Guide to beating the bot

[Deathslayr]

Sections:

1)Intro
2)Tell-tale signs of botters
3)Maintenance settings
4)Healing
5)Comforting
6)Resources
-6a. Market
-6b)Valley farming
-6c)NPC farming
-6e)Resource hiding
-6d)From other cities
7)Gates
8)Reinforcements
9)Wall defenses
10)War city settings


1)Intro

I don't see any guides around here for beating a bot. It's something many players have to do. Many know how to beat them. Many don't.

I myself went to the botting site, and studied the sections at length. It proved to be useful. This guide consists of all I have learnt from this, I hope others will be able to beat down the bots with the info I provide.

Obviously, the bot will not be named, nor the site.

2)Signs of botting

You don't always know someone is botting. Sometimes it seems like they are, but they're not. When trying to find out if a player is botting - take the following into consideration:

-Automatic healing
-Split-second timing for gate opening and closing
-Constant comforting regardless of time, although this could be an account sitter

One way to test if a player is botting, if you suspect them, is to scout them (this assumes you will get a scout report, and you kill some scouts) just after maintenance. Then scout them again a few minutes later to check if the scouts have been healed. If they don't heal, they could be a bot. Keep scouting them, and note how long it takes for them to heal the troops. If they start healing 30-40 mins after maintenance, this could mean they are a bot. Unfortunately, there's no real way to find out, but in my experience, this can be accurate - especially if done multiple times.

3)Maintenance settings

Roughly 5 minutes before daily maintenance, the bot will automatically stop. From here, it will not log back in until around 30-50 minutes from this point. The bot does this to avoid being caught by always logging in right after maintenance. Knowing this can be used to time attacks to catch the bot while it isn't working, and is one of the most important piece of information. It is also worth noting that the player running the bot can set the bot to login at different times after maintenance instead. (Credit to LORDBEASTwn1 for reminding me of this)


4)Healing

It should be noted that the bot will automatically heal troops, and they can do it fast. This is important when timing attacks, because just because you clear layers, doesn't mean they won't be back. Therefore, it is important to time attacks close together if they are reliant on layering or range setters being out of the battle.

5. Comforting

The bot will comfort, but only if the player running the bot has turned this setting on and written a script for it. The bot will comfort when loyalty gets to a certain amount, or sometimes if it is lower than 100. The bot can also be set to use speech texts, so bare in mind that even if all possible places that the bot can receive resources from are gone, they will still be able to do this.

6)Resources

Obviously, resources are required for comforting, and this is one of the most common ways the bot can be a pain in the ass. The bot can receive resources in a variety of ways.

6a)Market

The bot can automatically buy resources from the market when needed, so just because they've got no lumber left, it doesn't mean they won't build some abatis! Remember however, that the 30 minute wait for delivery still applies, and the bot can not use merchant fleets to speed the delivery, unless it is done manually. The amount of resources the bot must fall below before buying more is set by the person running the bot.

6b)Valley farming

The bot can farm valleys for resources. It is important to note however, that the bot attacks different valleys each time rather than abandoning, valleys and hitting them again. If you take one of their valleys, the next one they hit will be taken, and the troops do not get recalled automatically. Use this to your advantage! This means their hero, and troops will be stuck there! If you continue to do this, they will eventually have all their heroes stuck in valleys, and will no longer be able to farm.

6c)NPC Farming

The bot is generally configured to farm NPCs. Unfortunately, there is very little that can be done about this, unless you manage to catch the farming crews as they return. Hitting the bot right after maintenance can eliminate these farming crews however. The bot will only farm 10s if they have a certain amount of troops of different types, set by the player running the bot. This means if you wipe out just one type of layer, they will no longer farm 10s, because the bot can not change to a new type of attack. The bot will also not stop farming when being attacked. This means you can catch their good heroes while they are out farming!


6d)From other cities


The bot can receive resources from other cities if resources go below an amount specified by the player running the bot. Therefore, it is important to note cities close to the one you choose to attack, and perhaps try and eliminate these cities, or the troops that send the resources.

6e)Resource hiding

The bot can set to hide resources when being raided. They will send troops to an occupied valley with resources a few minutes before attacks start hitting, so don't forget to search their valleys for resources!

7)Gates

The player running the bot can set the gates to open and close to certain attacks. There are five types of attacks that the bot recognizes, and each type of attack must have a setting.

The five types of attacks are as follows:
- No attack
- Regular attack
- Scout bomb
- Mixed attack
- Maintenace

There are three settings for each type of attack, they are are follows:

- Auto
- Open
- Closed

Auto means the bot decides if the gates should be opened or not. This depends on what is being sent, and what troops are left within the city being attacked. When set to auto, gates will almost always open on transporter waves. Combine this with mech waves or the like, to kill or plunder. (Credit to Synful)

Also note that the bot will automatically apply war horns, corselets and penicillin, but only if the bot is scripted to do so.

Reports:

Scout:
- http://www.evonyurl.com/tjbrdd
This small cavalry hit is timed with a scout bomb so gates stay closed and abatis are taken out:

- http://www.evonyurl.com/p6puyh
Layer clear:

- http://www.evonyurl.com/5s0cwt
Smack:


- http://www.evonyurl.com/86zw5s
(Credit to AwesomeX for these reports, and credit to LORDBEASTwn1 for making them images for me)

By using the bots gate settings to his advantage, AwesomeX takes out the range setters while the gates are closed, so that his phract smack can easily clear out the remaining troops after wiping out layers.


8)Reinforcements
Obviously, when attacking any city, bot or no bot, one would need to look out for reinforcements. However, when a player is running a bot, they have multiple options. The player running the bot can have the bot always build troops, and also set that the bot will small numbers of troops for layers if they are wiped out. Therefore it is important to make sure any attacks relying on removed layers, to hit directly after the layer clearer in quick succession. The bot can also be set to have other cities send it troops if the troops in that city fall below a certain amount.


9)Wall defenses

The bot can be set to automatically build wall defenses in 1s and 10s to keep the range at 5k. They can do this with any type wall defense. However, they will not dismiss 5k defenses in event of a mech attack, and they will still build them up as they are set to regardless of incoming attacks. Use this to you're advantage. Remember that as long as they don't have high politics heroes, you can attack the bot while it is in CD as long as your waves are timed correctly.

10)War city settings

The player running the bot can set war city settings. While in this mode, the bot will not send out farming crews. The player can also tell the bot to change into war city mode during a certain time. If you test the player you think is the bot, you may be able to find some of these schedules.

Most players running bots will set all types of attacks to automatic. The bot will open and close the gates for different types of attacks based on the troops they have in the city. Experiment to find out what the bot has each setting to.

All suggestions and feedback are welcome!

[estrickland89]

There was a "guide" to beating a bot but it was either closed or deleted. Think FailSafe made it, not sure.

This guide is helpful, but at the same time it all depends how the person owning the bot has it setup. But as a base, this works

[Deathslayr]

Yes, it really does all depend on how the player sets it up. I'm not going to go into all that detail right now, and I want to know this isn't gonna get locked or deleted before I put that much work into it. But if I know it's not going to, I will add sections and make it far more detailed.

[Snott]

If Evony were to introduce a GATES OPEN policy, where gates are automatically OPEN and cant be closed until troops have returned or reached their destination.

Would this too would help to beat the bot?

[Gillivray]

Yes, it really does all depend on how the player sets it up. I'm not going to go into all that detail right now, and I want to know this isn't gonna get locked or deleted before I put that much work into it. But if I know it's not going to, I will add sections and make it far more detailed.

Thanks for putting this up here. Players who don't use bots have found out some of the stuff they do just by attacking them, but this is good information to know, and I really hope this thread is not closed, because it is only helping the honest players beat those who cheat and is not celebrating, advocating, or advertising for any of the 3rd-party programs. In fact, helping players beat them only helps the game because if bots become routinely beaten, then players will be less likely to spend money buying them.

[tipperary1]

i also hope this thread doesnt get closed and we see more like them, unfortunately botting is all too common these days and evony shouldnt simply be sweeping the problem under the rug

[RandyMarsh]

i always thought evony should have introduced a universal accepted farmer bot that will not effect defence , if they had done that half these bots wouldnt be used at all

[Deathslayr]

Ok, I was happy to wake up this morning and find that the thread was not yet locked. However, I want everyone to understand that this is not a discussion thread about what evony should do to stop bots. The only comments I'd like to see on this thread are those that are relevant to the guide. Whether that is complimenting it or offering improvements, or just giving your opinion. If this thread turns into a discussion of bots, then it will surely be locked. So please guys, let's not discuss that here, and if this turns out well, I will try and have a mod clear out posts discussing the bot, rather than the guide. That said, I am awaiting a response from a mod to find out if I can update and improve the guide without having to worry about it being locked or deleted.

Thanks for putting this up here. Players who don't use bots have found out some of the stuff they do just by attacking them, but this is good information to know, and I really hope this thread is not closed, because it is only helping the honest players beat those who cheat and is not celebrating, advocating, or advertising for any of the 3rd-party programs. In fact, helping players beat them only helps the game because if bots become routinely beaten, then players will be less likely to spend money buying them.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad to know someone sees what I'm trying to do here and supports it.

[Deathslayr]

Update: It seems that it's all fine for the thread. I'll be working on it somemore later today. However, if there is too much derailing, I will request the thread to be locked once I've finished it.

[peaceful390]

i agree needs alot more work nice thread tho