Ilya Muromets Chainsaw MKII (3x AC5, 2x MLas, AMS, XL290)

Ok, then I will get the Macro and give it a try.
Especially since i've elited it my Illya "feels" much better than before and having now adv. zoom helps too.
The last matches have been much more sucsessful than before.....(on low terms ofc)

 

Chainfire is a bit of a niche tactic, as its damage can only be slower and more spread than alpha strikes. It's up to your judgement and preference if you'd rather drop an enemy, or disrupt it with chain fire to save a little of you or your teammate's armor.

I'd use grouped fire against enemies who:
*Have a cored component or are showing a high importance body part that I should blow off ASAP (a Misery's gun side or Hunchie's hunch, for example).
*Are fleeting targets (poking from cover, or hitting and running).
*Are torso twisting properly while attacking thus making shots on valuable components fleeting.
*Are not even on the offensive, or looking to/capable of fire. No reason to shake a harmless cockpit.

If your target is none of those things, then consider chainfiring. Examples that come to mind are:
*When an enemy is shielding his cored CT, and chain-fire can keep him shielding and never returning fire (note: this will mean he will never show you his cored CT, and holding fire could trick him into showing his CT if he thinks you're off him). I'd probably go for the trick if I had fresh armor and no benefit to shooting his shield, and chain fire if I needed him not to shoot back.
*A hard engagement where there will be little cover limiting shots to reward maximized DPS (two mechs enter the thunderdome, only one walks out). The loss of DPS is minimized by engagement, and the damage mitigation of cockpit shake is maximized.
*Targeting a component so close to being destroyed it will only take one shot anyways, thus making alpha into a disadvantage.

I don't chain-fire my ACs much, because a new target is fleeting until proven otherwise by target info and reaction. And by the time target info comes in, you've been laying into your target for 4 seconds and you should have a soft spot on him wherever you were aiming, invoking my preference to pop the soft spot. I guess some people would say cockpit shake first, ask questions later to get the most mileage out of their armor. I find that giving the enemy a soft spot ASAP forces their hand, 4.5 seconds of Ilya DPS means a mech will be missing 90 HP from wherever you were aiming.