Bard Combat macro/script design

Borran

I'm currently trying to setup aliases, keyboards, and macros so that I can get started on training for combat, but I've always guys that your initial alias setup sets the pace for your learning curve. But every time I think I have a working design, there is one aspect I'm missing. How do you setup your macros to handle venoms, voicecraft, targetting, and tunesmithing without having to do 4 things every standard balance?

 My most recent system incarnation has an alias to toggle for tunesmithing for all following jabs, a 3-letter alias to handle venom and voice at the same time, limb targetting with the numpad, and a click able menu to play harmonics (and display decay time). The issue with this is darting between the letter keys and the numpad every balance and the fact that I can't use jab and voice independent of one another if the balance times are different. Any suggestions?

Antonius

I'll throw some actual code up when I get home (leaving work now!), but making use of queueing (eqbal for jab, class for songs) is going to be your best bet.

Antonius

Ok, so this is the basis of my Bard offense:

antonius.voicecraft = antonius.voicecraft or {
	tunesmithing = "pesante"
}

antonius.voicecraft.balance = function()
	for _, v in ipairs(gmcp.Char.Vitals.charstats) do
		if string.starts(v, "Voice:") then
			return string.match(v, "Voice: (%a+)") == "Yes"
		end
	end
	return false
end

antonius.voicecraft.sing = function(song)
	local song = antonius.voicecraft.afftosong[song] or song
	antonius.queueing.queue("class", "add", "sing " .. song .. " at &tar", true)
end

antonius.voicecraft.songcommands = {
	epic = "recite epic at",
	limerick = "sing limerick at",
	maqam = "sing maqam at",
	haiku = "recite haiku at ",
	isorhythm = "sing isorhythm at",
	fugue = "sing fugue at",
	solo = "sing solo at",
	poem = "recite poem at",
	pastorale = "sing pastorale at",
	noise = "sing noise at",
	gimmegimme = "chant gimmegimme at",
	ditty = "sing ditty at",
	requiem = "sing requiem at",
	ode = "recite ode at",
	qasida = "sing qasida at",
	passion = "sing passion at",
	chant = "sing chant at",
	tremolo = "sing tremolo",
	vibrato = "sing vibrato",
	cantata = "sing cantata at",
	dwinnu = "chant dwinnu"
}

antonius.voicecraft.afftosong = {
	impatience = "limerick",
	clumsiness = "maqam",
	confusion = "haiku",
	claustrophobia = "isorhythm",
	nausea = "poem",
	generosity = "gimmegimme",
	epilepsy = "ditty",
	paranoia = "requiem",
	paralysis = "epic",
	addiction = "ode",
	anorexia = "qasida",
	stupidity = "passion"
}

antonius.voicecraft.modifiers = {
	a = "accentato",
	p = "pesante"
}


antonius.voicecraft.attack = function(modifier, queue)
	local queue = queue == nil and true or queue
	local affs = antonius.voicecraft.affs()
	-- if we've got a modifier on the alias, set tunesmithing accordingly (to be used for all subsequent jabs)
	if modifier and antonius.voicecraft.modifiers[modifier] then
		antonius.voicecraft.tunesmithing = antonius.voicecraft.modifiers[modifier]
	end
	
	local commands = antonius.wielding.wield(antonius.wielding.lookup.rapier, antonius.wielding.lookup.shield, nil, false)
	table.insert(commands, "tunesmith " .. antonius.wielding.lookup.rapier .. " " .. antonius.voicecraft.tunesmithing)
	if antonius.target.shield or antonius.target.rebounding then
		table.insert(commands, "raze " .. antonius.target.name)
		if affstrack.score.deaf == 100 then
			if antonius.voicecraft.balance() then
				table.insert(commands, antonius.voicecraft.songcommands[affs.song] .. " " .. antonius.target.name)
			elseif queue or antonius.queueing.anyqueued("class") then 
				send("queue add class " .. antonius.voicecraft.songcommands[affs.song] .. " " .. antonius.target.name, false)
			end
		end
	else
		table.insert(commands, "jab " .. antonius.target.name .. " " .. antonius.targetting.bodypart .. " " .. affs.venom)
		-- if we have both balances, we'll just send the song as part of the attack alias
		if antonius.voicecraft.balance() and antonius.bals.bal then
			table.insert(commands, antonius.voicecraft.songcommands[affs.song] .. " " .. antonius.target.name)
		-- otherwise if we're queueing (i.e. not a state dependent update) or have a song already queued, queue on class balance
		elseif queue or antonius.queueing.anyqueued("class") then 
			antonius.queueing.queue("class", "add", antonius.voicecraft.songcommands[affs.song] .. " " .. antonius.target.name, true)
		end
	end
	
	return commands
end

antonius.voicecraft.affs = function()
	local song = nil
	local venom = nil
	
	local leftaff = antonius.attacks.left
	local rightaff = antonius.attacks.right

	-- if we can use a song for the first affliction, do that, otherwise use a venom for it
	if antonius.voicecraft.afftosong[leftaff] then
		song = leftaff
	else
		venom = leftaff
	end

	-- if we can use a song for the second affliction, do so if: we aren't using a song yet, we can't use a venom for this affliction (e.g. impatience or confusion), or the first affliction is paralysis (jab for curare instead!)
	if antonius.voicecraft.afftosong[rightaff] and (song == nil or antonius.envenom.afftovenom[rightaff] == nil or song == "paralysis") then
		venom = leftaff
		song = rightaff
	else
		venom = rightaff
	end

	if song == nil then
		antonius.echo("Impossible venom and song combination. Song defaults to paralysis.")
		song = "paralysis"
	end
	
	return {song = antonius.voicecraft.afftosong[song], venom = antonius.envenom.afftovenom[venom]}
end

This is how I handle selecting afflictions:

Alias pattern: ^(no|ac|cur|dar|del|dig|eps|ept|eup|eur|gec|kal|lar|monk|oc|pre|sli|var|ver|voy|xen|imp|con)(no|ac|cur|dar|del|dig|eps|ept|eup|eur|gec|kal|lar|monk|oc|pre|sli|var|ver|voy|xen|imp|i|con|c)?$
Alias code: antonius.envenom.envenom(matches[2], matches[3])

Script:
antonius.envenom = antonius.envenom or {}

antonius.envenom.shortvenomtoaff = {
	ac = "stupidity",
	cur = "paralysis",
	dar = "darkshade",
	del = "sleep",
	dig = "shyness",
	eps = "crippledleg",
	ept = "crippledarm",
	eup = "nausea",
	eur = "recklessness",
	gec = "slickness",
	kal = "asthma",
	lar = "dizziness",
	monk = "disloyalty",
	oc = "blindness",
	pre = "sensitivity",
	sli = "anorexia",
	var = "addiction",
	ver = "weariness",
	voy = "voyria",
	xen = "clumsiness",
	imp = "impatience",
	i = "impatience",
	no = "nothing",
	con = "confusion",
	c = "confusion"
}

antonius.envenom.afftovenom = {
	stupidity = "aconite",
	paralysis = "curare",
	darkshade = "darkshade",
	sleep = "delphinium",
	shyness = "digitalis",
	crippledleg = "epseth",
	crippledarm = "epteth",
	nausea = "euphorbia",
	recklessness = "eurypteria",
	slickness = "gecko",
	asthma = "kalmia",
	dizziness = "larkspur",
	disloyalty = "monkshood",
	sensitivity = "prefarar",
	deaf = "prefarar",
	anorexia = "slike",
	addiction = "vardrax",
	weariness = "vernalius",
	voyria = "voyria",
	clumsiness = "xentio",
	nothing = "nothing"
}

antonius.envenom.envenom = function(left, right, report)
	local leftaff = antonius.envenom.shortvenomtoaff[left]
	local rightaff = antonius.envenom.shortvenomtoaff[right]
	local report = report == nil and true or report
	if ssc.isdragon() then
		local leftvenom = antonius.envenom.afftovenom[leftaff]
		local rightvenom = antonius.envenom.afftovenom[rightaff]
		if(left_venom) then
			send("envenom claws with " .. left_venom)
		end
		if(right_venom) then
			send("envenom claws with " .. right_venom)
		end
	elseif ssc.inslowcuringmode() then
		if left_venom ~= "nothing" then
			send("envenom left with " .. left_venom)
		end
		if right_venom ~= "nothing" then
			send("envenom right with " .. right_venom)
		end
	else
		antonius.attacks.left = leftaff
		antonius.attacks.right = rightaff
		if report then
			antonius.echo("Afflictions are now " .. leftaff .. " and " .. rightaff .. ".")
		end
                -- update anything that's already queued to use the new afflictions
		antonius.attacks.attack(nil, false)
	end
end

I've been thinking for a while I could do with a better way of selecting afflictions, though; for the normal combinations six letter combos are just about okay, but sometimes my ability to type does fail me. Using all of that is just a case of entering my attack alias: 'atk', though I can add a modifier to that to do certain conditional things; for Bard, the current modifiers are a (for accentato) and p (for pesante), so I can do 'atka' when I want to switch to using accentato jabs (and it will use that on all future jabs until changed) or 'atkp' to switch to pesante.

Borran

Thank you. I'm going to start with what you have. I think I can abbreviate each affliction down to 1 letter/symbol, so I'll start modding there.  

Eventually, I would like to build an affliction tracker menu that highlights red based on whether the target has an affliction, then goes yellow if it's possibly cured, and green if confirmed cured. And you could click the affliction on the menu and it will figure the best way to afflict based on balances, and deliver the affliction.. but as of now that is but a dream.

Rouillier

Is this:

antonius.voicecraft.balance = function()
	for _, v in ipairs(gmcp.Char.Vitals.charstats) do
		if string.starts(v, "Voice:") then
			return string.match(v, "Voice: (%a+)") == "Yes"
		end
	end
	return false
end

How you track your voice balance?

Antonius

That's how I check if I currently have voice balance, though I don't track it in a persistent variable, mostly because I don't have balance tracking incorporated into my server side curing yet.

Atalkez

Yeah, you need to be able to use voice balance independently of jab. That's going to be the biggest thing to working towards a lock as a Bard.

If you're tying your voice balance to your jab only, you're losing your afflicting speed!

Borran

Alright, I think I have done something wrong. I pasted your scripts in. The alias works fine, but the 2 scripts both show buggy.

Borran

It says it's attempting to index global 'antonius' a nil value.

Ahmet

Borran said:

It says it's attempting to index global 'antonius' a nil value.

On the line before antonius.envenom = put

antonius = antonius or {}

Borran

Thanks. Now to try it out.

Antonius

Oh, yeah, that's a tiny part of my entire system. It was more to give you an idea of how you could do it (and borrow parts of the logic), not to just paste in and have it work. There's far far too much code for me to just dump on the forums and have it make sense for anybody, and for me to make sure there aren't any dependencies on other parts of my system.

Ahmet

Ya there's probably other dependancies but that line should fix the base issue he was having, if he wants to adapt it all.

Borran

Alright.. I have the alias, but when I do the alias, it does nothing. And I know the trigger part is working because I added an echo that worked, but something else isn't.

Borran

I'll figure it out. It does have a lot of checks involved- check rapier, check shield, check rebounding.. While I would like to eventually have those, I don't have a real affliction tracker so it's probably looking at me like I'm retarded.

Borran

Sorry, didn't mean to assume- I pasted it, now I'm trying to reverse-engineer the parts that call for other parts of your system and gut them. I think I'll just throw raze/dwinnu as another affliction and have it called in the script. 

Borran

Won't be quite as elegant as yours, but it'll do for now.

Borran

@Antonius, I'm sorry to keep hounding you on this- you're being helpful and I just keep having more questions.

 I'm trying to simplify your antonius.envenom.envenom function by taking out the dragoncheck and the slowcuring check. This is what I have so far: 

antonius.envenom.envenom = function(left, right)

local leftaff = antonius.envenom.shortvenomtoaff[left]

local rightaff = antonius.envenom.shortvenomtoaff[right]

antonius.attacks.left = leftaff

antonius.attacks.right = rightaff

end

Does that look right to you, or have I gutted something I need? 

Antonius

That code looks right, though it could be simplified a bit and it's probably going to error out when it actually runs. The antonius.attacks namespace is declared in an entirely different script that I haven't included (in this thread, though I did post some of it in another thread). Though you're probably better off just coming up with your own variable names, to be honest, rather than trying to keep my namespaced ones.

Borran

Thanks again for all your help. I'm going to try to setup a serpent script for this first and come back to this project after. It should be easy to add voicecraft afterwards.

Dochitha

@Borran you can try to simplify your system down to things that you actually use. No need to index all the venoms and possible jabs cos you likely only going to use a few of them in combat.

Borran

I've always preferred the train of thought that if you're prepared, you can adapt to any situation, so I'll keep all the afflictions, just in case.