Macro to select an ally and buff, all in one.

[Sheeshab]

I don't think it is possible but thought to ask.  I am currently playing a Robotics Master Mind.  Can a macro be created that will select my boss robot and cast Tempral Selection, all with one button?  I hate targeting the robot to cast the buff, and then losing my target I had previously.

 

If this can be done, what is the macro?

 

Thanks

[Shenanigunner]

My MM bind set uses the keypad to target each minion and throw a buff or the like on it. That means the selection is hard-coded, but with a little practice using 1-9 for selected buffs and 0 for "all," with Shift-Alt-Ctrl to select which buff or power to apply, becomes almost automatic. I believe I used the numbers in the Pet list for that system. I can post some code if you like, but others have done this, too.

 

As for selecting a minion and throwing a buff, it would be the same, I think. Look through the /pet... commands and combine the select (by name or class) with the buff cast, in reverse order: [macroname] [buff] [select].

 

Not my strongest area, but the guide has a good basic section on Pets and all the commands listed.

[Captain Fabulous]

No matter what you do you're gonna lose the target. Your bot needs to be targeted in order to cast a buff on it. There is no way around this.

[Akisan]

IIRC, you can make a macro that'll target a specific minion and buff them, but you can't do that then switch back to your original target (unless you've macro'd that target by name, which isn't really practical).

 

If that's what you're trying to do, you can gamble a little - casting a buff on an aggro'd enemy will cast said buff on their target (same system as targeting through an ally), so if your boss minion is that target... (I use this trick fairly often on my Empath Defender for heals, it's really convenient!)

[Shenanigunner]

20 hours ago, Captain Fabulous said:

No matter what you do you're gonna lose the target. Your bot needs to be targeted in order to cast a buff on it. There is no way around this.

 

Which, IMHO, is as it should be. Other than AoE stuff, your efforts can have one and only one focus across the game.

 

But you could add a target_enemy_near to the end (beginning) of any macro or bind, assuming your target is the one closet to you anyway.

[GM Crumpet]

You can bind the power to a key then highlight the pet in the pet window and cast it.

[Shenanigunner]

26 minutes ago, GM Crumpet said:

You can bind the power to a key then highlight the pet in the pet window and cast it.

 

Well, sure. Or the combined binds will target the selected pet and buff it.

 

 

For reasons I can't quite explain, though, this string works more or less as suggested:

/bind X "+$$target_enemy_near$$pet_select_name Goofball$$powexecname Alkaloid$$target_enemy_near"

 

Whether or not you have a target selected, it applies the buff to pet "Goofball", then selects the closest foe, which is probably the one you had targeted. The press-release bind quirk is probably the key to any more advanced version.

 

Edited August 12, 2023 by Shenanigunner

[Captain Fabulous]

2 hours ago, Shenanigunner said:

 

Which, IMHO, is as it should be. Other than AoE stuff, your efforts can have one and only one focus across the game.

 

But you could add a target_enemy_near to the end (beginning) of any macro or bind, assuming your target is the one closet to you anyway.

Well yes, but that's not what was asked for, as it's not guaranteed to re-target the same critter you were targeting before. But it would be as close as you can get.

 

1 hour ago, Shenanigunner said:

 

Well, sure. Or the combined binds will target the selected pet and buff it.

 

 

For reasons I can't quite explain, though, this string works more or less as suggested:

/bind X "+$$target_enemy_near$$pet_select_name Goofball$$powexecname Alkaloid$$target_enemy_near"

 

Whether or not you have a target selected, it applies the buff to pet "Goofball", then selects the closest foe, which is probably the one you had targeted. The press-release bind quirk is probably the key to any more advanced version.

 

Pretty sure you can leave out the "+$$target_enemy_near$$". The + is what makes it activate on the downstroke.

Edited August 12, 2023 by Captain Fabulous

[Shenanigunner]

53 minutes ago, Captain Fabulous said:

Well yes, but that's not what you asked for, as it's not guaranteed to re-target the same critter you were targeting before. But it would be as close as you can get.

 

I didn't ask for anything. Not my OP. 🙂

 

Quote

Pretty sure you can leave out the "+$$target_enemy_near$$". The + is what makes it activate on the downstroke.

 

The whole point there was to post a string that would do all three functions. (And it takes a '+$$' on the beginning to set up the P&R action.)

 

If it's not what the OP or anyone else wants, rewrite or re-question to suit. 🙂

 

Edited August 12, 2023 by Shenanigunner

[Captain Fabulous]

18 minutes ago, Shenanigunner said:

 

I didn't ask for anything. Not my OP. 🙂

 

Sorry, typo. Fixed.

[biostem]

On 8/11/2023 at 3:47 PM, Sheeshab said:

Can a macro be created that will select my boss robot and cast Tempral Selection, all with one button?

You can sort of do this, with the below:

 

/macro TSAB "powexecname temporal selection$$targetcustomnext alive assault bot"

 

The catch is that you may need to press the macro 'TSAB' 2 or more times, and if there are other living assault bots nearby, it may target them as well.  You could rename your Assault Bot and just replace that part of the command.

[Psyonico]

2 hours ago, biostem said:

You can sort of do this, with the below:

 

/macro TSAB "powexecname temporal selection$$targetcustomnext alive assault bot"

 

The catch is that you may need to press the macro 'TSAB' 2 or more times, and if there are other living assault bots nearby, it may target them as well.  You could rename your Assault Bot and just replace that part of the command.

Use pet_select_name instead of targetcustomnext and it will always target your own.

[tidge]

On 8/11/2023 at 3:47 PM, Sheeshab said:

I don't think it is possible but thought to ask.  I am currently playing a Robotics Master Mind.  Can a macro be created that will select my boss robot and cast Tempral Selection, all with one button?  I hate targeting the robot to cast the buff, and then losing my target I had previously.

 

If this can be done, what is the macro?

 

Thanks

 

Unfortunately I won't be able to give a complete answer; I did (one upon a time) set up a series of "bind files" (bound to the same key) that would:

1. Select the henchmen I wanted and then load the next keybind, such that the next press would... (goto 2)
2. Apply the single-target buff to my (now selected) target, and then reload the keybind such that the next press would...(goto 1)

This isn't a great system, because it is possible to have the binds "desynchronized" for what you want, because of power recharge times, missing henchmen, lag, whatever.

 

IIRC, in olden times (long before Homecoming) this was one of the mechanisms for sequentially applying buffs to each teammates on a team.... because some buffs didn't automatically hit all friendlies in a certain area.

 

A tangential comment: The "select" feature is one of the best reasons to give each henchman a unique name, as a targeting macro/bind can pick something you don't want to buff. I have a Defender with IIRC this (as a macro): target_name Dark Servant$$powexec_Name Spirit Ward

 

IIRC, this is the order because if If I don't have Dark Servant targeted, it targets the Dark Servant, if I do have it targeted it applies Spirit Ward. The weird thing I notice is that sometimes the power picks something like a Carrion Creeper Vine (not one of my pets) to target! So it's a double-click to apply the power to the pet.  I'll have to try changing it to pet_select_name!