KolMafia Guide for Noobs.

StDoodle

StDoodle

Minion
Sally; as I mentioned in the other thread, I've reconsidered my plan of attack. The "main" wiki documentation on non-ash stuff will likely do a lot of linking to your guide, but it does seem like a better idea to keep the two separate. The "main" wiki stuff will simply be a list of what's available and how it works, for the most part. Very spartan, etc. Your guide functions well as a walk-through, so it should be kept on its own. My idea is that the main wiki documentation will be for those who are familiar with the basics and a great deal of KoLmafia (regular users), but a good place to look up info they aren't familiar with. If someone simply doesn't understand what to do at all with certain functionality, then the guide would be the place to go.

It seems like you've probably already had this same thought yourself, but just in case, don't bother trying to cram in every little command and every feature. The guide so far seems great for getting to know your way around KoLmafia, and be comfortable using it and understanding what it's doing. The main wiki pages can take care of all the "little" stuff, obscure commands, special-case syntax, etc. Again, it appears you've reached this conclusion well ahead of me (I've been really busy lately ;)), so probably nothing new.

There is something new I could use your help on, though. (and / or Bales, possibly) I would like to make it easier to link between various pages of the guide and main wiki documentation (none of which has been written yet) on the main program. As such, I want to make sure stuff isn't going to get moved around from one page to another in the guide, or if it is, come up with a good way to reference each section such that I can make templates to handle the linking. Don't worry about the technical details, I just want to know how you envision the organization of the guide playing out, and whether or not there's a good chance that certain sections will be moved from one page to another in the future.

Also, as I mentioned in the wiki thread, I've finally figured out how to get dynamically collapsible menus working on the wiki! I'm not sure how well I can add support for certain advanced features (such as initial expansion state), but I can certainly convert your entire table of contents / guide organization into a simple one-line template if you so desire. Ideally, I could even figure out a way to reference certain parts of the hierarchy such that you could add a single line to the bottom of each page of the guide with a "Next / Previous / Main" link that automatically updates when the structure changes (of course, the template would need to be updated, but just the one page vs. every dependent page).

Any thoughts & input you have on this would be appreciated. Also, I'm not going to go ahead and mess with anything unless I get a go-ahead from you or Bale. ;)
 
Bale

Bale

Minion
That's probably the best way to do it. The guide works as an introduction because it doesn't try to get too in depth or bog the reader down with too many details, while focusing strongly on exactly what the new user needs in an order designed to introduce them to mafia's uses. Sally made a great guide for an audience that any advanced user wouldn't have known how to approach. (I know I would have often gotten lost in explanations of cool stuff they aren't ready for, just like aprocalypse did in his guide.)

If the guide's pages can individually be used as a very basic introduction to their topic, that could be good. As long as Sally isn't thinking of a way to re-order it.

Anyway, the guide is much more Sally's than it is mine. I'm just illustrating it, so my permission is meaningless.
 
S

SinginSally

Member
St Doodle, go ahead and do anything you think is appropriate. But if you think it will be better that way, go for it!

Besides, if it is all that terrible, you can simply undo it easily enough. :)
 
Bale

Bale

Minion
@SinginSally, while adding illustrations for part 11, I noticed a problem that requires a bit of rewriting. I suppose I could handle it if you're not in the mood, but I consider it your intellectual property so I don't like to do more than little touch ups. You say that creation of consumables will automatically create in-a-boxen (step 9), but that is not the default setting for KolMafia. By default it will not create the in-a-boxen. (That's what my fresh and unmodified installation tells me when I create my illustrations.) Then at the bottom you discuss the feature. I feel you need to mention turning it on before you inform the noob that it will automatically create the in-a-box, since it won't do what you tell him it does.

Not a big deal perhaps, but I think it should be done.
 
StDoodle

StDoodle

Minion
I wouldn't worry too hard about editing; while I appreciate all of the work that's gone into the guide, the whole point of having it on the wiki is so that "anyone" can update it. Of course, heeheehee and I (and you, as of just now, I hope) can fairly easily patrol things with our admin-powers, so vandalism will be dealt with quickly. But yeah, anything that really needs correcting should be corrected when noticed, as that's the main point of a wiki. ;)

However, any admin can protect a page if they find too many sub-par (or spam) edits, and then only other admins will be able to edit. We can certainly do this if necessary with the guide (and in such case we'd make Sally an admin too, so she could still update it).

But in general; if you're not sure, ask on a discussion page. If you're sure something needs changing, do it!

P.S. This in no way is meant as a "ha ha your guide is ours now" kind of thing. I certainly don't want to offend anyone, especially someone who's put this much work into documentation (I do have SOME idea how much work that can be ;) ). I just want to make it clear that EVERYTHING on the wiki is open to, and in fact encourage, for helpful edits. (Though since there's a bunch of style-related stuff in the Guide, I DO encourage people to keep edits there a bit lower-key.)
 
S

SinginSally

Member
Agreed. If there is something that you feel needs changing, you certainly have my blessing (for what its worth. :)
I really appreciate your efforts to do the pictures and I will also be going along behind you and rewriting as needed. Ive been a slacker lately, but promise to be better and get it done. ;-)
 
StDoodle

StDoodle

Minion
FYI, I've added notes on the guide's talk page & a reference in the editing help page outlining what we just agreed on, for reference by other wiki users.
 
S

SinginSally

Member
Hey, I am a bit confused. Did they get rid of "Special Action" in custom combat scripts? Is it just assumed that Mafia should always do any special actions indicated in the SPECIAL area?

I am looking at: http://wiki.kolmafia.us/index.php?title=KoLmafia_Guide:_Custom_Combat_Script
and noticing that the Default script has a rather odd 1: attack with weapon and 2: attack with weapon.

I guess this means that it will either 1: attack with weapon, or if any special actions are supposed to happen, then it will do that instead.
Then the 2: attack with weapon is necessary since the action in round 1 is variable?

I mean, why isn't the Default to simply "1: attack with weapon". Thats the default action anyways after other actions are complete.

Also, I guess this means that you can no longer decide to use the Special Action based on your opponent. For example, I could Pickpocket if I won initiative vs most monsters, but against the one that poisons me, I might forego PP and tell it to Moxious Manuever to kill it fast.
(I guess you would do this by NOT marking Pickpocket globally, and instead specifically calling it as a round 1 action in the CCS?)

Id appreciate clarifications so I can roll it into the guide. Thanks!!
 
Bale

Bale

Minion
My bad. I'm not sure how that happened, but I posted a bad screenshot. I'll fix it.

Edit: Image fixed. Clear browser cache if you still see the old one. Now action 1 is special action as you thought it should be.
 
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Bale

Bale

Minion
Lol! You found me out! I was waiting for a raver giant bounty at a time when I'm good for getting that bounty. They just haven't coincided yet.

I'll do it soon with whatever bounty is convenient and change the text to agree with it. It is looking awfully lonely.
 
Bale

Bale

Minion
SinginSally said:
Bale, could you please add some goodness for Section 8?
Click to expand...

Did it. Illustrated through chapter 12 now. Chapters after that don't lend themselves to images well, so please tell me if you have any idea for what pictures should be there.
 
StDoodle

StDoodle

Minion
Sally; I have a request on one of the guide's talk pages that I'm hoping you could look at. I really would prefer not to keep the note up that directs people to remove "notify" any longer than possible.
 
Ame

Ame

New member
My question seems so minor(and amateur?) that I don't feel it demands its own thread... and this seemed the closest to a 'general questions' thread. My apologies for the necro if my question doesn't fit here.

Question: How do you figure out what the link is when using visit_url to deal with tables?

My wishful usage: Currently spamming FoB runs, so I'd like my day 1 starting script to buy Torso Awaregness and perhaps use banked skill points from completed runs.

~~~

Example: visit_url("pandamonium.php?action=sven&bandmember=Bognort&togive=4673&preaction=try")

I get lost after "pandamonium.php?action=sven". I'm pretty sure the 'Bognort' and '4673' are the band member and item, but I have no idea how one gets the &bandmember=, &togive. [pulled from bumcheek's ascension script, but it didn't seem as if &bandmember/togive were defined elsewhere... so I assume it is the actual url]

~~~

My attempt is currently stuck around: visit_url("gnomes.php?place=skills ... ... 0012[or torso awaregness... being the noob I am, I'm not sure how urls handle spaces] ... ...")

Currently using firefox, so attempts as hovering over the button doesn't produce a url... unless I'm doing something wrong there too. I've tried going into frame -> page source, but no luck there (didn't see any &bandmember, etc.)

*edit* my grammars is bads
 
lostcalpolydude

lostcalpolydude

Developer
Staff member
If you use mafia's Mini Browser you can see the URL displayed in the address bar for all of the buttons you click. The alternative is to use View Source in your browser (right-click, This Frame, View Frame Source in Firefox), then you have to not get lost in the HTML (which isn't the easiest thing if you aren't familiar with HTML).
 
Theraze

Theraze

Active member
Also if you're extra-lazy, there's a get_skill script here. Should be able to automatically learn any skill by name using it, adding something like
PHP: 
import <get_skill.ash>
get_skill($skill[torso awaregness]);
into your starting script... Also, I highly suggest using the version from post 15 (the one I linked to) not the first thread, as post 1 hasn't been updated since the original posting in 2010.

But yeah, if you want to check on the commands manually, best way to do it is by learning the skill manually in the mini-browser.
 
Ame

Ame

New member
My appreciations for the quick replies.

Indeed, it seems that it was mainly the & symbol that was throwing off my ctrl+f's within the source codes. After a few more tries as more things come up (since I'm in no hurry really lol), I reckon I should be able to start piecing together the links from source. Until then, as said the mini browser is a most excellent for ease of getting links. I hadn't consciously realized there was a difference between 'load in web browser' (which is what i use) and mini browser until now.

My searching abilities must be withering as I did not come across the get_skill script at all. >_> As in the current run I've already bought torso and don't feel like spending another 5k on experimentation, I shall simply rip the gnomes.php?action=trainskill&whichskill=12 from the script and see if it all goes as planned next run. :p
 
R

Rahmuss

Member
SinginSally said:
g) set_property( "customCombatScript" , "YourScriptNameHere");
Lets you set a particular custom combat script. Great for setting up stasis-lock (where you delay combat so your familiar can act during combat).
Click to expand...
I'm trying to do this in the CLI (as a text file loaded as a script running CLI commands); but it doesn't seem to be working. For example I'll set the action to moxious maneuver as part of the login and prep and when my char starts adventuring he's instead plinking away at the elves instead of using Moxious Maneuver. I've tried it two different ways. What am I doing wrong?
Code: 
set action = moxious maneuver
set customCombatScript = maneuver

Obviously the CCS called maneuver invokes the skill moxious maneuver. It works fine if I set the action manually, or set the customer combat script manually; but I want to be able to start my script and walk away and come back later to see fruit from my farming efforts rather than a waste of meat on healing myself. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
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