What's changed since I've been gone?

Quote:

Originally Posted by -popcorn-

will it be background bot? and will it collect palla and boxes or just boxes?

Yes it will be background. The current features list looks like this:

Box Bot - Bonus Boxes / Special Boxes / Palladium
Ore Bot - Ores
Alien Bot - Makes mashed potato
Real Alien Bot - Hunts aliens
Full Account Builder - Builds account up and manages backpage activities like Skylab building, Galaxy Gate building, Equipment manager etc.

If there is anything I have missed from this then let me know!

Some of the extra functions include:

Scripting Control
Customise the bots behaviour by defining custom actions to take when certain events happen. Unlike PBDO-Bot the scripts control EVERYTHING. The bot will ship with a default script that manages normal functions like collecting boxes, hunting aliens etc.

Technical details will follow with the release but some rough overview for those who understand .NET/C#:
Its built on an interface framework. The bot has built-in "base logic" that is exposed as virtual functions. Anything you don't implement in the script will default to the built-in logic. For example, if you wanted to control the way the account circles an alien, you can override the default, virtual method GetPosition() with a custom algorithm. The bot will call this GetPosition() method regardless of whether you implement it. If you do, of course your logic will override the built-in one, but by exposing them as virtual methods if you don't implement it it will call up the inheritance chain and call the built-in logic. Following this example, GetPosition() would return a Point. Using this you could implement a randomizer that randomizes move to positions. Of course this all seems complicated, and the "advanced" side of it is, but I wanted to provide the greatest amount of control possible because if every user has customized logic, it will be a lot harder to catch bots! Now, if you don't want this power, it will be trivial to take your PBDO-Bot script knowledge and apply it to my bot. I am planning a built in script manager to allow for easy "script" sharing.

AI
This is a big one and probably won't be ready (or at least usable) for quite a while. I've always had an interest in Artificial Intelligence so thought it would be cool to apply here. The idea is to apply a neural network to the bot that lets it "learn" from previous experiences and to then apply that in the future. For example if you fly near an enemy, you die. The bot would eventually realise that flying near enemies is a "negative" event and would then avoid them in the future. This would apply to a lot more than enemies and players. It could learn that special boxes provide better rewards on average and so prioritize them over bonus boxes. It could learn that two boxes close together are better to go for than one that may be closer to you. I'm not sure how I'm going to implement this for the moment, but from my research and prototypes it works surprisingly well (I had something going in SH-IT before the death of packet bots but never got around to polishing it off).

Advanced Navigation
Ever since we implemented pathfinding into PBDO-Bot it was a target to completely get rid of the normal navigation code and use the path finder for every movement in the game. It would have allowed for avoidance of mines as well as optimizing the path taken to avoid enemies (by making areas where the enemy are more "expensive" to go through). I want to apply this to the bot but as our viewport is limited (because we can't use packets) then it might not be of much use. Remember I am working on a packet bot too so if that gets anywhere near working I can easily port all these features into it as well.

I know that this is pretty detailed, but I didn't want to open a thread until I had anything to show. Currently the bot is a terminal application that dumps images to a folder and then does some magic. The rest of it is all done, its just the bits that link it all together I still have to complete. Before you ask, I haven't thought about pricing. I know personally I enjoy releasing my software for free because I enjoy bringing decent software to this community. You guys are the only reason I do what I do and you're awesome! Its my sort of gift to you guys! Also, making it free means I don't have to worry about any sort of license or payment systems. I know a lot of you will disagree on my position on the cost, and thats okay, I haven't completely ruled out a paid version but like previously there will always be a free version!

I know that was a big answer to a one line question, but I hope it clears up my intentions and should help answer all the questions previously about pixel and packet bots, and what I am working on at the moment.

-jD