<t>? <bt>?

[Mortanis]

I was wondering if someone could please explain to me all the different <t>'s that there are. I know that <t> means "target" and that <bt> means "battle target"...but I think that I have heard of other ones, and I'm confused to what they all mean and when one should be used over another.

Which kind is best in what macros? And what situations are best to use one over another?

Also, I've seen people use <scall> instead of the regular <call>...what's the difference, and why?

Forgive me for sounding noobish, but I've always just used <t> in all my macros, and I think it's time someone explain it all to me. I appreciate any help people can give me. Thanks.

 

[Galaika]

<stpc> gives you a pointer to cycle between all player characters then select one

<stnpc> does the same for npcs (inc. enemies)

<st> does both

<scall> is the same as <call> except that it doesnt vibrate the controllers of PS2 users

 

[Pompidou]

Using straight <t> macros can be difficult in situations where you're meleeing a mob and you want to target something else (to cure an ally for example). If your cure macro was a <t>, you'd cure the mob. Paladins with all <t> macros would encounter this difficulty. In situations where you have to lock on and also have targeting freedom, using <st> or a variation of such is your best bet. Jobs that don't need targeting freedom can just use the simpler <t>. The drawback to <st> is an extra button press or two, so it is a LITTLE bit slower.

 

[Vilurum]

And <bt> is very useful for if you're constantly targeting the wrong mob and creating adds ... and it's very dangerous if you already *have* two mobs claimed, because it'll just hit the closer one (or something like that), which might not be the one you intend to hit.

I'd recommend careful targeting, and avoiding <bt>.

 

[deathsvengeance]

I have 1 macro that is just /target <bt>

and all my other macros are /whatever " " <t> that way, in case of links or w/e where there's more than 1 red mob, I don't mistarget or miscast by having <bt> in all of my macros.

 

[Nibble]

..

all of my ALT+1 macros say /target <bt> somewher ein them
my thief 'pulling notice' macro says this...

/target <bt>
/p Enemy[<t>]Full Attack! <call>

if i target an enemy.. and i hit that macro.. it'll tell my party that im pulling the <t> target..

however..
if say.. i go to pull.. and a ranger pulls with me.. and we pick different targets on accident.. my <bt> will auto switch to his target (provided his arrow hits before mine).. keeps me from pulling links with 2 or more pullers in party..

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as far as what they do.. <t> is strictly the target you are aiming at..
<bt> is 'battle target' meaning the last target your party started fighting..
for example: if you fight a crawler, and an exoray links.. and your BLM or RDM sleeps it.. your /provoke <bt> macro will provoke the exoray.. because it was the last target engaged..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

as far as <scall> <call> and hmm. theres 1 more.. like <pcall> or something.. well anyhow.. <call> is rumble+sound.. <scall> is sound without rumble.. and the other one i forget is 'sound+rumble if they are within targeting range'..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i also want to add a little note..
Though many BLM's and RDM's think its easier to use <bt> in their magic macros.. DO NOT.. this is dangerous.. and stops your use of macros durring link situations.. in stead make a macro that says ONLY /target <bt>.. then make all of your other macros say <t>, this will stop you from switching from your puller's original intended enemy..

and for TANKS.. NEVER use <bt> in a provoke macro.. or i'll kill you.. if you need to split your hate for a link situation.. i recommend this..
for PLD.. provoke the original target, flash the link, invincible.. if you have no 2hr.. then provoke the original target, flash the link, and spam cure3 on yourself.. keep one voked and one flashed.. you'll keep hate indefinantly if you spam cures on yourself.. ive tanked 2x IT's at once using this method.. and never lost hate on either..
NIN's.. i recommend you provoke the link, spam element ninjutsu on the original target, and spam NON DMG ninjutsu on the link target (after its slept).. this way your elements can keep hate on the enemy that is awake, while your NON DMG DEBUFF NINJUTSU help keep hate on your link.. keeping mages free to cast sleep when it wakes up..

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anyhow.. long msg.. sorry.. if you read it all.. good friggen job!
if you have ADD like my honey Tep.. well.. i like bikes..

~nib

p.s. sleepy.. worked all day today.. if some of this message makes no sense.. email me at [email protected]

 

[Sethala]

Like others have said, putting <bt> in all of your macros is a very bad idea.

Anyway, here's all the different <> tags (for completion's sake):

<me>: Turns into your name.
<p#>: Targets party/alliance member #. 0-5 is your party, starting with the top (you) as 0. 10-15 is the top alliance party, and 20-25 is the bottom alliance party.
<t>: Turns into the name of whatever you're targeting.
<bt>: The "battle target". If your party is only fighting one mob, it targets that mob. Not sure exactly how it works if you're fighting more than one mob.
<ft>: Targets your NPC helper, if you have one summoned.
<st>: Brings up a little blue targeting arrow that you can use to target any PC, NPC, or mob. Can't be used in chat. Pick a target, then hit enter to continue with the macro. The arrow targets yourself by default.
<stnpc>: Same as <st>, but can only target mobs or NPCs. Targets the nearest mob or NPC by default (the same target you'd get if you hit F8).
<stpc>: Same s <st>, but can only target players.
<lastst>: Turns into the last thing targeted by a <st>, <stnpc>, or <stpc> command. Useful in macros. Example:
/ma "Cure II" <stpc>
/p Casting Cure II on <lastst>
If you target Bob with the Cure II part of the macro, the second line will become "Casting Cure II on Bob".
<r>: Becomes the name of the last person to send you a /tell - in other words, whatever name hitting ctrl+r would bring up.

Some notes:
<st> and similar commands won't change to anything if used in normal chat, it only does something when used with a command.

When chatting, if there's an odd number of quotation marks before a <> command, it won't change to anything. Example: if you say this to your LS...

Try using "Casting Cure II on <t>" in your macro

it won't change to anything. But, if you say this...

Try /ma "Blink" <me>

the <me> will be replaced with your name instead.

Also, try this for your pulling macro:
/p Pulling <t>!
/ra <stnpc>
/p <lastst> coming back to the camp!

You'll say to your party "Pulling (mob's name)", then the game will bring up the targeting arrow. Target the same mob again if it didn't target it automatically, then hit enter after you make sure everyone's ready. Then you'll say "(mob's name) coming back to the camp!" and pull it.

 

[Mortanis]

Awesome, you guys rocked!

Thank you all for the great info and helping me clear some stuff up. ^^

 

[Vilurum]

Default targets when hitting a subtarget macro:

<stnpc>, normal target is on a player: whatever you'd target by hitting F8.
<stnpc>, normal target is on a non-player: your normal target.
<stnpc>, you're not targeting anything: whatever you'd target by hitting F8.

<stpc>, normal target is on a player: your normal target.
<stpc>, normal target is on a non-player: you.
<stpc>, you're not targeting anything: you.

<st>, normal target is on a player: your normal target.
<st>, normal target is on a non-player: your normal target.
<st>, you're not targeting anything: you.

Translation: it'll use the normal target as the default subtarget if it matches type (stpc to players, stnpc to non-players, st to both). If there's a type mismatch (which includes not targeting anything), then stpc and st will default to you, and stnpc will default to the F8 target, or error if there isn't a valid F8 target (no non-player targets in front of you in other words).

 

[Mortanius]

Ok, I do have a little thing to say about <bt> tags. For my blm macros, I use <bt> on almost all of them. I think Sleep is my only offensive <t> macro. There's some general statements about <bt> tags I hear:

"NEVER use <bt> tags for spells, they'll get you and your party killed when you get a link." Right... only if you can't adjust quickly to situations. Only once have I ever had <bt> tags screw me up with links. And that was my first link ever using <bt> tags. Ever since then, I've been able to switch my methods and avoid hitting the wrong target.

"Well then you can't use your macros during link situations." Fine, no biggie. I can type all my spells manually, and fast enough that no one even knows the difference. On occasion, I just do it anyway because I get bored :wink:. I do have equip switches in some of the spell macros, but I also have seperate macros for just the equip swaps. So again, no loss.

"NEVER use <bt> for Provoke." I think I did change this from <bt> to <t>, but again I have no problems typing /ja Provoke <st> almost as fast as I can hit the macro. Or using alt-J and select the skill from the menu.


Here's my point: never say never. You can recommend not to use <bt> tags on spells (and I also highly recommend using <t> instead of <bt>), but don't say you should never use them; it's just not a problem for some people. I generally prefer <bt> over <t> for a lot of my macros, but I still recommend <t> over <bt> to other people.

 

[Fellina]

I generally prefer <bt> to <t> in my macros. If stuff really hits the fan, though, I actually have an "emergency" macro set just one up from my normal RDM set. Set #1 is all my normal <bt> stuff, but set #10 has almost all the same spells in the same spots, only with <t> instead of <bt>. This macro set only has 2 different macros from my main set, for the addition of Sleep 1 (in case 2 is resisted) and Sleepga.

Of course, I'm very conservative in what I put in macros, so that I don't have to constantly be swapping sets during normal combat. I have the essentials, everything else I usually have time to fire from the menu.

 

[Rones]

What's the commands for targeting alliance members? I always seem to forget that one.

 

[Galaika]

I use <bt> for all my macros that aren't curing macros (I use <t> and target party members with the F1-6 buttons for all my curing) or my BLM's sleep macro (<t> again).

In case of links, I just revert to using the menus rather than my macros. It isn't that much slower tbh, and nothing changer, the only 2 macros that I have ever made with a /p line in are my information macro and my sleep macro.

 

[Villarel]

What's the commands for targeting alliance members? I always seem to forget that one.

I believe <p11>, <p21>, etc.

 

[asanarama]

I thought I'd mention /targetnpc, which targets the closest NPC, mob, or object. Some folks use it for camping NMs, as part of a macro they spam when the mob is due to show up soon. There is also a less known one, and I forget exactly what it is, but it targets whatever mob you are tracking. Something like /targetscan perhaps. I heard about it, tested it, then promptly forgot about it since I rarely play rng or bst.

I also only use <bt> in one macro on each page, "/target <bt>". (Mine also happens to be alt-1.) The rest of my macros use <t> or <stpc> or <stnpc>. Using <bt> it in all your mob macros works great until you get an add; then it wipes out your party. I've seen it happen many times. I guess if you're careful that can be avoided, but in the heat of battle, not everyone always realizes there's an add.

The switch can occur very quicly too. One time, a party member's party chat line of his macro said he was casting Dia on the "main" mob, but later review of the log showed it actually cast on the add. Between the two lines of his macro processing, <bt> switched from the main mob to the add mob. Once the add got dia we couldn't keep it slept of course. We wiped.

 

[Vilurum]

<bt> should definitely not be used on any enemy-target attack that damages it, or especially gives it a DoT. Which basically just leaves <bt> as relatively safe to use for debuffs and not much else.

Sure, if you're *aware* you have a second mob you can switch to doing things manually or to another macro set. You might not notice, however. However, a /target <bt> macro accomplishes the initial targeting just fine if you're a little nervous about tabbing around, then you just use <t> for anything mob-related and <stpc> for anything player-related.

/targetnpc does the same thing as F8.

 

[Fellina]

*shrugs* I personally haven't had a single situation while playing where I didn't notice there was an add. Course, it's my job to watch for adds, since it's my job to sleep them, heh. But even still, it's usually pretty evident when you've got 2 or more mobs wailing on your group instead of one.

 

[Neyla]

I use <bt> for everything but Sleep II as well, which itself is also macrod in with Elemental Seal. For everything else in case of an add, I can type things in manually, though I might cast Gravity on the add if I think it's going to wake up before the first fight is over.

 

[Nibble]

..

i cant say any of you are wrong about your arguments for using "<bt>" in your macros.. however.. i dont have enough macro lists for all of my jobs.. each job has its own list.. and i play each job rather regularly.. so to have 2 macro lists for 1 job wont work for me.. if it works for you great.. but honestly.. isnt it just ALOT easier to use <t> instead of <bt>? its also safer IMO..

about the 'use ctrl+j if you get a link'.. well personally if im a tank.. and im provoking.. i do my inital provoke.. then sit in my CTRL+J screen to watch the countdown timers for each of my paladin's abilities.. once one is up i usually use it.. helps keep hate..

for my nin.. i do my intial provoke.. which the macro says this...
/ja provoke <t>
/wait 29
/echo >>Provoke Ready

using this helps me constantly know when my provoke is ready.. and when to use the macro.. i put the 'echo' in there because im always in my CTRL+M screen watching the countdown timers on my different elemental ninjutsu.. i dont want to miss my provoke just because im spamming elements..

on my rdm, im always in my CTRL+M screen also.. i'd also like to note that for every job that uses some type of magic.. i re-do my CTRL+M screen manaully.. put the spells i use at the top, in the order i should use them.. (though rdm has cure2/3 at the very very top followed by dispel, refresh, then my enfeeble slisted under).. if as a rdm we get a link.. i hit my 'sleep macro'.. which casts sleep then bind.. then i enfeeble the main enemy.. once those are all stuck to it.. i gravity the link, then toss up some stoneskin.. then put on a few enfeebls on the linked enemy..

anyhow.. 'never' is a good word to use in the case of macros.. you may not agree with me but, putting /ma Fire <bt> is definantly a 'NEVER DO THIS' situation.. even if you use CTRL+M durring link situations (i'd recommend getting used to keeping the ctrl+m screen open, its more efficient), anyhow even if you use CTRL+M, you may accidentally flip that macro.. then the link is awake and your toast..

i'd also like to point out something no one else mentioned.. which i forgot to mention myself earlier.. <bt> only works in alliances, if someone of your party was the last to engage the enemy.. so like.. if your in a 12 person alliance.. and they are pulling.. your /target <bt> macro will not work.. may want to use /assist <name> instead..

~nib

 

[Neyla]

I have a seperate set of macros for alliance because it's really not that hard to rewrite macro sets in when you change jobs. I have three macro sets for my RDM overall. As for <bt> being safe or not, I see nothing wrong with it since I'm the one in charge of handling links should they happen and I know what will and won't wake it up. I've partied with too many <t> users who have hit the wrong target because they're not paying attention to what they're doing. I'll sleep the first foul up if I can. After that, if you do it again I consider you a free meal for whatever you've pissed off. I was fighting in the jungles near Kazham with a BLM who Bio'd four lizards over the course of a couple hours. Deaths, of course, followed.