Ascend.ash: hands-off ascension script

I'll see what I can figure out. I have a vague recollection that the glasses are required to get the key and that the key search was sometimes started without equipping them. Probably caused because Ascend uses maguffin code but does not use all of it.
 
You don't need the glasses to get the key, you need it to get the quest item from behind/under the stand though. At least I don't really think you nee dthe glasses until you have to identify the wine bottles.
 
Winterbay said:
Try to see if it helps if you set the correct choice adventure in Mafia to "ballroom key then combat" or something similar?
Click to expand...

This is the ascend.ash script running the adventures. Once I just auto-adventured in the ballroom, it took only 6 turns to actually get it. So it makes me think it's something specifically wrong with the code for the ballroom (which for the record is not from the macguffin script). Which is somewhere around line 799. I saw the debug message for "Key released from drawer, going to go get it", FWIW.
 
It is Ascend code. If advStringLevel returns with failure it is possible to adventure looking for the second drawer even though the first one was not opened. Not sure how it can fail yet. May have a character who can test in a couple.
 
I don't know about you, but tinker would never work quite right for me. Altered code which I think works-
Code: 
  if (!contains_text(visit_url("questlog.php?which=2"), "Driven Crazy"))
  {
      string tink = visit_url("forestvillage.php?place=untinker");
      if (tink.contains_text("I lost my screwdriver somewhere"))
                {    
                visit_url("forestvillage.php?place=untinker&action=screwquest");
                wait(1);
                }    
      if (tink.contains_text("Have you had any luck finding my screwdriver?"))
      {    
        visit_url("knoll.php?place=smith"); //for muscle signs
        if (advItemLevel($location[Degrassi Knoll], 1, 
                         $item["rusty screwdriver"], level))
          visit_url("forestvillage.php?place=untinker");
        if (item_amount($item["bitchin' meatcar"]) > 0) 
          cli_execute("untinker bitchin' meatcar");
      }    
      else 
      { debug("No screwdriver quest yet");}
  }
  else 
    debug("Already finished untinker");
 
Which version of Ascend were you starting from? The version I am running works, I think, and I thought I posted that. Maybe not since the release notes say that the meatcar is no longer untinkered but my copy of what I thought I posted still has that. In any event, thank you. I will update "soon" but was kind of waiting to see what happened with mafia's code for unlocking the Guild since it needs to be changed but hasn't been yet.
 
Is there a rebuild of ascend.ash available with up-to-date edits? I can't seem to get anything to run anymore... I think it's probably related to so many cut/replaces on my part to get it up to date, to no avail...
 
What's wrong with the version in the zip file in the first post? It generally behaves although there are a list of things that could be tweaked.
 
Well, I don't know if this is the right place for this question00 but, if dj_d is, as stated, on hiatus from KoL, what can I do to get the password?

Thanks to all replies in advance,
Shrapnel.
 
Given that this script is seriously out of date and depends on the kindness of others to keep it running at all, maybe you should look at bumcheekascend, which is free, and see if it will meet your needs. I've never used either script, so I have no idea how well one works compared to the other. But if you look through the previous 789 messages in this thread, you may get an idea of the world of hurt you're letting yourself in for should you succeed in getting the password.
 
Shrapnel said:
Well, I don't know if this is the right place for this question00 but, if dj_d is, as stated, on hiatus from KoL, what can I do to get the password?

Thanks to all replies in advance,
Shrapnel.
Click to expand...

You can send him the Mr. A. and he will send you the password. It may be time to tone down the first post. When he was active there were concerns about charging for a script. When his support dropped there were concerns about people who had paid for something and it no longer worked. At present, I am trying to support Ascend, but since I am not receiving anything from dj_d to do this, I do get kind of prickly when people demand that something be fixed because they paid for it. There are other Ascend users who help as well.

But send him the Mr. A. and expect to receive the password.
 
Ethelred said:
Given that this script is seriously out of date and depends on the kindness of others to keep it running at all, maybe you should look at bumcheekascend, which is free, and see if it will meet your needs. I've never used either script, so I have no idea how well one works compared to the other. But if you look through the previous 789 messages in this thread, you may get an idea of the world of hurt you're letting yourself in for should you succeed in getting the password.
Click to expand...

Ethelred is, of course, entitled to his(?) opinion. I might suggest the "seriously out of date" claim is based upon ignorance or at least differing opinions as to whether two months since an update makes something seriously out of date or not. There are things that do not work. Some of them will be fixed by me or others and some, like opening the Guild, await changes to mafia that have yet to be made in response to changes in the game. The "kindness of strangers" claim is accurate but as one of those strangers I'd like to believe it is irrelevant. I find the summary of this thread and the claim that using Ascend will put someone in a "world of hurt" to be an outrageously bogus claim especially from someone who has never used Ascend.

All that said...

I run Ascend on one character created solely to debug Ascend. I run BCC's ascend occasionally on another character. They do fill slightly different niches. On the whole I would say BCC runs are faster but Ascend's are easier, primarily because EatDrink is reasonably well integrated into Ascend whereas eating and drinking are manual activities for BCC's. At one point BCC's did not even support softcore (although it does now) whereas I can't recall trying too many hardcore runs with Ascend. I have a better sense of how to control Ascend, but that could be because I know the code. BCC's does have a relay script to set parameters. Ascend uses zLib so you need to find a zLib 'editor' for the relay browser or edit text files directly.

Free is good. Why should anyone use Ascend instead of BCC's script? Neither script achieves 100% hands off automation all of the time but where and how they fail is different. I believe Ascend's support for softcore is more automated although I may be wrong. Ascend comes with Farm which is a pretty good aftercore script that uses mall prices and a whole bunch of other things to find and automate the best place to farm for meat and items that can be sold for meat.

I have a job, have paid off my mortgage and routinely spend more than $10 a week at Starbucks so getting worked up about $10 to try a script and possibly losing my investment is a waste of my time. However if $10 is a big deal or an economic hardship then I would suggest that BCC is the way to go unless you want to use Farm to recover your investment.
 
The interesting thing is that the more people that run farm.ash the less effective it will be. Which is an interesting view into market economics I guess.
 
Winterbay said:
The interesting thing is that the more people that run farm.ash the less effective it will be. Which is an interesting view into market economics I guess.
Click to expand...

I don't run farm that often but when I do it always picks one of two zones so prices may have already stabilized. But I am running the scriptlet (of Bale's?) that summons the most expensive Clip Art items and then mallsells them and I have seen prices drop pretty seriously there. I am running a combination of Bale's and my scripts, and the price per credit for Alice's Army cards seems to have stabilized recently as well.

The economics of the game are amusing and I do think there is a correlation between widely used scripts and mall prices. In this case, with a small number of items, "widely used" could be as low as 25 users...
 
fronobulax said:
Ethelred is, of course, entitled to his(?) opinion. I might suggest the "seriously out of date" claim is based upon ignorance or at least differing opinions as to whether two months since an update makes something seriously out of date or not. There are things that do not work. Some of them will be fixed by me or others and some, like opening the Guild, await changes to mafia that have yet to be made in response to changes in the game. The "kindness of strangers" claim is accurate but as one of those strangers I'd like to believe it is irrelevant. I find the summary of this thread and the claim that using Ascend will put someone in a "world of hurt" to be an outrageously bogus claim especially from someone who has never used Ascend.

All that said...
Click to expand...

I'm sorry that my post offended you, fronobulax. That was certainly not my intent. I think it's very commendable that you are providing support for a script for which someone else is charging. As long as you're willing to do that, maybe the script is worth $10. I made my living as a programmer for many years, so I know that $10 is worth less than 10 minutes of a good programmer's time. The $10 fee just stikes s sour note when compared to the massive amont of work done by Hola, Veracity, Jason, and the other mafia developers and all the mafia scripters for free. In any event, as an uninvolved party, my post was probably ill-advised. And yes it is "he".
 
::Completely re-edited::

I'm running ascend, and it seems to get stuck... Tried digging in the code, couldn't see why.

Basically it'll run, then get to this
Code: 
Working on quest step Macguffin.
Resetting mind control device...
Mind control device reset.
Black market found.
Diary obtained.
Oasis revealed.
Hidden temple revealed.
Hidden city revealed.
Cellar opened.
Palindome revealed.
Macguffin quest started.
This altar's spherehole has already been plugged.
This altar's spherehole has already been plugged.
This altar's spherehole has already been plugged.
This altar's spherehole has already been plugged.
Unable to complete the hidden city.

And just stop. I have plenty of adventures left, should it be halting or should it be trying to do other objectives?
 
Last edited:
You're forgiven. I recall being testy when I responded. And I wish I could convince dj_d to release the code but he believes that having people buy it with Mr. A's puts cash in Jick & Co's wallets and that is a good thing. I wrote my first computer program 45 years ago and I have a soft spot for orphaned software and the people who paid for it ;-)
 
GhettoTrucker said:
::Completely re-edited::

I'm running ascend, and it seems to get stuck... Tried digging in the code, couldn't see why.

Basically it'll run, then get to this
Code: 
Working on quest step Macguffin.
Resetting mind control device...
Mind control device reset.
Black market found.
Diary obtained.
Oasis revealed.
Hidden temple revealed.
Hidden city revealed.
Cellar opened.
Palindome revealed.
Macguffin quest started.
This altar's spherehole has already been plugged.
This altar's spherehole has already been plugged.
This altar's spherehole has already been plugged.
This altar's spherehole has already been plugged.
Unable to complete the hidden city.

And just stop. I have plenty of adventures left, should it be halting or should it be trying to do other objectives?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why, but my solution would be to manually complete the Hidden City and then restart. If you do that you might help identify why it thought the holes were plugged and could not continue.

My experience has been that Ascend is pretty single minded and it will continue to bang its head against a wall rather than try something else.
 
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