#Are key-bind macros allowed?

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

dawn falcon
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We have never gotten hot key features for players to do actions quicker which has led to many players doing macro key assignments. Like auto scroll for large stacks, auto splits, and my personal favorite quick emote. 😂

I am quite open about my use of macros because I have never been told they aren’t allowed. They would quickly be obsolete however if smg simply added ways to do actions faster, like scrolling large stacks, attacking lines, hot keys for splits, press 3 to split 3 pres 4 to split 4 etc.

lethal kite
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Yeah some players lose just because they are slower than the others who use macros. If they just added quick action buttons or smt like that things would be easier and less stressful risk_miku

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Or automate some moves i guess

dawn falcon
knotty glen
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If Risk is genuinely meant to be a multi-platform game then I would argue that ways to give PC players further advantages over mobile players are unfair. To be clear I don’t think a PC player who does this is cheating as they are using the tools at their disposal but I do think the playing field isn’t level and this increases that problem. Or SMG can be clear they see this as a PC first game that mobile players can join but are disadvantaged.

lethal kite
tame gust
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Slightly off topic but the response I’ve usually seen as far as the speed difference between mobile and PC players:

The players want to even it out by the game increasing mobile speed.

SMG has said how they would even it out is by slowing PC players down. (Removing hotkeys).

lethal kite
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I dont think thats going to work pretty well

full wraith
tame gust
open mango
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What about a macro that lets me attack almost the same speed as using the enter key, but all I have to do is hold down a button on my mouse

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Since it really gives me no advantage, it should be allowed, right?

tame gust
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Under the current guidance, yes. Even if it does give an advantage its allowed. The only verbiage I have heard is its only not allowed if it "creates a negative experience for the other players"

open mango
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well, it barely gives me any speed boost

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it mostly makes attacking easier for me

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mostly a quality of life thing

tranquil cave
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i have a feeling its one of those things where you would never actually be punished for using because its not really effecting anyone else at all (if they can even detect it?). but rules are there so if for some weird r eason you did use macros that did somehow effect other people they could point at the rule and say 'well you broke it, not our fault'

tame gust
high knot
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I would say that having a macro that allows you to do something that I am not able to do IS creating a negative experience for me. I would agree that if Luci says it’s a no, then they shouldn’t be allowed to be used. It is creating an unfair playing field.

open mango
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Not sure because you didn't reply to anything

tame gust
# high knot I would say that having a macro that allows you to do something that I am not ab...

Your logic is pretty flawed. At the base level steam allows you to do things that mobile doesn’t. So if that was their definition they would have to disable hotkeys for everyone.

But regardless everyone on steam can use macros (if you have a computer you can do it). And everyone can play on Steam if they chose to. So basically everyone can use macros so you can’t say there’s something you are not able to do

open mango
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tbh if they ever disable hotkeys for all players, I will quit Risk

tame gust
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Yeah that wouldn’t be good for the game

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Risk was never designed to be a speed game. So having the game designed to where players can lose or mess up because they can’t do everything they need to do in 60s is ridiculous.

The turn timer’s purpose is to keep games shorter. So why not have a dynamic turn timer where you have less time if you aren’t doing anything, but if you are actively attacking you get time back. That way the game stays as short as possible, while still allowing players on all platforms to do what they need to do in a single turn

open mango
tame gust
open mango
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if you can get the Lightning Fast badge on Friends of Risk; you can

tame gust
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What are the requirements for that?

open mango
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You have to clear Command Base in 60 seconds

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one player has done it

tame gust
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Ok so only Cubli has that

open mango
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yeah that person

tame gust
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Yeah it requires Macros and hours and hours of practice. Not exactly feasible for the rest of us

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You can watch him do it on YouTube though. It’s pretty interesting

high knot
# open mango Well, it barely gives me any speed boost. Unless you're answering Truth's questi...

I was responding to the statement that Luci (on Reddit) said it wasn’t allowed. That being said I think you are comparing you using macros vs a PC user. I have a feeling Ace knows that I am a mobile user… so I was comparing the statement of the macro making you faster than a mobile user who isn’t able to use macros. That being said, I am in complete agreement with Ace on having the dynamic timer, where time is added if you are attacking and continuing to attack or “scrolling” troop counts when troop numbers are large enough…. And Ace and I don’t agree on much, so that must be a GREAT idea!

open mango
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Nah. Mobile players can just play games with 90 or 120 second turn timers. And us PC players can stick to 60 seconds.

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And anything that gives mobile players an advantage would suck. Because they are sometimes easy rank.

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Especially the ones that dont know to turn off camera animations

sturdy wing
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Can take my post on reddit however long ago with a pinch of salt - I don't think there's a full consensus on macros allowed or not which is why it's not reflected in our current fair play rules specifically - at the time it was posted it would've been approval from 1 person // whereas modifying game rules is more team-wide

tame gust
high knot
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Clarity is always appreciated.

hallow sparrow
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I don't think it make sense to ban macros as part of fair play. Asking people in your community not to use them, or tourney hosts telling folks that they'd rather not see it, on an honor system, seems like a better approach if macros were to manifest into a real problem

tame gust
open mango
tame gust
open mango
delicate ferry
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https://youtu.be/tqypOpAF28c?si=0Ncxi7LbfKS1uFDO This video states that third party software counts as cheating, which would include macros. The funny thing about this statement is that it's not part of the fair play rules

YouTube
SMG Studio
FAQ: How We Handle Cheating in RISK: Global Domination

Generals, it's time to set the record straight. Let's talk Cheating 🛑

RISK: Global Domination is all about taking risks and having fun. To those who wish to break the rules, we know and we take this very seriously!

For more information about RISK's fair play rules, read here: https://smgstudio.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/110000909...

▶ Play video
high knot
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Well, now that clarity is as clear as mud. 😵‍💫

tame gust
delicate ferry
tame gust
open mango
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I would say that a macro (for attacking) should be allowed just as long as you don't go a crazy insane speed with it.

delicate ferry
open mango
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My macro for attacking literally gives me zero speed boost.
It's just quality of life.

tame gust
delicate ferry
tame gust
delicate ferry
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No it's a feature added by smg to the steam version

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If you put a keyboard onto a mobile device the enter key doesn't work for example

tame gust
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Ok and the feature allows me to press buttons on my mouse/keyboard to do things

delicate ferry
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No the feature allows you to press specific buttons for specific purposes

tame gust
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Nowhere does SMG even say what the hotkeys are

delicate ferry
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A third party software would bundle those functions in most cases or automate them

tame gust
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I use nothing but my own mouse software

delicate ferry
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is your mouse software from smg?

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No so it's a 3rd party software

tame gust
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Again irrelevant. You’re trying to say I shouldn’t be able to use my mouse in the game

delicate ferry
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You should not use extra functions on said mouse yes

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you are fine to left right click and to scroll

open mango
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wrong

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oops didnt reply

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oh well

tame gust
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Well we can go back and forth on this all day. But you’re just a player like me. An SMG employee straight up said it’s not defined as cheating by them in this chat

open mango
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If SMG didn't want players to use macros then they would make it very clear that macros are not allowed

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I am very open about using a macro and tell people I use one quite a bit

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SMG can tell me not to use whenever they want
until then, I will continue using it

tame gust
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Correct. Trying to twist their own words to say something isn’t allowed when they don’t care is not a valid argument

delicate ferry
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This video linked above is the most recent smg statement about this topic.

tame gust
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Again you’re trying to infer based on some questionable wording they used. We have direct guidance right here

delicate ferry
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The video was published my SMG 2 days ago, so you just confirm my point

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It took smg about 3 month after the leaderboard split to actually adjust the fair play rules. So they might also lag behind in this regard

open mango
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When the person in that video said "3rd party software", they meant hacks (e.g. the software that lets you place unlimited troops). They were not talking about macros.

delicate ferry
tame gust
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They never once even mentioned Macros in that video. If they were addressing it they would have directly stated it

delicate ferry
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The way it's worded it also includes the steam overlay, because payments are processed with it

open mango
delicate ferry
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"using third party software that inferes with risk". If you click on purchase gems in the game it will throw you to the steam overlay. You are not Steam neither is SMG, which means it's a software from a third party, which means every time you click that you would break this definition of the rules that they posted.

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I doubt that you get in trouble for spending money on their game (with them at least), but I try to take such statements as clear cut as possible

tame gust
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That’s why you shouldn’t take FAQ videos as hard rules. The only published rules are Fair Play and TOS, not a FAQ video. And since nobody is getting suspended/banned for using macros or Steam Overlay we can infer that they are allowed. And since it was still a little unsure we asked SMG directly here, and we got the response that it’s not against the rules

delicate ferry
tame gust
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“It’s not reflected in our fair play rules”

sterile dust
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And even in regards to a macro which doesn't give you a speed advantage but does it at fairly the same rate I don't consider it fair that a person would have to do alot less work than I would have to do (get an attack rhythm) to output the same result.

sterile dust
tame gust
# sterile dust Although it not reflected in the fair play rules it also says that there is not ...

Here’s how I’m looking at it. If y’all want to impose a no macro rule on yourself…feel free. But SMG is not issuing suspensions or bans for using Macros. Nor are they saying directly that macros aren’t allowed. So to me that means players are free to use them.

IMO if you’re going to say that it shouldn’t be allowed because it gives an advantage allowing some players to not have to work as hard to attack, you better be playing on mobile lol. Because any use of hotkeys is a huge advantage compared to mobile

sterile dust
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My example was more so in reference to pc players as the mobile situation is already mucked up

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You can't use an example between pc and mobile as their is no way to compare them fairly, mobile will mostlikely remain to be slower for a long time

sterile dust
tame gust
# sterile dust My example was more so in reference to pc players as the mobile situation is alr...

Yeah I know you were just referencing PC players. And that’s the problem. You’re choosing to ignore the majority of the player base when deciding what’s fair and what’s not fair. If you’re going to say that something is against the rules, it needs to stand up to all aspects of the game. The way the rules are currently set up, I view it as, as long as everyone has the ability to use something should they want to, it’s fair. Any mobile player could play on PC if they wanted to. So anyone playing on PC is playing fairly by the rules. Same goes for macros.

All PC players have the ability to use macros. It took like 15 minutes for me to set up. You of course can attack the hard way by spamming enter and clicking, but if the other option is take 15 minutes or less to set up a macro, idk why you would.

So that’s why I don’t think saying “a person would have to do a lot less work that I would have to do” is a fair statement. You’re already putting in less effort than other players, and there’s absolutely nothing stopping you from putting in less effort yourself, other than your own choices

sterile dust
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And in regards to mobile I think it makes it even more unfair to them in a mobile v pc situation eliminating error for pc players as they try to attack quickly

tame gust
# sterile dust Okay, all pc players have the ability to ceate a macro, how many people know how...

Just because players might not know how to do something doesn’t make it against the rules. Most players don’t know the zombie pathing. Does that make it against the rules for me to use a zombie pathing map? It’s on the players to learn and not the game (or in this case the players who don’t know how) to make it against the rules.

And yes it does make it even more unfair to mobile players if you’re looking at it that way. But again the rules are set up in a way that those mobile players have the ability to play on a PC and use macros, so therefore it’s fair

sterile dust
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So therefore in your second paragraph your solution for mobile players is to effectively just buy a pc and "get good"

tame gust
# sterile dust So therefore in your second paragraph your solution for mobile players is to eff...

Do I think it’s right or fair? No not really. But that’s how SMG has chosen to do things so I’m not going to impose rules on myself just because.

Realistically I think it’s on the mobile players to ensure they are playing settings that are fair to them (90/120s turn timers or medium/smaller maps). Hopefully one day SMG finds a way to make attacking fair for everyone (my dynamic turn timer suggestion has always been a good idea), but until that day it’s not on the PC players to make sure they are keeping things fair

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^ and to be clear. I play on mobile quite a bit. Especially my 1v1 games

sturdy wing
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any mobile player could play on pc if they wanted
Not really, mobile gaming is a massive market because it's more accessible, cheaper to buy the hardware, and multipurpose - a lot more people can access a mobile game than a pc game in general

tame gust