What to ask the AI

The Commander understands plain language, but it does better when you give it what it needs: coordinates, ships, speeds, dates. Here are requests that work and, under each one, what Orbit does behind the scenes. They all use the active universe.

Before you start: “inactive” is not the same as “no changes”

In OGame, inactive is an official tag: i after 7 days without logging in and I after 28. Orbit reads it as it is in each player's profile.

Orbit's scan looks for something else: players with no observed changes in the hourly ranking for the number of days you say, and not yet tagged (players already tagged i, I, v or b are left out). If you ask for “players who have been inactive for 2 days”, Orbit understands “2 days without observed changes”: that is observed activity, not proof that they are not connected. They may be playing without building anything.

No request will make Orbit tell you that someone is offline or asleep, or give you a safe time to attack: nobody can know that from the public data.

Finding players and targets

• “Find players with 2 days without changes in galaxy 3, with a moon and more than 50,000 points.” → Scan with the “days without observed changes” criterion and cumulative filters: galaxy, a range on one metric (points, military, economy, research or ships), moons only and minimum planets. It returns up to 15 and marks them on the map. On Free it uses your weekly scan.
• “Who has lost fleet in the last 3 days?” → Scan with the military losses criterion: the drop in military score from the highest value observed in those days.
• “Mark them on the map.” → Mark on the map up to 30 players by id or exact name. Open Scanner to see them.
• “Find Kairo Vantis.” / “Give me the profile of 103122.” → Find player (partial name or id) and player profile: points and rank per category, planets, moons, alliance and hours with observed changes.
• “Which players have planets between 3:110 and 3:135?” → Planets in an area (up to 60 systems), with tag, points and observed activity. The planet list is weekly.
• “Top 20 in military.” / “How is the NEBU alliance doing?” → Ranking by category (0 total, 1 economy, 2 research, 3 military… up to 50 rows) and find alliance by name or tag.

Observed activity

• “When does Kairo Vantis usually show observed activity?” / “Show me his histogram for this month.” → Activity histogram: ranking changes per UTC hour (24 hours, week, month or total) with an approximate interval. The height is the share of intervals with changes, not the probability that he is online.

Combat and attacks

• “Simulate my fleet from 3:127:8 against this report.” → Combat simulator: it takes the saved technologies and ships of that origin (your Empire) and the report; it gives odds, rounds, losses, debris, loot and balance. It is an estimate.
• “Prepare the attack on 3:122:8 for me.” → Attack dossier: your report on that target, your origin fleet, its observed activity and what is still unknown. It then usually moves on to the simulator.
• “Import sr-en-1-…” (pasting the code) → Import report, espionage (sr-) or combat (cr-), and keep a copy in Espionage reports.
• “Find my latest report on Kairo Vantis.” → Search your saved reports.
• “How many missiles do I need to clear his rocket launchers from 3:127?” → Interplanetary missiles: range, flight time and one salvo against his defences; impulse drive and weapons come from your saved fleet.

Flights and logistics

• “I want to hit 3:122:8 at 21:52:12 UTC. When do I leave at 80% speed?” → Flight plan with your saved fleet, engines and class and the universe's official speed; it also works backwards from the impact time.
• “His fleet reaches my moon at 04:10:30. When do I leave to catch it on its way back?” → Catch on return: it works out its return for each possible speed and when to leave to arrive right after it.
• “How many large cargos do I need to take the loot?” → Cargo: ships needed for those resources, with 5% more capacity per hyperspace level. Fuel not included.
• “How many recyclers do I need for 180,000 metal and 60,000 crystal?” → Recyclers: needed, the ones in your saved fleet and the ones missing.
• “Plan an expedition from 2:126:12.” → Expeditions: your fleet's expedition points against the universe ceiling (estimated from the official top 1 if you don't give it) and a cargo check. It does not predict finds.

Economy

• “Which mine should I upgrade first?” / “Is it worth taking crystal to level 24?” → Payback: days to recover a mine level, with the game formulas and the official economy speed.
• “Is swapping 1,000,000 metal for 600,000 crystal fair?” → Trade: 3:2:1 equivalences or your own rates. Arithmetic only.
• “What fleet speed does this universe have? Is there ACS?” → The official universe settings.

Plans and memory

• “Save this plan.” / “Update the attack plan with the new time.” → Save plan (new or over an existing one). “What plans do I have?” lists them.
• “Remember that I never attack the NEBU alliance.” → Save to memory. “What do you remember about my goals?” searches your memory.

Questions about Orbit itself

• “How do I import my Empire?” / “Where do I see my energy?” / “Why doesn't my new colony show up?” → Orbit guide: the assistant reads these same guides and answers with the steps and a link to the guide. It does not make up features that are not described here.

Tips to use less energy

• Give the data in one go: coordinates, ships and speed in the same question.
• If you have already imported the report or your fleet, say so (“with my saved fleet at 3:127:8”): the assistant does not need to ask you for them.
• For pure maths that needs no conversation, use the Calculators: they use no energy.
• Each answer uses energy according to the work it does (see Energy and plans).