NPC Pilot commands and features

Tested this one, seems to work from the reply I got, but then what? RAM, how are you using this one(IIRC you suggested this one, so I assume you have an idea how to use it)? Only place in-game I can see the ship name is if I accidentally bump into them?

Well, I also wanted asking them the ship name so we could use it for fleeting or banner ships. Mooncrest can use it for advertising sales on ships and whatnot at SS.

I was really hoping for a fleet id thing with it. Any Bowman NPC I have will now be flying the "Sewage Hauler." Bowman is RL name of Jacarie. Nowyou know why all Bowman I have will be hauling sewage!!

Yes, I know I am the only person who cares about the names of the NPC. Just something else to have fun with.

Yes, I know I am the only person who cares about the names of the NPC.

Nah, I just wondered how you planned to use it, labeling them is useful. If you could see the name somewhere or they could reply what it was, we should be able to make use of it. So I hoped you already had a way you wanted to use it, that I could just copy

Agree empty holds is awesome, now just need eject from ship.

Found another bug. Empty holds is working much better now. For some reason when you ask the "your cargo" and get a response of "My cargo:" this means they have a negative number of some resource. "Empty holds" now pushes past that and clears the holds. Jam says it is a SM code issue on server that is giving negative numbers to cargo. We will continue to debug.

Yeah, I think several SM issues are confusing NPCs as well:

• colony names doesn't have to be unique, no control where NPCs goes when there are several colonies and OSBs with the same name. Can easily be tested by asking them to trade with Abandoned (there are many to choose between).
• 2 or more NPCs can buy an item at different locations and then go to the same SM and try to fill the same buy order, only the first NPC will be able to sell, the other will be stuck with its cargo as the buy order is already filled.
• NPCs can sell to SMs even when there is no free warehouse space, making it possible to over fill as much as you want. Only limited by the amount specified in the SM buy order.
• NPCs confirm their trade route even when there is no gates between the SMs, but they will just stay in one system instead of working. This is usually not a problem since players will know where gates are. But if there is another SM the player don't know about, with the same name, this will be an issue and there is no way for the player to know that this is happening. The player will just see a NPC that is not working, even though it is set up correctly and the responds are the same as if nothing was wrong.
• Not possible to use NPC to move items from colony to OSB without spamming the SM search full of such orders, hiding the sell order at OSB we actually want people to find (it has to be at least 1 higher than at colonies to make NPC work). Would be so much better if we could order them to move certain item between our own colonies and OSBs without going via SM.
• We don't know how NPCs prioritize when there is several items for sale/buying at SMs, makes it impossible to control the order of what is moved or choose what to move.
• Putting up sell orders down to negative numbers allow NPCs to buy stuff that isn't there. Anyone order a cookie or some awesome sauce?

Also some of the things I listed in SM bug thread isn't making things better for NPCs functionality:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3442&start=20#p32508

Sorry for just listing lots of issues, it's not meant as complaining about it, and I am not expecting it to be fixed (would probably be a lot of work). Just want to inform of them, as I think any small change to any of these could help NPCs become better and easier to use.

If there have been any recent changes, I have not checked if anything stated above is still an issue. I have just written down all I can remember. Most of my testing with SMs and NPCs was 2 years ago or more

Here is the start of my NPC COMM script. More to come. Just hit the basics. Will add the Hire, Go To, and maybe Stop later. With this script, F11 opens the NPC COMM box. Should be at the lower right of your screen.

;************ NPC COMM ******************

F11:: ;Starts routine
Gui, Destroy
Gui, Color, 427277

guixpos := A_screenwidth - 255
guiypos := A_screenheight - 250
;guihide := 0
Gui, Add, Text,,Open NPC chat then click:

Gui, Add, Button,xs gNpc1 h18, What is your trade route?
Gui, Add, Button,xs gNpc4 h18,What is your cargo?
Gui, Add, Button,xs gNpc2 h18,What are you doing?
Gui, Add, Button,xs gNpc3 h18,Where are you?
Gui, Add, Button, xs gNpc5 H18,Trade between
Gui, add, edit, vloc1 w60 h20 x+4, %loc1%

Gui, Add, text,x+1 H16,and
Gui, add, edit, vloc2 w60 h20 x+4, %loc2%

Gui, Add, Button,xs gNpc6 h18,Empty holds

Gui, Show, w250 h180 X%guixpos% Y%guiypos%,NPC COMM
WinSet, AlwaysOnTop, On, NPC COMM
return

Npc1:
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send What is your trade route? {Return}
return

Npc2:
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send What are you doing? {Return}
return

Npc3:
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send Where are you? {Return}
return

Npc4:
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send What is your cargo? {Return}
return

Npc5:
Gui, Submit, NoHide
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send Trade between %loc1% and %loc2% {Return}
return

Npc6:
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send Empty holds {Return}
return

***********************************************

That is awesome RAM. I will I could get my internet fixed so I can try it out.

Updated script. I will compile and leave a link.



I have every command except Patrol. I will let players sort that one out if needed.

Here is the raw script for anyone who wants to add it to existing AHK script. I am using F11 to start it. Once compiled, it will run without any hotkey to start it.

;************ NPC COMM ******************

F11:: ;Starts routine
Gui, Destroy
Gui, Color, 427277

guixpos := A_screenwidth - 255
guiypos := A_screenheight - 300
;guihide := 0
Gui, Add, Text,,Open NPC chat then click:

Gui, Add, Button,xs gYourCargo h18,What is your cargo?
Gui, Add, Button,x+34 gEmpty h18,Empty holds
Gui, Add, Button,xs gDoing h18,What are you doing?
Gui, Add, Button,x+30 gWhere h18,Where are you?
Gui, Add, Button,xs gTradeRoute h18, What is your trade route?
Gui, Add, Button,x+10 gNpcStop h18,Stop(Clear Route)
Gui, Add, Button, xs gTradeBetween H18,Trade between
Gui, add, edit, vloc1 w63 h20 x+4, %loc1%
Gui, Add, text,x+3 H16,and
Gui, add, edit, vloc2 w63 h20 x+3, %loc2%
Gui, Add, Button,xs gHire h18,Hire (Pilot)
Gui, Add, Button, x+30 gGoTo H18,Go To
Gui, add, edit, vloc3 w102 h20 x+4, %loc3%
Gui, Add, Button, xs gPQ H18,Passengers
Gui, Add, Button, x+23 gDumpMat H18,Dump
Gui, add, edit, vDumpMat w104 h20 x+4, %DumpMat%
Gui, Add, Button, xs gShipName H18,Ship Name
Gui, Add, Button, x+26 gNewName H18,Rename
Gui, add, edit, vShipRename w92 h20 x+4, %ShipRename%
Gui, Show, w250 h200 X%guixpos% Y%guiypos%,NPC COMM
WinSet, AlwaysOnTop, On, NPC COMM
return

TradeRoute:
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send What is your trade route?{Return}
return

NpcStop:
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send Stop{Return}
return

Doing:
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send What are you doing?{Return}
return

Where:
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send Where are you?{Return}
return

YourCargo:
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send What is your cargo?{Return}
return

TradeBetween:
Gui, Submit, NoHide
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send Trade between %loc1% and %loc2%{Return}
Sleep 4000
Send Yes{Return}
return

Empty:
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send Empty holds{Return}
return

GoTo:
Gui, Submit, NoHide
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send Go to %loc3%{Return}
return

Hire:
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send I want to hire you.{Return}
Sleep 4000
Send Yes{Return}
Sleep 4000
Send Fly Ship{Return}
return

DumpMat:
Gui, Submit, NoHide
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send Dump %DumpMat%{Return}
return

PQ:
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send How many Passenger Quarters?{Return}
return

ShipName:
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send What is your ship name?{Return}
return

NewName:
Gui, Submit, NoHide
WinActivate, Ascent - The Space Game
Send Rename your ship %ShipRename%{Return}
return

Download location:

http://dataus.net/ascentextras/downloads/NPCCOMM.exe

Download it to desktop so you can easily find it. Then when you want it running, just click the file. It will run. Should show up in lower right corner of your screen. When done, click the red X in top right corner of the box. It should end script.

I set a 4 second timer on responses from NPC in multiple line conversations like hire pilot. This is twice the time I needed for responses. If that is too fast still, let me know and I can slow it down easily.

Hope it helps. Have fun!