Questions on setting up pet command macros (No, I don't want to use keybinds).

[Seroster01]

So I remember back on live I had a little note file that I'd saved with a custom set of macros for pet control that I'd then further modify for the specific sets.  Having thought COH was gone forever, and not playing MMs in a while before that, I have long since deleted it.  I'd like to try re-creating some of them, and the primary reason why is Thugs.  Thugs obviously has the T3 pet being a melee attacker & the T1 & T2 pets are best used from range.  This part of the equation may have changed, but when I was last playing Thugs the Bruiser's AI was terrible, and to get ANY proper usage out of him you needed to manually command him to move into melee range.  This one seems easy to set, dragging the applicable command out of the Advanced Mode interface.  The one that I'm drawing a blank on how to set up is actually a macro that would move only the Punks, Enforcers, & the Arsonist around the battlefield (in order to set up the best angles for their cones & to try to keep the Arsonist out of melee).  Obviously I don't want the bruiser included in that cause he doesn't need to leave melee range.  As such, an all pet command wouldn't work out.  Anyone got suggestions?

 

I swear there were more things that I was thinking I wanted a macro for, but of course I can't remember them now.  If I remember any more I'll bring them up...

[Jeuraud]

Pet Commands

This page has all the pet commands.

 

I don't think you can string Goto commands together in the same Macro/Bind,

 

/macro PG "petcom_pow Call Thugs goto$$petcom_pow Call  Enforcer goto"

 

but you could give the five pets, names with the same three letters in their name,

 

/macro PG "petcom_name Pet goto"

 

and just those pets would follow the goto command.

 

[Redlynne]

The sheer quantity of commands you CAN be giving out to Mastermind Pets very nearly DEMANDS use of bind files ... if only for reasons of logistics.

• Tier 1 All
• Tier 1 Pet 1
• Tier 1 Pet 2
• Tier 1 Pet 3
• Tier 2 All
• Tier 2 Pet 1
• Tier 2 Pet 2
• Tier 3 Pet
• All Pets

Now combine that with needing to issue each of the following commands to them.

• Attack
• Goto
• Follow
• Aggressive
• Passive
• Defensive
• Dismiss

And just right there you're looking at 9 combinations of addressing your Pets multiplied by 7 commands to give to your Pets and you're already looking at needing 63 macros to hold all of that ... and that's not even including wanting to have quick ways to select a specific Pet as your $Target for buffing (Train 1 + Train 2) powers, which adds another 6 macros ... for a total of 69 macros ... for a FULL 7 TRAYS WORTH OF MACROS ... assuming you can keep them all straight in your head.

 

And if you want to be able to use macros to issue Inspirations to your Pets as well, there's another 7 macros multiplied by 6 Pets adding another 42 macros to your total ... meaning you're now up to 111 macros needed for all the commands you could be issuing to your Pets.

 

You only get 9 trays worth of 10 slots to work with.

 

When you can figure out a way to cram 111 macros (or the less functional 69 macros) into 90 slots ... AND still have enough slots left over for your other Primary, Secondary, Pool, Epic and Incarnate powers into the bargain ... um ... please post your solution.

 

 

 

So ... CAN it be done?

Well, theoretically speaking ... yeah.

 

Would it be WISE to do things this way?

Not really ... not when you can use bind files to do the job for you without cluttering up your power trays with tons of macros.

[Seroster01]

I mean, that's all very fancy but IDC at all about 99% of what you listed off & TBQH I think most of that 99% is a waste of effort.  Why would  I need a keybind specifically to put an individual pet on passive?  If I want  a pet on passive, I want ALL my pets on passive.  I also don't think individual attack commands are neccessary, since I can't think of any real situations where I want to split DPS like that. The inspirations & buffing bits might be useful, but even then I don't have enough buttons within easy reach to assign specific buttons for that when I can just use the mouse for it. 

 

Perhaps I've misunderstood how it works, but the reason I don't want to use the bind files is because I don't want to take my hand off of my mouse to use the numpad (TBH IDK how anyone could play like this...), and while I do have a Razer Naga, my abnormally short thumbs mean the only buttons within easy reach are the 6 at the "back".  With that in mind, there is no ergonomically efficient way for me to use the binds, since I can't reach all the keys they use.  All I really want, or could really even use well in this situation, is a command to move my T1 & T2 pets to a spot. 

Edited July 28, 2019 by Seroster01

[Neural]

1 hour ago, Seroster01 said:

I mean, that's all very fancy but IDC at all about 99% of what you listed off & TBQH I think most of that 99% is a waste of effort.  Why would  I need a keybind specifically to put an individual pet on passive?  If I want  a pet on passive, I want ALL my pets on passive.  I also don't think individual attack commands are neccessary, since I can't think of any real situations where I want to split DPS like that. The inspirations & buffing bits might be useful, but even then I don't have enough buttons within easy reach to assign specific buttons for that when I can just use the mouse for it. 

 

Perhaps I've misunderstood how it works, but the reason I don't want to use the bind files is because I don't want to take my hand off of my mouse to use the numpad (TBH IDK how anyone could play like this...), and while I do have a Razer Naga, my abnormally short thumbs mean the only buttons within easy reach are the 6 at the "back".  With that in mind, there is no ergonomically efficient way for me to use the binds, since I can't reach all the keys they use.  All I really want, or could really even use well in this situation, is a command to move my T1 & T2 pets to a spot. 

First, I agree that having the entire num-pad or similar tied up with pet commands is somewhat annoying, but that's because I don't like moving my hand from my mouse to the numpad and back.

That said, I learned about the individual commands because of the Behemoth Masters from the Circle of Thorns enemy group.   They have "Invincibility", which increases their defense quite a bit based on the number of foes that are around them.   If it's you and your boss level pet (Dire Wolf in the case of my toon), the Behemoth Masters get defeated quite easily.  But if you throw in your entire pack of 5 henchmen/pets, they take a lot longer and get a bit annoying.

However, for my playstyle (through level 44 at least) I have found that having the ability to individually tell a pet group to heel, and individually tell a group to attack is useful, and all 6 of those will fit in one power tray, along with some extras.  I'm sure that to completely master the mastermind class, there are uses for the other commands, but for my playstyle I've found that I'm not usually using "heel" unless it's for all my pets.

Since you're asking questions on the subject, this is an "FYI" in the category of "things I wish I'd known from the start" that you may or may not know:
1. /macro Dism petcom_all Dismiss

2. If you use the three buttons that the mastermind gets to command your all your pets, each button changes their stance as well, but it does not function intuitively:

-Press Attack = Pet stance is Agressive and pets attack your current target

-Press Heel = Pet stance is Passive and pets disengage from a fight they may be in

-Press Follow = Pet stance is... Agressive and pets finish their current fight and then be somewhat unpredictable.

 

Being that having your pets in Defense/Bodyguard mode is part of the mastermind playstyle guide on the wiki, I find this a bit annoying, however a work around is the following:

/macro Att petcom_all Attack

Using *that* "Attack" skill, will cause your pets to attack your target, but *not* go into Agressive stance.  They will remain in Defensive if you have chosen that.
(If anyone knows if the stance change issue with Follow is a bug or not, I'd be interested in knowing for sure, as maybe it needs to be reported?)

Again, maybe you know all this already, but I've spoken with a number of people who didn't, so figured I'd put it here for you or anyone else reading who may not.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2019 by Neural

[Redlynne]

I wanted to use the numpad for my bind files, but for whatever reason my game client wouldn't recognize the difference between the numpad keys and the number keys above QWERTY ... so I had to scrap that plan.

 

What I ultimately wound up using was a modification/extension of my Kheldian form binds.

• T Y U for Tier 1
• G H for Tier 2
• B for All
• Add shift to the above to address a single pet individually (so Shift+B for the Tier 3 Pet)
• Z X C for the Attack, Go To and Follow commands
• Shift + Z X C for the Aggressive, Passive, Defensive stances
• V for the Tier 18 power, programmed to automatically cast onto the highest Tier of Pet available at the time

There was some additional functionality built in beyond that in my bind files (which have continued to "evolve" with more playtime since I posted them), but that's the basic gist of the layout I wound up using.  It keeps everything within easy reach of my left hand on the keyboard such that I can rely in muscle memory to hit the right keys (with sufficient practice).

 

Side note, instead of using the more common WASD for movement keys, I instead "invert the T" so as to use WERD for movement ... with the E key being forward and using the W and R keys as strafe left/strafe right so as to do all my "driving" using the mouse and keyboard without needing to look down to see where my hand is.  On my keyboard, the F key has a raised bump at the bottom of the key for easy tactile feedback, and my index finger just naturally comes to rest on the F key while my middle finger sits on the E key of my keyboard for forward movement.  Doing this shifted my hand position 1 key to the right (from W to E) and therefore made access to an extra key to the right an easier stretch.  This means that I can reach from the tilde to 6 keys without looking at my keyboard while holding down the E key for forward movement, and can do the same with the F1 to F5 keys with little difficulty, making the 1-6 and F1-F5 keys the "prime real estate" for keybinds that address my power trays.

[chigiabelo]

On 7/28/2019 at 11:45 AM, Neural said:

...I don't like moving my hand from my mouse to the numpad and back...

There are fairly inexpensive gaming mice now that have a mini numpad under your thumb. Like the Utechsmart which retails for $30 or less.

[Sir Myshkin]

11 hours ago, chigiabelo said:

There are fairly inexpensive gaming mice now that have a mini numpad under your thumb. Like the Utechsmart which retails for $30 or less.

The Logitech G600 Mouse was literally marketed directly to City of Heroes players as its primary user base when it first came out (2011 to early 2012ish). Originally retailed $70, can get it on Amazon right now for $30-35. Has 12 initial (properly positioned) thumb buttons with a "g-key" that instantly swaps them to an alt option when pressed, and another button that swaps the profile of the entire mouse to an alt profile of bind options. It's possible to have 48 trigger thumb buttons on the fly. It was designed for Macros/Binds for games like City of Heroes (which at the time was really the only major game that had that much flexibility).

 

It's what I'm using currently actually, same one from the day they launched. I almost never click a power in my power tray.

[kelly Rocket]

I'd absolutely never be able to manage using that many thumb buttons. Especially in that layout. I'd be constantly clicking buttons when I didn't even mean to, because I'm a fingertip mouse user, which means I'm constantly placing pressure on the side of the mouse to grip it.

 

What I found worked for me is this cheap mouse from China: https://www.amazon.com/Programmable-Buttons-AFUNTA-double-speed-adjustment/dp/B016ZF77OA

 

It's not perfect... You have to assign keystrokes to at least four of those thumb buttons, can't just be counted as extra mouse buttons. But it works. The layout gives me a place to grip the mouse with my thumb without hitting a button, and the radial layout of the buttons makes it simple to memorize a directional "throw" of sorts, instead of a grid layout.

 

It's similar to the old Razer Naga Hex, but they don't make that anymore, and the newer Hex v2 has 7 buttons which seems very awkward to me.

 

If you're used to a very light mouse, you won't like it however. It's a bit hefty even with all the weights removed from it. But I'm used to an old Razer Mamba, which had a lithium ion battery in it, so I like the weight.

Edited July 31, 2019 by kelly Rocket

[WanderingAries]

I've only skimmed the thread, but I remember having either made or customized the existing MM pet powers in such a way where I'd have a handful of things they would do. It was for all pets, as so to keep them manageable. I remember their being a standard set I'd followed, so a look in the old forum guides would be something worth the effort to comb through. Hopefully PK will have something by year's end that we can all access (old forums) and make searching for these things easier.

[biostem]

Perhaps my playstyle is atypical, but I basically only use 3 binds/combinations of commands:

 

1. follow defensive

2. attack aggressive

3. goto passive

 

I could see having follow passive included in the list, if you're traveling fairly long distance across a zone and don't want your pets to attack anything, but that's about it.  I suppose a lot depends upon just how finely you want to control your pets and/or if you want to divide them up for some reason, but in normal play I just use the "attack aggressive" to sic them on one target at a time...