• IdeaArchive
• Automizer - what I'd like to see

Describe IdeaArchive/Automizer - what I'd like to see here.

First, new rules: 0) an ability to filter on what dungeon your character is in. I play LostSoul characters all the time, and would love to be able to only destroy magic spellbooks when I'm in the Halls of Mandos, for instance.

1) An ability to filter on the pval. I'd like to be able to autodestroy rings of speed with bonuses less than, say, 8, while autopickup those with bonuses over 12.

2) This one is harder.... but it would be cool to be able filter on the equipment you -currently- have, and possibly your current status. It would add a lot of complexity, but it would be quite nice to be able to say "ok, I'd like to pick up potions of cure poison/healing automatically, but only when poisoned" and "I'd like to be able to pick up rings of speed automatically as long as they have a bonus at least as high as the one I currently have [and/or am wielding].

Secondly, an annoying bug. Whenever my characters hit level 30, the automizer goes crazy, and destroys way too much stuff; every few turns I have to press a key several times as it destroys (nothing) as well. Perhaps worst of all, it destroys gold! [given that I play as a LostSoul symbiant most of the time, I barely bother with non-artifact weapons/etc]. I've started trying to track this down, but gdb+lua is icky.

If nothing else, a hack to make gold harder to destroy would be nice. I don't object to monsters destroying it, but I don't like the automizer doing it.

More info on the bug: after each such round, I get a purple message saying that apply_rules was run too often. The bug is also triggered every time I do something like drink a potion [when the automizer is on and my char is > level 30].

I hand-wrote my automizer file. I don't see anything obviously wrong with it, though, and the game shouldn't be able to destroy things like gold with the automizer irregardless.

Actius: I'd like to be able to filter using "left on the ground". These rules would kick in for things that I'm not carrying, as I walk away from the square. Occationally, I come up with crazy or neat ideas for scrolls of aggrevation, wands of haste monster, morgul weapons, and so on. I'd like to be able to at least try such things without having to reconfigure the automizer, so I'd love to be able to tack this kind of qualifier onto my automizer rules.

KhymChanur: I'm not sure how this would work, since the automizer would normaly destroy things like that before you had a chance to leave them there. Do you mean you'd temporarily disable the automizer, step onto the square with the ?oAggravation, leave the square, turn the automizer back on, and then have the automizer not destroy it because you didn't manually destroy it while the automizer was off?

Actius: To do this the way things currently work, I'd have to switch the automizer on and off, and I'd have to be careful about it not taking action on things in inventory (presumably by inscribing them). Perhaps I could bind a key to "turn automizer on, trigger automizer, turn automizer off" -- if I could figure that out, that might satisfy my needs. For this to work the way I'd hope, the automizer would have to be triggered by the game as a "pre-move" action -- at that time there would be a bit set which would satisfy this condition. For normal automizer handling, that bit would not be set.

EhUd42: I have a couple of additions of what I would like to see added to the automizer. I am currently running an unbeliever and through the early to mid game I would like to be able to autdestroy all magical items (wands, staves, rods, and spell books) with out IDing them. Unfortunatly you have to ID them before the automizer will destroy them. The second request is there either be an alternate sval or be able to filter exploding ammunition based on the contain rule. Currently, all exploding arrows are good and there is no way to distinguish it with the automizer. See discussion http://forum.t-o-m-e.net/viewtopic.php?t=2102&sid=2a6890cf839d8521af6594ba32548b9b

RedNaga: Also with reference to BugReport286 , i'd really like to have a rule to distinguish between pseudo-id'ed items and normal identified ones, so that mage-like characters could use safely the automatizer without fear of losing excellent stuff...

NeilStevens: To condition on strong or weak pseudo-id, just condition on Combat or Magic skill. Use <state>identified</state> to distinguish between identified and not.

RedNaga: DOH! It has been there all that time and i never noticed that! Silly me! Thank you!

NeilStevens: We could have rules for the location of the item (inventory vs floor), no problem. So you could see it on the floor, inscribe it, then pick it up.

This is really a weird thing, though. Most people want to be able to destroy junk by walking on it, so we have to optimize for that usual case.

• Actius: I apologize -- I had two different tracks going there, which is confusing. Track 1: how to achieve what I want with the current automizer (this is where inscribing comes in). Track 2: destroying things on the floor, but when I walk away rather than when I still have a potential move at that location.

NeilStevens: Oh.. well, what you want isn't possible in ToME at all, sorry. ToME is turn-based. Every turn takes place when the player is on one square or another. Plus, you can't destroy items that are on a square different from the one you're standing on.

So the idea of destroying an item when you move away is impossible, because there is no such time. You're either on one square or the other.

Actius: No chance of having an automizer hook at move time?

NeilStevens: As I said, it's not possible. There's no such thing as "move time." You can't act after you move; only before. It'd be cheating to let the automatizer do things the player can't do manually.

TheFalcon: Errm, it already can... it can destroy objects of multiple types in one turn.

NeilStevens: From the 2.3.0 changelog:

• 07/06/2004 [G]- Destroying items manually now takes no time -- neil

Already covered, heh.

Actius: Ok, how about an "automize now" action I could bind to a key? I can hit that myself before I move... (In other words, I leave automizer off, but when I hit that key it toggles on, automizes, toggles off. I can sorta do this now, but I have to burn a turn to get it to do anything. Or I can do the toggle on/toggle off with key sequences -- something to trigger the automizer without burning a move would be sufficient.) That, with a "this item is on the ground" conditional would be really nice.

ShrikeDeCil: I second the 'trigger Automatize now' desire/preference. (I'm not clear on Actius' reasons) There's a lot of fragile stuff that I may or may not destroy... _after_ combat. Right now I want it off the floor before the duck! fire/acidballs burn it up. It's just a 'scroll'. But. That might be the first Craftsmanship scroll I've seen, or something I've _never_ seen. The 'Macro' engine drops off a little bit too far from the 'Automatizer' engine. A 'destroy the item on the floor' macro has to deal with two items on the floor, and perhaps it it something you get prompted 'Destroy y/n', and perhaps not. And perhaps it has a _loooong_ name. And perhaps not. And perhaps it has a count... and perhaps not. A 'trigger limited LUA script' key, or 'toggle specific Automatizer rule' key (even if its a multiple key combo, like "=T8" ) would seem to cover this whole area. Adding a test 'is it on the ground?' would be nice, as would the pval bits. 'Destroy any Ring of Speed whose pval <3...' or whatever.