I'm currently a mid silver level player and only use the mouse to play.

I feel I could improve my game to maybe low gold if I get a basic grip of hotkeys.

Is there a place or thread where I could learn the basics?

I've tried searching the forum but I didn't find anything like it.

I'm a Terran, and I'd like to learn how to SCAN, build workers and build units with hotkeys.

Thanks guys.

ChickenLips

2912 Posts

June 01 2010 23:44 GMT

Check in game overlays

osoup

Canada56 Posts

June 01 2010 23:49 GMT

the best way to start using them is learning them one by one, you start your game and use hotckeys for scv, than you use c and v to go in the building secting, the rest will come naturally as you developpe habits.

EleanorRIgby

Canada3923 Posts

June 01 2010 23:49 GMT

why dont you try using them?

try out yourself, do whatever feels comfortable. Chances are if you copy another person layout it wont be the right layout for you.

Grebliv

Iceland800 Posts

June 01 2010 23:49 GMT

scan = c, marine = a, marauder = d.... Just check what keys you need ingame and force yourself to push them instead of using the mouse.

Learjetz

United States20 Posts

June 01 2010 23:50 GMT

Mouse over whatever you would normally click in game and it will show the keystroke for each function. Also, some keystroke functions are highlighted with a different color letter in the word. For example, pressing F10 brings up the options page, and then pressing N SurreNders the game for you.

After you learn hot keys, learn control groups, and rally points, and unit queues.

Kantutan

Canada1319 Posts

June 01 2010 23:50 GMT

Yeah, it will tell you all the hotkeys in-game.

As for hand placement, it's all about preference. Personally, I keep my hand on home row. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=123370

You're going to want to make use of control groups too. My basic Terran setup is 1-3 units (main army/tanks/spellcasters), 4 orbital commands, 5 raxes, 6 facts, 7 ports, 8-0 misc upgrade buildings. Works perfectly for me, but experiment around to find something that suits you.

selboN

United States2523 Posts

June 01 2010 23:51 GMT

On June 02 2010 08:49 Grebliv wrote:
scan = c, marine = a, marauder = d.... Just check what keys you need ingame and force yourself to push them instead of using the mouse.

To add to that, I hotkey my Command Center as 5, Scout as 4 (early game), 1-4 production facilities. Basically just get a feel for what is easy for you. Try to never click anything with your mouse, hover over it and see what key you need to press and memorize it. You'll never look back.

Skrag

United States643 Posts

June 02 2010 00:00 GMT

On June 02 2010 08:50 Learjetz wrote:
Mouse over whatever you would normally click in game and it will show the keystroke for each function. Also, some keystroke functions are highlighted with a different color letter in the word. For example, pressing F10 brings up the options page, and then pressing N SurreNders the game for you.

After you learn hot keys, learn control groups, and rally points, and unit queues.

More importantly, after you mouse over to see what the hotkey is, USE THE HOTKEY, even though your mouse is already over the button.

Do this enough times, and you'll start to remember them.

Darpa

Canada4413 Posts

June 02 2010 00:06 GMT

#10

Does anyone know if you can customise hot keys? not necessarily the build and unit hotkeys but just the control group hotkeys.

I use 1 CC, 2 Rax's, 3 Factories, 4 SP, and then i generally use 5,6,7 for unit control groups, however i find that 567 tends to be annoying hit while I'm trying to micro, macro and control units, its too far away, any way i could set control groups to be more accessable?

Yngvis

Norway26 Posts

June 02 2010 00:07 GMT

#11

Agreed. Just force yourself to push the buttons, instead of clicking with the mouse. Soon enough your fingers will remember the hotkeys for you

Grebliv

Iceland800 Posts

June 02 2010 00:14 GMT

#12

On June 02 2010 09:06 Darpa wrote:
Does anyone know if you can customise hot keys? not necessarily the build and unit hotkeys but just the control group hotkeys.

I use 1 CC, 2 Rax's, 3 Factories, 4 SP, and then i generally use 5,6,7 for unit control groups, however i find that 567 tends to be annoying hit while I'm trying to micro, macro and control units, its too far away, any way i could set control groups to be more accessable?

try switching it around 1-2-3 = units, 4+ production (you can basically group production-everything together and tab through, if that's your thing, cc's seperately perhaps; or just 4cc 5 rax 6 fac etc...)

Bob300

United States505 Posts

June 02 2010 00:25 GMT

#13

you are making a very good choice, hot-keys will make you twice as good, if used correctly.

Jacobs Ladder

United States1705 Posts

June 02 2010 00:52 GMT

#14

One of the strengths of hotkeys is muscle memory. It makes keeping constant production much easier. When I hit 5, I hit E. No matter what, its ingrained. This will make you a better player. Its seriously the only thing that separates me now (mid Plat) and when I started (Copper/Bronze).

virgozero

Canada412 Posts

June 02 2010 01:02 GMT

#15

Well incase you want to listen to me.
Im new to RTS games in general not just Starcraft. Started about a month ago playing this beta.
I used to use mouse too until I realizd it was too slow and the max apm you get with it is like 40ish which is not enough for gold+.
Heres what I use that should be pretty simple and will work all the way up to diamond (ofc not top5 diamond)

For protoss (you can do the same with terran)
[1] scouting probe / army
[2] observer / secondary army *casters*
[3] gateways/barracks
[4] your MAIN Nexus/Command Centre
[5] your Natural Nexus/Command Centre
6-7-8, so on.

I found this is the EASIEST setup.

Pros however do not reserve only 1&2 for attacking units, they generally have 1-5 for their army, say like 1 for marines 2 for maraudres 3 tanks 4 ghosts 5 raven etc.

So yeah.. if your new try this noobish setup it works really well ^__^
yes it is 1a and 2a attack but i mean up until diamond micro isn't THAT important and you can ofc shuffle ur units prior to attacks

Elprede

74 Posts

June 02 2010 01:08 GMT

#16

I like the info so far, thanks for the suggestions

Skrag

United States643 Posts

June 02 2010 01:12 GMT

#17

On June 02 2010 10:02 virgozero wrote:
So yeah.. if your new try this noobish setup it works really well ^__^
yes it is 1a and 2a attack but i mean up until diamond micro isn't THAT important and you can ofc shuffle ur units prior to attacks

Once you get that muscle memory though, it's *very* difficult to un-learn. You'd be much better off just starting off with a better control group setup IMO.

LaustinSpayce

United Kingdom58 Posts

June 02 2010 03:16 GMT

#18

You should try to learn the hotkeys for producing units in your production buildings, as well as the basic unit commands and also for using special abilities like stimpack, storm, force field, fungal growth, MULE etc.

As far as hotkey groups, or control groups, think of a system that works nicely for you and just run with it.

For example, myself, I have the following setup for my control groups:

1 - ALL nexuses/command centres/hatcheries.
2 - Ability units (ghosts/high templar/infestors)
3 - Main army
4 - air/other army (vikings, dark templar, void rays, mutas etc. etc.)
5, 6, 7 - production buildings, queens.
8, 9, 0 - observers/other handy utility things.

Here are a few handy shortcuts to help with control group management, # represents the number of your control group:
Ctrl + # - Creates or replaces the control group with current selection.
Shift + # - Adds the selected unit/building to the control group.
# - selects all units/buildings in the control group.

kingcoyote

United States546 Posts

June 02 2010 03:44 GMT

#19

One thing to know about control groups, that I didn't realize for awhile, is that you can use shift + control group to append the current selection to the group. So if you have an army (control group 1) actively moving about the map and you macro up some new units, you can jump over to your rally point, select all units, and hit shift + 1, then jump back to the main army by double tapping 1 and keep giving orders. Since the new units are now part of control group 1, they'll move over and eventually join up with the main group.

Knowing this made it a lot easier to group new units into my army. Prior to this, I would try to select my army and shift click the new units, but a slight misclick might mean certain units don't end up in the new control group, and I only find out when my enemy stumbles upon the stragglers and cleans them up.

Edit : Slight clarification of wording.

TossFloss

Canada606 Posts

June 02 2010 04:34 GMT

#20

On June 02 2010 08:43 peterjj12 wrote:
I've tried searching the forum but I didn't find anything like it.

I'm a Terran, and I'd like to learn how to SCAN, build workers and build units with hotkeys.

Congrats. You're on your way to considerable ladder promotions.

I hotkey as follows:
Command centers to 5
Barracks to 6
Factories to 7
Starports to 8

You don't need to use those exact number; some players prefer to put buildings in the low number range (1-4). Do whatever feels natural. However, keep different types of buildings on different hotkeys. e.g. do not hotkey barracks with starports.

At least some buildings will have add-ons: reactors or tech labs. Use the tab key to cycle through various building-addon combinations. For example, say I have 3 barracks total: 1 barracks with a tech lab, and two naked barracks. Here are my keystrokes:
5 d tab a a
Accomplishing the following: selects the 3 barracks with the tech-labbed barracks sub-selected by default. Builds a marauder from it. Sub-selects the 2 naked barracks. Builds 1 marines at each of them (2 total).

Initially, break the (clicking) habit. Anytime you click on a building, force yourself to use the hotkey. A simple exercise. At the game opening hotkey your command center to some number. I'll use the number 5. To make an SCV do:
5 s
If the habit kicks in and you click on the command center, just force yourself to hit the 5 key regardless.