I know it cycles through species when you have a control group, but in what circumstances is this actually useful? Is it only good when you need to cycle between different spellcasters that are in the same group?

Just wondering, because i'm considering changing tab to my home center camera key.

darkevilxe

Canada346 Posts

December 07 2010 06:14 GMT

i used to, but since then i just use hotkeys for different spellcasters. in a battle it's too cumbersome to mash tab to find the right group when you need attention spent elsewhere.

greycubed

United States615 Posts

December 07 2010 06:17 GMT

I keep all my tech buildings on 9 and my production facilities (when I'm toss or terran) on 7. Then I tab through to find what I want.

krell

United States109 Posts

December 07 2010 06:19 GMT

Kind of a useless post. But I use them all the time to cycle through my army comp, production facilities, and command centers. (2200 T)

pieisamazing

United States1234 Posts

December 07 2010 06:19 GMT

I might if someone explained what criteria are used to determine which unit is first in the group, etc. Still, it's probably easier just to have separate control groups.

GildedAdonis

United States70 Posts

December 07 2010 06:22 GMT

The problem with that is that it is impossible to set different rally points for any of the buildings on the hotkey. A workaround for this problem is to continue to have each type of production facility (Barracks, Fact, Starport, etc) bound both to all on one key (say, 4 for example with 5 for your worker buildings) for production and individual keys as well as a key for each individual type (Rax 6, Fact 7, Starport 8) so that you can reassign individual rally points while still having the advantage of more accessible macro by having all of your structures on a single key.

Jonoman92

United States9107 Posts

December 07 2010 06:24 GMT

I use the tab key every game for sure. Very helpful when I have different building add-ons or unit types in the same control group.

GildedAdonis

United States70 Posts

December 07 2010 06:25 GMT

On December 07 2010 15:19 pieisamazing wrote:
I might if someone explained what criteria are used to determine which unit is first in the group, etc. Still, it's probably easier just to have separate control groups.

I believe that the lower grade of structure (Barracks<Factory<Starport) is always prioritized, although it may be by ordering on the unit menu at the middle bottom of your screen. You can reorder them as you like with the shift button by removing and adding buildings in the order you would like to tab to them.

Normally, you would add them in the order that they are built (Barracks --> Factory --> Starport) and that's the order I always cycle in so that's probably how it always works, I just don't have the 100% answer for you about what happens in situations where you add things in odd orders.

wongfeihung

United States763 Posts

December 07 2010 06:26 GMT

I put Stalkers and Sentries in the same control group. So, yes, I use the Tab key whenever I need to Blink my Stalkers (just one example). But of course, to each his own. Just remember to customize your hotkeys to fit your own play style.

Reason.SC2

Canada1047 Posts

December 07 2010 06:28 GMT

#10

Yeah I use it to cycle through casters whenever my hotkeys don't have them separated. If i box a queen with some infester for example and need to cast a fungal, i tab to the infester (or just click them, but tabbing is faster).

Imo if you're going to remap a key like tab make it something more useful than base camera... you already can remap F2-F4 for that sort of stuff.. plus how often do you need to rush back into your base and why dont you already have it hotkeyed?

greycubed

United States615 Posts

December 07 2010 06:29 GMT

#11

On December 07 2010 15:22 GildedAdonis wrote:
The problem with that is that it is impossible to set different rally points for any of the buildings on the hotkey.

Not at all impossible. Hit 7- ctrl click starport icons- set rally point.

kinetic_skink

Australia125 Posts

December 07 2010 06:31 GMT

#12

I use tab to change who I am talking to in in-game chat.

klmklm17

Canada85 Posts

December 07 2010 06:32 GMT

#13

love to use it as of right now! if you get really used to it it does become easier to use and quick. I find it quicker than hotkeys (just personally)

JiYan

United States3668 Posts

December 07 2010 06:35 GMT

#14

only for force fields and storm

Obscura.304

150 Posts

December 07 2010 06:41 GMT

#15

On December 07 2010 15:28 Reason.SC2 wrote:
Yeah I use it to cycle through casters whenever my hotkeys don't have them separated. If i box a queen with some infester for example and need to cast a fungal, i tab to the infester (or just click them, but tabbing is faster).

Imo if you're going to remap a key like tab make it something more useful than base camera... you already can remap F2-F4 for that sort of stuff.. plus how often do you need to rush back into your base and why dont you already have it hotkeyed?

Putting tab as base-camera would let you do the "backspace inject trick" with tab instead of backspace.

onmach

United States1241 Posts

December 07 2010 06:56 GMT

#16

I don't use it as a habit, but when you need it, there is no alternative. If you accidentally got say, a queen mixed in with your drones, you can't tell the drones to make a spine crawler until you press tab. Or if you got larvae mixxed in with hatches, you have to redo your hotkeys entirely before you can build units unless you tab to the hatcheries as a short term solution.

That's not to say I wouldn't like to steal it for something else, but it is pretty important.

undyinglight

United States611 Posts

December 07 2010 07:15 GMT

#17

Warcraft 3 players often used Tab, those who made the switch use it in Starcraft 2.

Arcanne

United States1519 Posts

December 07 2010 07:20 GMT

#18

Production buildings

QQmonster

Canada240 Posts

December 07 2010 07:22 GMT

#19

I put all my Command centeres in the same hotkey, so I have to tab through the orbital commands to get to the planetary fortresses. I also use all 10 hotkeys, and if theres not enough room to fit everything I want in those 10 hotkeys I will group things together and tab through them for example, vikings and ravens go together in TvT if i have no other hotkeys available.