I think it might be very useful.
For example, add events such as:
dock{}
undock{}
warp{}
targetlock{}

Then, customize your game =)

undock { if(ship==Maud && freecargoslots>0) play warning_cargo_is_empty.ogg }

targetlock { if(target==Blitz) jettison && say_sector Have my cargo! }

I understand it might be hard to implent, but I find it very useful and fun.

undock{
if(freecargoslots eq 0){
target closest('jumgate');
flyto('target');
wait_until(target_distance() = 0);
activate()
....etc etc etc...
}

Automated trading :)

It's not a very good game, but have a look at ColoBot!
http://www.epsitec.ch/colobot/index.php

The robots come with no pre-programmed instructons at all!
If you're gonna get through the game you'll have to script the bots! It's a wierd java-C-perl-hybrid language that's easy to learn.

What if we, in vendetta, could buy an "automatable ship" that's dumb as a rock out of the box, but could be scripted?

*dreaming*

idiotproof{
if(target=asshole && my_HP<3000){ConsoleToggle; /oper /kill 'target'; server "*** /me has smitten 'target' with extreme prejudice."}

{if(target=niceguy | nicegal) {ConsoleToggle; /greet; /say May fair winds blow you on your way, 'target'.}

pardon my poor C, i'm only learning.

I think it would be nice to add commands like:

/draw window (150,100) (50,100) "Givemoney" window1
/draw input (50,100) (50,100) "" input1
/draw button (50,100) (100,100) "Givemoney" button1 "/givemoney newbie $input1"
/draw button (50,100) (150,100) "Close window" button2 "/close window1;/close input1;/close button1;/close button2"

Then bots could just put their script avaible for download from their site and you could easily have a GUI for the bot; wouldn't that be nice? =)

Don't underestimate the capabilities of people. For postive, or negative. I don't think the final client should have ANY way that bots could be made, either errors.log, or somehow disallowing command inputs from other programs...

<ghasp>
No bountybot?

I think I have to go with Sjet on this one. Quite a while back, there was a player who created an external program that read the color of the autoaim reticule, and fired the weapon the instant it switched from red to yellow. This isn't a big deal with most weapons, but on a centurian armed with a railgun it made him uber, due to the speed that the railgun projectile travels at. With an electronic "twitch" instead of a human one, the railgun becomes MUCH more deadly. Obviously this isnt a huge issue with only 1 weapon affected, but who knows what weapons we'll eventually have.

I think I like my "program" the best.

I am also with Spellcast and Sjet. There are currently autoaim bots, traderbots, bank bots and more. Some of these are okay, namely the bank bots. But the others, well, I consider them cheating. If you make the game scriptable, it'll get even worse along those lines...

Well.. people could make (and release) anti-script programs which will evade the scripts actions? ^.^ Wouldn't it be cool if you could even "hack" into an enemies ship? People could even start software 'companies' IN vendetta and sell programs for credits :)

It would be pretty cool if certain ships had computers that were capable of running scripts. Where you could like program the autopilot... woah, if done properly that could be unreasonably cool!

No it wouldn't. Somebody would program a bot that would trade for them at night and fight bots all day. Then everybody else would be at a disadvantage. User-created bots should not be encouraged.

I wouldnt object to an autopilot SYSTEM that was built into the game. But it would need to work as follows:

1: manually leave the station
2: open your navcomp, displaying a list of sectors you have been to
3: from that list select one of the sectors
4: press activate, your ship will now plot the shortest possible course and fly it for you. In a straight line (avoiding asteroids, stations etc). Without dodging weapons fire, other ships or NPC bots.
5: when you arrive in your destination sector, the autopilot moves you to within 1000 M of the station, brings your ship to a halt and turns itself off.

At any time the Player can overide the autopilot by moving the controls manually. To restart the autopilot you would have to reopen the navcomp, and reselect your target system.

Player scripted programs are bad. The only thing i would like to see be scriptable would be text messages. Most of the time when i MMORPG i play a merchant of some form or other. Assuming vendetta eventually has PC - PC trading, i'd like a way to automate some of my shopkeeping. Passing information based on keywords, by the trades/sales have to be done in person.

"No it wouldn't. Somebody would program a bot that would trade for them at night and fight bots all day. Then everybody else would be at a disadvantage. User-created bots should not be encouraged."

This will be done anyway; you'd always need a computer to be on 24/7 for your bot to work (something not everybody can do). And plenty of people can already write their own bots without any ready interface whatsoever (bountybot, vendetta ice, etc..).
So, you will just allow more people to do this.
Adding scripting to Vendetta would certainly add lot's of new subgames (if this thing would be advanced enough you could even add multiplayer pong or something), players could then probably even create missions.

"It would be pretty cool if certain ships had computers that were capable of running scripts. Where you could like program the autopilot... woah, IF DONE PROPERLY that could be unreasonably cool!"

i meant that if the devs really thought it through and set it up well, it could be awesome.

If there were ever something like fuel added to the game your example would be impossble... but thats a rather large if.