38 replies to this topic

[The6thMessenger]

So i found this:

It's the Firecontrol, a Macro for MWO, in which you can control the fire-rate of your weapons.
My question is that, when would it be beneficial to shoot ACs simultaneously and sequenced?

Edited by The6thMessenger, 11 May 2016 - 11:15 PM.

[kesmai]

No need to macro. Even with 6 ac/whatever.

[Hydrocarbon]

Sequenced is for suppression, aka hail of bullets to shake their cockpit. Generally works with dakka boats. Simultaneous fire, or "alpha strike", will almost always result in the highest DPS and highest chance of kills. You can potentially get the entire volley into one location on a mech. This is one of the more advanced lessons - total damage isn't king, focused damage is.

That said, I see dakka macros used when the team is already capable of murdurizing the enemy. AKA people wanting LOLs.

[Marmon Rzohr]

You should always fire your ACs at once to get the best out of your already measly alpha strike. Spreading damage around needlessly is a very bad idea.

Also, cockpit shake doesn't work against good players. And people who use macros like this are noticeably easier to kill in trades.

[Chuck Jager]

Some claim that fast chainfire registers more damage or creates the potential for armor to be bypassed to help with XL explosions (think we have all seen that glitch).

The assumption is that servers and code run in timeable sequences with a stack based on actions per second as recorded by the user base. If you break the template, you may create issues with how the logic is resolved. The games can only predict for so many variables before it becomes out of sync for an unacceptable percentage of the players. There was a known exploit with the UAC jam chance and machine gun for longer than will ever be acknowledged. It is not PGI fault, most games have this to a degree. Bunny hopping and key spam macros are the most prevalent (host rewind - fixes these to a degree)

Of course if this is really true, I would never promote an active exploit. That is bad. I am only discussing issues from the past that PGI has successfully caught and dealt with in a professional manner. All cheaters are bad people, even if they win rewards, make tons of money, or even have terrible comb overs and may get elected to president - I tell myself.

Edited by Chuck Jager, 12 May 2016 - 01:12 AM.

[Nightshade24]

Marmon Rzohr, on 11 May 2016 - 11:42 PM, said:

You should always fire your ACs at once to get the best out of your already measly alpha strike. Spreading damage around needlessly is a very bad idea.

Also, cockpit shake doesn't work against good players. And people who use macros like this are noticeably easier to kill in trades.

How does the ability of not able to see the enemy or even face the direction they are in not effective against good players?

[SmoothCriminal]

Are macro's not also useful for lasers - as ghost heat takes into account burn time you see banks of MLs firing in a sequence (v chain fire, which counts half a second after the full duration of the previous laser)...

[adamts01]

Nightshade24, on 12 May 2016 - 01:21 AM, said:

How does the ability of not able to see the enemy or even face the direction they are in not effective against good players?

It's not really that dramatic, it just gets noobs all panicked to the point that they can't hit anything.

[Wintersdark]

SmoothCriminal, on 12 May 2016 - 01:25 AM, said:

Are macro's not also useful for lasers - as ghost heat takes into account burn time you see banks of MLs firing in a sequence (v chain fire, which counts half a second after the full duration of the previous laser)...

Ghost heat doesn't count burn time, only the start of the burn.

Chained lasers will fire immediately after the burn of the previous laser. This can result in an unending beam.

Thus, chained lasers actually lose DPS to "properly" timed lasers.

In fact, it's *almost* never advantageous to chainfire anything; banks of LRM's aside. Chainfire doesn't help with heat gen, and you want to get all your damage into quicker bunches so you take less return fire. If ghost heat is a concern (say, 4 Clan Large Pulse Lasers) fire 2 sets of two, don't chainfire.

Nightshade24, on 12 May 2016 - 01:21 AM, said:

How does the ability of not able to see the enemy or even face the direction they are in not effective against good players?

Because the cockpit shake is purely visual. You can ignore the explosions and simply fire at the center of your targeting reticule.

Cockpit shake is just an inconvenience; it makes it hard to put shots WHERE you want them on the target mech, but you can still hit the target reliably.

[SmoothCriminal]

Sorry Wintersdark that is what I meant- say you had 4 cERLLs - If you used the in-game chain, you would get an unending beam, if you used a macro each beam would fire 0.51 seconds after the last which would consolidate the firepower.

So macros need to be in the gam stat.

Edited by SmoothCriminal, 12 May 2016 - 02:05 AM.

[jss78]

I used to run macros on some dakka boats, but no longer bother.

IMO there are two scenarios where the macro is nice.

First, where you're pounding someone from the "second line", with any return fire directed at your team mates. In this case there's no urgency to use your alpha strike, and you can freely annoy the target with cockpit shake. People say (rightly) that cockpit shake won't work against good players, but I find it works very well against MOST players.

Second, if you absolutely want to hear that sound. Nothing wrong with this.

Otherwise I just fire all at once and try to pinpoint the damage.

Edited by jss78, 12 May 2016 - 02:21 AM.

[Nightshade24]

Wintersdark, on 12 May 2016 - 01:31 AM, said:

Because the cockpit shake is purely visual. You can ignore the explosions and simply fire at the center of your targeting reticule.

Cockpit shake is just an inconvenience; it makes it hard to put shots WHERE you want them on the target mech, but you can still hit the target reliably.

You still can't ignore the fact that you can't see the enemy and have issues seeing your ret' (if you are not using arm lock)

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

Wintersdark, on 12 May 2016 - 01:31 AM, said:

Ghost heat doesn't count burn time, only the start of the burn.

Chained lasers will fire immediately after the burn of the previous laser. This can result in an unending beam.

Thus, chained lasers actually lose DPS to "properly" timed lasers.

In fact, it's *almost* never advantageous to chainfire anything; banks of LRM's aside. Chainfire doesn't help with heat gen, and you want to get all your damage into quicker bunches so you take less return fire. If ghost heat is a concern (say, 4 Clan Large Pulse Lasers) fire 2 sets of two, don't chainfire.




Because the cockpit shake is purely visual. You can ignore the explosions and simply fire at the center of your targeting reticule.

Cockpit shake is just an inconvenience; it makes it hard to put shots WHERE you want them on the target mech, but you can still hit the target reliably.

Exactly, which is a screwup in my opinion, AC's and "cockpit shake" should throw your aim way the hell off.

[LordNothing]

i have a big red 50mm button and an arduino. thats all the macro i need.

[TercieI]

Nightshade24, on 12 May 2016 - 02:25 AM, said:

You still can't ignore the fact that you can't see the enemy and have issues seeing your ret' (if you are not using arm lock)

And yet "screen shake" and "chain fire" rank with "bracket build" and "support mech" as hot button terms that good players recognize as marking bad players.

Edited by TercieI, 12 May 2016 - 05:29 AM.

[nehebkau]

The6thMessenger, on 11 May 2016 - 11:14 PM, said:

So i found this:

It's the Firecontrol, a Macro for MWO, in which you can control the fire-rate of your weapons.
My question is that, when would it be beneficial to shoot ACs simultaneously and sequenced?

Yes there is some use to macros

I wrote my own gauss constant-charge macro and it makes the gauss so easy it feels like cheating (I rarely use it now). Reminds me of the old days before the gauss charge mechanic. As for ACs, I had another that maximised the firing rate of AC2s without getting into ghost-heat territory... rarely use that one either.

[Nightmare1]

Nightshade24, on 12 May 2016 - 01:21 AM, said:

How does the ability of not able to see the enemy or even face the direction they are in not effective against good players?

Because good players don't have to see you to hit you accurately. When I am getting cockpit shake and explosions that block my target from sight, I can still see the red box. That never goes away. I can accurately target components inside the box using the distance between my reticle and the walls of the box. It's that simple. I've killed Mechs I couldn't see simply because I knew that I needed to punch our the LT or the RT that was already open, took a second to line up the shot as best I could while experiencing blinding amounts of shake, and then let drive with a desperate alpha.

Good players do more than just point and click. They are also cognizant of all the combat factors. That's why the shake doesn't hurt them that much.

[S 0 L E N Y A]

SmoothCriminal, on 12 May 2016 - 02:05 AM, said:

Sorry Wintersdark that is what I meant- say you had 4 cERLLs - If you used the in-game chain, you would get an unending beam, if you used a macro each beam would fire 0.51 seconds after the last which would consolidate the firepower.

So macros need to be in the gam stat.

You only get the endless beam if you sit there (like a nub) just holding down the chain fire button.
Otherwise you can tap the trigger as fast as you want them to fire.
Again, as mentioned, why would you do that instead of just group firing in numbers that dont break ghost heat?

Macros arent going to help you take a non meta loadout (like 4 c-erLL) and best a meta lolpha build.

So what are macros good for?
Mostly laughs.
Also, some folk dont have a mutli button gaming button mouse.
Ive also personally talked to a handful of players with a physical disability that are aided by macros.

Bottom line: if you think they are great, use em.
If you dont like em, dont cry- just move on.

[Monkey Lover]

If macro fire had any real benefit every comp team would be using them and they would get banned. The only real use is for fun.

[TercieI]

Boogie138, on 12 May 2016 - 06:16 AM, said:

You only get the endless beam if you sit there (like a nub) just holding down the chain fire button.
Otherwise you can tap the trigger as fast as you want them to fire.
Again, as mentioned, why would you do that instead of just group firing in numbers that dont break ghost heat?

Macros arent going to help you take a non meta loadout (like 4 c-erLL) and best a meta lolpha build.

So what are macros good for?
Mostly laughs.
Also, some folk dont have a mutli button gaming button mouse.
Ive also personally talked to a handful of players with a physical disability that are aided by macros.

Bottom line: if you think they are great, use em.
If you dont like em, dont cry- just move on.

^This. There are very few useful macros in this game and none that are terribly advantageous.