More efficient hotkey setup (esp.4 random players)

NDDseer

Australia204 Posts

April 30 2011 12:10 GMT

Hey TL, I’m a mid-gold Protoss player on SEA and NA trying to switch to Random.

I heard about LiquidTyler changing heaps of his hotkeys to take advantage of the customizability, so decided I'd give it some thought and see if it helped me.

I’m very hotkey heavy (my mouse speed is terrible) and often use all 10 command groups.

What I've come up with system that (for me) is way easier than the standard hotkey setup and works for all races (and more consistently between them), although it will take a bit longer to get used to in three days its already proving its worth.

Here's basically what I've done:

Control groups are changed from the standard 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0 keys to the tab, q, w, 2, 3, 4, 5, r, t and y keys.
This is to save a bunch of reaching across to the other side of your keyboard, so for example my hotkeys would typically look like this:

space: warpgates (i never use centre on event)

tab: engineering bay / forge / evo chambers (additional research buildings are added onto this to save finding later, eg. roach warren for speed is just a tab, space away)
q: armory / cybernetics core / spire
w: casters (queens/infestors, sentries, ravens/ghosts)
2: army subsection (eg stalkers)
3: main army (eg. roach,hydra,corruptor / immortal, zealot, colossi, ht)
4: command centres / high templar / all hatcheries
5: nexi / barracks / hatchery 1 and queen 1
r: robotics facilities / factories / hatchery 2 and queen 2
t: stargates / starports / hatchery 3 and queen 3
y: harassment element (mutas/ speedlings/ medivac and marine drop/ dt etc.)

Everything is a lot easier to reach and cycle through than keys 6 to 0 (i find)

Because of this:

Some units are moved to different keys (for example thor is f, so is high templar, so is robotics facility) which is the only thing that isn't good about this system)

But also:

assimilator / extractor / refinery are all the same key (x)
protoss ground weapons, terran infanty weapons and zerg melee attacks are all the same key (g)
same as above for ground armour, special (shields, mech and ranged attacks) and air attacks and armour
almost every special ability is activated via c, d or s (occasional z or x, but there's kind of a pattern to it if you know them all eg nukes are z and so are seeker missiles)
almost every unit-specific upgrade has the same hotkey as the unit which builds them (hydra range is h, infestor energy if f, marauder slow is d)
quite a few really inconvenient keys are reasiggned closer to the right hand side (immortals are d, so are bunkers, interceptor launch is d)

I lost a few keys (11 unbound) but they're all stuff i never use, like halt construction of a building but don't cancel it, or free range (some mode that only a ghost has where it just runs around killing stuff, think its for cloak, basically a move), rally points can't be set via y (right click...), repair (right click....) etc.

The system is as standard, except for the changes listed below:

I play on Mac (with all health bars on all the time), but I assume it would be the same for windows just replacing Option with Alt and Command with Control.

+ Show Spoiler +

Protoss
Probe
Assimilator = X
Cybernetics Core = Z
Twilight Council = C
Robotics Facility = F
Templar Archives = A
Fleet Beacon = Z

Sentry
Hallucination = C
Immortal = D
High Templar = F

Stalker
Blink = D (can stay as B if you prefer)

High Templar
Psionic Storm = D

Warp Prism
Transport Mode = F
Load = Z

Carrier
Build Interceptor = F

Mothership
Mass Recall = F

Gateway
High Templar = F (both modes)

Cybernetics Core
Air Weapons = F
Air Armour = A
Hallucination = C

Twilight Council
Blink = D (can stay as B if preferred)

Robotics Facility
Observor = S (can stay as B if preferred)
Immortal = F

Templar Archives
Psionic Storm = F

Fleet Beacon
Graviton Catipults = C

Robotics Bay
Gravitic Boosters = S (or B, as above)
Gravitic Drive = G

Terran

SCV
Refinery = X
Bunker = D
Turret = F
Sensory Tower = Z (or can stay as N)

Marine
Stim = F

Marauder
Stim = F

Ghost
Nuke = Z
Sniper Round = G

Viking
Fighter Mode = F (can stay as V if prefer)

Medivac
Load = Z

Raven
Auto Turret = F
Seeker Missile = Z

Battlecruiser
Yamato = C

Command Centre
Load = Z

Supply Depot
Lower = D

Barracks
Reaper = S

Engineering Bay
Infantry Weapons = G
Infantry Armour = A
High-Sec Auto Tracking = F
Neosteel Frame = D (or N)
Structure Armour = B

Bunker
Stim = F
Load = Z

Ghost Acadamy
Nuke = Z
Moebius Reactor = G

Factory
Thor = F

Armory
Vehicle Weapons = V
Vehicle Plating = S
Ship Weapons = F
Ship Plating = A

Starport
Raven = F
Battlecrusier = S

Fusion Core
Yamato = C
Behemoth Reactor = S

Zerg

Larva
Roach = A
Mutalisk = X

Drone
Extractor = X
Spore Crawler = Z
Roach Warren = A
Baneling Nest = E
Spire = X
Nydus = Z
Ultra Cavern = C

Hatchery, Lair, Hive
Queen = E
Burrow = D
Carapace = C
Ventral = V
Lair = F

Spawning Pool
Metabolic boost = Z

Evo Chamber
Melee Attacks = G
Missile Attacks = V
Carapace = A

Roach Warren
Glial Reconstitution = A
Tunneling Claws = C

Baneling Nest
Centrifual Hooks = E

Spore and Spine Crawler
Root/Uproot = D

Hydra Den
Grooved Spines = H

Infestation Pit
Fungal Growth = F

Spire/Greater Spire
Attacks = F
Carapace = A

Nydus
Nydus = N
Load = Z

Ultralisk Cavern
Chitinous Plating = U

Nydus Worm
Load = Z

Global

Control Groups

Create 1 = Shift + W
Create 6 = Shift + R
Create 7 = Shift + T
Create 8 = Shift + Q
Create 9 = Shift + Tab
Create 10 = Shift + Y
Select 1 = W
6 = R
7 = T
8 = Q
9 = Tab
10 = Y

Add to Group 1 = Option + W
6 = Option + R
7 = Option + T
8 = Option + Q
9 = Option + Tab
10 = Option + Y

Unit Management
Warp In = Space
Next Subgroup = J

Here's a really crap image that does a pretty good job of showing why these hotkeys are worth a try:

top = regular random player's hotkeys
bottom = my set

[image loading]