how to create a non existing topic response (solved)

[enerdoe]

Here is what I try to archive:

A generic response like "I don't know anything about that!" or "Stop asking me stupid questions!" when the player asks about a topic that is not covered in the conversation.
The main concept of my adventure is, that NPC's can give commands/orders to the player and are supposed to execute punishment if the player speaks out of line (like asking to many stupid questions).
I also would need a way to add actions to the response, to execute the consequences for the players annoyance towards the NPC's (like having the player arrested).

So far I don't have found any way to archive that and I would appreciate the help.

[Denk]

What you are trying to can certainly be achieved. But how to do it depends slightly on whether you are using the built in conversation system or using tasks. I feel more in control using tasks but it is a matter of taste.

First thing is to create a specific task: Override "ask character about subject". Choose a character but leave the field "text" undefined. Thus, at the moment, this task will override no matter what topic you ask about. Now you can add your message "I don't know anything about that!" etc and actions as you like.

Now, if you are using tasks for conversation, all you have to do is to give this task a low priority (i.e. a high task priority number). Then the tasks with defined topics will run instead, whenever you ask about a defined topic.

If you instead are using the built-in conversation system, you will need to add restrictions, otherwise this new task will override no matter what you ask about.
If for instance an accepted topic is "bike", you need to add the variable restriction:
[referenced text][must not][be equal to]["bike"]
You need to add a restriction for each accepted topic.

Hope this helps.

[enerdoe]

Mh, I will keep looking for an easier way, but right now, overriding "ask character about..." seems the most useful option. Also quite tedious since I want different responses per character, but it can be done with restrictions.

Thanks for the help.

[enerdoe]

Totally forgot about this post and since I found a solution, I mark it as solved.

The solution is to use (*), without the brackets instead of a conversation topic. This will cause the game to display the appended response whenever the players input does not match any topic.
As Example...

Topic: *
Response: "What!?"
If the players input does not match any existing topic, then "What!?" will be shown as response. The * can also be used in combination with other words, like...

Ask about topic: her * size
Message: %character%.Name slaps you in the face and stomps off!

Furthermore, the * can also be used in general tasks as command input.