Everyone is always telling me to use hotkeys, and since I begun in Bronze I have followed that advice sagely. As I learned the game better and recently got promoted to silver, I began to read more guides online, watch Day9 etc. and soon learned that my hotkey setup was flawed - especially camera movement - and that to improve my macro I would have to change them. This I did...
Here was my OLD hotkey setup:
- WASD for camera, minimap for long range camera motion - Ctrl Group 10 moved to Space bar for nexii (thus Space+E to build probe) - Q for warpgates - ZXC for Zealor-Stalker-Sentry - R for attack
My hands lied in the FPS position - left hand on WASD and right hand on mouse. I did not use fKey or middle mouse scrolling.
Here is my NEW setup. I switched to fKey and middle mouse scrolling as they are supposedly better than arrow key scrolling. My hands still lie on the WASD area, but more loosely.
- Middle Mouse Button and D key for "middle mouse" scrolling (I predominantly use the D key for this as my fingers naturally lie on them) - Nexii still on Ctrl Group Space (this is very convenient for me) - Camera fKeys moved - Q key points to warp in pylon, R to forward pylon, W for warpgates. Thus QW for easy unit production - ZXC unchanged. - A for attack
I have several questions
1. What were the main weaknesses with my original hotkey setup? 2. What specifically is bad about arrow key scrolling (I find that it is constantly maligned on the internet) 3. What do you think about my new hotkey setup? What is good about it, and what should I change?
What the previous guy said: whatever works for you. At silver lever, a suboptimal hotkey setup isnt what's holding you back anyway... If you have control groups, f-keys, and hotkeys for buildings, units, and commands, then you're doing fine. What will hurt you though, is changing the setup around all the time, so you never get used to it.
Hmmm, the longer you play the game, the more i think your hotkey set up might hurt you because you lack flexibility in your hotkey setup. Use 1-0 on the keyboard. It provides the most flexibilty and doesnt plateau your hand speed. With my setup i use spacebar to replace one of the f keys. Since its very easy to hit spacebar, and then i hit my warp gate hotkey and build units. But whatever works for you in the end. But definitly try using 1-0
No one uses middle mouse button scrolling. Just scroll the screen by dragging your mouse cursor to the edge of the screen. No button required, and it's faster and more natural.
It is honestly not uncommon for me to face Protoss in low EU diamond who are not using hotkeys at all (or only keybind nexus)! Your hotkeys are not what are letting you down. If you have thought about a rudimentary hotkey setup, and actually use the hotkeys, you are in a better position than half of the protoss out there on ladder. The key point is that you should try to use a hotkey setup you think makes sense and will be comfortable/efficient, but it's not crucial for improvement (especially not at your level).
My only suggestion would be to learn to use the camera location hotkeys, and keybind camera locations for each of your bases or your probably warp-in locations. This allows you to quickly bounce your camera around with ease (I use them as Zerg for injecting extremely quickly).
regulator_mk United States. April 19 2012 17:54. Posts 118 PM Profile Quote # No one uses middle mouse button scrolling. Just scroll the screen by dragging your mouse cursor to the edge of the screen. No button required, and it's faster and more natural.
scrolling in general is pretty bad top notch mechanics use 4-8 camkeys (at least 2) for bases and hot-spots -so you dont loose time dragging the screen around or aiming on the minimap also read about this layout: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=257590 !
EPT
