Dnyarri Macro Tutorial Text
From TradeWars Museum
Macro Tutorial
A tutorial by Aaron W Colman (Singularity/Dnyarri)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dny's little macro tutorial for Tradewars 2002.
Singularity (Dnyarri), June 2006
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mmmmkay. So you're probably newish or rusty to the game and looking to
get better. Everyone talks about scripts. Scripts this, scripts that. It
seems that scripts drive the game. But they don't. Macros do. Even the
best scripts in the game can be royally hosed by a simple macro if you
know how. Infact the most advanced scripts use macros in creative ways
to get the highest levels of speed possible.
So what is a macro? The word "macro" means "large." But what it means
to the online world is a set of pre-written commands sent all at once
in a one large burst. They've been around for atleast 20 years, ever
since bandwidth was limited and people needed to navigate the first
remote shell and telnet systems. They became so useful that most term
programs started offering them. You can go back to the old days of
Telemate in the early 90s and see macro this and macro that. They've
been useful for ages, and in TW2002 they are backbone of modern play.
In order to run a macro you need a helper, term program or proxy program.
Attac, Swath, TWX Proxy... the more modern of the current helpers, all
offer macro capabilities. Zoc, the most commonly used term program in
the TW2002 world offers macro capacity that puts any others to shame.
This tutorial will focus on some ways to write macros. Consult your user
manual for your helper or term prog to find out how to execute them. We
will use the standard notation of ^M to represent the enter key. While
TWX uses the * (asterisk) in it's scripting and burst functions, it's
easier to stick with the one that works in the most apps. Depending on
your helper you may have the ability to record keystrokes and convert
them into a macro. Swath offers this feature and I find myself using it
all the time to make macros for later use.
The basic macros are just key strings. For instance if you're in a game
and want to lay a fig in a sector without any.
f1^Mcd
Fighters, 1, Enter. Corp. Defensive.
Simple and effective. That's exactly what you'd type to drop a fig as
you go. Assign this to a key or a button or whatever you have available
and it gets much easier to grid (drop figs everywhere you go) since all
you have to do is push a button.
Now this has some problems. For instance this command string does not
work at every prompt, won't work under certain conditions and could even
put you into some danger in others. We'll go into that later on, but for
now you need to the basics.
m1234^Mf1^Mcdh11^Mch21^Mc
Move to sector 1234. Drop a corp fighter. Drop a corp armid. Drop limpet.
See how easy that is? We could go on and on about simple command strings.
ay5000^M
Attack, first target with 5000 figs. A very simple attack macro. It has
some problems that will become appearant quickly if you use it very often
but it's a simple enough attack macro to write even as a new player.
m1234^Myy
A simple twarp macro. Something this basic can save your life a lot. If
you're a fedsafe commissioned player you can set this to sector 1 or
stardock. If you're not you can set it to a scrub (a place to shake off
enemy limpets) or safe sector. Suddenly even under attack you can twarp off,
provided you're not held in an IG, not photoned and have the turns.
Hopefully you're beginning to see how a little preparation with macros can
make a huge difference in your game's play. Get some basic macros setup as
hotkeys and you have an entire arsenal of tools at your disposal.
Aborting displays...
Look at your CN9 setting. To do this... from either the command or citadel
prompt type "cn"
(1) ANSI graphics - On
(2) Animation display - Off
(3) Page on messages - Off
(4) Sub-space radio channel - xxxx
(5) Federation comm-link - On
(6) Receive private hails - Yes
(7) Silence ALL messages - No
(8) Change Password
(9) Abort display on keys - SPACE
(A) Message Display Mode - Compact
(B) Screen Pauses - No
(C) Online Auto Flee - Off
9 here is set to "SPACE" ... There are 2 settings. SPACE and ALL KEYS.
A "display" is anything that the game would normally send to you. Display
sector after moving, when docking, even when looking at the figlist. All
of these things are "displays." Sometimes you want them displayed, others
you want them aborted. Aborting a display speeds it up. If you're colonizing
or moving product from planet to planet the displays will really slow you
down. While it's unlikely (altho it does happen occasionally) that colonizing
will become such a race, there's no reason to spend more time than you have
to. Moving product however is a different story. It's quite common to move
product under fire, with enemies beating to get their planets back. Taking
an extra few minutes to do this means spending time you simply do not have.
The way to abort a display is based on the setting above. If you set it
"ALL KEYS" many scripts won't work right. This is because they use macros
themselves and catch the output. We'll talk about that later. But if you
abort the display that output won't show up and your script may stall.
Set to "SPACE" makes all spaces abort display. This is very useful as it
allows you to specifically control what displays will show up and which ones
won't.
Sector move with abort displays:
m 1234 ^M f 1 ^M c d h 1 1 ^M c h 2 1 ^M c
You don't put spaces in between sector numbers, that will mess things up.
You also don't put one between the ^ and the M as that's considered a
single key (translates into an enter key, remember?). Everywhere else you
can put a space and abort the display. There are some places where 2 spaces
actually speed things up (and some where it adds extra lines, so it ends
up slowing it down)... but for now 1 space works well enough. As you get
more comfortable with macros you can test both variations and find the one
that works best for your particular macro.
You can use this all over the place and turn large streams of text into
tiny little prompts or lines.
The attack macro...
A good attack macro is a work of art. But to understand why you need to
consider attack orders and what happens at every prompt.
ay5000^M
Now what happens if there's no enemy there? The attack replies with:
"There is nothing here to attack."
The Y brings up the set navpoint prompt. 5000 does nothing on that prompt
and enter brings you back to the command prompt. That's great isn't it?
But... uhm. What if you do:
a y 4000 ^M
Attack. Again with the "no one to attack" thing. Navpoint. 4000... which
IS something at that prompt. Suddenly your attack macro does something
wrong. Infact in this case the 4 takes you to program the 4th nav. The 0
clears the navpoint, the enter sets that and now you're stuck at the nav
set. (Again note the spaces, this will abort the navset display so you
don't see all your navpoints every time it executes.)
As you can clearly see this macro fails miserably. If someone warps out
and back in with an attack macro you find yourself stuck at a prompt...
and dead in space (probably quite literally).
So how do fix it?
Well macros can be more than just the basic string of text. You can actually
shove as many keys as you want there. As long as they don't effect the prompt
or bring up any others... you won't see them. This is called "buffering" or
using "dead keys." You can send an entire alphabet if you want, on some
prompts it will end up doing absolutely nothing.
a y q 4000 ^M
- - - - -
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : A
<Attack>
Attack Enemy's BattleShip (25,000-80,000) (Y/N) [N]? Yes
Combat scanners show enemy shields at 100%
How many fighters do you wish to use (0 to 5,000) [0]?
- - - - -
At this prompt the q will do absolutely nothing. Q simply isn't a valid
option at this prompt, so the game ignores it. However...
- - - - -
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : Y
<Set NavPoint>
NavPoint Settings (?=Help) [Q] : Q
- - - - -
Now you're out of the navpoint settings atleast. The 4000 won't mess them
up. Unfortunately... if you type 4000 and hit enter you've told the game to
warp you to sector 4000. That's a bit of a problem as you're now being asked
about what warp option you want to use.
Z buffering...
The Z command is perhaps one of the most useful commands in the game. Not
because the instructions are so dang useful, but because it only accepts 3
answers. Yes, No and enter (which means No). This means you can type in any
amount of numbers you want at that prompt and it won't do anything at all.
This is awesome for buffering stuff like fig waves.
a y q z 4000 ^M
Attack, first target. Q if at the nav point, Z, 4000 and enter all looks like
this.
- - - - -
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : A
<Attack>
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : Y
<Set NavPoint>
NavPoint Settings (?=Help) [Q] : Q
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : Z
Do you want instructions (Y/N) [N]? No
- - - - -
Granted several prompts came up, but displays were aborted so it's nice and
fast. If there's nobody in sector it won't send you warping out of control.
If there is someone to attack it will attack the first target.
Sounds good doesn't it?
Well. Sadly in the world of violence things are never as simple as they seem.
What if it's a Federal? (Zyrain for instance). You definately don't want to
attack Captain Z. Fortunately the game requires that you verify this before
you do. So something like...
a y n q z 4000 ^M
Starts the attack if it's there. Again the n, q and z will do absolutely nada
at the attack prompt. If, however you're looking at cappy Z the extra N will
abort the attack. The Q will head to the quit menu, where the Z and the 4000
will do nothing and the extra enter will say "No" to the quit.
But then there's the evil little beacon. Beacons come first in the attack order.
- - - - -
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : A
<Attack>
Destroy the Marker Beacon here? Yes
You launch a fighter which quickly destroys the Beacon (and itself)
Attack Player1's Barge (24,996-300) (Y/N) [N]? No
Attack Player2's Cruiser (24,996-10,000) (Y/N) [N]? No
Attack Player3's BattleShip (24,996-80,000) (Y/N) [N]?
- - - - -
Now you're stuck at a prompt. Again if you're under fire... this will
get you killed. You need to quickly abort these kind of prompts and follow
up with another attack, or atleast get passed the beacon.
The old rule was to use "ayy" instead of just ay. This works well because it
blasts the beacon and continues the attack, but it isn't federal safe and
will get you popped quickly at dock or terra.
However there's one more nifty trick, too. You can attack anyone you want
and the game will abort the attack if you can't follow thru with it. So...
a y n y q z 4000 ^M
will quickly say yes to Player3's battleship. If you can't attack them because
they're corp or fedsafe in fedspace then the attack will simply fail. If
there aren't enough players in the sector for this then it will all buffer
out like before.
...
This is just the beginning of attack macros. I've seen ones that can land you
safely on a planet (and not mess up if one isn't there). Ones that cut down
on the amount of prompts. Ones that can do some pretty wild things. I encourage
you to study the game prompts and make your own. At some point the best
things are those you find yourself.
Z buffering part 2
The Z buffering trick, ie putting commands within the Z command to make them
safe on the command prompt, is one of the most useful tricks you can learn.
Some examples follow.
Killing figs...
Sometimes a sector has enemy figs. Some times it does not. What if you want
to hit sectors at random and don't know if it has an enemy fighter or not ahead
of time. How can you solve this?
m 1234 ^m Z A 99999 ^M
If there's a fig, the enemy fig prompt will not be effected by you hitting Z.
If you're at the command prompt however all you get is...
- - - - -
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : Z
Do you want instructions (Y/N) [N]? No
- - - - -
Not a big deal, is it? Infact if you study some of the most commonly used
scripts (like gridding scripts) you will see exactly this. CK surround comes
to mind, it uses z buffering quite a bit.
Lawnmowing ...
Mines. Cannon blasts. Figs. In that order. You need to be able to deal with
them all.
m 1234 ^M z a 99999 ^m z a 99999 ^m z a 99999 ^m
Repeats the attack 3 times. Sends up to 3 waves of figs, deals with cannons
(because enter works there too) and also deals with mines if they come up,
enter works there as well (try it. Hit enter on an enemy mine prompt).
Simple and effective. But... if there are a lot of enemy figs there and that
doesn't get you past them you have to get off that prompt in a hurry.
Default commands ...
Every command (except a few that are worth finding) have a default if you
hit the enter key. Usually it's the safest. Jettison says no. Detting a
planet is no. Instructions are no. Quit is no. Beacon is no. Lots of things
are no. And "no" is a very useful default for us as macro writers.
- - - - -
You have to destroy the fighters to remain in this sector.
Your fighters: 25,000 vs. theirs: 1
Option? (A,D,I,R,?):? A
- - - - -
The command to retreat is the most obvious to get you out of a situation
you can't mow thru. At the command prompt...
Do you wish to launch a Marker Beacon here? (Y/N) [N]
If you hit enter, it says no.
So...
m 1234 ^M z a 99999 ^m z a 99999 ^m z a 99999 ^m R ^M
Is a basic, and fairly useful, lawnmowing macro. Yea there are some faster
ways to do this that you may find later on (again, discovery is what makes
this fun) but this can be used to build your own lawnmower or deal with
just about any sector issue. It moves, attacks, clears several prompts and
even retreats if there are too many figs to kill. Infact if done right
something like this can even be fast enough to avoid a photon shot at you.
Here we have combined z buffering, default commands and space aborts to make
a macro that is fast and safe.
It gets even more complex too. Have you ever tried to lay a mine when someone
else already had one?
Macro:
h 2 2 ^M c
- - - - -
Handle which mine type, 1 Armid or 2 Limpet ? :2
<Drop/Take Limpet Mines>
These mines are not under your control.
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : 2
<Move>
Warping to Sector 2
That Warp Lane is not adjacent.
Do you want to engage the TransWarp drive?
- - - - -
Uh oh. That's not the right prompt to be at is it? That's very bad if you
suddenly respond with afew extra enters along the way. You go warping off
to sector 1 or 2, hitting anything along the way. Quick way to get killed.
So you need a way to buffer the 2 so that if this prompt comes up, you
don't stick the number at the wrong prompt. See where I'm going with this?
The z-buffer trick works here too, as the Z command does nothing at:
"How many Limpet mines do you want defending this sector?"
Could you do?
h 2 z 2 ^M c
That's close. But not quite. This puts you at the computer prompt, which
certaintly isn't where you want to be at the wrong time.
h 2 z 2 ^M z c ^M
- - - - -
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : H
<Mine Control>
Handle which mine type, 1 Armid or 2 Limpet ? :2
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : Z
Do you want instructions (Y/N) [N]? No
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : Z
Do you want instructions (Y/N) [N]? No
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? :
- - - - -
Of course you get a few extra lines on the screen, but you're still at
the command prompt and ready to send another batch of commands. You survive.
This applies to laying figs too. Naturally when you move into a sector
you kill those figs. But if you photon in as you go you'll end up under
those figs... and trying to lay more on top of them will send you warping
without a buffered macro. Also happens if you plock and pdrop onto a sector
after an enemy drops a fig, you'll be in sector underneath an enemy's figs
and faced with a problem of:
Macro:
f 1 ^M c d
- - - - -
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : F
<Drop/Take Fighters>
These fighters are not under your control.
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : 1
<Move>
Warping to Sector 1
That Warp Lane is not adjacent.
Do you want to engage the TransWarp drive?
- - - - -
Bad bad bad. You're at the wrong prompt.
Macro:
f z 1 ^M z c d ^M
- - - - -
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : F
<Drop/Take Fighters>
These fighters are not under your control.
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : Z
Do you want instructions (Y/N) [N]? No
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : Z
Do you want instructions (Y/N) [N]? No
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? :
- - - - -
Afew extra lines. But you're still at the right prompt. And if there
are no figs in the sector the extra Z's do nothing.
- - - - -
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : F
<Drop/Take Fighters>
How many fighters do you want defending this sector? 1
Should these be (C)orporate fighters or (P)ersonal fighters? C
Should they be (D)efensive, (O)ffensive or Charge a (T)oll ? D
Done. You have 9,996 fighter(s) in close support.
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? :
<Re-Display>
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? :
- - - - -
This command buffering is one of the most powerful macro tricks you can
mater. There are dozens of commands you can buffer on. Some more effective
in some situations, but now you know to look for them... and the best tricks
are those you find yourself.
Prompt synching...
One of the biggest problems with doing macros is making sure they get sent
at the right prompt. We've already seen how bad sending data at the wrong
prompt can be. Most prompts let you hit "q" to leave them. That comes in
handy. You can, infact, hit a bunch of q's right in a row and leave all the
way out to the command prompt and to the quit prompt.
Macro:
q q q q z n
A useful macro for quitting. If at the end of the macro you're not at the
quit prompt, the z n does the usual z trick. If not, then the z does nothing
at the quit prompt and the n answers it no.
You can change this up some too:
q q q q z r ^M
Since enter defaults to no on all of these 3 prompts you can use it to
clear the prompt. This will quit you to the command prompt or retreat you
from a fig or planet attack prompt.
So:
q q q q z r ^M l 99 ^M
Quits or lifts from a planet, lands on planet 99. You can spice this up
some too:
q q q q z r 0 ^M z 0 ^M z 0 ^M
Now it quits from a planet. It quits off an attack. Sends 0 to the command
prompt which does nothing and buffers another 2 incase you're actually at
a port waiting. Not too shabby!
Now later on we'll talk about a small scripting solution, but something this
simple can be so amazingly flexible that even the best scripts written won't
replace it.
Planet landing...
Macro:
l 99 ^M
- - - - -
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : L
<Preparing ship to land on planet surface>
Land on which planet <Q to abort> ? 99
That planet is not in this sector.
Land on which planet <Q to abort> ?
- - - - -
That's with a planet scanner. Again you're stuck at a bad prompt.
Update:
l 99 ^M ^M
- - - - -
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : L
<Preparing ship to land on planet surface>
Land on which planet <Q to abort> ? 99
That planet is not in this sector.
Land on which planet <Q to abort> ?
Invalid registry number, landing aborted.
- - - - -
Better atleast. But what if there are no planets at all in the sector?
- - - - -
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : L
<Preparing ship to land on planet surface>
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : 99
<Move>
Do you want to engage the TransWarp drive? No
Computed.
The shortest path (xx hops, yy turns) from sector xxxx to sector 99 is:
(course plotted here)
Engage the Autopilot? (Y/N/Single step/Express) [Y] N
- - - - -
That's not so good. You're stuck at the wrong prompt. And one more enter
will send you warping out of control in a very bad way.
Simple solution:
l 99 ^M n n ^M
Now this is a problem if sector 99 is adjacent. There's another solution
using the backspace key, but it's more complex. I'll let you explore and
find that one on your own. Still the above works well enough that you won't
go warping across the universe. If the adj bug is a worry you can set that
sector as an avoid as part of the macro. Again if you type in the n key it
simply brings you to the navpoint settings:
- - - - -
Command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? : N
<Set Course to NavPoint>
Choose NavPoint (?=Help) [Q] :
- - - - -
The enter key does absolutely nothing here except clear the prompt. So you
can do as many as you want, n n n n n ^M, and still only see one navpoint
prompt and clear it with a single q or enter.
Resource mover macros...
Macro:
l 98 ^M t n t 1 ^M q l 99 ^M t n l 1 ^M
Works great if planet 98 and 99 are there. But what if they aren't? Based on
what you've learned so far... do you think that any of those keys are good to
send at the command prompt? Of course not.
Take a second and go to the planet prompt. Hit the J key. Nothing, right?
Now try it at the command prompt.
"Are you sure you want to jettison all cargo? (Y/N)"
Could this be used make a buffer on the command prompt while allowing planet
commands to be sent without any worry? You betcha!
Macro:
q q q z n l 98 ^M n n ^M j t n j t 1 ^M q q z n l 99 ^M n n ^M j t n j l 1 ^M
Big. But let's study it...
Quit to command prompt. Land on 98. If it's not there, clear the landing
prompt completely. If we're at the planet take fuel, if not buffer on 2
jettison prompts. Quit back to command prompt. Try to land on 99, if not then
clear the landing prompt. If we're at the planet prompt then leave ore and sit
at the planet until the next loop begins.
I hope now you can see the beginning of some serious power. Most scripts have
to go to extreme lengths to ensure that planets don't suddenly warp off, or if
it happens they simply let you warp out and die. Most scripts really don't
concern themselves with the safety of the user while providing the speed of a
macro. But using a macro like the above you can easily do both and build a
better resource mover to boot!
You'd be amazed what a little forethought and creativity can accomplish here!
It's possible to make just about any macro safe and effective.
Some basic TWX scripting using macros...
We talked about checking for prompts. You can easily make prompt specific
macros in TWX by using the CURRENTLINE feature.
- - - - -
getWord CURRENTLINE $prompt 1
if ($prompt = "Command")
send " dz n "
elseif ($prompt = "Citadel")
send " s* "
else
clientMessage "Cannot display sector from this prompt"
end
halt
- - - - -
This gets the first word from the CURRENTLINE that twx is processing. If
it's Command, ie the command prompt, then sends d followed by z n to make
sure you don't hang on a mine prompt. If you're at the Citadel prompt it
sends S, followed by an enter key to clear any mine prompts. As a reminder,
TWX uses the asterisk, *, instead of ^M to mean the enter key.
- - - - -
getWord CURRENTLINE $prompt 1
if ($prompt = "Command")
send " dz n "
waitFor "<Re-Display>"
waitFor "Sector :"
getWord CURRENTLINE $current_sector 3
elseif ($prompt = "Citadel")
send " s* "
waitFor "<Scan Sector>"
waitFor "Sector :"
getWord CURRENTLINE $current_sector 3
else
clientMessage "Cannot display sector from this prompt"
halt
end
- - - - -
Now does even more. It not only sends the scan, but after the scan macro has
been sent it waits for the text to return. It uses the scan or display message
to make sure it's not catching any previous scans still in the buffer and
then waits for "Sector :" before getting that line as the CURRENTLINE. This
is, of course, the sector number from a scan and is an easy way to grab the
current sector you're in. It's nothing more than a little prompt detection,
a simple macro and a little text parsing.
- - - - -
send "* "
waitFor "(?="
getWord CURRENTLINE $prompt 1
if ($prompt <> "Command") AND ($prompt <> "Citadel")
clientMessage "Cannot run from this prompt"
halt
end
send " c;q "
waitFor "Max Figs Per Attack:"
getWord CURRENTLINE $maxfigs 5
- - - - -
This one is a bit different. Can you guess what it does?
All CURRENTLINE operations get whatever is currently at the cursor when things
are being processed. If you don't use a waitFor to synch it then it will simply
pull from whatever is currently in the buffer. This could be anything, and will
mess things up. Here we use an approach that doesn't depend on you currently
being at the prompt... you could be in the middle of a text operation and it
would still wait for the prompt to arrive. If that prompt isn't the command or
the citadel prompt then it exits. Otherwise it sends a macro, c;q.
- - - - -
Citadel command (?=help) C
<Computer>
<Computer activated>
Computer command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? ;
Pulsar
Basic Hold Cost: 7,000 Initial Holds: 12 Maximum Shields: 400
Main Drive Cost: 9,000 Max Fighters: 25,000 Offensive Odds: 1.7:1
Computer Cost: 164,000 Turns Per Warp: 3 Defensive Odds: 1.3:1
Ship Hull Cost: 28,000 Mine Max: 5 Beacon Max: 5
Ship Base Cost: 208,000 Genesis Max: 0 Long Range Scan: Yes
Max Figs Per Attack: 5000 TransWarp Drive: Yes Planet Scanner: Yes
Maximum Holds: 60 Transport Range: 3 Photon Missiles: Yes
Computer command [TL=00:00:00]:[xxxx] (?=Help)? Q
<Computer deactivated>
- - - - -
THis is the example of what c;q looks like. It's the stats for the ship you're
currently in. By waiting for the phrase "Max Figs per Attack:" then grabbing the
5th word I am getting the figwave for this ship. This the number of figs it can
launch at a time. I can use this to parse any information about this ship. I can
get offensive odds, defensive odds, max holds, anything about that ship's
capacity.
- - - - -
send "* "
waitFor "(?="
getWord CURRENTLINE $prompt 1
if ($prompt <> "Citadel")
clientMessage "Must run from the Citadel prompt!"
halt
end
send " c;q "
waitFor "Max Figs Per Attack:"
getWord CURRENTLINE $maxfigs 5
send " q dm n t * "
waitFor "Planet #"
getWord CURRENTLINE $currentplanet 2
stripText $currentplanet "#"
send " q a y n y q z " & $maxfigs & " * l " & $currentplanet & " * n n * j m n j t * "
send " q a y n y q z " & $maxfigs & " * l " & $currentplanet & " * n n * j m n j t * "
send " q a y n y q z " & $maxfigs & " * l " & $currentplanet & " * n n * j m n j t * "
send " j c * "
- - - - -
This is a combination of things we've seen so far. It's a basic citadel killer
(citkilla). Like all attack scripts it can get you killed, but this one tries
really hard not to. It gets your current prompt, gets your max fig wave, gets
your planet number then sends a burst of attacks. It's just a bunch of macros
with some text parsing thrown around to glue it all together.
................
Anyway. That's about as far as I want to go with scripting examples. They can get
complicated in a hurry and would quickly fall outside of the scope of this text.
But hopefully all of this can teach you how to not only write macros, but write
flexible and safe macros that work when you need them to. Armed with some patient
study of the various prompts you'll find an amazing number of ways to make things
work. And once you're armed with these new tools you'll be that much closer to
galactic domination! Muhahaha!!
I have recently uploaded my dock survival toolkit, a set of scripted macros for
use at stardock, to grimy trader at http://www.grimytrader.com ... If you're
looking for more macro examples this is a great place to start.
Peace out!
