NPC/Farming Questions

Why won't my bot farm npc5s?

There are a number of reasons why it might not be farming. To get a correct answer you may need to enable verbose + npc farming debugging, copy the log after it tries and fails to farm, and paste it to us on the forum. Here are the 3 most common culprits:

Your city has low/no upkeep and farms giving it a positive food income, and you have config NpcLimit:xx set. This goal will actually prevent the bot from farming. You don't need this goal unless you're deliberately trying to limit your food income to avoid being a juicy target. Delete the goal and your bot will farm.
You have mismatched or unsafe research making it a risk to your ballista to farm. This is common on new servers/accounts. The bot needs a Military Tradition level 2+ higher than the npc level, so for a npc5 it needs MT7+. The bot also needs archery 8 + hbr 5/6, or archery 9 + hbr 8/9, or archery 10 + any hbr level.
You're missing some troops to farm. This is also common on new accounts/servers. If you do not set npctroops in your goals, the default is 550 ballista + enough transports to carry all the loot based on your current Logistics research.. this could be over 500 transports. Either set the goal to use less, or build more troops.

Why won't my bot farm npc10s?

Just like above, there are a number of reasons why it might not be farming. The most common by far is a missing NpcLimits line. Do not confuse this npclimits directive with the config npclimits:9999 goal. They're separate. In order for the bot to hit 6-10s you need to tell it how many of whatever troop (usually archers) you want to be IN the city (not total, but actually there and idle) before it will send. An example of this goal is: npclimits 10 a:200k.

I turned on debugging to find the problem. My bot says it can't find a npc field to attack, it must be blind! I have dozens of npcs around my city.

No, your bot isn't blind. That's the generic error that many other errors default to when it's unable to farm for some reason. The most common of those reasons are listed above. Please enable "verbose" Debugging as well as the "npc farming" debug you turned on to see this message. Verbose will give you a more detailed explanation of what's wrong with farming.

Setup Questions

Where do I download the bot?

The bot will be available in the Downloads & Announcements section on the forum. You must register a forum account first to see this section.
You can find that section here: http://forum.neatportal.com/viewforum.php?f=12

The bot keeps losing my goals or settings, why?

Your flash storage limit is probably reached. When flash gets full it starts randomly losing stuff. Right click anywhere in the bot, go to Settings, then slide the bar right to Unlimited. If you're on a Mac or Win8 and unable to click inside this popup (it freezes on the screen for some) then go to http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html and scroll down to "local" in the list, select it, and then slide the bar above to Unlimited.

I have the password stored in my bot, but I want to log on for real. I can't remember it, how can I find it?

In the script window of any city, type this: echo Config.password, then hit run. You will need to disable "Safe Scripts" mode first in Global Settings. Don't forget to re-enable Safe Scripts after you're done. It can help protect your account when you run scripts from someone else.

I've just bought a new computer and it has Windows 8 on it. My bot and/or Director are broken, what do I do?

Go to SRG's website for a good answer to this: http://sumrandomguy.com/faq/detail/windows-8-the-director-and-the-bots

Can I ?

Can I ....

This is a work in progress.

How about ...

Please stay tuned for more.

Or maybe...

Feel free to suggest more commonly asked questions for here

FAQ (last edited 2015-07-11 20:53:55 by Inanna)

-  ⇤ ← Revision 4 as of 2013-04-18 04:24:47 → 
  Size: 2842
  Editor: Inanna
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+   ← Revision 17 as of 2014-03-18 07:56:36 → ⇥
  Size: 4146
  Editor: Inanna
  Comment:
-Deletions are marked like this.
+Additions are marked like this.
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+<<TableOfContents>>
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+Line 6:
-'''Why won't my bot farm npc5s?'''
+= NPC/Farming Questions =

== Why won't my bot farm npc5s? ==
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+Line 12:
- * You have config npclimit:9999 (give or take a few 9's) in your goals. If your city has low/no upkeep and farms giving it a positive food income, this goal will actually prevent the bot from farming. You don't need this goal unless you're deliberately trying to limit your food income to avoid being a juicy target. Delete the goal and your bot will farm.
 * You have mismatched or unsafe research making it a risk to your ballista to farm. This is common on new servers/accounts. The bot needs a Military Tradition level 2 higher than the npc level, so for a npc5 it needs MT7. The bot also needs archery 8 + hbr 5/6, or archery 9 + hbr 8/9, or archery 10 + any hbr level.
+ * Your city has low/no upkeep and farms giving it a positive food income, and you have config [[NpcLimit]]:xx set. This goal will actually prevent the bot from farming. You don't need this goal unless you're deliberately trying to limit your food income to avoid being a juicy target. Delete the goal and your bot will farm.<<BR>><<BR>>

 * You have mismatched or unsafe research making it a risk to your ballista to farm. This is common on new servers/accounts. The bot needs a Military Tradition level 2+ higher than the npc level, so for a npc5 it needs MT7+. The bot also needs archery 8 + hbr 5/6, or archery 9 + hbr 8/9, or archery 10 + any hbr level.<<BR>><<BR>>
-Line 11:
+Line 17:
+<<BR>>
-Line 12:
+Line 19:
-'''Why won't my bot farm npc10s?'''
+== Why won't my bot farm npc10s? ==
-Line 14:
+Line 21:
-Just like above, there are a number of reasons why it might not be farming. The most common by far is a missing npclimits line. Do not confuse this npclimits directive with the config npclimits:9999 goal. They're seperate. In order for the bot to hit 10s you need to tell it how many of whatever troop (usually archers) you want to be IN the city (not total, but actually there and idle) before it will send. An example of this goal is: ''npclimits 10 a:200k''.
+Just like above, there are a number of reasons why it might not be farming. The most common by far is a missing NpcLimits line. Do not confuse this npclimits directive with the config npclimits:9999 goal. They're separate. In order for the bot to hit 6-10s you need to tell it how many of whatever troop (usually archers) you want to be IN the city (not total, but actually there and idle) before it will send. An example of this goal is: ''npclimits 10 a:200k''.
-Line 16:
+Line 23:
-'''I turned on debugging to find the problem. My bot says it can't find a npc field to attack, it must be blind! I have dozens of npcs around my city.'''
+== I turned on debugging to find the problem. My bot says it can't find a npc field to attack, it must be blind! I have dozens of npcs around my city. ==
-Line 18:
+Line 25:
-No, your bot isn't blind. That's the generic error that many other errors default to when it's unable to farm for some reason. The most common of those reasons are listed above. Please enable "verbose" debugging as well as the "npc farming" debug you turned on to see this message. Verbose will give you a more detailed explanation of what's wrong with farming.
+No, your bot isn't blind. That's the generic error that many other errors default to when it's unable to farm for some reason. The most common of those reasons are listed above. Please enable "verbose" [[Debugging]] as well as the "npc farming" debug you turned on to see this message. Verbose will give you a more detailed explanation of what's wrong with farming.
-Line 20:
+Line 27:
-'''I have the password stored in my bot, but I want to log on for real. I can't remember it, how can I find it?'''
+= Setup Questions =
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+Line 29:
-In the script window of any city, type this:'' echo Config.password'', then hit run.
+== Where do I download the bot? ==
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+Line 31:
-'''I've just bought a new computer and it has Windows 8 on it. My bot and/or Director are broken, what do I do?'''
+The bot will be available in the Downloads & Announcements section on the forum. You must register a forum account first to see this section.<<BR>> You can find that section here: http://forum.neatportal.com/viewforum.php?f=12
-Line 26:
+Line 33:
-Go to SRG's website for a good answer to this: http://sumrandomguy.com/the-director-faq/windows-8-the-director-and-the-bots
+== The bot keeps losing my goals or settings, why? ==

Your flash storage limit is probably reached. When flash gets full it starts randomly losing stuff. Right click anywhere in the bot, go to Settings, then slide the bar right to Unlimited. If you're on a Mac or Win8 and unable to click inside this popup (it freezes on the screen for some) then go to http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html and scroll down to "local" in the list, select it, and then slide the bar above to Unlimited.

== I have the password stored in my bot, but I want to log on for real. I can't remember it, how can I find it? ==

In the script window of any city, type this:'' echo Config.password'', then hit run. You will need to disable "Safe Scripts" mode first in Global Settings. Don't forget to re-enable Safe Scripts after you're done. It can help protect your account when you run scripts from someone else.

== I've just bought a new computer and it has Windows 8 on it. My bot and/or Director are broken, what do I do? ==

Go to SRG's website for a good answer to this: http://sumrandomguy.com/faq/detail/windows-8-the-director-and-the-bots

= Can I ? =

== Can I .... ==

This is a work in progress.

== How about ... ==

Please stay tuned for more.

== Or maybe... ==

Feel free to suggest more commonly asked questions for here :)