How to write your goals

Goals are the bread and butter of your bot's ability to manage your account. Unlike scripts, goals are "end result" actions to work towards, meaning you tell the bot what you want, and it will work on achieving that as it performs it's tasks. The thing to remember about goals is that they are not performed line by line in order. You can write most goals in any order you like and they will function the same. For example:

  • config comfort:1 
    config npc:5 
    npcheroes farmer1,farmer2

The above goals would work the same if you wrote them as:

  • config npc:5
    npcheroes farmer1,farmer2
    config comfort:1

Config goals (those with config whatever:[value] formats) can be combined one one line as well:

  • config npc:5,comfort:1
    npcheroes farmer2,farmer1

Notice in the above example, the npcheroes goal was not combined to the line with the config goals. While both types are goals, they will not work on the same line. The different types of goals are: Directives, Policies, and Config. As shown in the above examples, config goals can be joined together with a comma. Directives must be listed one per line, with the parameters after it. For example:

  • npcheroes farmer1,farmer2
    herofirelimit 120
    excludelist 123,456 234,567

Policies must also be listed one per line. The formatting you will use for the parameters of a policy depend on the goal itself. For example:

  • tradepolicy /type:food /min:2d /max:20d /allowselltomin
    comfortpolicy 15 20 popraise
    rallypolicy n:5 v:5

It is important to notice that in policies and directives, that you must have a space between each type, as shown above. Typing it as /type:food/min:2d will not work! Whereas with config goals, it is just the opposite. Typing it as config npc: 1 will not work, because of the space after npc:

One exception to the rule in goals about the order they're written not mattering, is if you accidently duplicate goals. Some goals are able to take up multiple lines, for example the troop goal can have as many lines as you want. Most, however, can only exist one time in the goals. If you duplicate one of these, the 1st one will be discarded for 2nd (or for the last, if you repeat it more). For example:

  • config npc:5
    npcheroes 5 any,!bigguy
    config npc:10
    npcheroes 10 bigguy

The above is a very common mistake in goals. Config npc cannot exist twice in your goals. In this case, while the bot is loading your goals and reading them from top to bottom, it will first set the value of config npc to 5, then read two lines later and set the value of config npc to 10 instead. This means your bot can only farm level 10 npcs, and will not hit 5s at all. Be careful that you don't mistakenly duplicate lines in goals that are not intended to be.

Certain config goals in the bot can be turned on and off with a 0 or 1. Still others have a 2 or higher number as an option. Each configuration goal will be explained in the guide later, but for general knowledge:

  • 0 means off/no/false
  • 1 means on/yes/true

To be sure you are typing your goals correctly, view the usage and examples in this wiki, and write them exactly as you see them as far as spacing and symbols go.


CategoryHowTo

Syntax Highlighting

You will notice the words you type in are colored, for example:

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/5626/introtogoals.png

These colors are to guide you through proper goal writing. Sometimes things you type will show up in red. Normally this means you have typed something invalid into your goals and should fix it, but sometimes it can also be a valid line that just isn't added to the bot's internal syntax highlighting list yet.

New features may show up red for awhile until they are added.


CategoryHowTo

Notes and Comments

You may "comment" out certain lines by adding a // or # at the beginning of the line. The bot will not perform any goals or scripts written on a commented line.

This is a good way to remind yourself what a line is meant to do, e.g.:

  • // Tell my bot not to fire any hero I capture of lvl 100 or higher
    keepcapturedheroes any:level>=100
    // Tell my bot to farm lvl 5 npcs
    config npc:5

It is also a good way to temporarily turn off a feature in your goals, e.g.:

  • // Disable the next line temporarily until I get around to porting my city...
    #keepresource AnotherTown w:20000000,i:20000000 5000000

You can also use comments to separate your goals into sections, e.g.:

  • // resource stuff
    config trade:1
    tradepolicy /type:food /min:3d /batch:1m
    tradepolicy /type:wood /min:10m /max:30m /batch:1m /allowselltomin
    tradepolicy /type:stone /min:500m /batch:1m
    tradepolicy /type:iron /min:10m /max:30m /batch:1m /allowselltomin
    tradepolicy /type:gold /min:100m
    keepresources hubcity w:25m,i:25m,f:700m 10m
    
    // hero stuff
    config hero:20,keepatthome:1,feastinghallspace:1
    keepheroes any:level>=100|any:base>=65
    keepcapturedheroes any:level>=100|any:base>=70
    traininghero bigdude 120 180 0
    
    // farming stuff
    config npc:5,buildnpc:5
    npcheroes 5 any,!bigdude


CategoryHowTo

Understanding Errors

Sometimes when you save changes and set goals, the log window will show you an error. I have found that MOST users will read only the last line of the error, rather than the entire error showing them the problem. For example:

21:05:16 (City) - setting goals
21:05:16 (City) - SENDTROOPS: Invalid parameters: asdf
21:05:16 (City) - expected: sendtroops coords trooptype local_min remote_min quantity
21:05:16 (City) - examples: sendtroops 50,50 archer 500k 100k 100k
21:05:16 (City) -           sendtroops 50,50 scout  200k 100k -1
21:05:16 (City) - comfort policy set to: popraise  in every 15 to 18 minutes
21:05:16 (City) - Config: hero:1, buildnpc:20, keepatthome:1, reservedbarrack:1, troopsusepopmax:1, valley:10, comfort:1, troopqueuetime:2, npc:5
21:05:16 (City) - ERROR IN GOALS, please check!!!

The error in this case is not "21:05:16 (City) - ERROR IN GOALS, please check!!!" but instead the error is is "21:05:16 (City) - SENDTROOPS: Invalid parameters: asdf"

Using debug to find a problem

Any time you post on the forum requesting help, we're going to ask you for the debug log. This many sound like gibberish, but it's not too hard. Let's pretend you have config hunting:5 in your goals, but the bot is not attacking valleys for medals and you have no idea why. First step, go to the city with the problem. Now click on the "Debug Settings" tab near the top, next to the "Goal" and "Script" tabs. In this window you will see the individual features of the bot listed:

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/5354/debugsettings.png

Once there, check Normal, Verbose, and Valley. Normal because that's probably already on. Verbose because you want to check this ALWAYS for EVERY debug log no matter what the issue is. And finally Valley because your problem is with the bot not hitting valleys. If your bot was failing to attack npcs instead, you'd select Normal, Verbose, and Npc Farming instead. If your bot wasn't trading properly, you'd select Normal, Verbose, and Trading instead....and so forth.

Now patiently sit and wait until that city gets focus. Focus occurs in one city at a time, down the row from left to right, as the bot performs its tasks. Just like a real player would in game, the bot will only "click" on one city at a time to do things. You will know when your debug city gets focus because it will say something like "City receives focus" followed by a ton of spam in the logging window at the bottom. Let this run for about a minute, then turn off Verbose and Valley debugging by unchecking those boxes.

Now click on CITY LOG so that you can only see the logging output for the city in question and not all the others. Scroll up to the start where you saw "City receives focus" and copy it all the way down. Go to your forum post and paste the debug log along with your goals for that city and an explanation of your problem.

If you're feeling adventurous, you can read all that spam and probably figure out your own problem. For example, you may see "HUNTING: Error - not enough troops!" and know that it's not attacking valleys because you don't have enough troops there. Or you may see "HUNTING: Error - all rally slots are full!" and know that it's not attacking valleys because your npc farmers or transports or something is hogging all your rally slots. Most errors are in understandable wording. If you can't figure it out, we're happy to help on the forum.


CategoryHowTo

Hero Strings in Goals

Many places in the bot will allow you to specify heroes. The selection or list of heroes to be used will be referred to as the hero-string in various other places in this wiki.


You may list hero names individually, and/or exclude heroes with '!name', and/or include all heroes with 'any' or even use no hero at all with 'none'. For example,

  • valleyheroes Biggy this would allow only hero Biggy to attack valleys & flats

  • npcheroes !Smarty,!Biggy,any this would allow any hero except Smarty and except Biggy to hit npcs

  • npcheroes 10 Biggy,Polly,Smarty this would allow heroes Biggy, Polly, and Smarty to hit npc10s

  • reinforce 123,456 any c:100000 this would allow you to reinforce 123,456 with cav and any available hero


You may also use advanced filters in hero-strings in the format of hero:filter. The hero name list (or 'any') must be stated first, followed by the filter(s). Any filters listed will apply to the entire line. For example,

  • valleyheroes any:attack>180 this would allow any hero with an attack over 180 to attack valleys & flats

  • valleyheroes any:politics<200 this would allow any hero with politics under 200 to attack valleys & flats

  • npcheroes 8 any:politics=best this would allow the best politics hero to hit npc8s

  • npcheroes 5 farmer:attack<200 this would allow any hero named Farmer who's attack is under 200 to attack npc5s

  • npcheroes 10 any:attack>300,base>60 this would allow any attack hero with both an attack over 300 AND a base over 60 to hit npc10s

  • attack 111,222 !Biggy,any:attack>180 c:99k,s:1k this would attack coordinates 111,222 with any hero over 180 attack other than hero Biggy with 99k cavs, 1k scouts

  • attack 111,222 !Polly,any:attack<100 w:5k this would attack coordinates 111,222 with any hero under 100 attack other than hero Polly with 5k warriors


If you wish to apply separate filters to separate heroes, use multiple lines. For example,

  • npcheroes 5 any:base>60

  • npcheroes 5 any:attack<300

The above lines mean that npc5s can be farmed with any hero that has greater than 60 base OR any hero that has less than 300 attack.


If you wish to include heroes of specific names regardless of whether they meet the conditional filter for that line, put them on separate lines:

  • npcheroes 5 bob,fred,joe

  • npcheroes 5 any:attack>=60

The above lines mean that npc5s can be farmed by any hero named "bob", "fred", or "joe", OR any hero with 60+ base.


Multiple lines can be concatenated (combined) into a single line with the | symbol. For example,

  • npcheroes 5 bob,fred,joe|any:attack>=60

The above line means exactly the same thing as the 2 before it.

  • npcheroes 5 bob,any:attack>=60

If you were to instead use the line above, it would mean npc5s can be farmed with any hero that has both the name bob AND has an attack of 60+.

  • npcheroes 5 any:base>60,attack<300

With those rules standing, the above line would mean you can farm npc5s with any hero that has both a base higher than 60 AND an attack under 300.


All possible filters for use in hero-strings are:

  • attack or att
  • politics or pol
  • intel or int
  • loyalty or loy
  • level or lvl
  • experience or exp
  • points or pts
  • base or bse

All possible comparisons to use in filters are:

  • < (less than)

  • > (greater than)

  • = (equal to)
  • != (not equal to)
  • <> (not equal to)

  • <= (less than or equal to)

  • >= (greater than or equal to)

"Best" and "Worst" can be used in place of values for comparisons, for example:

  • npcheroes 10 any:attack=best would allow npc10s to be farmed with the best attack hero.

  • npcheroes 5 any:attack<best would allow npc5s to be farmed with any hero lower than the best attack hero.

Stats can be compared to other stats in place of values, for example:

  • npcheroes 5 any:attack>politics would allow any hero with an attack score greater than its politics score.

  • npcheroes 5 any:politics>level would allow any hero with a politics score greater than its level.

Wildcards can be used for the hero list. * will represent 1 or more characters, ? will represent 1 character. For example,

  • npcheroes 5 att*:attack>200 would allow npc5s to be farmed with any hero over 200 attack that has "att" in its name.

  • npcheroes 5 *:base>60 would allow npc5s to be farmed with any hero that has a base over 60.

  • npcheroes 5 att??int:base>=69 would allow npc5s to be farmed with any hero named "att69int," "att70int," etc. who's base is 69+.

Hero strings cannot consist of only a single number. This is a safety precaution for people blindly replacing older goals of "herofirelimit 100" with "keepheroes 100" and unexpectedly losing a valuable hero. If you use heroes with pure number names, for example "100" you can still trick the hero string into accepting it, by adding something more than just that single number.

  • npcheroes 8 100,100 This would allow the hero named "100" (or the hero named "100" :P) to farm npc8s.


CategoryHowTo


CategoryGoals

CategoryGoals (last edited 2012-09-18 16:28:45 by Inanna)