He does it all the time, never adds anything of value just puts down people that use scripts.

It is beginning to get rather old and useless, much like the anti-scripters skills.

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

Yeah, I can see where it seems like a lot of this is anti-scripter or scripter-bashing. Honestly, I don't mean it to be. Maybe Kav does, but I don't. I come on so strong about this stuff because I'm defending those who DON'T script, not because I'm trying to attack those who do. As I see it, those who script are in a position of power. Their game is what it is. It isn't going to change. But there's no guarantee that anyone else can play this game in any other way, because they're at the mercy of those who do script.

I have no general dislike for scripters, regardless what BigD will claim, or even what you might think from my posts. My intent is merely to protect the rights of other views on the subject. I do have a very strong issue with scripters who force their game on others, and on anyone who is actively obstructing development in an effort to do so, as I feel BigD and some others are doing. But don't take that as any kind of dislike or disrespect of those who script or even write bots.

It's interesting, because we have this cycle where someone who doesn't like scripts will say so, then someone who writes scripts will take that personally and respond, and I often feel that the scripter is bullying the non-scripter, and I will defend the non-scripter. But I would also defend a scripter's right to play in such games, as long as they respect the desire of some to have non-scripting games.

I don't agree with Kav that there will ever be a large number of new players, whatever I do. But that's not what this is about for me. I know for a fact that there are players who do feel the game is dominated by scripters, and I will work to protect their right to play this game. So scripters just need to realize that the struggle is for the rights of players to have a different view of what TradeWars is. I just don't see this persecution of scripters. I see the opposite. Certainly not by all scripters, but by enough that I consider it a problem.

So whatever you may think or you may be told, I am not "out to get" scripters. But actions will speak louder than words. I have not made any change that will limit scripting, and I will not do so. Big D has no justification for "changing his mind" about where I stand. His example of alien behavior is completely off the mark. Am I really supposed to put a toggle on every bug fix? That's not reasonable. I will put a toggle on any setting that is designed to limit specific tactics, so that in some cases the tactic is allowed and in others it is not. That is my promise, and I've never deviated from that.

Very few scripts have been broken that I know of. The few that I found were if there is a delay (planet/move/rob/or a few others) and the writer of the script was sending a string of commands instead of using a waitfor or a waiton then that might cause a problem.
if you send this it can be a problem if there is a planet building delay.
send "u y" $planetname "*"
send this and problem is resolved
send "u y"
waitfor "What do you want to name this planet?"
send $planetname "*"
waitfor "Command [TL"
But those are easy to fix . The bigger problem for my scripts are the T-Edit scripts you moved allot of stuff around which just got me to rewrite them and clean them up. Took one script (first I wrote) 750 lines after rewrite was less than 200.

Yeah, you all had a static game for many years, so natually your scripts became more sophisticated, because they could.

In early development of TWGS this game was changing quite frequently. So it was fun to find and REPORT the bugs. Some natually weren't reported but exploited, but eventually they were found.

The game stopped evolving, so the scripts did. Now the game is evoling again and some adjustments will be necessary. But, if you enjoy writting scripts, this should be fun for you as well.

This whole process is a win-win-win.

Sysops have gotten some very needed options - banging games without taking down the server.

Casual players now have some settings that will help them to enjoy the game again, and maybe even encourge them to move up to more aggressive script play, or not. Either way we now have tools to help grow the player base.

Those who enjoy writting scripts have a few new challenges, and can continue to write scripts all they want, that's not broken.

I agree with you except for one thing. I liked that people needed to leave the game at extern. it forced them to stand up and stretch and it halted their scripts (for the most part). I reboot my router every day at 3 am. I would like to coincide the extern drop people out of the game at the same time. As it is now, they get no warning.

I know if you do a manual shut-down you can set a warning. I think the shut-down warning for the new auto functions is coming. In the mean time you can use the announcements at the game menu to inform your players.

I haven't spent time on that aspect yet, Micro has, check it out.

I have no issue with anyone who wants to play without scripts, but I do have issues with people who denigrate other players who do. I won't go into a non-script game and run scripts, and a non-script player that goes into an "open warfare" game should not complain when a script hits them.

The level of animosity on this subject would not have been reached if a player wouldn't have intentionally came in to "raise hell" so to speak. The best message that most of us could have heard (and maybe we did, and I've lost it through this), is that the game is having bug fixes and being -expanded- to allow Ops to design casual games. The key being "expanded" and not "anti-script" (which just sets off warning bells which causes us to focus on that issue).

The script/anti-script is another flavor of unlims/turns debates with each group saying that type of game requires no skill or is for those that can't compete in whatever game type that they prefer.

Would I try and encourage people to play the game type I prefer? Of course, just as others should encourage people to play whatever game type they prefer.

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

With the new Access Modes added in 2.08/3.22, you can schedule the game to be closed for extern. The players will receive warnings, just like a manual shut-down.

I think this is exactly it. People discovered a way to dominate the game by playing it in a way it was never meant to be played. And they'll always be able to play that game, but that's not enough for some of them. Some people are deeply bothered that other players might be enjoying a slightly different game in which reactive scripts aren't quite as powerful. To me, that says they're not really interested in the game, or even in scripting; they're just interested in being bullies.

Oh. Well if i took the time to investigate, I wouldn't have needed to waste everyone's time. LOL, I completely forgot about the new access setup.

Thanks for reminding me.

Please be more specific on "some people" rather than using vague inuendo. This is part of the issue, the "they/them" that seem to exist in people's minds and is used to create drama.

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

I have no problem with players using scripts. I write scripts, and have not played a TW game without using scripts for almost a quarter of a century.

The problem is AFK offensive scripts.

A retread from pre TWX days, or a newbie, joins a game. Usually, they are smoked in short order and do not return.

I cannot understand what satisfaction there is to have the CPU play the game for a Trader, who, presumably, reads the capture file next day and gloats about how well his/her script handled the session, the while bemoaning that a TW version which did not support such play might be made available for others whose taste differed.

I think naming names would be counterproductive. I'm just saying that there are definitely some people whose persecution complex about JP wanting to make the game fun for others can only be explained by sadistic egomania.

There aren't many players who actually enjoy playing against reactive scripts and 24/7 bots, and there are even fewer who can take any credit for writing them. I've noticed that the script writers are generally pretty sensible about these things. The people who feel threatened by JP's plans are generally the same people who think running somebody else's scripts makes them great players. To admit that scripting is too powerful and has changed the game in unintended ways would be to admit that they might not be so elite. That's why they feel personally threatened by features that might limit the advantages of scripts.

Now that I would agree with.

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."