic]

Anyway... I like v2.0, nice work again Cam

hello

Stick! No! It's people like you who destroy the open source movement! :-(

-rc

[off topic] red cactus: do you know how much work stick has done for vendetta, he runs "cash prize give away" he has given millions of credits away, you should appreciate what he does for us. so don't say he destroys the open source movement. [off topic]

Red Cactus! No! It's people like you who destroy companies! :-(

Bohani: Ok, but has he released the source code for CPGA? I'm not saying that he's a horrible person, and that I don't appreciate all the work he's done. I'm simply saying that it IS people with his attitude who are destroying the open source movement.

Lemming: How exactly does supporting open source destroy companies? Take a look at Red Hat, for instance. They seem to be doing just fine.

-rc

vBot is ready to go online full-time!!!

i hope you are all excited :D

but now a serious problem has arisen that i would like input for.
It's not a problem with the code, but the players taking advantage of vBots lack of defensive power.

vBot can now undock, and since it is homed in sector 9, you could sit outside the station and continually kill it as it undocked if you wanted too.

So what we have to decide is...
does the amount of PKs matter to anyone? I for example don't really care how many PKs anyone has, and for those competing for the higher number, the presence of vBot would undoubtedly change their perspective as there would be no way of telling how many of their PKs were killing a bot in a bus.

If the fact that players can rack up PKs by sitting outside 9 and shooting vBot down is considered a bad thing, then my only option is to charge an undocking fee.

so vBot would stay docked until it was hired and payed, at which point it would come out. The upside to this is it may make it possible for vBot to have a better ship, and better weapons. The keyword there is MAY, i have been thinking about that problem and the way the bot is programmed right now, it might not be possible.

so i leave it to you...
1) either charge a fee to undock. (which may not stop the problem, as it would just make it more expensive to kill it.)
2) do nothing and deal with the fact that some players care about the amount of PKs it says next to their name.

i wouldent mind paying money to play with the bot. And if that means there wont be anybody simply hiring it and killing it so no one can realy play with it, by all means go ahead.

The whole PK thing was a joke. People already bot mine to inflate their scores, so I don't see this as being a new exploit. Of course if it were up to me there'd be no statistics besides nation rankings up, but hey that's just me. I'd have to vote no for requiring money just to release a bot. It would suck if you paid 200c just to get the bot out and running, only to have an enemy teammate camp outside the station and kill the bot just so you waste money etc.

But I got an idea. If there's any way to implement this I'd say go for it. Require players to pay money to HIRE the vBot. That way as long as the player pays for the bot, they'll have exclusive access to letting the bot out. Everyone else will be locked out unless, A) another player offers more money or B) someone fires the bot. In other words the only way vBot will come out is if someone pays for him and sends out a command to come out of the station manually.

In addition I'd put a time limit on how long you keep it after you hire it, so no-one slips it 20mill and goes to sleep.

allowing the person who hired the bot to manually undock it is a possibility, but then a time limit would have to be added, and most likely it wouldn't be limited to while the ship is docked, meaning that vBot would start counting down from when it's hired and would free itself when the timer reached zero.

Arolte you bring up a very good point which is that if vBot costs money, players could lose that money quite easily courtesy of players killing it.

At this point vBot will remain free, and unless someone specifically complains about spam killing vBot it will most likely remain that way.
If i could justify the expense by giving vBot a better ship and weapons then i would consider charging to undock, but i haven't figured out how (if possible) to do that yet. :D

Cheers
-Cam-

Is a time limit really necessary though? You could have the bot stay in the station until someone calls for it. At least that would make it harder for vBot griefers to repeatedly kill it. If nobody sees the bot outside, one could presume it's in the station. I don't see a need to force the bot to come outside all the time.