[how to use gunbits]



gunbits are the way you order your party members to move.
you can automate the party leader (the character you control) as well, making life somewhat easier.
however, you can only program up to 12 lines - each character starts with 2, and you have to licence the other 10 lines.
that, and gunbits all work in a while loop, so you have to strategically place orders around.
the higher up it is in the list of commands, the higher the priority to execute it.

there really is no "right answer" as to setting up a set of gunbits, as long as you think about the while loop.
you can also choose to turn on or off each of the 12 lines, to adapt to changes in battle conditions.
(like you're fighting and suddenly you see the giant elemental. amd wamt to turn all spells off!)

let's take my gunbit for balflear from around walkthrough 6 as an example.
at this point, i was using balflear as my main melee and sub-caster.

< my gunbits!)
on 1) one ally - phoenix down
on 2) ally near death -- high potion
on 3) one ally -- esna
on 4) ally whose hp is under 50% -- curada
on 5) party leader -- haste
off 6) one enemy -- firara
on 7) ally whose hp is under 70% -- cure
on 8) ally whose hp is under 80% -- protect
off 9) ally whose hp is under 90% -- regen
off 10) enemy near death -- poach
on 11) party leader's target -- attack
on 12) enemy targeting ally -- attack

(note for line 1: i didn't have "k.o.'ed ally" at this point in time.)
let's say i'm fighting a mob somewhere with vaan as the party leader and balflear and fran in the party.
what this gunbit will do for me is as follows:

line 1: anyone dead? if so, use the phoenix down. if not, go to line 2.
line 2: anyone almost dead? if so, use a high potion. if not, go to line 3.
line 3: anyone have a status anomaly? if so, cast esna. if not, go to line 4.
line 4: everyone's hp over 50%? if not, cast curada on the ailing one. if everyone is ok, go to line 5.
line 5: does vaan have haste? if it wore off, cast. if it's still up, go to line 6.
line 6: it's turned off. ignore and go to line 7.
line 7: everyone's hp over 70%? if not, cast cure. if everyone is ok, go to line 8.
line 8: everyone has over 80% of max hp? if not, cast protect on the guy with low hp. if everyone is ok, go to line 9.
line 9: ignore and go to line 10.
line 10: ignore and go to line 11.
line 11: if vaan is targeting an enemy, hit it. if he's doing nothing, go to line 12.
line 12: if there is an enemy hitting any of my party members, hit it.

the good thing about gunbits is that the characters will stop whatever they're doing and do something that has a higher priority.
so, if balflear and vaan were whacking the mob, and vaan unfortunately died from the mob's special attack...
balflear will stop whacking the mob and toss a phoenix down at vaan, then cast curada and haste on him.
and promptly after going back to whacking the mob, fran's hp went down to 2/3 of her max (good thing for that protect, or she woulda been hit harder!)...
balflear will stop whacking the mob again and cast cure at fran before going back to whacking the mob.

the bad thing about gunbits is that it's often hard for you to get the exact conditions you want (as you have to find or buy the conditions, as well as licence and buy the spells/attacks/items to use)...
...and it's hard for you to get them to cooperate with you once in a while.
like when you're surrounded by monsters that added to a mob, and you want to kill a couple of them... but the ai keeps curing because the hp is dipping down from getting hit so much.
that's when you trigger various lines on and off.
in the above case with the slimes, i would turn balflear's gunbit lines 3 and 5 off, and turn line 6 on.
that way, balflear would toast the area around him as long as everyone's hp is above 50%, and hw won't care about anyone's status anomalies (i.e. leave it up to fran to fix 'em proper) nor about whether or not vaan has haste.


i know i still got a lot to think about gunbits myself, but i hope this explanation helps at least a little bit :)