[G] Fleet Keys - Refined Hotkey Systems - Page 18

The major changes I made was removing Contol Group 5 from Caps and making Caps the Base camera for all races.

The injecting method I use is to save every injecting queen on control group (2, 3 & 4). I double click the applicable Queen and my inject larva is on smartkey (Spacebar). The reason I don't like the other methods is because I inevitably get wandering queens during a heating battle in game, and that make me insanely frustrated once it happens. This obviously is just my preference.

My queens for creep spread is all on control group 7 (Q).

ALL my queens are also saved on Control group 5. This helps when you need to defend a strong in coming attack.

This does leave me with only 4 other control groups (1, 8, 9 & 0) for my Army and Buildings, but I am happy with that.

I added smart keys on all my mostly used functions as zerg, like inject, spread creep (from existing creep tumors), building spines etc.

So far I love this setup for Zerg.

I hardly changed anything here, except for a few minor personal preferences, but nothing worth mentioning.

I actually considered all of them. I have experimented. I was thinking of then using control group 7 for all my injection queens, then to inject selecting CG7 (Alt+Q) and then shift hold + s then cycle through my bases with Caps. Wondering queens are still a risk then, thus i am not to keen on using it. When practicing (vs AI) i dont have issues, but in a "real" game i always mess things up (since one queen may die during a drop or something then everything goes haywire .

Once again I am experimenting with having my inject queens on one control group and my creep queens on another. I am trying different control groups together with backspace inject method to see what the most comfortable. Since I currently have control groups 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 an 0 left at this stage it seems logical to me to make my creep queen(s) control group 7 (double tap Alt+Q then a right below it (or shift+a for multiple creep queens) to place the creep tumor(s).

Do you perhaps have other ideas you think would work better?

If I use the smart key to spread/place tumors, that could also work comfortably... going to practice that for a few games and see how it feels.

Now my injection queens are then on control 8, thus to inject I press alt+w and then caps & hold s, caps & hold s, caps & hold s, (for 3 injecting queens)

Do you perhaps have other ideas you think would work better?

Note: I cannot use the fastest option (shift+caps+s method) as my keyboard cannot do the repetitive key thing...)

I must now get used to this setup again, and hopefully this works out better in the long run.

I never used to save scouting ovies or lings on a control group, but a GM zerg suggested I do, thus i am thinking of putting my first ovie in control group 4, and my scouting lings in 5. Any thoughts?

I am considering this since attacking is probably the thing you do the most compared to anything else. The obvious problem here is that this will completely throw out the smart key setups for T & P... I thought of just mentioning this to maybe get feedback on your (anyone's) thoughts about this.

There are definitely easier ways to go about injecting. In the past I suggested (for the Random layout) having Tab as Base Camera, and ` as Injection Queens. For the sake of these examples, I'll go ahead and say the Spawn Larva ability will be mapped to the Smart Key. With the way this would be setup, you'd have a few options for injecting that are actually easier on you and your available hotkeys as opposed to saving each Queen on a separate CG and double-tapping each and injecting.

• 1. Backspace Method, (Uses Shift, No Clicking Required) - `, Shift+S (Hold Shift until done), Tab+S, for each Hatchery.
  
• 2. Backspace Method (Shiftless, Clicking Required) - `, Tab+S(or Smart Key), Click, for each Hatchery.
  
• 3. Base Cam/Box Method (Shiftless, Boxing and Clicking Required - Tab, Box Queen, S(or Smart Key), Click, for each Hatchery.
  
• 4. Camera Location Method, AKA Layered Injects (Uses Shift, Must Set Up Cam Locations At Each Hatchery) - `, Shift+S (Hold Shift until done), Alt+A,S,D, clicking for each Hatchery.
  
• 5. Rapid Fire Inject - JaK explains it well in video format here. In our hypothetical Random layout discussed here, it would look like: `. Tab+S (Hold both). You can also set up the Smart Key to do this as well by editing the hotkey file, finding "TargetChoose=LeftMouseButton,S", and adding ",Space" to it. This will make all Smart Key commands Rapid Fire-ready though so beware.
  
  The "Shift+S+Caps" method you mentioned doesn't require you to have full Nkey rollover, you only hold Shift and tap the two keys, no holding the two keys down, just tapping. I'm going under the assumption that you kept Caps as Base camera and didn't move it up to Tab? I explained these examples with Tab as Base Camera, just so you know.
  
  I like 1 and 2 the best. While 5 is the "fastest" and essentially 2 only sped up, it is the most unwieldy imo unless you're really good at it and your keyboard supports it. It can be made a little easier by having the Base Camera and Inject keys next to each other so you can slam on both simultaneously. It's not guaranteed to work, but it's something.
  
  At 3+ bases while using methods 1 and 2 I like to press W to issue Hold Position commands to the Queens CG. It keeps them from wandering, but still lets you attack things that wander within their range. The injection methods above all provide various levels of direct control, but really, W fixes the wandering issue and that's the big one. For method 2, if you are fast at it, you can also avoid wandering because of the Queen inject animation cancels out other non-shift-queued commands during the animation (Rapid Fire Injects work because of this). The methods that use shift are the ones most at risk of wandering, hence the W (hold) suggestion.

For Spreading Creep I generally just use my Middle Mouse Button which is bound to Drag Scroll to skim along tumor patches. Turning up the drag scroll setting in options to the maximum setting is pretty much mandatory for this. I like this a lot because of a few reasons. I also experimented with Drag Scroll bound alternatively to Alt as well, but it's kinda straaaannge...Anyways--list:

• 1. Allows you to retain your mouse position without being forced to click around the minimap whenever you need to go somewhere. Accuracy is an essential skill obviously but it's nice to have other options like this.
  
• 2. Guiding the "Camera/Screen Box" while observing or glancing at the minimap. This plays a big role in spreading creep because you can and will see when the tumors are ready to propagate simply by looking at the purple spread on the map. When you become fast at this, you should be able to be right on top of where you want to be when you decide its time to go there. As mentioned in 1, your mouse position will also be retained during this, so that helps.
  
• 3. Save on Cameras and Control Groups, and cuts down on extra key combinations (huge benefit).
  
• 4. Eliminates Edge Scrolling and becomes as precise as you are. It's a pretty big deal, especially when moving your screen fair distances away or in spaces between bases. You can't have a set Camera Location everywhere right?
  
• 5. Here's the biggest point-- you can produce units from the Hatcheries while Drag Scrolling, making use of every possible second!

Creep spreading is such a preference thing, and this is merely the way I like it and why. If you can make it work your way and you're happy with it, aim for the stars.

It's always good if you can utilize more CG's effectively, and scouting CG's are never a bad thing to have. If you are planning on using 4 and 5, I would recommend actually taking the Alt+R CG (10), and moving it to the #5 key, so you can easily tap 4, (whatever command), 5 (whatever command) quickly. Ctrl+5 can be a bit of a stretch, but Shift 5 isn't really so that's not too bad.

I love the idea of experimentation with this, but unfortunately I would not recommend it for a few reasons.

• You lose a ton of fast-access to important abilities for every unit in the game. That's a big sacrifice especially for a Random layout.
  
• Leaves you with a lot less room for customization.
  
• Having Attack on E is the sweet spot for issuing Attack commands with CG's 1 through 3, and is also decent for CG4. Try pressing 1e2e3e, and then try pressing 1Space2Space3Space. 1e2e3e is FAST!
  
• Space relies on you using your thumb. In any event that you're currently holding Alt near the time you want to A-move, you'll be forced to jump back on to Space and hammer down Attack commands which is a lot more inconvenient than simply jumping to 1e,2e,3e (or 4e) whenever you want.