Hands Free Hamster

Grotfang

Developer
############## Overview ##############

This project is a series of scripts to automate the process of obtaining Hodgman's Imaginary Hamster. This is still a work in process, but I now believe the scripts are at a stage where they can be successfully used, providing the run goes smoothly with everyone present from start to finish and no mistakes made. I am releasing them with the hope that I can get constructive feedback from people on how to make this better, faster and more streamlined. Any and all comments are welcome.

############## Script breakdown ##############

leader.ash and PMlogger.ash is for the leader, who must also be the mosher.
musician.ash is for all 6 people who will be entering hobopolis itself.
cagebot.ash is for the cagebait.
grater.ash is for any additional helpers.
autoHammyUtil contains shared functions and is needed by everyone.

############## Requirements ##############

1) An up to date version of mafia. I cannot stress this enough. Since v14.6 chat PMs have been changed. This is not a minor consideration.
2) The scripts attached below
3) For musicians, 3 outfits are needed -- sewer (hobo code binder, etc), hobopolis (for overkilling hobos) and tent (with instrument, etc).
4) CCS scripts. For graters and cagebait, sewer.ccs should be CLEESH or tatter. For musicians, sewer.ccs and hobopolis.ccs with an attack strategy.

This script is not for the faint-hearted. It is fragile and cannot cope with being interrupted. It also requires user-editing to set certain variables. I am aware some parts of the code are a little ridiculous -- I am working on that and reducing the number of chat elements (current thinking is that only three chat messages are needed).

I also want to state that I take no responsibility whatsoever for teams who fail to get a hamster when running this script. It is still in a beta form, having had one bug test that highlighted a number of (now remedied) flaws. It is my hope that others will help make it better, but that will mean mistakes along the way.

############## Settings ##############

As leader, fill in the names of the musicians in the music_players map. Cagebot's name (and a second if you have one) go in cage_bait and cage_bait2. Any graters should be placed in the grate_players map, starting at key 6 (all explained in the script). In grates_to_open enter how many grates should be opened before going through the tunnels. By default it is set to 20.

For all players, set use_rock_salt to false if you do NOT want the script to use rock salt.

For musicians, set your combat strategy. If you need to use phials, set boolean with_phials = true;. If you need to use flavour of magic, set boolean with_flavour = true;. They can't both be true. If your ccs and outfit will sort that out, set them both to false. Also, set your alignment (the type of hobo parts you have been delegated). This goes in the string desired_alignment section. Valid options are in the comments. Note that it is "spook" and "phys", not "spooky" and "physical". The number of hobos you kill is set in int dead_hobos = 146;. This default should be fine, but you may change it if you wish.

For graters, cagebots and musicians, set desired_operator to the name of your mosher. This makes sure no-one else can send you commands and mess up your run.

############## Usage ##############

Musician.ash, grater.ash and cagebot.ash are all chatbot scripts. Set those up by typing:

Code:
set chatbotScript=musician.ash

Into the gCLI (or whichever script you use). Leader.ash is called normally with:

Code:
call leader.ash

To begin the run, a musician, cagebot or grater needs to PM the word "start" to the leader. Make sure only one person does that, though.

############## Disclaimer ##############

I am aware that not everyone is going to be overjoyed at this type of script seeing general release. However, I wanted to briefly explain why I have chosen to do this.

1) This content has been around for over 3 years now. The mechanics are well understood and the area lacks real strategy. This script simply means players follow the script instead of one of the many guides that exist on the topic (this script, in fact, is simply a coded form of Hogs of Destiny's hamster style).

2) This is not spoiling anyone's fun. I am aware that the developers originally intended for hobopolis to be a social side of the game, where multiple people work together to achieve something. However, I have two things to say on this regard: a) we already disregard the developers intention of how we interact with the game when we use mafia, or greasemonkey, or any other modification, and b) those people who really want to experience the social side of this content will be highly unlikely to be the ones who use this script. There are completely different motivations at work.

3) The set up of small clans means that it can be very hard to actually obtain a hamster. It is a big commitment in terms of time and energy and has to be done multiple times to ensure everyone is happy. The only other alternative at the moment is to pay a very large amount of meat to others who will do it for you. This script is aimed to help those who can't achieve it any other way and allow smaller groups to still work together to optain a hamster each as opposed to all spending large amounts to do it individually.
 

Attachments

  • HandsFreeHamster.zip
    12.2 KB · Views: 147

Mr Purple

Member
I would recommend all musicians to use this script before you setup the chatbot script. This checks to see that your outfits and custom combat scripts will set correctly. A number of people in our test run had issues with capitalization of outfit names, where mafia was only accepting one form. So if mafia cannot equip an outfit, change the capitalization and try again (ie. there seems to be a difference between an outfit called "sewer" and one called "Sewer").
 

Attachments

  • initial.ash
    375 bytes · Views: 110
Last edited:

fronobulax

Developer
Staff member
Gee, I don't suppose you'd consider white-listing a tester and then letting them have the hamster...

;-)
 

slyz

Developer
I would just like to stress one point: this suit of scripts is not meant to be used by one player running 8+ characters by himself. #6 will disable you and your multis if you do that.

On a lighter note, anyone who has lead a hamster run would be amazed to learn that, on the test run, the whole tenting process was done in less than 20 minutes, and could probably be reduced by half. And no-one stayed on stage or accidentally left the tent too soon!
 

Sentrion

Member
Awesome. I started working on a similar script many months ago, but got sidetracked (I barely got anywhere, anyway), so this is perfect. Thanks!
 

Mr Purple

Member
If anybody would be willing to assist with some testing of a highly mutilated version of these scripts, it'd be greatly appreciated. Please message either me or Grotfang (both of us are SNIG) if you can help. We've been trying to reduce the dependance on chat so the musicians are no longer chatbots. The cagebait just tells the grater or mosher to go and it works from there. Having a team with instruments and full binders to see if it actually, you know... works, would be all sorts of awesome though :)
 
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