EXTREME ROLE-PLAY TACTICS- PICKSAY & PICKME MACROS

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

Hello! This guide is meant to serve as a quick link you can send to anyone who asks about picksays and ‘pickmes’ (which are just picksays, but for emotes.)

There’s not really anything on the wiki, given the ‘Guide to Macros’ page on the wiki just links back to Keybinds (literally a troll link), and has been ‘WIP’ for over 10 years.

WTF IS A PICKSAY?

A picksay is the name of a macro (macros are fancy hotkeys/keybinds e.g. you bind it to ‘J’)

You feed a bunch of phrases into a pool, e.g. “Hello.”, and “Salutations.”

The picksay macro then picks one phrase and makes your character say it or emote it.

Thus, in this case, your character will say “Hello.” 50% of the time, and “Salutations.” for the other 50% every time you press ‘J’.

If you didn’t use a ‘picksay’ macro, you’d have to bind two seperate ‘say’ macros, one for saying “Hello.”, and another for saying “Salutations.”, which takes up valuable hotkey space and also just feels awkward.

This lets you say a wide variety of things with just one button press, which seriously helps in a server focused on fast-paced combat. It’s also just nice to not listen to the same ‘GO GO GO!’ say macro spammed over and over. Variety is better for roleplay atmosphere!

HOW DO I MAKE A PICKSAY?

  1. Open up CM13. If you’re already in-game, good job!
  2. RIGHT CLICK on the top-most section of the game tab.
  3. CLICK on ‘CLIENT’
  4. CLICK on ‘MACROS’

You should now see this (Ignoring the shitload of already-present macros)

  1. CLICK on ‘NEW MACRO…’

You should now see this:

Awesome! Now, just select what keys you want to bind your macro to. In the example I’ve shown, I’ve bound it to CTRL+ 1.
That means, whenever I press CTRL and also press 1 at the same time, the macro will activate, and my character will execute the pick-say.

Simple enough, it’s like setting a hotkey.

Now, the command line is what’s actually important- It tells the macro what to do. It could be say, pulling rollerbeds for example. For this guide, we want pick-says, so that’s what we’re gonna do.

PICKSAY TEMPLATE

The template for all picksays follows this:

pick-say"[PHRASE];[PHRASE];[PHRASE]"

Your phrases can be any length, and you can fit as many or as few phrases as you want.
For example, this is a picksay for telling marines to push.

pick-say"CHARGE!;PUSH LADS, PUSH!; GO GO GO!; FALCONS, LET’S GO!; LET’S MOVE IT!; WHAT, YOU WANNA LIVE FOREVER?! FUCKING MOVE IT!; YOU CALL YOURSELVES MARINES?! FUCKING PUSH!; ADVANCE, YOU WORTHLESS MAGGOTS! ADVANCE!; CHARGE EM DOWN!; GET YOUR REAR IN GEAR AND LET’S GO!; COME ON, PUSSIES!"

What about saying stuff over the radio? That’s simple. Let’s say you wanna make one for those bastards in CIC who won’t stop hounding you to flank the hive with 4 marines.

(The prefix for the command channel is :v, so we need to put that in front of every phrase.)

pick-say":v With all due respect sir, go fuck yourself.;:v Yeah no, I’m not doing that, sir.;:v How about you take that order, and shove it up your ass?;:v Sir, are your parents siblings by any chance? Because that’s the stupidest god-damn order I’ve ever heard.;:v You may as well order me to press a gun to my head and pull the trigger if you’re gonna tell me to do that shit."

(If you use this you will be executed by firing squad for insubordination/desertion/sedition)

PICKME TEMPLATE

These are just picksays, but you add a *me in the front of every phrase instead.
These convert anything you say into an emote!

For instance, let’s say you want to have a bunch of emotes to use when you’re idling because you’re a ERP HRP neon floor-length hair goodie-two-shoes.

pick-say"*me twirls her finger in her hair absent-mindedly;*me giggles at a random thought.;*me sniffles a little.;*me stares into the ceiling, bored.;*me taps her foot impatiently.;*me sighs."

You can even combine emotes and text into the same macro, for example- a picksay for when you kill a stupid bug, and want to celebrate.

pick-say"YEAH! EAT SHIT, BUG! YOUR MOMMA’S NEXT!;PATHETIC. IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT, YOU ALIEN SHIT?;*me looks down with revulsion at the alien corpse.;GET SOME! GET SOME!!! GET SOME!!!;HOW’D YOU LIKE THAT, HUH?! HOW’D YOU FUCKING LIKE THAT!!!;*me spits on the xeno carcass, disgusted."

WHY USE PICKSAYS?

Now, why would you want this? Let’s think of a classic situation in-game.

Let’s say your character is the Squad Leader SGT Jakob Aaberg.

Jakob has a problem- He wants to lead his squad, but if he stops to type orders while shooting bugs, he’ll probably get capped or killed by the scary xenos!
Knowing that the ability to say orders without compromising his safety is crucial, he decides to make some picksays!

But alas, his first test of leadership comes…


Jakob’s squad is bald, and is fearRPing a single hivelord, much to Jakob’s chagrin. The hivelord is even resting, knowing the deltards are simply too scared to even shoot her!

BUT FEAR NOT! FOR JAKOB CAN SPAM HIS ‘PUSH’ PICKSAY MACRO OVER AND OVER TO INCREASE MORALE AND INFUSE HIS MARINES WITH A SENSE OF GREAT HONOUR AND BRAVERY!!!

SUCCESS! HIS SQUAD, INVIGORATED BY JAKOB’S AMAZING LEADERSHIP, TAKE THE COCKY HIVELORD DOWN!


But what’s this?! A prime berserker AND her prime healer drone girlfriend, AND the FUCKING QUEEN??? HOLY SHIT!!!

JAKOB ONLY HAS A FEW SECONDS! IF HE STOPS TO TYPE, HE’LL GET CAPPED! BUT- AS A LEADER, HE MUST WARN HIS SQUAD SOMEHOW!!! BUT WAIT- THERE IS A WAY!

YES! FOR JAKOB HAS EXPERTLY MASTERED THE ART OF PICKSAYS, AND MADE ONE SPECIFICALLY FOR WHEN THE QUEEN IS ACTIVE!!!

In a fraction of a second, Jakob has informed his men of the grave threat, and to withdraw!

The INCREDIBLE big brain move allows Jakob’s poor deltards far away from the resin fortifications, and fight on open ground! Fighting off-weeds in open terrain, the foolish prime xenos under-estimate the deltards and are slaughtered by AP rockets and AP gunfire! Success! Jakob celebrates with his victory picksays, a true testament to HRP.
Hark, even the CO has arrived to give his personal congratulations!

BUT WHAT’S THIS?! THE CO DOESN’T HAVE PICKSAYS??? HE’S TYPING OUT HIS 400 WORD ESSAY CONGRATULATING DELTA SQUAD BY HAND??? HE EVEN HAS HIS TABLET OUT!!! HE’S TAKING TOO LONG ROLEPLAYING, HE’S NOT PAYING ATTENTION!!!

OH THE HUMANITY! MARINES… THE MAJOR HAS FALLEN! JONES IS SLAIN!!! IF ONLY HE HAD USED THE ART OF PICKSAYS…

uhhh okay i dont know what the fuck I’m even doing anymore, what the fuck is this guide becoming???

goodluck and have fun using picksays guys

31 Likes

now that I’m reading through the whole thing I feel like this kind of becomes increasingly more schizophrenic the further down you go

how did this happen???

15 Likes

we love you no matter how schizophrenic you might be

8 Likes

Only Jamson Sack could make a genuinely good guide sound like an acid goop post. God bless, I’m THROWING DOWN SOME PICKSAYS!

6 Likes

This is what happens when He loses the SG roll.

6 Likes

the only good guide on the forums :joy:

5 Likes

Ah schizo posting… Still this is frankly a really good guide in all due fact.

4 Likes

Not the major doe jafoe :sob: :sob: :sob:

4 Likes

good enough to be the wiki

5 Likes

Finally I have something to link the occasional ‘How do I picksay macro’ mentorhelps to… Thank you, Salmon Jazz :clap: :saluting_face: :clap:

Real HRPers TAKE that risk… I once told a Private to turn on his armour light at the front and he responded with ‘WHAT?’ and got stolen by a praetorian. Genuinely horrific… I was in shock. I saw the name again a few rounds later so thankfully they didn’t ragequit CM-SS13 entirely due to that.. I probably would have.

5 Likes

I had to go and search discord for context because this guide never mentions what a picksay actually does. I was kinda thinking it just brought up a circle pick menu or a select menu for quickly saying something (If this exists that would be epic and awesome). Otherwise great hidden feature gem guide I’ve literally never heard of wtf. I’m replacing my basic say "MOVE MOVE MOVE!!! with it rn

4 Likes

I love this guide, I am deffently going to use it, top tier made.

But watching the slider on your macro list Samson.. is worrying.. how many pick say do you have? Alt+0-9 and Ctrl+0-9 and Shift+0-9 If you take a year break from cm and you come back to 30 macros how do you remember them all? I need a structured guide for that.

Would you recommend to use hardcore macro? Have 30 macro and one slur macro that get you perma banned to live on the edge? To spice up the cm life?

Edit: please tell me what picksay actually do than say macro? What is the difference

5 Likes

it picks a random message from the list and says it

3 Likes

Uh that’s a really good point actually I never actually say wtf a picksay does LOL

Kind of an oversight… I’ll edit it in, thanks guys!

2 Likes

A hardcore macro would be something truly HRP, a good example would be

pick-say “Proverbs 28:1, The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.;Leviticus 26:7, And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.; Psalm 144:1-2, Blessed be the Lord, my strength, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle, for he is my fortress and my deliverer.; Psalm 18:32-39, The Lord has girded me with strength for the battle, he has made my path straight, and those who rise against me shall fall beneath my feet.; Judges 7:20, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon shall strike down the oppressors, for his judgement is swift and his wrath unrelenting.; Psalm 23:4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil- for you are with me.; Matthew 10:34, Think not that I am come to send peace on Earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.; Revelation 6:8, And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.; Psalm 27:1, The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life: of whom shall I be afraid.; Jeremiah 20:11, But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail.; Isaiah 63:1-4, I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.; Joshua 1:9, Be strong and courageous- do not be afraid nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.; Psalm 118:10–12, Though they surround me on every side, in the name of the Lord I will cut them down.; Jeremiah 1:19, They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord.; Psalm 37:12–13, The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for He sees their day coming.;”

3 Likes

I understand now, oh holy.. wait..

So as CO during briefing… You could make RNG commands for the round. Make 10 or 100 picksay for each squad. So without any plans or thinking you run to brefing “good morning maggots! Today bravo will "use Picksay key for bravo” and alpha will do “picksay for alpha” so in the end of briefing i have to rp and somehow defend that the RNG orders i have given out will work?

/me starts to sweat of what I just said and look over the squads with a trusty look in his eyes.

Imagine the chaos, this guide feel.. forbidden

5 Likes

New nick name just dropped.

4 Likes

he only uses shift+1, i’ve literally never seen him use any other macro

5 Likes

Shift + 1 is actually just an example I made to test and show pugie that picksay emotes actually worked and i forgot to remove it afterwards

You’re probably thinking of CTRL + 8 which is
pick-say “*me begs for mercy pathetically!;*me kicks and flails wildly in blind horror and desperation!;*me wails and whimpers in despair!;*me waves their hands frantically, babbling and pleading in sheer terror!”

Also I hate you

6 Likes

I do not hate you. Why do you hate me? Is it the nickname and my constant attempts to get you banned from SG?

3 Likes