Bot Discussion

[Criimson]

Originally Posted by sorvani

I do not run bots but all your talking lately has me wondering. What purpose are bots going to service once the merc code starts coming in? Will some / all of the bot code be useful for that?

Here is a good page on mercs

I didn't mess with mercs much after they went live as by this time I mainly played my necro because of time constraints. However, I think that a player only can hire one at a time which is why bots will still be useful. Now I am mainly thinking of players like myself that play solo, but I know I'd like to raid and such and from the merc page classes like enchanters aren't an option with the merc system. This leaves room for bots in the future.

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Anyone know of a page that lists raids and what size raid force is required? I would like the challenge of gearing up a 3 group raid force and tackling raids and only use 4+ group raids when neccessary. I definately don't like the idea of filling 7 groups with wizards and monks to zerg something and would rather slowly take on smaller raids for gear as I work my way towards larger scale raids.

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I was wondering if someone with more experience in engine/spatial coding could look at the movement/spacing code for bots. I love the way angelox has hits bots spaced behind the player and x,y,z code is something I have no experience with.

[bad_captain]

Originally Posted by Criimson

Anyone know of a page that lists raids and what size raid force is required? I would like the challenge of gearing up a 3 group raid force and tackling raids and only use 4+ group raids when neccessary. I definately don't like the idea of filling 7 groups with wizards and monks to zerg something and would rather slowly take on smaller raids for gear as I work my way towards larger scale raids.

I use this as a reference: http://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki...gression_guide
Really, just try with however many bots you have and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Try Chardok, Western Wastes Dragons, Kael and see how you do. Look for named mobs in harder areas, such as Grieg's End. You may not be able to take Grieg to begin, but try out any of the named in the zone. Kael isn't great until you can take out Derakor or AoW.

When I really began raiding, I started hitting Akheva Ruins (Itraer.. Shei's DT sucks), Greig's, then Chardok B for Korucust (one of my favorites.. quick to get into and out of and good loot for my Mage). Then I moved to Ssra, then Vex Thal. You may not take out the boss of the zones, but running Ssra, and hitting the Rhags, High Priest, Arch Lich, Creator will get you a lot of loot.

I tried to work through the progression of expansions if I could, so I waited for PoP bosses, where PoI, PoS, PoN could get you decent loot. BoT, PoT, PoNB, and a couple others preEPs.

Just beware some encounters are difficult if not impossible if it's just you with your bots.. Manaetic Behemoth for one.

[Criimson]

Originally Posted by bad_captain

I use this as a reference: http://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki...gression_guide
Really, just try with however many bots you have and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Try Chardok, Western Wastes Dragons, Kael and see how you do. Look for named mobs in harder areas, such as Grieg's End. You may not be able to take Grieg to begin, but try out any of the named in the zone. Kael isn't great until you can take out Derakor or AoW.

When I really began raiding, I started hitting Akheva Ruins (Itraer.. Shei's DT sucks), Greig's, then Chardok B for Korucust (one of my favorites.. quick to get into and out of and good loot for my Mage). Then I moved to Ssra, then Vex Thal. You may not take out the boss of the zones, but running Ssra, and hitting the Rhags, High Priest, Arch Lich, Creator will get you a lot of loot.

I tried to work through the progression of expansions if I could, so I waited for PoP bosses, where PoI, PoS, PoN could get you decent loot. BoT, PoT, PoNB, and a couple others preEPs.

Just beware some encounters are difficult if not impossible if it's just you with your bots.. Manaetic Behemoth for one.

Nice list. I am actually thinking of removing DT from my server or switching its effect with something else. I was running poFear and getting hit with that DT when its insta raid end was really not fun.

Runnng solo with bots using AXClassic was a blast raiding. I basically hit Kael until I geared myself and main group up and then hit PoGrowth for my other 2 groups and then tried Griegs End...one of those named was a fun fight until it destroyed me. I also like Akheva Ruins. The boss that blinds was so much fun. Trying to post my casters just out of the aoe range and trying to hold agro. The first fight I didnt realize the blind effect was dispellable until about half way through and I was like DOH.

[Congdar]

Originally Posted by Criimson

Anyone know of a page that lists raids and what size raid force is required? I would like the challenge of gearing up a 3 group raid force and tackling raids and only use 4+ group raids when neccessary. I definately don't like the idea of filling 7 groups with wizards and monks to zerg something and would rather slowly take on smaller raids for gear as I work my way towards larger scale raids.

There is also another rule which limits the total number of bots you can create.
RULE_INT ( Bots, CreateBotCount, 150 ) // Number of bots that each account can create
That in concert with the other one could be made to make that strategy unworkable. The cost to quest for the extra bots plus the limited number of bots createable would require that you make healers and tanks etc. It may be still doable but could be made such a pain as to not try.

[bad_captain]

Originally Posted by Congdar

There is also another rule which limits the total number of bots you can create.
RULE_INT ( Bots, CreateBotCount, 150 ) // Number of bots that each account can create
That in concert with the other one could be made to make that strategy unworkable. The cost to quest for the extra bots plus the limited number of bots createable would require that you make healers and tanks etc. It may be still doable but could be made such a pain as to not try.

If I didn't take so much time to name and gear my bots, I would try to make 150 of them to see what it would be like (changing the rule for max spawned at one time). Running with 53 (9 groups) is enough for me..


This reminds me that I had recently thought about how I would like bots being account based, instead of character based.. I made a script to update the botownercharacterid to another of my characters when I want to, since I don't want to gear up multiple characters work of bots. Does anyone see any downside to that? I don't remember it being discussed before. You could still have separate bots for your characters since they may be different levels and with level specific gear, but you would have access to all of your bots.. Saved bot groups would need to be changed to character based, but I think it would be doable..

[Congdar]

Originally Posted by bad_captain

This reminds me that I had recently thought about how I would like bots being account based, instead of character based.. I made a script to update the botownercharacterid to another of my characters when I want to, since I don't want to gear up multiple characters work of bots. Does anyone see any downside to that? I don't remember it being discussed before. You could still have separate bots for your characters since they may be different levels and with level specific gear, but you would have access to all of your bots.. Saved bot groups would need to be changed to character based, but I think it would be doable..

ive done this on my server and it's great if all your toons are the same level. it fails when you spawn a bot on lower level toons and the gear they have is too high level for them to wear so that uber sword has no effect and they fail to hand to hand attacks. I recommend leaving it character based. Likewise, their armor is not counted so it's as if they aren't wearing it if it's level based.

[Criimson]

Alright, so I am trying to get a feel for where we all stand on how to procede.

Add columns of type int to bots for spell types:
Slow
Healing percentage
DD
AoE \______These two columns simply 0 - Off 1 - On
Mez /

each column a number 0 - 4
0 - Off
1 - Burn (All out) - No restrictions
2 - Aggressive - 75% Mana
3 - Balanced - 50% Mana
4 - Passive - 25% Mana

This look like a good starting point? I realize roles will be implimented and that each level will have additional arguments to account for roles. For instance a Rune being cast even when set to passive will always try to cast it on the puller.