AI Scripts

AI scripts control individual ship/entity behavior (orders, combat, trading, mining). More granular than MD scripts – they operate at the entity level rather than the game level.

Location

• Base game: aiscripts/*.xml
• Schema: libraries/aiscripts.xsd (includes libraries/common.xsd)

Basic structure

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<aiscript name="my.custom.order"
          xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="aiscripts.xsd">
  <params>
    <param name="target" required="true" type="object" />
    <param name="timeout" default="300" type="number" />
  </params>
  <interrupts>
    <handler ref="AttackHandler" />
    <handler ref="ScanHandler" />
  </interrupts>
  <init>
    <set_value name="$debugchance" exact="0" />
  </init>
  <attention min="unknown">
    <actions>
      <label name="start" />

      <run_script name="'move.generic'">
        <param name="destination" value="$target" />
      </run_script>

      <!-- AI script logic -->

      <label name="finish" />
    </actions>
  </attention>
</aiscript>

Key elements

Element	Description
<params>	Input parameters the script accepts when invoked
<interrupts>	Interrupt handlers – respond to events mid-execution
<init>	One-time initialization when the script starts
<attention>	Main logic block. min attribute sets minimum attention level.
<actions>	Sequential action list within an attention block

Attention levels

AI scripts only execute when their entity has sufficient attention from the game engine:

Level	Description
visible	Entity is on-screen
known	Entity is in a known sector
unknown	Entity exists anywhere (lowest requirement)

Interrupt handlers

<interrupts>
  <!-- Reference a library handler -->
  <handler ref="AttackHandler" />

  <!-- Inline handler -->
  <handler>
    <conditions>
      <event_object_attacked object="this.ship" />
    </conditions>
    <actions>
      <!-- respond to being attacked -->
    </actions>
  </handler>
</interrupts>

The this object

Inside an AI script, this refers to the entity running the script:

<set_value name="$myShip" exact="this.ship" />
<set_value name="$myZone" exact="this.zone" />
<set_value name="$myOwner" exact="this.ship.owner" />

Base game AI scripts (v9.00)

Key script families:

Pattern	Purpose
order.*.xml	Player-assignable orders (trade, mine, patrol, etc.)
fight.attack.*.xml	Combat behaviors by ship class
move.*.xml	Movement/navigation
interrupt.*.xml	Interrupt handler libraries
lib.*.xml	Shared utility libraries
engineer.*.xml	Engineering/repair behaviors
mining.*.xml	Mining operations

---