30 replies to this topic

[Oldbob10025]

Been noticing alot of macro firing groups and was wondering if macros are against the terms of service or part of the game?

[TooDumbToQuit]

NOPE! At least not according to the guy that set up "Fire Control".


http://mwomercs.com/...ul/page__st__40


https://github.com/e...re-Control/wiki

This is what allows me to set up a stream of UAC 10's or a mix of a LBX 10 and SRMs for example.

[Oldbob10025]

Yea been hit by some of these macros and its not even funny.. Just wondering if its against the TOS or anyone can use it?

[TooDumbToQuit]

They say it's legal......

[Oldbob10025]

PGI or the guy who made it? Big difference on that point...

[Koniving]

Oldbob10025, on 06 September 2016 - 07:59 AM, said:

PGI or the guy who made it? Big difference on that point...

Fire control borderlines it heavily with the options and scripts that could be used and their dynamics.

Now simple ones like auto-hotkey are within PGI's terms of service which you may want to peek at.

After all simple macros are good for things like chain firing at a rate faster than 0.5 seconds but would.. in all conditions.. fire slower than regular tap/alpha fire so in whatever sense you cut your potential damage output.

In exchange macros are great for adding more immersion (take three ac/2s and macro fire them into a 3 round burst to feel like you have an AC/5 from battletech!

Usually the reasons are heat management since a macro can be set to prevent firing the weapon faster.

[Koniving]

Chain fire is in itself a macro that you can use with backspace, between this and linked fire from past Mechwarrior games macros and Mechwarrior have co-existed since before 1995, but usually was included in the game. PGI only gave us basic chain fire and said we gotta use our own toola.

It is okay so long as macros do not replace movement, aiming or the player itself or permit you to cheat the server authority or exploit bugs/glitches.

The actual thing is quite a bit more detailed and reads like a legal document.
It came up as PGI was fine with us using it for weapon use but not happy with its use to overcome the manual unjam mechanic back in 2012 closed beta prompting strict rules on it.

Edited by Koniving, 06 September 2016 - 08:51 AM.

[Oldbob10025]

Thanks for the updates my friends.. I just get my *** kicked and was wondering if its legal and within the terms of service with PGI.. I dont want to start reporting for something thats not illegal in gameplay..

[Koniving]

Oldbob10025, on 06 September 2016 - 10:01 AM, said:

Thanks for the updates my friends.. I just get my *** kicked and was wondering if its legal and within the terms of service with PGI.. I dont want to start reporting for something thats not illegal in gameplay..

What was it that you think was macro'd? I could help you come up with a counter for it. After all it'll shake the crap out of you but the damage spread that results from it usually makes the macro a joke and easy to counter so long as you don't let panic get to ya. Its a fear factor that they are going for, psychological warfare.

[Barkem Squirrel]

What if I told you that, you do not need no stinking macro's?

How about we show people how to use what is in the game to do what macros do? I learn how to do that back when the phoenix package came out.

I have used a macro for about a week or two, but went back to just setting up weapon groups and chain fire. Here are some examples by MoltenMetal and Snuggles Time.



More Dakka! Shadowhawk SHD-2H - Mechwarrior Online



MWO: Fire control macro pt 2, why it's not considered cheating



MWO: Fire Control Macro

[S 0 L E N Y A]

For most, macros are just a toy to have a laugh with.
They tend to be most popular with ACs, in which case you can easily get the same result with a multi-button gaming mouse.

Then there are some that do not have a fancy mouse or keyboard and the macro helps them level the field a bit. On a similar note you also have some folk with physical disabilities.

I briefly experimented with using a macro for gauss rifles. Macro was written to 1) fire gauss with a single keystroke 2) fire complimentry weapons with the gauss 3) sync the cooldown of the gauss and complimentry weapons. Sounds nasty right? Almost like cheating. Its also not really worth it. Once you commit to the shot there is no way to cancel it. You end up wasting ammo, generating pointless heat or accidentally shooting some joker on your team that jumped in front of you.

[Koniving]

Barkem Squirrel, on 06 September 2016 - 12:37 PM, said:

What if I told you that, you do not need no stinking macro's?

How about we show people how to use what is in the game to do what macros do? I learn how to do that back when the phoenix package came out.

I have used a macro for about a week or two, but went back to just setting up weapon groups and chain fire. Here are some examples by MoltenMetal and Snuggles Time.

These are after the recent fix on the chain fire; it used to have issues using chain fire across multiple groups with certain weapon types.
But yeah, since it is always firing 'slower' than the actual "Fire all the weapons" method, no matter what you're reducing the combat effectiveness in terms of how quickly you can kill.

Where it benefits you among many other benefits, is it makes it very difficult for enemies to torso twist to block all the damage into disposable limbs.

But yeah. I know it is not directed at me, but I haven't got any problems with macros. Thing is Fire Control can be used to do a lot more than just firing macros. It's open, expansive and easy enough to use that you can create a basic bot with it for farming cbills. That's where issues with fire control comes up.

[TooDumbToQuit]

Boogie138, on 06 September 2016 - 12:54 PM, said:

Then there are some that do not have a fancy mouse or keyboard and the macro helps them level the field a bit. On a similar note you also have some folk with physical disabilities.

It's not like I can write a program like a lot of people seem to be able to do. Before Fire Control, I only had weapons 1 and weapons 2. It got to where I could only have a couple of weapons and a lot of heat sinks. And I still shut down all the time.

[Tier5 Kerensky]

Boogie138, on 06 September 2016 - 12:54 PM, said:

I briefly experimented with using a macro for gauss rifles. Macro was written to 1) fire gauss with a single keystroke 2) fire complimentry weapons with the gauss 3) sync the cooldown of the gauss and complimentry weapons. Sounds nasty right? Almost like cheating. Its also not really worth it. Once you commit to the shot there is no way to cancel it. You end up wasting ammo, generating pointless heat or accidentally shooting some joker on your team that jumped in front of you.

Reminds me, I was once headshotted while heading towards the enemy, completely out of blue. No fighting had yet begun. I have usually like 10 armor on the head, I was either in Dire Wolf or Mad Dog. On the death screen I could see I was hit by PPC and gauss, don't rememeber the order. Sure I was in fairly open like others, and with pretty steady course, but that was very surprising. Specially since I did not see the PPC flying towards me, or impacting.

So I guess I was a victim of such macro which fires them very conviniently timed. I'm pretty sure I was tier 3 then, and I would think users of macros are absent from lower tiers and more common in tier 1.


Anyway it does provide pretty decent advantage with different things.

But, it's available to all, with no price. Many other things, better mouse, keyboard, computer, connection, are not so available. So this macro program is fair and square.


I read that now you can fire chain fire with AC2 and the like at full speed without the macro program, is it true?

[jss78]

I like macros for the occasional laugh with multiple AC's. Take the regular cooldown time, factor in any cooldown quirks and cooldown modules, divide by # of AC's, and set the macro for maximum dakka. In my experience setting the normal chain fire in MWO user interface tends to fire them a lot slower than what's possible.

You can achieve pretty much the same by simply setting each AC in a different fire group, quickly mashing all keys in succession, and then holding down the alpha strike key. But you won't get that satisfying steady rhythm.

They aren't exactly good, just an aesthetic thing.

It's all allowed and explicitly stated as such by PGI.

[TooDumbToQuit]

My build with twin Gauss on the same button with twin C ER LL's has taken 3 headshots. You keep your finger on the button firing the lasers and at the end, the Twin Gauss fire. If you do not want to fire the Gauss (they have moved etc) take your finger off sooner or leave it on longer.

If I can hit the same spot that gives me 52 points of damage per "shot".


A good plan violently executed right now is far better than a perfect plan executed next week. General G.S. Patton.

[Boulangerie]

Teer5, on 06 September 2016 - 02:38 PM, said:

Reminds me, I was once headshotted while heading towards the enemy, completely out of blue. No fighting had yet begun. I have usually like 10 armor on the head, I was either in Dire Wolf or Mad Dog. On the death screen I could see I was hit by PPC and gauss, don't rememeber the order. Sure I was in fairly open like others, and with pretty steady course, but that was very surprising. Specially since I did not see the PPC flying towards me, or impacting.

So I guess I was a victim of such macro which fires them very conviniently timed. I'm pretty sure I was tier 3 then, and I would think users of macros are absent from lower tiers and more common in tier 1.


Anyway it does provide pretty decent advantage with different things.

But, it's available to all, with no price. Many other things, better mouse, keyboard, computer, connection, are not so available. So this macro program is fair and square.


I read that now you can fire chain fire with AC2 and the like at full speed without the macro program, is it true?

Syncing up the firing of ERPPCs and a Gauss is actually pretty easy to do if you practice as well. You charge, and when you are ready to fire, just right click as well. The hard part is getting them both to hit, since they have different speeds. This is where actual skill shines, and macros fall behind. Let's say your PPC is right click. How far ahead of the gauss do you need to fire that PPC, based on target distance? The macro can't account for that. It's fine to just fire both at once if the target is stationary, or moving towards/away from you though.

The speeds are a lot closer now with the PPC speed buffs, but it's still difficult to land them both.

Also, 10 Armor on your head is just asking to get headshot. A dual gauss would headshot you everytime they landed one! That said, most headshots are luck rather than skill, but I'd rather survive that lucky shot than die to it. If you run full head armor, they need two critical hits rolled to kill you. Personally, you could probably strip that armor from somewhere else if you really really need to

You can fire full speed with AC2 as well, just hold down the mouse button. Macro doesn't allow it to fire any faster than that. It just lets you "chain fire" them faster than the default chain fire mechanic. It basically turns it into burst fire mode, which spreads the shells around, but doesn't fire the guns any faster. You are better off firing them as salvos all together, which lands the shells on the same component with each salvo. The screen shake doesn't affect enemy aiming, just vision, and they can just poke you to death since you have a DPS build.

LikeUntoGod, on 06 September 2016 - 08:03 PM, said:

My build with twin Gauss on the same button with twin C ER LL's has taken 3 headshots. You keep your finger on the button firing the lasers and at the end, the Twin Gauss fire. If you do not want to fire the Gauss (they have moved etc) take your finger off sooner or leave it on longer.

If I can hit the same spot that gives me 52 points of damage per "shot".


A good plan violently executed right now is far better than a perfect plan executed next week. General G.S. Patton.

I haven't played a ton of Gauss +laser vomit builds, but from what I've read, it's actually better to lead with the gauss shot, since they will begin twisting and retreating as soon as they take damage. In this case it's better to land that 15 pinpoint damage, and be able to "cancel" the lasers whenever you want to retreat, rather than grazing with the lasers and potentially putting your gauss round into an Arm at the end of the burn.

If everything is connected into one mouse press, you also risk firing a useless gauss round into a hill/teammate

[SnagaDance]

This video adresses why it's not cheating, and how you can emulate it without Macro's at all

[TooDumbToQuit]

Boulangerie, on 07 September 2016 - 06:28 AM, said:

I haven't played a ton of Gauss +laser vomit builds, but from what I've read, it's actually better to lead with the gauss shot, since they will begin twisting and retreating as soon as they take damage. In this case it's better to land that 15 pinpoint damage, and be able to "cancel" the lasers whenever you want to retreat, rather than grazing with the lasers and potentially putting your gauss round into an Arm at the end of the burn. If everything is connected into one mouse press, you also risk firing a useless gauss round into a hill/teammate

Yes, 100% I've been finding that out so I can now shoot the Gauss or both of them by themselves and I can shoot them first. Some pilots when being hit from 6-700ms do not see to know what is going on and I was using the C ERLL's to help me aim the Gauss. But others are smarter or they get that way after being hit by both laser and Gauss.

So more and more I'm shooting the quicker Gauss and then if they are still there, the C ER LLs.

P.S Not being able to play is killing me.....my damn insurance changed and what would have been a surgery already set up 4 years ago, now has to go through a series of test and other BS.

[S 0 L E N Y A]

Teer5, on 06 September 2016 - 02:38 PM, said:

So I guess I was a victim of such macro which fires them very conviniently timed. I'm pretty sure I was tier 3 then, and I would think users of macros are absent from lower tiers and more common in tier 1.

I read that now you can fire chain fire with AC2 and the like at full speed without the macro program, is it true?

Maybe, maybe not. I can sync my shots 9 out of 10 times on my own, and I barely play with that weapons combo.

I honestly feel that macros (obvious) are more common in lower tiers, because most experienced pilots know they dont need them.

As far as AC2s - set up 2 or 3 different firing groups with all of your AC2s assigned to each one. Set each group to chain fire. Now press down and hold trigger group 1, then approx a quarter second later press group 2, then do the same to group 3. Bada bing bada boom, you get the rapid fire macro effect without using a macro.