this is a bind/alias i have been trying to wrap my head around to work for the unbot/player pirates -- and trader interacetion.

***this alias requires pilot input. and this is where i get lost.***

/alias amount 'echo "Enter Demand $ >" %extort%'
/alias demand 'msg %target% "YARR, Drop ye cargo or give %extort% c NOW!"
/bind <key> amount
/bind <key> demand

****%extort% needs to be defined by player/pirate****

/set %extort% [ <human_input> ]

<yet %extort% needs to be created>

...and this is the extent of my lua abilities...

if this can be created, then it might be possible to convert it for the reciever of this hail. where %extort% is the constant in the situation. quickly, the hail and the /givemoney command can be connected for pirating issues.

What you are looking to do can't be done currently. The game does not yet have lua scripting enabled, and you can't create new variables. The best you can do at the moment is to use something like Spellcast's version here.

Quoted from a previous post of mine, not precisely the same subject as this thread but close enough judging from how you want this to work (the original thread was about naming our ships):

"Personally, I think that if we do ship names, they perhaps ought to be applied using player-defined macros:

"First, in your wgaf.cfg, you currently have a line that reads set hailmsg "hail".This variable, hailmsg, can be changed in the options menu. Wouldn't it be nice to define more of these variables?

"Well, perhaps we should add a subcommand to the /set tree, "macro". With a syntax of /set macro [macro name] [value], one could add a few of these macros to their wgaf.cfg file by typing the following (I'll use my own character's info for this):

set macro fullName "Miharu Sena Kanaka"
set macro lastName "Kanaka"
set macro shipName "IEV Solea"
alias tehHailOne "msg %target% This is &rank& %lastName% of the %shipName%, do you require assistance?"
alias tehHailTwo "msg %target% %fullName% speaking. Can I help you?"

"Note how I enclose the macros with percent signs, like the %target% macro. Also note the one macro enclosed in ampersands (&). That particular macro (rank, in this case) is a game-defined macro. It cannot be defined by the player. Default "rank" would be "Captain," perhaps.

"The two hails would create the following output with the macros given above (text replacing the macros is in italics):
*Miharu* This is Captain Kanaka of the IEV Solea, do you require assistance?"
*Miharu* Miharu Sena Kanaka speaking. Can I help you?"

"Now, there is a macro that not everyone knows about: %sector%. Try doing /msg <yournamehere> %sector%. What it will do is provide you the sector ID, a number somewhere between 1 and 7680. For example, Odia M-14's sector ID is 5597.

"I have tried to see if this works with the /navroute add <system> <sector> command to see if there was a fast way of making a return route through the /navroute commands, but it doesn't work. Of course, were %sector% to expand to "Odia M-14" instead of 5597, perhaps it would work.

"Also, note that %target% and %sector% don't work outside of the /msg commands. Perhaps this should be changed."

... as an addendum to the bit about game-defined macros (&rank& was the example), here are a few more I could easily see and how I'd expect them to work:

&rank& : Prints your character's rank. By default this is "Captain" or somesuch. If you are a guild officer--Commander, Lieutenant, or Council--your guild rank is displayed. (The higher rank is displayed, so if you're both LT and Council, the Lieutenant rank is displayed.)
&mil_rank& : Displays your nation military rank, when this feature is implemented.
&nation& : Prints your affiliated nation.
&faction& : Prints your affiliated faction or sub-faction. The Order of Eo or the Order of Akan would be examples.
&guild& : Prints the (full) name of your guild.
&guild_acro& : Prints the acronym associated with your guild with brackets.

Anyway, long story short, we don't have the ability to create our own variables (yet), which is what you would need to accomplish what you appear to be attempting to accomplish. You'll have to make a few different hails for values, it seems.

I think wht miharu is trying to say is: Its not possible yet.

Those women and their long-winded responses.. reminds me of my wife when I ask her a simple question. :) :) :)