[It is forbidden to use any bots or other ways of artificial stay online in the game. The same goes for programs that automates the actions of a player outside the mechanisms provided by the in game menu]

Emi,

Some players openly claim to be using or developing scripts / bots to automate in game actions.

Lol first I currently working on 5 different greasemonkey scripts or have someone doing it for me.

however the game rules imply that any use of a script to automate player actions is not allowed.

    Forbidden actions    
        (I) It is forbidden to use any type of software that can harm or interfere with the correct functioning of Astro Galaxy.    
          
        (II) Forbidden programs    
        It is forbidden to use any bots or other ways of artificial stay online in the game. The same goes for programs that automates the actions of a player outside the mechanisms provided by the in game menu.

Ive played many online games in the past and all so far have strictly forbid the use of bots & scripts or altering the game interface in anyway via for example greasemonkey. So my and I would assume the majority of people playing the game even if they did bother to read the rules assumption was that no bots or scripts of any kind are tollerated in this game.

However if the the use of greasemonkey scripts is allowed then i would ask for a clearer definition of what is allowed. So that everyone can choose wether to use them knowing they are not violating the terms of the game.

Personally i think saying some actions can be automated and others not is simply inviting the same sort of abuse that we saw with the voting.

Well things have certainly been interesting recently.

It was with a heavy heart that the lads and I lowered the OX flag and accepted a Letter of Marque from Pirating and Mining Inc. The lads and i took a vote and thought there might be some opportunity to advance the cause with them. To gether a bit of Intel. to learn the secrets of their rapid rise.

As we suspected it turns out that some members of PMI are willing to bend the rules of space and time itself in the pursuit of personal power. Now i may be a pirate, but we only take what we need for the cause. I dont destroy for the fun of it. I dont target specific captains untill they are forced to retire. And i certainly dont cheat the very rules of this universe.

But fear not my friends i have torn up that letter. And put the OX flag back where it rightfully belongs. I shall resume regular services shortly after a refit and some fresh paint.

No one in their right mind will engage in serious PvP action requiring fleets without also using QP to make the attack almost instant. Otherwise your simply asking for the otherside to re-arrange their ships to their advantage and then use QP to knock you back to a safezone.  so no worries about the power of your fleet, but as has been mentioned the current battle script with no advantage in numbers renders fleets useless in battle anyway.

It might be usefull in allowing an attack ship and a support ship to jump together...

There is a bug in Newbie Protection that could be badly abused.

Currently you cannot attack a newbie who has still not completed the SEA course.

However they can attack you.

I had a newbie do exactly this, he initiated an attack on my ship, I got the attack warning, I repowered my ship and  after refreshing the battle view to see the completed timer, hit the openfire button and nothing happened, no attack occured.

It didnt initially occur to me that they were under newbie protection until i tried to initiate another attack against the ship, thats when i got the notification that they were still under newbie protection.

I cannot say for sure if they would have been able to open fire... but im assuming so. It that is the case then someone could utilise this to attack a player without having to worry about getting QP Ganked. Or with out having to worry about retaliation against the attack ship.

Newbies should not be able to attack other players without their own newbie protection being lifted. ( Not sure how youll get this to work with the attacks in the tutorial )

People might actually start to defend their mines especially if its got a valuable resource.

Others might be encourage to try their hand at looting.

And people wouldnt be able to throw QP/Solars around to Power Up the Top Ranked players list.

There is certainly enough resource in the galaxy atm.

Oh and the resources i loot erm, that people donate, would become potentially more valuable.

I like it.

you get about 60% back when selling modules i tested

I think i suggested something around 50% at the time, Ie its better to sell the module at SOL.... but if your not close enough, then you can recycle it for its components even if its just to convert to fuel.

I did suggest exactly this to Emi a long time ago in a PM.

That the manufacturing bays also be used to recycle an existing module for a percentage of its resources.

It was annoying me that i was capturing modules and that they were taking up so much of what was a limited cargo hold. It got to where i was ejecting modules because i wanted the space for resources. Now i have more cargo space, and i have the option to loot a module rather than capture it. So its direct relevancy for piracy is limited.

However i still think it would be a nice additiion to the game. Heck you could even combine it with the proposed hull specialisations and create one called Recycling Ship that has improved efficiency (perhapes even 100%) in terms of yield and time over a standard hull.

There is a difference between researching something and actually upgrading a module.

Research Cargo untill you can build AdvCargo Bays. But your better off investing your money in increasing your ship size and using Mark-1 modules to increase cargo capactiy and then build AdvCAB's when youve reserached them than making a CAB-3 or 4. Same goes for SLB's use more SLB's rather than higher level SLB's

Q: Am I right in thinking that defences on the second ship, planet or station will not protect whichever unit has been selected as strongest for each battle round?
A: Each unit will use it's own defenses and shields to protect itself. The strongest units fight first. The second ship will not affect the defenses on the first ship in any way.

In other words what happens is that its all very gentleman like.

Despite outnumbering the opponent 10 to 1 you will all dutifully line up single file and each take a turn to see if you can defeat them...

There will be none of this attacking or defending together nonsense its all mano a mano. Ship against ship... Even if youve lost the first 6 ships you lads/lemmings will not cotton on that it might be a better idea to actually work together.

Still If your lucky there will be tea and biscuits while your waiting your turn.

The upshot is, if you have a ship that individually outclasses each opponent, then your Significantly better off removing everything else but it from the battle. Currently you can safely ignore the combined power capabilities of an opponent, its their individual units capabilities that are important. There is absolutely no advantage in numbers, In fact there can be a significant tactical advantage in using only a single unit.

.. go figure.

@Emi, If combat stays like this its really going to nerf Corporate/Group Combat when it is added to the game. The whole point of fighting as a group is numerical advantage, but if the combat system actuallyeliminates or even punishes that then well...theres not much point.

ZOMG deploy stations to safe spots?

no way, its bad enough we got safe spots in the first place where people cannot be attacked without allowing people to deploy stations to them so they have absolutely no fear of attack....

hang on, i have no stations because i dont want to expose myself to attack, If i could put 3 Artificial moons down somewhere and know that it was impossible for anyone to attack them that would solve all my research issues, and i could focus all my ships on .... on....well not on looting other peoples stations obviously...

SCION tried, but I was able to scoop up the module and jump before combat...

yep sometimes a target happens to be online when you try to raid them.

For a pirate a good first point of focus is researching Advanced Cargo Bays. Having somewhere to put all the loot is mighty handy.

It might surprise some people but weapons research is fairly low down on my list, since I get to pick and choose who i engage with.

Did I?, Dont recall... oh wait.

Critical hit on target, doing 9594 damage!
wolfdoc planetary force has been defeated!
Science Lab Mk IV was destroyed.

It was a Crying shame that your scientists hit the self destruct button before i could finish convincing them to come work for me. I mean, I couldnt very well leave an un-attended module like that lying around, what if it fell into the wrong hands?

;)

Be carefull of that JamJamJulison.... he's a bloodthirtsy pirate.

Id suggest against pirate hijakers your timmer will soon exceed an hour anyway, and against players, if your going to attack them you either takes yer chances, or ye dun find out what you wanna know before you enter 'negotiations'