Bot updates

[Maverick]

In Trench Wars we continually work on the bots making them better, more stable, easier to use and niftier.

In this topic I'm going to keep everyone updated on all the updates we do, for the staff and for the public.
It will basically be a subtraction of the TWCore.org timeline.

Note: If you find a bug or if you have a good idea for a new bot/enhancement, don't hesitate to contact a TW Bot Dev member or create a ticket.
It's important that the public (you) tell us what you think needs to be made/improved.

[Maverick]

8 aug 2007:
STAFF: new shiprestriction module (Ice-demon)
STAFF: Upgraded !help of Pubhub (dugwyler)
STAFF: New locking commands on standard module of multibot (Robobot) (dugwyler)
STAFF: !specnotsafe on standard module of multibot (Robobot) (idea; Zizzo <ER>, production: Ice-demon)
PUBLIC: RoboBoy: !team now shows excesses of Javs, WBs, Weasels and Terrs; entering from spec no longer earns the team evening award. (dugwyler)

9 aug 2007:
PUBLIC: Fixes for the new medorp module (Lain)
PUBLIC: RoboBoy: !team update (dugwyler)

[PH]

Stickied per Mav's request.

[Maverick]

9 aug 2007: (continued)
STAFF: Update to the auto-spec module on multibot (RoboBot*) (dugwyler)
STAFF: Shiprestrict multibot-util in place as request by Left_Eye (RoboBot*) (Ice-demon)

10 aug 2007:
STAFF: Updates to bouncerbot (Ice-demon)
PUBLIC: RoboBoy: Minor fixes (dugwyler)

11 aug 2007:
STAFF: Fixed a defect where it stacked all added players on freq 0 (ShipC utility module on RoboBot*) (Ice-demon)

12 aug 2007:
STAFF: Various updates to bouncerbot (Ice-demon)

14 aug 2007:
STAFF: Logbot finished (Ice-demon)
PUBLIC: RoboBoy: Allowing players to use commands in public, LVZ fixes and modified arena messages to advocate the newbie-friendly use of commands in chat (dugwyler)

16 aug 2007:
STAFF: Logbot: Added a a few commands to have op and owner names non case sensitive (Ice-demon)

17 aug 2007:
STAFF: Logbot: Various updates (Ice-demon)
STAFF: Pubhub: Auto-silence ability (Maverick)
PUBLIC: Messagebot: MessageBot interface update. !read alone now reads all unread msgs; various other syntax stuff can be found in !help (such as !delete read, or !read #channel) (dugwyler)

18 aug 2007:
CODERS: Build.xml: Added the option of specifying a certain bot directory to be compiled, this provides a way to keep the bot running while updating (offline) bots. (Maverick)
STAFF: Pubhub: Various updates/bugfixes to auto-silence ability (Maverick)
STAFF: Logbot: Fixed some trivial matters concerning case sensitivity. (Ayano)
Staff: RoboBot*: Requesting all events, and removing the calls to unrequest/decline events. Largely diagnostic, to see if this changes how the bot behaves. (dugwyler)

19 aug 2007:
STAFF: RoboBot* warp utility: Fixed database connection issue
STAFF: Logbot: Added better log printouts to clear archived logs of the *log spam caused by logbot. (Ayano)
STAFF: RoboBot* flagwarppt utility: I've created a new module for Flag warp point activation where if a freq holds a specified group or individual flag, they gain access to a !goto warp by pming the bot the name of the gained territory. (Ayano)
STAFF: RoboBot* shiplimit utility: Shunted the ships module from twbots and re-kit to switch ships rather than spec on limits. Reorganized it a bit as well with java documentation (Ayano)
PUBLIC: Matchbot: Attempt for fixing !add problem on MatchBots. A workaround for a strangely defective getFuzzyPlayer, but it should also work. (dugwyler)

20 aug 2007:
PUBLIC: Matchbot: Fixed problem with !add of Matchbot and fixed longname-bug with !add (dugwyler)

24 aug 2007:
PUBLIC: RoboBoy: !terr and !whereis commands (yes, more commands); better layout for !team (dugwyler)

30 aug 2007:
STAFF: RoboBot* spec2 utility: Small change to not notify players of their rec if no spec task found (flibb)
STAFF: TWDBot: Removing entries from the alias check MID table when names are reset. Moved modifications to the table to foreground queries at the request of MiM, as the responsiveness was a bit slow. (dugwyler)
STAFF: StaffBot: addition of name completion in !warnings command if an exact match is not found; suppression of expired warnings unless using the new !allwarnings wrapper command; !fuzzynames for getting a list of names in the warning DB that match the one supplied. (dugwyler)
STAFF: TWDBot: Names that are disabled should no longer be able to be reset (dugwyler)

31 aug 2007:
STAFF: RoboBot* freezetag: changed minimum time limit to 5 minutes, made !start cmd reset time limit to 0 (no limit) (flibb)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Early beta update of Distension (TW RPG) (dugwyler)

1 sep 2007:
STAFF: RoboBot* hotspot utility: Various updates/fixes (flibb)
PUBLIC: MatchBot: Various updates for TWSDX (Maverick)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Tweaks (dugwyler)

2 sep 2007:
STAFF: RoboHelp: Added <month>-<year> option to !mystats & updated the !help menu. (Maverick)

3 sep 2007:
PUBLIC: Matchbot: Attempted fix for cancelled timer problem. This only occurs when a match is tied. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Various updates/fixes (dugwyler)

4 sep 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Various updates/fixes (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: RoboBoy: Small bugfix against problem that crashes the bot. (dugwyler)

5 sep 2007:
PUBLIC: JavElim: Various updates/fixes (flibb)

6 sep 2007:
STAFF: RoboBot* freezetag: fixed to cancel the timertask (for timed games) when a game ends, otherwise it would end the next game prematurely (flibb)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Various updates/fixes (dugwyler)

9 sep 2007:
PUBLIC: RoboBoy: As-yet unmanifested bug: if starting flagtime with autoWarp = false, game would not begin (dugwyler)

10 sep 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Various updates/fixes (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: JavElim: Various updates/fixes (flibb)

[Maverick]

11 sep 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Various updates/fixes (dugwyler)

[Maverick]

14 sep 2007:
PUBLIC: MatchBot(R): Fixed two bugs for TWSDX. (Maverick)
PUBLIC: JavElim: Warp winner to winner circle. (flibb)

16 sep 2007:
STAFF: LogBot: A few tweaks here and there. (Ayano)
PUBLIC: RoboBot* Prodem module: fixed !prolag warp abuse bug, demotes player when reenter game with !prolag, assign late comers sequential freqs instead of random (flibb)

18 sep 2007:
STAFF: Added ignoring operator names starting with a "*" to prevent comments from moderate.txt in the !listoperators. (Maverick)

19 sep 2007:
PUBLIC: RoboBot* hunt module: been getting occasional null exceptions, added null check on reported line, hopefully that will do it (flibb)
PUBLIC: JavElim: Bugfix allow for player id's over 255 (flibb)

24 sep 2007:
STAFF: RoboBot* WatchTK utility: !stopwatchtk now only *arenas if it was started. (flibb)

25 sep 2007:
STAFF: RoboBot* Safes utility: changed !activate to !safeson and !safesoff (toggles are not great from my experience hosting) (flibb)
PUBLIC: DuelBot: !rank bugfix accessing nonexistent field; changed to check fnRating (dugwyler)

26 sep 2007:
PUBLIC: DuelBot: The !rank query took too long to complete. New query just shows rating instead. Possible addition: show player's winning streak, total kills, spawns, etc in a more well-rounded stats command. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: More weight tuning; enlistment bonus fix; weasel unlock/relock beginnings (dugwyler)

27 sep 2007:
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: Adjustment of weights (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: Fix for positive/negative infinity on floats. Didn't know div by 0 was allowed in Java floating point! :> (dugwyler)

28 sep 2007:
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: Reverting Levi to forward thrust; flag claim fix; cost define fix; weight limiter; warn players on gun/bomb upgrade that they may not be able to fire w/o proper energy; flagtimer shutdown fix (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: Displaying enlistment bonus; debug commands for army count bug. (dugwyler)

30 sep 2007:
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: !wait; !beta; !msgbeta; weasel added; spawns widened; spawn protection; double kill protection. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: Correction of invalid message loop. Should also improve normal response time. (dugwyler)

1 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: !terr, !whereis; sends login message to Distension chat during beta (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: Spawn protection logic was reversed. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: Repeat kill alg made more robust; enlistment bonus debug (dugwyler)
STAFF: RoboHelp: Fixed a small bug with !mystats <month>-<year> : It didn't work well with months not having 31 days. (Maverick)
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: Enlistment bonus fix; repeat kill fix (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: Experimental spawning technique; changed enlistment bonuses to use RP rather than upgrade points (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: Careful modification of spawn system … before being forced to use TimerTasks. (dugwyler)

2 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: Shark added; spawning by default now leaves player in safe; !wait turned to !warp; weight max adjustments, widened particularly for round end; respawn priority fixed (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: Shark adjustments; split of endround RP bonus between support (5 & 8) ships and all others; tweaking kill point formulas; warp fixes; !armies help for those enlisting (dugwyler)

4 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: RoboBot* hunt module: Scorereset before game starts rather than after. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: !assist command for team imbalances; refresh support ships at round start; some restructuring (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: Assist fix; help rearrangement (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: !defect now free if changing to smaller army; !armies lists only armies 0 and 1, in that order (works for now — may decide to change back later (dugwyler)

5 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: Weasel now unlocked by rank (for beta); streaks don't add up except for victims 5 levels below and above; end of round point fix (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: Distensionbot: !assist update; safe coords to match new map (dugwyler)

[Maverick]

9 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: Messagebot: No new msg indicator for using !read with no msgs marked as unread. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Debug multiplier for bonus points during beta; !assist adverting more reliable; protection for unauthorized persons spawning bot during beta (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Various small bugfixes. (dugwyler)

10 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Auto-!return when entering; !upginfo for info on each upgrade; !enlist by itself enlists you in the smallest army; !assist fix (dugwyler)

11 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Fixed unlocking of ships; added !team cmd for displaying teams + upg.lvls; changed strength for army purposes to be upglvl + 5 (for better balance/weight); save "MVP" for changing to support ships; better assist advertin (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Army strength fix; !team cleanup; round end award reduced to coincide with increase in strength (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Army strength fix for rank 0; tweaking end round bonus (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: The reason why changing major game dynamics is so frustrating … this should hopefully fix weight problems! Also changed endround awards. Support ships receive 70% (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Now recalculates army strength + # pilots every time a player enters a ship, leaves, upgrades, etc. Very little extra load, and a lot more reliable. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Ugh. Don't count players who are docked. (dugwyler)

12 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Enabled spider special ability; kill points display properly; if round is >30min, only count 30min; !upginfo fix for terr (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: NPE fix; !team cleanup; prize upgrades after returning from !assist (dugwyler)
STAFF: Pubhub: Fix for specifying to autoload which module per arena (Maverick)

13 oct 2007:
CODERS: moved reliable player switching to Ship class (flibb)

15 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: MatchBot: Fix for !myfreq sending player to wrong freq. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: !clearmines added; mines reset at round start; various tweaks/fixes (dugwyler)

16 oct 2007:
STAFF: TWDBot: Help display for SMod commands (!addaccess, !removeaccess, !listaccess) (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: TWLBot: !myfreq fix. Forgot that the TWL bot is basically an exact copy of MatchBot, rather than a module type with special cases. Kudos for forking one of our most complicated bots, whoever decided to do this one. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Special ability prizing for terrs and spiders; spawn time reduced to 1.5 seconds. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Instantiating special ability prizing task earlier to avoid NPE. (dugwyler)

17 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Edit of rankup speed of several ships; modification of abilities; changed spider super to a percent chance every 30sec; 65%/35% support/assault winning split; !upgrade before spawned bugfix (dugwyler)

18 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Various adjustments and bugfixes; LVZ experimentation (dugwyler)

19 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: EventBot: Various changes/updates (Maverick)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Flag indicator LVZ support; reduced rearming queue delay (experimental); !defect + !assist fix; flag sitting fix; multi-ranking now works; levi thrusters made less available (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Fix for imbalanced army win — still continues game. (dugwyler)

21 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: !hangar shows ranks; !assist/!defect/avarice anti-abuse measures; spawn protection removed entirely; player DB ID stored for faster accessing; trailing spaces fixed (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: Mr.Arrogant: Ignores the afk arena (doesn't visit it). Sends a message before kicking a player with info (Maverick)

22 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: EventBot: Alot of updates to EventBot. Tested and is stable enough for deployment. (Maverick)
PUBLIC: MrArrogant: Prevented the !go command from sending Mr. Arrogant in ?go afk and kicking players anyway. (Maverick)
PUBLIC: PubHubStats: New module for the pubbots to record pub statistics. (Untested) (Maverick)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Progress bar addition (dugwyler)
CODERS: SQLConnectionPool: Allow returning of ResultSet for INSERT statements to give auto-increment ID value created by statement; only kicks in if normal ResultSet is null. (dugwyler)

23 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: !enlist fix — big thanks to alinea for the SQL help!; progress bar now more accurate (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Anti-idle; !assist doubleprize fix (hopefully this is the last!); !pilot after death was causing problems (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: getYLocation vs getYTileLocation … forgot about that one :> (dugwyler)
CODERS: TWCore: fix for not recieving position packets (flibb)

24 oct 2007:
CODERS: TWCore: Added VerboseLogin under Logging to setup.example.cfg. When enabled, verbose login info is displayed; when disabled, only two lines are displayed, unless there is an error. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Auto-return !assist-ers to their team when it needs help; support ships can not be humiliated; weasel upgrade mods; endround point tweak; !die now unlocks arena (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Idle kick when already docked fix; assist kickback fix (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Several overall army balancing tweaks; preventing !assist when it would make another imbalance; upping debug RP multiplier slightly. (dugwyler)

26 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Added Lanc; adjusted rank RP requirements to make ranks 10+ easier; added 2x end battle bonus; various tweaks with text. (dugwyler)

27 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: RoboBot* ShipRestrict utility: Added checking of a player when he enters the arena (PlayerEntered event). Fixes ticket:163. (Maverick)

30 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: !shutdown addition (delayed save/shutdown); progress bar fix (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: !shutdown timertask cancelling fix (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Working !shutdown functionality (dugwyler)

31 oct 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Various small tweaks (dugwyler)

[Maverick]

1 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Each army now has its own prize queue; Lancaster adjusted per the "old style" Lanc; !upginfo made more robust, and !upgrade and !scrap now show what an upgrade does. (dugwyler)
STAFF: BouncerBot: Option to turn off SMod chat notification (default off; !chat to toggle); various small improvements; !help and !die additions (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Numerous settings balance changes; !msgbeta fix for large amount of players to be messaged; priority rearmament now prizes full charge at end of rearm; various text tweaks. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Sector hold/break bonus fix; various little bits. (dugwyler)

5 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: RoboBot* acro2 game: Submitted module from alinea - acro2 - an improved version of the acro module (Maverick)
PUBLIC: RoboBot* acro2 game: Added generics and removed String casts (Maverick)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Small tweaks to shark and warbird stats; added shark rep regeneration; etc. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Fix of array sizes for cost defines; returning low rank RP costs to original amount. (dugwyler)
CODERS: ShipRestrictor: Some old stuff I forgot to commit, added a function to the ShipRestrictor interface to determine whether two players on a team can swap ships when such a switch would not be allowed otherwise. (d1st0rt)

6 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Fix for special ability prizing (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Players must now !return again manually, to prevent server recycle (!); special prize !upgrade fix; !assist return on spec fix (dugwyler)

7 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: !armory display requirements improved; repeat kill penalty made less common; victim rank required to count toward a streak lowered. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Shortcuts for almost all commands; show a running-total RP count at end round and ship change; !armory cleanup; shark avoiding mine clearing at round start fix (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: LVZ additions; special ability fixes (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Rare NPE fix; !armory availability fix; no flags now gives 50% RP (dugwyler)

8 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Adjustment to humiliation and low rank cap to be more equitable; !assist now displays proper amount of points when debug multiplier is active (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Several small bugfixes (dugwyler)

9 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: !lagout added; RP caps made more gentle; small bugfixes (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: RoboBot* acro2 game: Quite a few bug fixes (alinea)

12 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Removed unnecessary PMs to reduce recycle chance; reduced rearm rate for the same reason; added beginning of time limit support; added player cap for !return; avarice made more fair, with warning at 30 seconds before round win that it may fire. (dugwyler)
STAFF: LogBot: Fixed a few minor bugs on entity case recognition. It now saves ops and restricted files. (Ayano)
PUBLIC: MatchBot: Fixed bug for scoreboard (team scores were reversed) Added extra check for the flag carrier Added *flagreset if the flagcarrier spectates during game (Maverick)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Avarice tweak to make less abusable; small adjustments. (dugwyler)

13 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Ship adjustments; changing style of time limiter to be a little more playable. (dugwyler)

14 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Queueing system for when maximum player limit is reached, allowing players with smaller amounts of time to kick out those with larger amounts (still need a feature that resets time in correct intervals, however); !killmsg allows kill messages to be turned off (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Added 1% bonus for turning kill messages off; time played now resets at each bot load; halved TK penalty for non-sharks; potential fix for end-of-rank progress bar display. (dugwyler)

15 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Improved idle responsiveness; !assist now prevents assisting winning army (and doesn't advert); !killmsg disables all kill msgs; NPE fix (dugwyler)

16 nov 2007:
CODERS: TWCore: Clarification of how to set up SQL support. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: !scrapall to scrap all upgrades; various other things (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: MessageBot: changed typos/errors within !help (milosh)

17 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: MessageBot: changed typos/errors within !help(modification) (milosh)

18 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Terrier profit-sharing ability; changed end round split of RP between assault and support to be based on number of pilots in each; end round displays top holders/breakers; ending someone's streak earns a reward; killing a baseterr earns a bigger reward; !battleinfo (equivalent to !time in purepub); !savedie for mods, equivalent to !savedata and !die (faster) (dugwyler)

19 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: RoboBot* scramble game: Scramble module completed and ready for beta testing (milosh)
CODERS: TWCore: Comment update: BallPosition is fired periodically when a ball is moving/changing position, and not only when a player picks it up, according to packet info at http://d1st0rt.sscentral.com/packets.html — getPlayerID() will probably return -1 if it is just a ball position update and no player is carrying the ball. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Long-needed fix for end-round bonus calculation (was adding in opposing team's strength); terrs and sharks get automatic 1% profit sharing when rank 5 and over. (dugwyler)
PUBLIC: RoboBot* acro2 game: Forgot to change the # of rounds back to 10 from 2 (used during testing). Oops (alinea)
STAFF: RoboBot* warp utility: Changed the !where command to !whereami incase of the warp and standard utils conflicting when both are loaded. (milosh)

20 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: !db-namechange and !db-wipeship for HighMod+; various small fixes (dugwyler)
STAFF: RoboBot*: Multi-bot automatically loads default utilities when a module is !lock'd (milosh)
STAFF: RoboBot*: Bad coding on my part; minor changes. (milosh)
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Support ships now receive default 2% profitsharing, but have smaller share of end-round bonus; !lagout fix for DCd players; deaths now operate on rank rather than upgrade level; !assisting when your team has a sector hold gives double bonus. (dugwyler)

22 nov 2007:
PUBLIC: DistensionBot: Tweak to profit sharing (default is scaled by level), + minor fixes. (dugwyler)