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hello, i'm "new" to this game and I play terran.
what hotkeys groups do you recommend ? Currently I use 3-x for main buildings to keep economy flowing and so I can check it quickly, starting at 3 because S for scv is most nearby the 3... I put all production buildings nearby each other and will jump the camera to one of them (currently I use 7, as that gets me to M fast...) ... 1-2 for special units, that I need to jump to. The armies I control with my mouse at the moment (minimap attack move). Should I change that? I did it differently at first... is there a best way? I heard there is, like for protoss since their probes are produced at P, you put main buildings near that hotkey (9,0), etc...
Thanks in advance, gero
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Japan11285 Posts
Technically there is no best way to hotkey. Hotkeying is about making yourself as comfortable as possibke while maximizing control. However there are some rules of thumb, like hotkeying armies. Terrans should elaborate more.
And don't forget, hotkeys can change in the course of a single game.
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yeah there is no fixed hotkeys, depending on size of army and how the game proceed you have to adjust and change on the fly accordingly
after the early game you do not hotkey cc anymore, use hotkey 4-7 for rax (or fact in tvp). once theres more buildings/larger army just use location hotkey
you need to use hotkeys to control army well, very important for terran.good control and mechanics makes a huge difference in outcome, or zerg (especially zerg!) and protoss can exploit your weak control and easily pick off units for free
in tvz its usually 1-5 for marine/medics (medics 1 separate group from marines), 4-6 for tank/sci vessel
tvp 1-5 for vult/tank/goliath (nice if vults are separate groups from tanks though not necessary), sci vessel can be anywhere but paired it with goliath for easy obs snipe
also 8-0 for comsat
not exhaustive you may have to use higher than hotkey 5 for units if needed
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On February 22 2016 00:49 gero00 wrote:
hello, i'm "new" to this game and I play terran.
The armies I control with my mouse at the moment (minimap attack move). Should I change that?
Thanks in advance, gero
Definitely change that! You need to have all your army (or almost all your army in the lategame) on hotkeys, like 3, 4 or 5 groups full of units. It gives you so much more control over your units, you can make them all move quicker and switch the screen to them quicker. Use different controlgroups for different units if you can (the numbers 1-2 for vultures, 3-4 for tanks, 5 for vessels/goliaths for example). Sometimes you can give commands to your units via the minimap, but most of the time you want to switch the screen to them and move ahead in smaller steps. Also: If there is no specific reason to do otherwise, always attack-move your units around on the map so that they don't walk into the opponents army or mines without fighting back.
- Some suggestions for Terran Hotkey Setups, definitely pick one that you feel comfortabe with and ALWAYS use that one (but feel free to change things later if you find a better setup, just always practice the same one)
- learn all the hotkey for units/buildings/abilities (like "o" for siege-mode) and ALWAYS use those instead of clicking the icons
- learn to use the Keys F2, F3 and F4 to switch between your 2-3 commands centers and your rally point quickly, also learn how to use CTRL, ALT and SHIFT, watch this helpful tutorial series by Scarbo
glhf
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4 cc, (can use 3 for 2nd cc until u have more units)
5-8 factories/barracks (maybe 4-9 sometimes too)
1-4 units (4 of course only later)
0-9 comsat (8 later)
http://i.imgur.com/O8ZRfdj.jpg
if buying units like 5x6x7x8x etc is not comfortable for you with one hand, do it with 5click6click7click8click
F2, F3, F4 for main mineral line, 2nd and 3rd mineral line i recommend, so that you can escape workers from drops fast and for buying and sending workers faster.
now i shouldn't mention that you should mostly only buy things by hotkeys, and you do this by spamming your main buildings all the time, this way u see when to buy and you can micro meanwhile.
and spam units all the time too, this way you won't die them.
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very interesting, I didn't think you would change hotkeys on the fly isn't that confusing for habits. I will try all the stuff here.
At the momend I wonder, why do you lose the hotkeys for CCs?
Is training units by clicking on the buildings one after another not recommended? (of course use the unit hotkey) I assumed this would be ok especially since you will have starport or more than 5 facs and thusly not enough group hotkeys anyways? I think I once saw a korean (nada?) train tanks by clicking on the buildings with his mouse..
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I use what I would believe to be a strange system, but it's rather comprehensive and fits all matchups.
[1234567890] for cc at the beginning, then begin to overwrite them as the game progresses.
[1] first units (marine(s))
[2] scouting scv
[3] first rax
[4] second rax or first fac
[5] always main cc
[6] first expansion cc
[7] second expansion/harrassment units
[8] dropship or comsat
[9] natural comsat
[0] main comsat
Then as the game progesses, for instance in TvZ,
[1][2][3] marine/medic
[4] tanks
[5] vessels
[6][7] factories or starports
[8][9][0] comsats
Always using F4 as my main production, F3 on production rally point outside base, F2 on aggressive rally point.
Switching all rax or factories to a new location is pretty quick, just
F4 -> select building -> F2 -> right click -> F4 -> repeat for all buildings needed.
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Well i'd say the best is to keep 1 good system and only change parts of it that are neccessary for the actual game. This way you will keep the habit but also adapt to the circumstances.
You lose the hotkey for CCs because there is only 10 hotkeys but much more stuff to use. So you should use it for something else once you don't need to make more scvs.
Training units by clicking on buildings is only recommended after there are too many buildings (more than how many hotkeys you have for it).
Just try to use logic. Once your muscle memory has learned to use the hotkeys, it's faster to use hotkeys than to move the mouse. And faster is better in bw. It's also more effective because by spamming you can see the state of the production. So in early and middle game you can macro much better/faster using hotkeys only.
Later on when there are more training facilites (6-7+) than how many free hotkeys you have, you should switch to a mixed way, ideally meaning..:
TvP, TvT: use hotkeys for addon factories for buying tanks, and manually buy vults/goliaths.
TvZ: once there are too many units use 1 hotkey for 1 barracks to jump back (and possibly 1 hotkey for fact and 1 for starport etc.)
Of course if you have like 6 group of units that you need to use on hotkey at the time (sometimes its needed) then you don't neccessarily have to use a hotkey for buildings but it might be useful to keep 1 for buliding and 3 comsats.
I could go into much more details but i don't know your level and those might be only useful for higher lvl of play.
But i think it's worth to find out your hotkey system in advance and practice it from the beginning so later on when you are better you don't have to change it (its much more difficult).
Thats why i advised the system i wrote, because i think it serves the mentioned (and other) ideas the most logically. See these visual examples of different systems:
http://i.imgur.com/P3g8wLh.png
here u can see the benefit of 4cc instead of 3 - you can use 3 hotkey for units while monitoring scv and factories too, providing chance for high level micro and macro -> that is one reason Fantasy was so good.
http://i.imgur.com/T97dzZu.png
same system for tvz
http://i.imgur.com/hPGY0EK.png
http://i.imgur.com/1U3cPhB.png
Light's rax-fact-port usage in TvZ
as u can see he uses 2 ccs starting with 3, with the negative effect of only being able to use 2 hotkeys for units for some time.
now of course it also depends on your style or how you like to do things, for example here is this hotkey:
http://i.imgur.com/ezANDT8.png
he clearly could've used 3 for units or for something so in this game for him 3 cc 4-5etc facts wouldve been better but probably in other games he uses more units so thats why he keeps doing it like this because it's not so easy to just change the complete system.
http://i.imgur.com/rMwYVpB.png
Flash and many others use like that.
There are many terrans who use 3-4-5-6-7 for factories - therefore they only have 2 hotkey for units if they want to keep macroing (from hotkey). A prime example is Nada
http://i.imgur.com/knYTC7P.png
as u can see he uses 6 factory from hotkey to macro which is why it's strange that you told him as an example of macroing with the mouse. You can even see the drawback of 3--- bulindings - once he wants to use 3 control groups of units it stops his hotkey macro (where the arrow is). Also he has to regroup his comsats cause he ran out of energy and not enough hotkeys (circled).
So all in all you can see that what is common in these good systems is that all use hotkeys for unit control AND macro and comsats at the same time, just different ways. I think the 4cc 5-production facility system is the most logical and adaptable but it depends on your taste.
So for example your hopefully old hotkey is a shitty hotkey because you don't use enough hotkey for units. The comment posted above me is also shitty because it only uses 1 or 2 hotkey for factory macro, which is not enough. Its funny that you specifically asked for the best and he just wrote his own. Whatever he probably still can beat me with it so... meh. Also there are progamers using shitty hotkeys. [allright i should call these suboptimal] So many things can work well if the player got used to it well.
Check your hotkeys in bwchart by clicking Hot Key selection in the top right corner and it helps analizing.
If you want even more in depth analysis i can provide but i dont want to waste my time if you don't take my word in the end
-_-
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On February 24 2016 08:02 zimp wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Well i'd say the best is to keep 1 good system and only change parts of it that are neccessary for the actual game. This way you will keep the habit but also adapt to the circumstances. You lose the hotkey for CCs because there is only 10 hotkeys but much more stuff to use. So you should use it for something else once you don't need to make more scvs. Training units by clicking on buildings is only recommended after there are too many buildings (more than how many hotkeys you have for it). Just try to use logic. Once your muscle memory has learned to use the hotkeys, it's faster to use hotkeys than to move the mouse. And faster is better in bw. It's also more effective because by spamming you can see the state of the production. So in early and middle game you can macro much better/faster using hotkeys only. Later on when there are more training facilites (6-7+) than how many free hotkeys you have, you should switch to a mixed way, ideally meaning..: TvP, TvT: use hotkeys for addon factories for buying tanks, and manually buy vults/goliaths. TvZ: once there are too many units use 1 hotkey for 1 barracks to jump back (and possibly 1 hotkey for fact and 1 for starport etc.) Of course if you have like 6 group of units that you need to use on hotkey at the time (sometimes its needed) then you don't neccessarily have to use a hotkey for buildings but it might be useful to keep 1 for buliding and 3 comsats. I could go into much more details but i don't know your level and those might be only useful for higher lvl of play. But i think it's worth to find out your hotkey system in advance and practice it from the beginning so later on when you are better you don't have to change it (its much more difficult). Thats why i advised the system i wrote, because i think it serves the mentioned (and other) ideas the most logically. See these visual examples of different systems: http://i.imgur.com/P3g8wLh.pnghere u can see the benefit of 4cc instead of 3 - you can use 3 hotkey for units while monitoring scv and factories too, providing chance for high level micro and macro -> that is one reason Fantasy was so good. http://i.imgur.com/T97dzZu.pngsame system for tvz http://i.imgur.com/hPGY0EK.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/1U3cPhB.pngLight's rax-fact-port usage in TvZ as u can see he uses 2 ccs starting with 3, with the negative effect of only being able to use 2 hotkeys for units for some time. now of course it also depends on your style or how you like to do things, for example here is this hotkey: http://i.imgur.com/ezANDT8.pnghe clearly could've used 3 for units or for something so in this game for him 3 cc 4-5etc facts wouldve been better but probably in other games he uses more units so thats why he keeps doing it like this because it's not so easy to just change the complete system. http://i.imgur.com/rMwYVpB.pngFlash and many others use like that. There are many terrans who use 3-4-5-6-7 for factories - therefore they only have 2 hotkey for units if they want to keep macroing (from hotkey). A prime example is Nada http://i.imgur.com/knYTC7P.pngas u can see he uses 6 factory from hotkey to macro which is why it's strange that you told him as an example of macroing with the mouse. You can even see the drawback of 3--- bulindings - once he wants to use 3 control groups of units it stops his hotkey macro (where the arrow is). Also he has to regroup his comsats cause he ran out of energy and not enough hotkeys (circled). So all in all you can see that what is common in these good systems is that all use hotkeys for unit control AND macro and comsats at the same time, just different ways. I think the 4cc 5-production facility system is the most logical and adaptable but it depends on your taste. So for example your hopefully old hotkey is a shitty hotkey because you don't use enough hotkey for units. The comment posted above me is also shitty because it only uses 1 or 2 hotkey for factory macro, which is not enough. Its funny that you specifically asked for the best and he just wrote his own. Whatever he probably still can beat me with it so... meh. Check your hotkeys in bwchart by clicking Hot Key selection in the top right corner and it helps analizing. If you want even more in depth analysis i can provide but i dont want to waste my time if you don't take my word in the end -_-
Great post! I don't know if it helped the OP but it certainly helped me, thank you. Can you elaborate on what else is there to know that you didn't say? I haven't played in a while but you made me curious.
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EX) Scan's Hotkey
[1] scouting/harassment army/MORE ARMY/dropship
[2] main army
[3] alternative main army
[4] cc/more army
[5] macro building/more army/harassment army(late game)
[6] macro building/comsat
[7] macro building/dropship(against zerg)/comsat
[8] macro building/3rd cc/comsat
[9] 2nd cc/comsat
[0] cc/comsat
[F2] Main/macro building
[F3] 2nd base
[F4] rally point
Rally point screen is very helpful since terran requires a lot od keys to be hotkeyed. Especially in FS, once you get the position of your bridge, you need to change your buildings' rally points to there, and you also do not want the enemy to take that position to choke your throat.
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On February 24 2016 08:46 Scarbo wrote:Show nested quote +On February 24 2016 08:02 zimp wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Well i'd say the best is to keep 1 good system and only change parts of it that are neccessary for the actual game. This way you will keep the habit but also adapt to the circumstances. You lose the hotkey for CCs because there is only 10 hotkeys but much more stuff to use. So you should use it for something else once you don't need to make more scvs. Training units by clicking on buildings is only recommended after there are too many buildings (more than how many hotkeys you have for it). Just try to use logic. Once your muscle memory has learned to use the hotkeys, it's faster to use hotkeys than to move the mouse. And faster is better in bw. It's also more effective because by spamming you can see the state of the production. So in early and middle game you can macro much better/faster using hotkeys only. Later on when there are more training facilites (6-7+) than how many free hotkeys you have, you should switch to a mixed way, ideally meaning..: TvP, TvT: use hotkeys for addon factories for buying tanks, and manually buy vults/goliaths. TvZ: once there are too many units use 1 hotkey for 1 barracks to jump back (and possibly 1 hotkey for fact and 1 for starport etc.) Of course if you have like 6 group of units that you need to use on hotkey at the time (sometimes its needed) then you don't neccessarily have to use a hotkey for buildings but it might be useful to keep 1 for buliding and 3 comsats. I could go into much more details but i don't know your level and those might be only useful for higher lvl of play. But i think it's worth to find out your hotkey system in advance and practice it from the beginning so later on when you are better you don't have to change it (its much more difficult). Thats why i advised the system i wrote, because i think it serves the mentioned (and other) ideas the most logically. See these visual examples of different systems: http://i.imgur.com/P3g8wLh.pnghere u can see the benefit of 4cc instead of 3 - you can use 3 hotkey for units while monitoring scv and factories too, providing chance for high level micro and macro -> that is one reason Fantasy was so good. http://i.imgur.com/T97dzZu.pngsame system for tvz http://i.imgur.com/hPGY0EK.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/1U3cPhB.pngLight's rax-fact-port usage in TvZ as u can see he uses 2 ccs starting with 3, with the negative effect of only being able to use 2 hotkeys for units for some time. now of course it also depends on your style or how you like to do things, for example here is this hotkey: http://i.imgur.com/ezANDT8.pnghe clearly could've used 3 for units or for something so in this game for him 3 cc 4-5etc facts wouldve been better but probably in other games he uses more units so thats why he keeps doing it like this because it's not so easy to just change the complete system. http://i.imgur.com/rMwYVpB.pngFlash and many others use like that. There are many terrans who use 3-4-5-6-7 for factories - therefore they only have 2 hotkey for units if they want to keep macroing (from hotkey). A prime example is Nada http://i.imgur.com/knYTC7P.pngas u can see he uses 6 factory from hotkey to macro which is why it's strange that you told him as an example of macroing with the mouse. You can even see the drawback of 3--- bulindings - once he wants to use 3 control groups of units it stops his hotkey macro (where the arrow is). Also he has to regroup his comsats cause he ran out of energy and not enough hotkeys (circled). So all in all you can see that what is common in these good systems is that all use hotkeys for unit control AND macro and comsats at the same time, just different ways. I think the 4cc 5-production facility system is the most logical and adaptable but it depends on your taste. So for example your hopefully old hotkey is a shitty hotkey because you don't use enough hotkey for units. The comment posted above me is also shitty because it only uses 1 or 2 hotkey for factory macro, which is not enough. Its funny that you specifically asked for the best and he just wrote his own. Whatever he probably still can beat me with it so... meh. Check your hotkeys in bwchart by clicking Hot Key selection in the top right corner and it helps analizing. If you want even more in depth analysis i can provide but i dont want to waste my time if you don't take my word in the end -_- Great post! I don't know if it helped the OP but it certainly helped me, thank you. Can you elaborate on what else is there to know that you didn't say? I haven't played in a while but you made me curious.
The details would be mostly about how to change a specific hotkey system's parts in certain situations to ideally utilize maximum efficiency. The more time 10 hotkeys are used, the better. How to use more hotkeys for training facilities when needed (doing a timing attack for example). How to use more hotkeys for buildings in general, and for tech buildings. How to use hotkeys for buildings even when there are a lot of units. How to hotkey units.and special units. How to use the hotkeys themselves. Also a lot can be said about how to use F keys.
But its just logic so anyone can find out good solutions if they take the time to conscoiusly think about it and then practice it.
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Remember to use either F2, F3, or F4 for your barracks or factories later on, once you don't have enough hotkeys left over for buildings.
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I don't need more indepth advise at the moment (thanks @zimp), that's enough for now which I have to process also and make experience. The comparisons are surely very interesting, the choice is big. The text you wrote is surely not wasted, I studied the comparisons and I bookmarked it.
So far I tried the 5-8 for production "system". It's fairly slow at the moment with left hand only, but I see its capability of a very fast production once the adapted habit kicks in. since 5t6t(v)7v8v uses thumb for v it's of course new to me. By the way in terms of adaption I could imagine using 5 for the factory near other addon factories to check tank production with that one hotkey, while vulture-facs 678 are on hotkeys all the time, since 5t uses two fingers but 6t requires the pointer to be used twice (which is much slower) - but that's just a thought.
@zimp post11 Apart from logics I think a (your) big experience on how well the new solution - of hotkeying in certain situations - can be handled plays a big role. But its just logic so anyone can find out good solutions if they take the time to conscoiusly think about it and then practice it. " anyone" can, but the result and the time it takes is different, I suppose
@vodtoast I got recommended to use those for mineral lines against harrass and for transferring worker quickly.
ps I'm not versed in abbreviations if some of you adressed me anyway. fs...
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On February 28 2016 03:38 gero00 wrote:
I don't need more indepth advise at the moment (thanks @zimp), that's enough for now which I have to process also and make experience. The comparisons are surely very interesting, the choice is big. The text you wrote is surely not wasted, I studied the comparisons and I bookmarked it.
So far I tried the 5-8 for production "system". It's fairly slow at the moment with left hand only, but I see its capability of a very fast production once the adapted habit kicks in. since 5t6t(v)7v8v uses thumb for v it's of course new to me. By the way in terms of adaption I could imagine using 5 for the factory near other addon factories to check tank production with that one hotkey, while vulture-facs 678 are on hotkeys all the time, since 5t uses two fingers but 6t requires the pointer to be used twice (which is much slower) - but that's just a thought.
@zimp post11 Apart from logics I think a (your) big experience on how well the new solution - of hotkeying in certain situations - can be handled plays a big role.
@vodtoast I got recommended to use those for mineral lines against harrass and for transferring worker quickly.
ps I'm not versed in abbreviations if some of you adressed me anyway. fs...
You can do 6t by rolling your finger or by sliding it, which is faster than pressing 6, lifting the finger and then pressing t.
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that made my day, good. I hope it doesn't hurt the keyboard too much! *,*
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On February 22 2016 03:47 zimp wrote:
if buying units like 5x6x7x8x etc is not comfortable for you with one hand, do it with 5click6click7click8click
i meant the mouse here, so pressing numbers on the keyboard and buying by clicking on the icon. its very fast too, some progamers use it as well (Midas for example i think)
as for F keys, i agree that somehow the rally point should be on F key in some stages of the game.
Sadly there is only 3 so probably the best is to change the use throughout the game.
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On February 28 2016 03:38 gero00 wrote:I don't need more indepth advise at the moment (thanks @zimp), that's enough for now which I have to process also and make experience. The comparisons are surely very interesting, the choice is big. The text you wrote is surely not wasted, I studied the comparisons and I bookmarked it. So far I tried the 5-8 for production "system". It's fairly slow at the moment with left hand only, but I see its capability of a very fast production once the adapted habit kicks in. since 5t6t(v)7v8v uses thumb for v it's of course new to me. By the way in terms of adaption I could imagine using 5 for the factory near other addon factories to check tank production with that one hotkey, while vulture-facs 678 are on hotkeys all the time, since 5t uses two fingers but 6t requires the pointer to be used twice (which is much slower) - but that's just a thought. @zimp post11 Apart from logics I think a (your) big experience on how well the new solution - of hotkeying in certain situations - can be handled plays a big role. Show nested quote +But its just logic so anyone can find out good solutions if they take the time to conscoiusly think about it and then practice it. " anyone" can, but the result and the time it takes is different, I suppose @vodtoast I got recommended to use those for mineral lines against harrass and for transferring worker quickly. ps I'm not versed in abbreviations if some of you adressed me anyway. fs...
Use two for mineral lines, and one for your factories.
They may have told you not to use an F key for production, but I am telling you to do it and I know better than they do.
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I usually have F2, 3 and 4 for main/exp/2nd exp ealy game. Once I get scv saturation and abit more production buildings I'll switch to F2 main, F3 rally point and F4 production area. In matchups with no early 3rd, (tvz) I keep f4 on production at all times basically.
However, I got used to ctrl 2 for main CC and ctrl 3 for exp CC very early and it's sooooo hard to change it now that I realize it's alot better to have main cc on 3 or 4. I actually still keep main cc on 2 and my first 2 unit groups on 1 and 3 just because I can't get un-used to my hotkeys hehe...
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On February 28 2016 09:31 StylishVODs wrote:
I usually have F2, 3 and 4 for main/exp/2nd exp ealy game. Once I get scv saturation and abit more production buildings I'll switch to F2 main, F3 rally point and F4 production area. In matchups with no early 3rd, (tvz) I keep f4 on production at all times basically.
However, I got used to ctrl 2 for main CC and ctrl 3 for exp CC very early and it's sooooo hard to change it now that I realize it's alot better to have main cc on 3 or 4. I actually still keep main cc on 2 and my first 2 unit groups on 1 and 3 just because I can't get un-used to my hotkeys hehe...
that is a common problem that many players, even progamers have.
i think mass spamming can help to get used to new habits. and a lot of playing...
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Yes (post #18, #19), IR ealized that aswell when trying the suggestions here, thanks again for those. For me it is extremely hard to change these habits on the fly. That'sw hy I put these ideas on my -do later list.
I found that I learn alot faster by just having one hotkey setup throughout the game. (so changing hotkey setups within one game is a very advanced technique from my view).
Hence I started the thread, you might be interested in what I concluded to and am using with satisfying gameplay - fun and improvement, not pro  - at the moment:
F2 main (scv, depot, tech)
F3 newest expansion (scv, transfers)
F4 rally (quickly get the reinforcements AND alt+c = as quick of a rerally as using another camera)
1-5 Army
6 production building (either barracks or factory)
7 special production building or tech (starport)
8-0 scan
Of course it is not optimal since you are not swapping the hotkeys, for instance with 3 bases one base doesn't have an scv emergency camera. But for me having this one habit at my current level is the personal-optimal, while still being capable of doing everything in every stage.
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They've already given really good advice.
Watch some Pro FPVODs to get an idea of different styles. Some like to keep their eyes on the action and macro off of hotkeys, but this leaves them with fewer unit-control hotkeys. Meaning they need to box more, and can't sort their control-groups by unit-type.
While most pros seem to set them at their town halls, I prefer to use location-keys for macro and rallies etc.
F2 macro
F3 rally
F4 forward rally
One thing Scan mentioned, which I think is really important, is having a dedicated hotkey for drops (using '7'). You could also use that for buildings researching key upgrades, like Stim if you're doing a bust, or +1 etc.
Spread-out the rally-points slightly, and you'll have an easier time picking and sorting units. I prefer to sort my units when I box them:
TvZ MnM
1Vessels + tanks
2Medics
3-4-5 Marines
TvX Mech
1Wraiths/Tanks
2Tanks/Gol/Vult
3Vult
4Vult
The disposable units get allocated to higher-number hotkeys. Keeping them sorted means you can stim, lay mines, and siege-up much quicker. The alternate way to input the same command would be:
Box-select
Ctrl-click on Tank unit icon
Siege
In terms of efficiency, it's faster and more accurate to Ctrl-select rather than double-click.
Lastly, be ergonomic with the way you press the left Ctrl key (a.k.a. 'Palming'). It's easier to do on normal keyboards than on flat (laptop) keyboards. Use the joint at the base of your pinky finger to press down Ctrl, rather than having to bend your thumb under or you pinky around. This relieves a lot of hand-soreness and carpal-tunnel. Remember, you can also use your left thumb on the right Ctrl key to set the higher-number hotkeys (e.g. Scans).
Have fun! And if you're starting playing as Terran, prepare to be frustrated at lower-levels. My first mistakes were to think Marines, Tanks (and even bunkers) were more fragile than they actually are, I forgot to pump SCVs into the midgame. When a base is under attack, it's worth it to save the SCVs!
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Nice to see s.b. who asked for advice giving some feedback how it went, sometimes they just disappear and leave us behind, doubtful if it was even worth trying to help (ye, I'm pointing at you "Interested in playing at high lvl"-thread-person).
I think this setup looks good and you will be able to elaborate it time after time, whenever you feel the need.
I read that you use alt-c, so i guess you also know about shift and about the other applications of ctrl. If you're not used to them I'd recommend to work on that as a next step. Once you're used to them they let you rearrange and control your armies much better.
Then there's a lot of room to refine your ctrl-group-setups. I for example didn't even use 7 at first, or very sporadically. Then I used it to hotkey more rax/factories earlier in the game, then I started to use it for extra-vultures or dropships in the mid-/lategame.
You might want to practice to put 4,5 or even 6 factories on individual hotkeys for certain timing-pushes and produce units like 4t5t6v7v8v. Same in TvZ for marines 4m5m6m7m. Your army only consists of 2-3 control-groups in these situations oftentimes and with that method, you can control it 100% of the time and even advance rally-points on the fly.
Especially in the early-game/early-midgame there are many situations that occur game after game that can be optimized by continuously changing the army-hotkeys in the same way every game, for example for scouts, harrassment-units, key-units for certain maneuvers like taking the natural, taking the 3rd.
But you're also right to not overdo the refinement too early or you end up with great mechanics but bad understanding of what to do with them (sigh....).
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Yes you are right, I haven't looked very deeply into any timing pushes just general strategy and thusly I have a bad understanding on what to do with all of the suggestions here and chose the general macro setup. However I tested the 5678 production and it is really really cool and smooth. From my setup I think I can (relativly) easy adapt to it (or maybe even 4-8 what you mentioned now), because all I need to swap is 45 army and 8 scan. Let's see when/if I find the fun in the timing pushes
I'm not sure if I know all the other applications of ctrl. I have watched the series of scarbo one time where he went into detail about starcraft1's mechanics:
- Select all unit by ctrl+click? yes very precise - but I believe in improving my mouse double click skill (?)
- Ctrl click on unit in the group window - I'm not sure when to use this? I tried it with stim and medics but when you have 3 groups it is much slower than having the units seperated.
By the way: How do you use vessels properly? They tend to cast all of their spells together (at one unit...) when I have them in one group... so do I need to click on single vessels all the time, or is there another way? Do you click on a vessel in the groupmenu or in the combat area?
@bitt.man thanks. spreading the units at the rally point should be very helpful. I actually struggle alot with grouping them up sometimes (when im slow/ I sleep) because if I box too many units some would not be selected and then block the others very nasty :D
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I would recommend to get used to ctrl+click instead of double-clicking whenever it's possible (it seems minor, but generally mouse-clicks have a higher chance to miss). It selects up to 12 units in your current screen, very useful to e.g. quickly grab 12 vults in the nat, put on some ctrl-group and send them out to make space. It's also useful on the field, you can e.g. select all your unsieged or sieged tanks at once (or most of them) and give specific commands to the selected units.
Ctrl+click on icon is very useful if you have mixed groups. If I reinforced quickly (and put different units in one ctrl-group), but then e.g. want my vultures to lay some mines on the way, I can just hit the ctrl-group-number, ctrl+click on the vultures, (maybe press alt+c to center on them), and press i to lay some mines. Same with stimming marines that are - for whatever reason - grouped with medics or other units.
Another application: Sometimes want to select a certain type of unit in a clump of different units in a very certian position (when pushing in TvP e.g you want to select all sieged tanks). Shift-clicking them all one after another takes too long. So you just make a box around all of them, ctrl+click the correct icon, and you have all the units you want.
Take theses mechanics and the shift+add/remove mechanic, practice them for a while, and you can rearrange your armies in the blink of an eye just like you want to... Also stuff like fusing or separating ctrl-groups (e.g. 2 groups of 4 vultures on 1 and 2: press 2, press shift+1 => have 8 vultures on 1; now you can overwrite the ctrl+group 2 that still has 4 double-assigned vultures). You'll be impressed to see how your hands do this for you in the blink of an eye, without that you even waste a thought.
With vessels you have to either click on the icons or on the individual vessels themselves to cast irradiates, yes, or they all irradiate the same unit. Additionally, if there is a long enough distance between the vessel-cloud and their target, you can order all vessels to irradiate the same unit (they start traveling there), then you shift-deselect one, give the next command, and so forth, until you have all irradiates cast. Then just deselect the last vessel (that shall cast irradiate) and move the rest away.
To do this quickly you have to keep an eye on the energy-count of the vessels and maybe send those away or deselect the vessels that won't have 75 energy in time.
I hope I'm not forgetting something.
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EPT
