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RatAttack

This profile facilitates Fuel Ratting. It aims to eliminate as much of the required manual task and attention switching as possible via automation and voice commands.

If you don’t know what the Fuel Rats are, come hang out and ask :)

Requirements

Only vanilla VoiceAttack is absolutely required to use this profile. Optionally you can install EDDI and my elite scripts for advanced features.

  • EDDI installed as a VoiceAttack plugin: This will give you a better (IMO) way of using TTS. Be sure to set RatAttack.useEddiForVoice. It will also enable you to have ingame chat be transferred to IRC; see below.
  • elite-scripts: Using the Python scripts will give RatAttack a way to be aware of where your CMDRs are and give you the nearest one to a rat case. That’s only really needed if you actually have multiple CMDRs, obviously. If you are using the profile package from the release page, they will be installed automatically.

EDDI speech responder

For the convenience of people that have not been using EDDI in the past, RatAttack will deactivate the speech responder automatically to not clutter them with unwanted TTS.

If you are already an EDDI user and want to keep the default speech responder functionality, you will have to run the enablespeechresponder plugin function of the EDDI plugin from your profile’s startup command after the RatAttack.startup command invocation.

In order to do that, choose “Other” → “Advanced” → “Execute an External Plugin Function”, choose the EDDI plugin and set the “Plugin Context” to “enablespeechresponder”.

Settings

There are a lot of preferences you can set, including some you really want to concern yourself with before you start using the profile. Some of the more advanced features heavily rely on you giving it the correct things to work with.

See the Configuration Variables section.

Including the Profile

When including the profile, be sure to

  • Run the startup command. You will need to have a startup command in your profile (= one that is run on profile loading) and call RatAttack.startup from that one.
  • Set configuration options. In the same startup command of yours, overwrite all configuration variables you want changed; after the RatAttack.startup call. See below.
  • Make sure all EDDI events that RatAttack needs are correctly handled. For all events used in RatAttack that you already have handlers for in your profile, you’ll have to include a call to RatAttack.<event name>. E.g. for “EDDI Message sent”, call RatAttack.EDDI Message sent by name from your ((EDDI Message sent)) command.

Usage

Going On/Off Duty

When you are on duty, RatAttack will automatically announce cases coming in through IRC. When off duty, it won’t.

  • [enable;disable] rat duty: puts you on/off duty.
  • open [rat;] dispatch board: opens the web dispatch board.

Handling a Case

Getting Case Data From IRC

Currently there is one singular way of getting case info from IRC into VoiceAttack: having your IRC client put the ratsignal into the clipboard, then having it run the RatAttack.getInfoFromRatsignal command.

This has two purposes:

  1. announcing a new incoming case
  2. storing case data and making it available to VoiceAttack, e.g. for copying the case’s system into the clipboard

In my case I am running AdiIRC and have the following script setup for handling this:

on *:TEXT:RATSIGNAL - CMDR*(??_SIGNAL):#fuelrats:{
	/handleratsignal $1-
}
alias handleratsignal {
	if ( %delayratsignal ) {
		//sleep %delayratsignal /handleratsignal $1-
	}
	else {
		/inc -gz %delayratsignal 5
		/var %clip = $cb(-1)
		/clipboard $1-
		/run -h "D:\tools\VoiceAttack\VoiceAttack.exe" -nofocus -command "RatAttack.announceCaseFromRatSignal"
		/sleep 4 /clipboard %clip
	}
}

The on TEXT even trigger will listen for a line starting with “RATSIGNAL

  • CMDR” and ending with “(??_SIGNAL)” (? being any character) to catch an incoming signal with basically no false positives and hand it off to the handleratsignal command.

Which in turn will:

  1. delay execution if a signal is being handled right now
  2. set a 5s delay for the next signal to be handled (these two steps are necessary since the only way to get a sig to VoiceAttack is through the clipboard, sadly)
  3. temporarily save the current clipboard
  4. copy Mecha’s entire line (the ratsignal) to the clipboard
  5. run VoiceAttack (should already be open) with the RatAttack.getInfoFromRatsignal command that will parse the signal and store case information
  6. wait for 4s to make sure the command had time to grab the clipboard, then restore the old clipboard

If you don’t know how to do the same thing for your IRC client or it doesn’t support copying the control characters in the ratsignal that the profile uses to split the information, either switch to AdiIRC or bribe me to include some other way to get case data into VoiceAttack.

Internal Case List

If you have your IRC client setup properly, VoiceAttack will hold a list with all rat cases that have come in while you had it running. It will save the case number, CMDR name, system, O₂ status and platform. There are several commands you can run on this list, giving it a case number:

  • rat case number [0..19] details: Will give you all stored info on a case.
  • [current;] rat case details: Will give you all stored info on the currently open case.
  • distance to current rat case: Will give you the distance from your current location to the currently opened rat case. Requires the use of my elite-scripts Python scripts.
  • distance to rat case number [0..19]: Will give you the distance from your current system to a case’s system. Requires the use of my elite-scripts Python scripts.
  • nearest commander to rat case number [0..19]: Will give you the nearest of your CMDRs with their distance to a case’s system. Requires some setup and the use of my elite-scripts Python scripts.
  • nearest commander to [the;] rat case: Will give you the nearest of your CMDRs with their distance to the current case’s system. Requires some setup and the use of my elite-scripts Python scripts.

Opening a Case

  • open rat case number [0..19]: Opens rat case with the given number. If there is no case data for that case (e.g. because you don’t have your IRC client set up properly), it will still open it, just not have any data on it.
  • open [latest;] rat case: Opens the latest rat case that has come in through IRC. Will probably error out in creative ways if you don’t have your IRC client set up properly. Too tired right now to have proper error handling so just open an issue if you run into problems (it’s 7am, I haven’t slept and want to finish this doc to get the release out (yes, you are allowed to laugh at this section)).

Closing a Case

  • [close;clear] rat case: Closes the currently open rat case.

Making Calls

There are a bunch of calls you can make for a case, the most common are modelled through VoiceAttack commands. The descriptive commands (e.g. “system confirmed”) will be shortened to the usual IRC short hands (e.g. “sysconf”). If you need something more unusual you can either still manually type it into your IRC client or use the “General IRC Integration”, see below.

  • call [1..20] jumps [and login;and takeoff;left;]: Calls jump for the currently open case. You can optionally include that you will still have to login to the game or have to take off from your current station/port/outpost/planet.
  • call friend [positive;negative] [in pg;in private group;in solo;in main meu;sysconf;system confirmed]: Friend request confirmations, with all the things you might want to / should call with it.
  • call [beacon;fuel;instance;pos;position;prep;sys;system;wing] [positive;negative]: All the stuff you usually need for ratting after you have received the friend request.
  • call wing pending: Calls “wr pending” for when it takes 30s again to actually show up.
  • call client in [exclusion zone;main menu;open;open sysconf;pg;private group;solo;super cruise]: Callouts for all the various things a client could get themselves into.
  • call [client destroyed;client offline;sysconf;system confirmed]: This is the command you don’t want to use. Include sysconf in your “friend+” or “in open” calls, and make sure you will never have to call “client destroyed”, would you?

General IRC Interaction

(requires EDDI)

Using EDDI to read the game’s journal, you can send messages to IRC from Elite’s ingame chat.

Be aware that the chat message will still appear in the ingame chat channel you send it to!

I recommend using local chat and limiting the use to instances that will probably not have other players in it (e.g. instanced in normal space with the client or in SC in some remote system out in the black on a long range rescue).

  • #fuelrats: Use “.fr <message>” to have VoiceAttack send “#<caseNumber> <message>” to the #fuelrats channel – or yell at you when you are not on a case.
  • #ratchat: Use “.rc <message>” to have VoiceAttack send “<message>” to #ratchat.

These commands send their text to windows with “#fuelrats” and “#ratchat” in their title, respectively. If your IRC client does not do that, you will have to change the “target” window of the RatAttack.sendToFuelrats and RatAttack.sendToRatchat commands to reflect the actual window titles on your system. I will look into making this more elegant to change in the future.

Exposed Variables

The following Variables are global and thus readable (and writeable! Please don’t unless it’s a config variable …) from other profiles.

Configuration Variables

These are set in RatAttack.startup and can be overridden from your profile if you have included RatAttack.

  • Elite.pasteKey (string): the key used for pasting into Elite. On QWERTY this is v. Default: v.
  • RatAttack.confirmCalls (boolean): whether VoiceAttack should ask you before posting to #fuelrats to make sure there hasn’t been an error in voice recognition and you accidentally post the wrong thing. Default: true.
  • RatAttack.onDuty (boolean): whether or not you are currently on rat duty. Default: true.
  • RatAttack.autoCloseCase (boolean): whether or not to automatically close an open rat case on calling “fuel+”. Default: false.
  • RatAttack.platforms (string): the platforms you want to be informed of incoming cases for. If you are on console, you can still have VoiceAttack running on the PC that you are using for IRC and handle calls and stuff using voice! Delimited by whatever you want. Can include “PC”, “XB”, “PS4”. Default: “PC”.
  • RatAttack.platformAnnouncements (boolean): whether or not to announce the case’s platform by default. Useful to set if you are active on more than one platform. Even with this off, you will still be warned when you open a case that is not on one of your platforms. Default: false.
  • RatAttack.useEddiForVoice (boolean): whether to use the EDDI plugin to handle text-to-speech over VoiceAttacks built-in speech function. Default: false.
  • RatAttack.announceNearestCMDR (boolean): whether or not to automatically announce your nearest CMDR to a case. Requires the elite-scripts Python scripts. Will probably break in creative ways if you don’t have them and turn it on anyway. Default: false.
  • RatAttack.CMDRs (string): list of your CMDR names, delimited by spaces. If your names include spaces, you will have to put them in quotes. Default: “"J Jora Jameson" NameWithNoSpace”.
  • python.scriptPath (string): the path you put the Python scripts in. Default: “{VA_DIR}\Sounds\scripts”.

Other Variables

Current case data:

  • RatAttack.caseNumber (int): the number of the case you are currently on. Will be Not Set if you are not on a case.
  • RatAttack.onCase (boolean): whether or not you are currently on a case.

Case list:

  • RatAttack.caseList.<case#>.cmdr (string)
  • RatAttack.caseList.<case#>.system (string)
  • RatAttack.caseList.<case#>.platform (string)
  • RatAttack.caseList.<case#>.codeRed (boolean)

… with <case#> being a number between 0 and 19.