Hi, just started using The Core. Haven't played since WoL and am looking to get back into it. Was a mid-master back in those days. I've always known that my keyboard mechanics were the biggest obstacle to progressing beyond that point and I've wanted to find a better system for a long time, so I'm giving this a try. Seems like a good idea.

I'm using Z-R-M

The first 24 hours have been pretty strange, feels like my left hand has 5 retarded stumps wiggling around mashing the keys for me. The more I play though the more I've noticed some pretty good muscle memory starting to set in for certain things. I've never used camera keys before, so that's very alien to me, but I'm pushing through and forcing myself to use them.

The biggest issue I've had so far is that my fingers are fumbling around trying to find the groups on the top row ("now where the hell did I put those mutas?"). They don't seem to like shifting a half key to the left on the P-O-I row and then a half key back to the right on the 9-0-(-) row, I end up losing my placement entirely and having to find a familiar key on the bottom row somewhere, I might even have to look down to figure it out. I am tilting my keyboard, but If I go much over 30 degrees then my fingers get completely lost trying to figure out why the keys are all diamond shaped instead of squares and how to find the keys that are supposed to be near them. It's like trying to attack diagonally with a rook, it just doesn't work. Not sure if maybe I should've started off with Z-R-L instead, but I'd probably have the same problem if I did. I think I'll be shifting the top row keys to 8-9-0 to put them more in line with the rows below.

I've also had trouble with not having a go to alert key and a deselect unit key. I'll use my space for the alerts but I'm not sure how to come up with another key that functions like escape did, though I'm also trying to tell myself that I should be able to play without that, right?

I'm sure that particular issue has been discussed already, but 310 pages is about 305 pages over my limit for forum reading.

For the most part I just wanted to express my appreciation for the resources and explanations that have been assembled and to share with you the beginning of my fall into finger purgatory. I can't remember a time when I've felt this noobish.

Fhiz

361 Posts

February 05 2014 05:31 GMT

#6183

Hey I was wondering, you know the menu in the bottom right corner that has all the commands you can give a unit? Mine just has a "right click to move and left click to select" "and then j to auto attack" is there anyway I can get back the icons for things like, stop, hold, move, patrol etc etc?

rubor

Sweden19 Posts

February 05 2014 06:39 GMT

#6184

Go to the menu -> gameplay -> untick "Enable Simple Command Card".

slowbacontron

United States7722 Posts

February 05 2014 13:23 GMT

#6185

On February 05 2014 15:39 rubor wrote:
Go to the menu -> gameplay -> untick "Enable Simple Command Card".

Thanks, I was wondering that too!

JaKaTaKSc2

United States2787 Posts

February 05 2014 15:40 GMT

#6186

Other settings you may not have known about:

Liquorshot_852

Korea (South)72 Posts

February 05 2014 17:26 GMT

#6187

Hi JaKaTaK, I have utilised the core for a couple weeks now, and got used to it pretty much as of now. but even before switching to the core, I only used max 3 hotkeys for my army, and never have used the camera hotkeys. even after I switched to the core, the same problem persists. could you recommend me of any ways that I could utilize more hotkeys? I am trying, but on a normal ladder game, I just don't have enough mindpower to comprehend the game plus trying to utilize more hotkeys.

Thanks in advance.

uoeahtns

52 Posts

February 05 2014 17:57 GMT

#6188

I'm not Jak, but my advice is to just take things slowly. As you play more and more and get more experienced, which hotkeys you use to complete certain actions don't require mindpower, but are simply practiced and reflexive.

BjoernK

194 Posts

February 05 2014 21:15 GMT

#6189

Using hotkeys is something that needs to be thought about. Make a plan what you want to be able to do and set your hotkeys accordingly. I personally came up with something that works for me:

9,0 early game OL late game harrass
p hatches
*p queens
l light units
ö (german key right of l) main army
ä (right of ö) air units
ü (right of p) spell casters

this works ok for me.

As for camera hotkeys. Especially from a zerg perspective (but also valid for the other races) it makes sense to use the shift+ keys for you bases. I use shift+l for my main hatch and use the other keys according to the minimap-position of the other hatches.

Liquorshot_852

Korea (South)72 Posts

February 05 2014 21:16 GMT

#6190

I just tend to scroll around my main and natural when injecting, and that bothers me a lot. I want to use the camera hotkeys, but I just don't know how I'm supposed to approach it. even if I set the camera locations, I just end up not using them when playing games.

umavfx

Sweden11 Posts

February 05 2014 23:08 GMT

#6191

Hey Liquorshot,

Why don´t you try to turn scroll off in the settings, then you are forced to create a new habit, either using the camera hotkeys or clicking the minimap. Once you are used to it, you can re-enable the scrolling for sanity purposes.

Best
Niklas

JaKaTaKSc2

United States2787 Posts

February 06 2014 00:40 GMT

#6192

Hey liquorshot,

for cameras try this:

For the other stuff umavfx and bjoernK have solid answers. I'm adding "how to use more control groups" to my list of videos to do

So subscribe

esports_Swag

Canada11 Posts

February 08 2014 22:22 GMT

#6193

for me the build structure button was bound to tilde key ( ` ) not apostrophe ( ' ) and select army units was bound to the apostrophe, but i think its supposed to be enter. maybe its just me. so is the top left building selection nexus and twilight they're set to tilde as well. it must be my drivers or something. all i had to do was reset it but maybe it was set wrong by deafult, dunno why maybe they look the same? am using PRM

JaKaTaKSc2

United States2787 Posts

February 08 2014 22:38 GMT

#6194

Is your keyboard a US qwerty like this one?

[image loading]

esports_Swag

Canada11 Posts

February 08 2014 22:47 GMT

#6195

On February 09 2014 07:38 JaKaTaK wrote:
Is your keyboard a US qwerty like this one?

no its a razer with a func. key and macro buttons. i mean it is a qwerty and eveything is the same except that :/ i guess its different firmware or whatever.

JaKaTaKSc2

United States2787 Posts

February 09 2014 05:36 GMT

#6196

hmmm, can you email me the hotkey file with a link to a picture of your keyboard?

thejakatak@gmail.com

Deleted User 327297

3 Posts

February 10 2014 21:24 GMT

#6197

Hey JaKaTaK, I actually independently came to the conclusion that the standard hotkey layout is a great pain point and we should think of changing the interface. Fortunately before I started studying the ergonomics and heatmaps etc. I came across The Core. I think using the thumb is the best part of The Core, Thumb >> Pinky, and it really opens all the keys up for you to use. For reference I am learning the RRM (random, right hand, medium) layout.

I thought it might be helpful to share what key combinations are painful for me. Keep in mind there is so much more about The Core that is positive that I am not mentioning in detail.
shift + 7
7 (I think with enough muscle memory I can get over this)
the shift + = button for free camera
the ' + u combination for making a sensor tower
the ' + m for making engineering
the . key using the middle finger. I thought, depending on the keyboard, the . key for group 0 can be done with the thumb making it a lot more utilizable.

I also learned of the Rapid Keys possibilities, unfortunately since I play random I don't know which keys to change to what. It would help if there was a comprehensive written guide to instruct me on rapid key possibilities.

Another helpful document would be a hotkey chart. The visualiser is cool but I feel it would be faster to learn by simply having a document listing all the hotkeys in a vertical list next to a picture of the hotkeys ingame representation next to it.

But great job on The Core, watching the video of you explaining the history of the Core definitely revealed the depth of thought you guys exhibited to understand the perfect layout. The experimentation you guys did with weird combinations and overlapping keys was genius. I would definitely consider this professional level work (I studied User Interface Design at MIT), you guys should get together and start discovering User Interfaces in even more detail for things besides Starcraft. One suggestion, inspired by your videos, is the interface of a guitar. Or maybe the interface of a car. Or even the interface for a programming language. Or go more abstract and simply map out the User Interface of the Human body (this research settles most other UI designs). There are many interfaces designed and used greatly today that have not been subject to great research.

esports_Swag

Canada11 Posts

February 10 2014 21:40 GMT

#6198

Can someone link me to that arcade map that allows you to train on camera hotkeys?

JaKaTaKSc2

United States2787 Posts

February 10 2014 23:39 GMT

#6199

If you're down with the attention to detail that you get with TheCore, you're definitely going to dig this one:

There's also a reddit thread that I'll be watching to answer questions etc. Enjoy :D
http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/1xk8w6/hybrid_graphics_are_back_and_already_being_used/

esports_Swag

Canada11 Posts

February 11 2014 06:11 GMT

#6200

On February 11 2014 08:39 JaKaTaK wrote:
If you're down with the attention to detail that you get with TheCore, you're definitely going to dig this one:

http://youtu.be/KYXRxx0Rixw

There's also a reddit thread that I'll be watching to answer questions etc. Enjoy :D
http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/1xk8w6/hybrid_graphics_are_back_and_already_being_used/

once i get my new PC i will definitely be using these settings. High gfx is hard on the eyes, low gfx lets you actually play. But going low can have drawbacks. You guys found the perfect solution.Thanks