bitburner-scripts

A collection of scripts for the game Bitburner broken into "levels" of understanding.

Table of Contents

• Level 1: Very basic attempt which grows a server 20% of the time, always hacks, and always weakens, while await-ing each weaken/hack/grow
• Level 2: Starts to use batching to fire off a worker script for weaken/hack/grow
• Level 3: Uses batching to fire off worker scripts for weaken/hack/grow distributed to many servers simulataneously, and hacks any available unhacked server to distribute even more threads
• Level 4: Improves on level 3 by automating the target server to work on based on potential income per hour, and adds a monitoring script

Level 1

My initial attempt at automating hacking, growing, and weakening a server.

Very basic attempt which grows a server 20% of the time, always hacks, and always weakens, while await-ing each weaken/hack/grow.

Scripts

• core.js: Commonly used functions for hacking, weakening, and growing servers

Examples

Using core.js, you can create a script to grow, hack, and weaken a server back to it's minimum security level easily:

import {hackAndWeaken} from 'core.js';

/** @param {NS} ns */
export async function main(ns) {
    /* note: there is a better approach using batching,
     * but I haven't learned how to do that yet */
    while(true) {
        await hackAndWeaken(ns, 'n00dles');
    }
}

Learnings

• Each ns task must be immediately await-ed
  • Typical Promise concurrency (i.e.: Promise.all(...)) cannot be used to fire off many async tasks at once, it violates the rules of the game

Level 2

My second attempt at automating hacking, growing, and weakening a server.

Starts to use batching to fire off a worker script for weaken/hack/grow.

Scripts

• orchestrator.js: Uses batching to concurrently grow and drain a server
• workGrow.js: Grows a server
• workHack.js: Hacks a server
• workWeak.js: Weakens a server

Examples

Using orchestrator.js, you can create a script to grow, hack, and weaken a server simultaneously while respecting RAM limits of the host:

import {orchestrate} from 'orchestrator.js';

/** @param {NS} ns */
export async function main(ns) {
  while(true) {
    await orchestrate(ns, 'n00dles');
  }
}

Learnings

• home RAM gets eaten very quick by the orchestrator

Level 3

My third attempt at automating hacking, growing, and weakening a server.

Uses batching to fire off worker scripts for weaken/hack/grow distributed to many servers simulataneously. Also hacks any available unhacked server to distribute even more threads.

Scripts

• target-search.js: Uses batching to nuke any available server, then distributes hack/weaken/grow scripts to grow & drain a server in a distributed fashion
• workGrow.js: Grows a server (same as level 2)
• workHack.js: Hacks a server (same as level 2)
• workWeak.js: Weakens a server (same as level 2)

Examples

Using target-search.js, you can create a script to nuke any available server, then distribute hack/weaken/grow scripts to grow & drain a server in a distributed fashion:

import {targetSearch} from 'target-search.js';

/** @param {NS} ns */
export async function main(ns) {
  while(true) {
    await targetSearch(ns, 'n00dles');
  }
}

Learnings

• This approach works, but it would be better if the need to manually target servers was automated

Level 4

My fourth attempt at automating hacking, growing, and weakening a server.

Improves on level 3 by automating the target server to work on based on potential income per hour, and adds a monitoring script.

Scripts

• find-servers.js: Finds all servers that can be connected to from the home node
• ranker.js: Ranks all servers that can be connected to from the home node by income per hour
• monitor.js: Opens a new window that is constantly updated to show server stats and income per second
• work.js: Finds the best server by income per hour and distributes work on all servers that can be connected to from the home node
• target-search.js: Uses batching to nuke any available server, then distributes hack/weaken/grow scripts to grow & drain a server in a distributed fashion (mostly the same as level 3)
• workGrow.js: Grows a server (same as level 2)
• workHack.js: Hacks a server (same as level 2)
• workWeak.js: Weakens a server (same as level 2)

Examples

Using work.js, you can work on the best server continually (in terms of income per hour) by running:

[home /]> run work.js

Using monitor.js, you can monitor any server by running:

[home /]> run monitor.js [server]

Using ranker.js, you can get the top 5 profitable server candidates by running:

[home /]> run ranker.js