[D] Zerg Hotkeys, Mechanics, Control Groups, etc - Page 4

On February 03 2012 00:04 sapht wrote:


Not in the defense of this player, but you don't need to ball stuff just because you keep units on 1 hotkey. You can split units with your mouse as well. Lots of players have very good mouse control and minimap precision. I've seen Dimaga play on stream without setting hotkeys for queen or hatch, though only up to 2 base, he would manually click the queen and click the hatchery. Evidently not the fastest possible method, but serves to prove the irrelevancy of "feeling fast", that game was won because of superior decision making and baneling timing.

Though I myself have crap mouse precision and tend to use hotkeys often.

On February 02 2012 20:55 Belial88 wrote:
I wasn't saying that every pro player puts their army on 3 hotkeys, but most put their army on at least 2 hotkeys. Actually I think most pros use 2 or more, ie roach/infestor/muta, or something to that effect.

What that person had posted, was saying he used 3 total other hotkeys, as in 3 hotkeys to include his army, queens, tech structures, scouting units, infestors, mutas, and hatcheries, and that's what I had a hard time understanding.

If I'm the one who misunderstood, I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that's what he was saying.

I'm not saying you need to use lots of hotkeys (well you do), but I was thoroughly surprised this guy said he used 3 hotkeys only. Three hotkeys, and obviously 2 of the hotkeys are queens and hatcheries (at minimum). So that means his mutas, his infestors, his bl/infestor army, his ling/bane, his roach/hydra, he just balls them all together. Does that sound right to you at all? I seriously doubt anyone even in master+ uses only 3 hotkeys ever, as in never puts his scouts on a different hotkey, his army, et cetera. His mutas, his infestors, Saying you only use 3 hotkeys in total, or only 1 hotkey for army, just sounded ridiculous. That was what I was talking about.

On February 02 2012 20:55 Belial88 wrote:
I wasn't saying that every pro player puts their army on 3 hotkeys, but most put their army on at least 2 hotkeys. Actually I think most pros use 2 or more, ie roach/infestor/muta, or something to that effect.

What that person had posted, was saying he used 3 total other hotkeys, as in 3 hotkeys to include his army, queens, tech structures, scouting units, infestors, mutas, and hatcheries, and that's what I had a hard time understanding.

If I'm the one who misunderstood, I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that's what he was saying.

I'm not saying you need to use lots of hotkeys (well you do), but I was thoroughly surprised this guy said he used 3 hotkeys only. Three hotkeys, and obviously 2 of the hotkeys are queens and hatcheries (at minimum). So that means his mutas, his infestors, his bl/infestor army, his ling/bane, his roach/hydra, he just balls them all together. Does that sound right to you at all? I seriously doubt anyone even in master+ uses only 3 hotkeys ever, as in never puts his scouts on a different hotkey, his army, et cetera. His mutas, his infestors, Saying you only use 3 hotkeys in total, or only 1 hotkey for army, just sounded ridiculous. That was what I was talking about.

On February 03 2012 00:36 Mr.Rager wrote:
I use the backspace inject method rebound to spacebar. I've thought about changing it so each individual queen is on a hotkey like: a = 5 on keyboard, s = 6, d = 7.
My hotkey setup is as follows:
1 = Army 1
2 = Army 2
3 = Army 3
4 = Hatcheries
5 = Queens
6 = evo chambers
I really don't like using 7+ because its just too hard to reach for me.

On February 04 2012 06:33 Dr_Hyde wrote:
This is a very interesting topic to me which I've thought a lot about so I registered to post this, been lurking for awhile. I think this topic will become even more important when HOTS comes out due to there being even more units available.

I switched after several months to the Grid setup built into SC so that I didn't ever need to use my right hand on the keyboard and can keep it on my mouse. I also play random a good bit, especially on 2v2+ so grid is especially helpful there and I use similar type bindings for the other races. That being said, my mouse only has two extra buttons so I'm considering getting the Razer Naga Hex so that I have more buttons to use especially for the Camera position buttons that are currently set to the F keys. which are hard for me to reach.

My Hotkey setup is as follows:
1 - Lings
2 - Hydras or Corrupters - anti-air
3 - Roaches or Ultras if I don't have both
4 - Infestors

Because I use grid I have them setup this way as T is attack, when I used the regular key setup I had it switched, I like to be able to hit ling and attack with different fingers for instance to improve speed, same thing with casting with the infestors.

5 - All Hatches
6 - is my Natural hatch at first, I use it for special units later in the game (BL or Ultras)
7 - Queens - is bound to one of my extra mouse buttons (G700 Logitech I think)
8 - utility queens - my other extra mouse button
9 - banelings (bound to tab)
0 - air, usually mutas - bound to spacebar

I use the backspace method to inject but have bound backspace to Shift-spacebar

As mentioned, when I get the mouse with more buttons (razer Hex), I will use the position cams more which is holding me back a bit right now I think cuz I can't easily reach the F keys

The reason I find this topic so interesting is that I feel like I need MORE hotkeys, ideally I'd like to have a unique hotkey for each unit type PLUS be able to have a couple of extra hotkeys available for drops etc. (secondary army groups).

I also think that when HOTS comes out, with more unit types, we'll all need more hotkeys than we do now, what do you guys think?

Regarding many pros using fewer hotkeys, is there any possibility that this comes from old habits formed from playing BW? I don't know how many hotkeys are available in BW but I'd expect it to be less than SC2. It's hard to break habits, especially when you've been playing as long as these guys have, also it's a toss up between should they take the time to change their hotkey setup or to get better at strat and practicing new timings etc., in other words, their current practice routine. For many pros it my be a decreasing utility question that isn't necessarily worth doing given their current level and the demands that places on their time. When I switched to the grid after playing for a few months, it took me at least two or three weeks for my mind to "unlearn" my old habits (only three months of play time), the keys that had been stored to a unconscious competence level and rebind them to the new setup, it would probably take even longer for these guys to make the change given how long they've been doing their old habits. That does NOT mean however that they're using the most efficient method possible or that if they where able to spend more time on the game to improve their hotkey setup and memorize it to the point of unconscious competence that they wouldn't be even better than they are now.