Hotkeys which one's are usefull?

[grogie3]

Hey community,

I am a Master sergeant and want to improve my game. I know the majority of players uses hotkey's but i can't find a guide on which to use, if it already exists please let me know.

(azerty)
I use:
iddle villagers: spacebar
TC: D
villager production: F
attack move: G
grouping of units:
1 for infrantry, 2 cav, 3 cannons , 5 barracks, 6 stable, 7 artilary foundry

Do i use them correct? or do i need to add much more hotkeys?

(sory for bad english)

[EmoCelestia]

Hotkeys are completely personal, however using them is helpful... some people make systems where
Q - Barracks ( Then W, E, R, T, for unit production )
A - Stable ( then S,D,F, are for unit production )
Z - Artilelry foundry
Ungarrison for me is Z...dont feel like going through entire hotkey setup...I would reccomend finding something that works for you, and you will not get better at using hotkeys until you try to start using them

[forgrin]

Do you use hotkeys to make buildings? That'd be the next step IMO.

[Mr_Bramboy]

I don't use azerty so I can't help you with specific styles but I would recommend to stick to one style and get used to it. Whatever works for you is the best.

For TC I recommend changing control group "9" to something preferable (in your case D) and adding all of your tcs to your control group. This allows you to make villagers mid fight without the screen switching back to your tc. The way you're using the tc hotkey right now is not efficient at all.

You're not using your control group 4. I recommend changing the stable to 4 since 4 is slightly easier to press and every millisecond counts in an rts. You can also change the control groups 7 and 8 to something which is more easily press able if you end up needing these hotkeys

A few small hotkeys that you can learn if you've got the basics down is that pressing shift+(idle villager key, in your case spacebar) selects all idle villagers, the ungarrison button can be remapped to a different key (very useful), and that you should hotkey the unit stance changes (alt-s, alt-d) to something more easily press able. This allows you to switch for example musketeers from ranged to melee and vica versa very quickly.

More hotkeys is definitely recommended but this is a start, you don't want to confuse yourself. Start with training units. I personally use a qwerty keyboard and follow the "grid" method which means the first piece of the unit composition (musketeer, hussar, falconet) is trained by the button Q and the second piece of the unit composition (skirmisher, dragoon) is pressed by W. I assume these buttons would be A and Z respectively on an azerty keyboard. Either way this isn't the "best" method, just do whatever suits you, as long as you're not using your mouse to train units!

Also, welcome to ESOC!

[tedere12]

Use as many hotkeys as possible. It can help you a lot. Use the mouse only for dragboxing and microing

[EmoCelestia]

For TC I recommend changing control group "9" to something preferable (in your case D) and adding all of your tcs to your control group. This allows you to make villagers mid fight without the screen switching back to your tc. The way you're using the tc hotkey right now is not efficient at all.

I use "T" as the hotkey for my TC and if you have "Find hotkey centers camera on unit" turned off it wont snap to tc...i prefer this, and if i want to snap to my skrimishers on (2) i hit 2 + spacebar to go to them..not undermining you or anything just figured some players didnt know this

[grogie3]

Thanks alot for the reply's, i will try to implement them 1 at a time so i don't confuse myself :)

[tedere12]

I like to see the tc when I hit T button but its a personal preference I guess.

[Mr_Bramboy]

For TC I recommend changing control group "9" to something preferable (in your case D) and adding all of your tcs to your control group. This allows you to make villagers mid fight without the screen switching back to your tc. The way you're using the tc hotkey right now is not efficient at all.

I use "T" as the hotkey for my TC and if you have "Find hotkey centers camera on unit" turned off it wont snap to tc...i prefer this, and if i want to snap to my skrimishers on (2) i hit 2 + spacebar to go to them..not undermining you or anything just figured some players didnt know this

This option should still be enabled because it allows you to look at locations. If I want to look at my forward base I press ctrl+b (barracks) which is faster than using the minimap. Just compare the two:

1) Move hand to ctrl+b
2) Press ctrl+b (keep looking at middle of screen)

Or:

1) Look at the left lower corner of your screen
2) Move mouse to left lower corner of your sceeen and press
3) Move mouse back
4) Look back

I'm not sure if this is also achieved by double tapping your control group if you have the snap back option disabled, but this method is still superior because it allows you to cycle between tcs and forward bases. Cycling through tcs (while the screen moves) is huge in the fortress age when you're fighting for map control. I mapped the 'find tc' button to A for this purpose.

[sdsanft]

Yeah honestly, the big thing is just setting up something that works for you. I honestly just use the default hotkeys and they work well enough for me. The way I learned to use hotkeys was I played vs the ai and I just forced myself to use hotkeys. Even when you don't know a building or unit you just scroll over the icon, see what it says, and then press it. It seems tedious but after a few games you learn pretty much all the important ones.

[bugattivitesse]

The ones i use most are T (town center) followed by V (make another vil). Also N (ungarrison) to move vils around faster in early game.