...and I became a psymet monk. The more skilled I became in psionics with psychometabolism, the more daunting it seemed to organize my psymet defenses.

Most psymet abilities lock into two of thee channels: Sub(stratus), Super(stratus), and Id. Each channel relies on its on balance, and has its own balance time:

Sub-- fastest
Super-- slower
Id-- varied based on ego

At first, I setup a simple, one-line alias to deal with each ability. For example setalias psiarmour psi super psiarmour. Then I acquired more abilities, I realized that another ability might require that channel, and I would need to concentrate psiarmour on another channel; therefore I setup another setalias psiarmour psi id psiarmour.

Can you imagine all the variations given six psionic abilities that lock into channels? Not only that, but the time and memory it took to individually manage each channel became more and more daunting (ps-- not griefing the complexity at all. In fact, I loved it).

Then I considered that although each channel-- Sub, Super, and Id-- has its own balance system, I could concentrate on all three channels at one time. So rather than first unlock one channel, then unlock another channel; concentrate on one channel, and then concentrate on another... I could unlock unlock and then concentrate concentrate.

Imagine the cost efficiency of completing a task that required four balances in half the time. Yup.

So I created my first macro (or alias under the Nexus system) to speed up the process. Consider the following:

Alias
clearmind

Group
psionics

Script
psi super unlock
psi sub unlock
psi id unlock

Given the seperate balance speeds of each channel, the slowest appears first and the fastest last. More or less, the three channels regain balance about the same time. Now, for a basic hunting alias:

Alias
psihunt

Group
psionics

Script
psi sub bloodboil
psi super regeneration
psi id enhancement spread

Consider setting up a differed combinations of psymet abilities for different given situations: hunting, warrior combat, mage/druid combat, etc. So you can clearmind and then reset all channels at once depending on the need.

I will give one last consideration-- the often overlooked celladjustment. Consider how it plays into the following alias script:

Alias
psifuel

Group
psionics

Script
psi id bodyfuel 4
psi super ironwill
psi sub celladjustment 1000
outr sparkleberry
sip health
eat sparkleberry
read scroll100497
introspection

Although I expend 4000 health (ps, my char has 5500 with buffs), my health rebounds almost instantaneously. Regaining 4 power means most power-based buffs have little net power expenditure; though it is a bit risky to use this in the "field" of combat.

Hopefully this document didn't expose any trade secrets of the psymet ability, but rather gave amateur coders (like myself) a way to think about alias (macros) for optimization.

It's actually pretty easy for me. I have a static unlock alias that clears everything, two aliases that lock in three channels for two specific situations, and one more for general combat that locks in sub and id, leaving super open for various things(Suspendedanimation in group combat ftw! ).

Right now I have three hunting combos, my bodyfuel combo, one defensive general combat, one offensive general combat, one for mages/bards/druids, and another for warriors/monks.

Don't have suspended yet BTW. Two psymet abilities away from trans.

During combat (TK) I have a series of macros for single skills, and various combos on macros. This means that during one-on-one combat I can call on various instant skills, or use a combo during group combat. Furthermore, I can use an instant skill then call the combo so that it basically replaces that channel in that combo.

e.g. acombo: psi super choke %1, psi id throatlock %1, psi sub trip %1.

Oh, and if it helps, the times for psichannels are as follows:
Sub : Four, always
Id : Varies according to current ego, normally 5?
Super : Six, always

EDIT: And psionics tends to mesh well with other skills. Don't disregard it!

Esano, you're correct for Id. It's 4 seconds at full ego, 6 seconds at zero ego. I assume it varies linearly.

No it's not.

Just did some testing. 5 secs at full ego, but I got up to 9 secs at 20% ego (878/4044). Didn't want to go much further down - I don't like burnout.