[G/D] Camera Rolling

Hey, michaelhasanalias:

EDIT: Old post is below, but I wrote it a long time ago and have a much better idea of what I am doing now.

Previously, I had thought that the best setup for camera rolling was one that the OP had designed, failing to realize that putting it into effect would be too difficult. I wanted to play SCII, and I found that I was not willing to learn grid in order to learn the camera key setup when the going got tough. So I took some ideas from n6378056 and remapped my hotkeys as he suggested, but made a few changes.

A digression: n6378056's hotkey suggestion is very intuitive, and it allows one to layer camera keys onto a standard layout with little to no difficulty. It was quite easy for me to adapt to my modified layout and after a couple hundred games do it effortlessly and without thinking.

I chose to move the camera keys from the QWERTY row, as the T and Y keys are uncomfortable to reach when mapping with ALT or CTRL, and are difficult to reach even with shift. It is far more intuitive for the 3rd-6th hatches to be mapped to the keys ASD below QWE, as it allows for my middle three fingers to effortlessly roll between all six bases without tapping any one key with my index finger.

Secondly, I observed that I would need an alternative way to set camera keys before I had placed hatcheries at expansion locations, as ALT was already layered as [Center on Current Selection] and each camera key binding. n6378056 chose to use each secondary as f1 - f6, but that defeats the purpose of creating this camera layout, which is to make camera keys more accessible for the hand and to make rolling the fingers possible. I remapped a secondary option for setting camera locations without ALT as CTRL + Q, W, E, A, S, D. Much more simple, and certainly more effective.

I kept the OP's camera anchor idea intact by using n6378056's suggestion (placing the anchor on SHIFT-TAB, and the recall on SHIFT-SPACE), and feel that nothing needs to be changed there. If I do have to go to a previous subgroup, I can simply press TAB two more times. No biggie.

Finally, the biggest change that I have made is in regards to queens. I had previously hotkeyed my queens under 6, and used the base camera method (with base camera changed to space) in order to inject. As the OP has stated, base camera is quite ineffective when queens are out of position (resulting in retard walk). While the base camera inject method is certainly fast, with my modified camera key setup you can be just as fast, as well as more selective.

As I stated, I had previously hotkeyed my queens to 6. This is a matter of personal preference, but for this method I find it much more effective to hotkey all queens to TILDE (`~), with CTRL-TILDE and SHIFT-TILDE as my respective add/make control group modifiers. I remapped TILDE as the key to select [Control Group 0] which allows me to keep my hotkey row free of clutter.

It is also highly intuitive to select TILDE when performing a typical macro cycle with this camera rolling method, as listed below:

You are busy microing your mutas, when an alert tells you that larva have just spawned. You need to inject as quickly as possible and get back to micro. So...

1. Press SHIFT-TAB to set your anchor on your mutalisks while they are momentarily out of the fight and away from danger.

2. Select your queens by pressing TILDE, and then press SHIFT + V once. This will allow you to que up injects (it only need be pressed once before continuing).

3. Cycle through each camera location that is saved (hatcheries) by pressing SHIFT - Q,W,E,A,S,D and injecting at each hatchery. Skip hatcheries that do not have a queen present.

4. Press SHIFT-SPACE to return to your mutalisks.

Ideally, you will be able to perform this cycle in under two seconds, as I am able to do at the present.

If you wish to inject single hatcheries without using all queens on one hotkey, you may either head to an individual camera key and then select the queen and inject (make sure to release shift before pressing your inject key, or you will accidently select your hatchery with your queen when you click on it. Takes some practice, but you can quickly inject individual hatcheries with precision after practicing. Besides, selecting both hatchery and queen has no consequence besides delay - merely select the queen again and then inject).

Alternatively, you may also use the individual queen method (putting all queens on [Control Group 0] frees up 6,7 and 8 as hotkeys to use for queens).

There are many other applications for camera hotkeys, such as jumping to a base to place tech, moving drones to or from a base (if a base is being harassed), etc. They allow a player to be extremely flexible and mobile without sacrificing speed.

Finally, I recommend placing your main hatchery on 4/5 and all hatcheries on the key following that (I place main on 5 and all hatcheries on 6). This will allow you to check your inject timer without moving from battle or your macro cycle.

I did away with a suggestion to set creep tumors on their own anchor - I find that I have many tumors going in many different directions and that it is a waste of time to place one camera key over one particular row of tumors. It is much speedier for me to simply mini-map click on tumors and spread them.

This was a long post, but it summarizes what I have discovered about my modified camera hotkey version after 300 or so games.

GL HF!

***

HOTKEY PROFILE:

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[Settings]

[Hotkeys]
Sound=Shift+BracketClose
PTT=
AlertRecall=
CameraCenter=Alt
ControlGroupAppend0=Shift+Grave
ControlGroupAssign0=Control+Grave
ControlGroupRecall0=Grave
GameTooltipsOn=Shift+BackSlash
MinimapColors=Shift+Equals
QuickSave=Shift+Minus
StatusAll=Shift+Backspace
SubgroupPrev=
CameraSave0=Alt+Q,Control+Q
CameraSave1=Alt+W,Control+W
CameraSave2=Alt+E,Control+E
CameraSave3=Alt+A,Control+A
CameraSave4=Alt+S,Control+S
CameraSave5=Alt+D,Control+D
CameraSave6=Shift+Tab
CameraSave7=
CameraView0=Shift+Q
CameraView1=Shift+W
CameraView2=Shift+E
CameraView3=Shift+A
CameraView4=Shift+S
CameraView5=Shift+D
CameraView6=Shift+Space
CameraView7=

[Commands]

OLD POST:

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This setup is amazing. Does anyone here REALIZE the potential that this has? I have never used the grid format before, and I have to say, with the addition of camera hotkeys I am already as fast as I was before even with having to learn a new hotkey setup. I KNOW that I will only get faster after I master the grid.

My changes and additions:

Grid has been reformatted and the ASDFG row has been moved.

Each keyboard value in accordance with grid and keyboard position. Number symbolizes command card slot, letter position on keyboard:

1(Q) 2(W) 3(E) 4(R) 5(T) 6(Y)
7(G) 8(H) 14(N) 15(M)
9(Z) 10(X) 11(C) 12(V) 13(B)

This leaves A,S,D,F, free on the middle row. My keyboard setup is now this:

1(Hatcheries) 2(Queens) 3(Army 1) 4(Army 2) 5(Army3) etc, giving me 8 DIFFERENT possible army hotkeys.

In addition, I set the create camera location hotkey to Cntrl+A,S,D,F in order to prevent possible shift issues.

In order to inject, I select Queens(2), Shift(X), and then A, click, S, click, D, click, F, click. Checking inject timings will be simple: while in battle or anywhere else on the map I can simply press A (main hatch) to check for larva periodically and then space to return to current selection. I can also check the larva timer by selecting a single hatch from (1).

If a queen is missing from a particular hatch, I simply take note and move on. Amazing.

Absolutely. Amazing.

I cannot thank you enough for this. I have been wanting to switch my play over to a camera key centric style for so long. Camera keys shave those extra seconds off of everything that you do, and make it possible to be even more efficient and click less.

Thanks again!

P.S. For any of you that play Z, I recommend performing the baneling fix mentioned when working with any form of the grid hotkey setup, found HERE. I set mine to V.

Would you mind if I posted my own alterated guide of this hotkey setup after I play around 500 or so games with it and refine my play, as part of a bigger guide that I have planned? I will definitely credit you as the inspiration for it.

[G/D] Camera Rolling - Page 2

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