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I'm trying to improve my use of hotkeying units and buildings, but it's not as intuitive for me as I'd like. I've got a set that I'm trying out, but I nearly always forget to use them - they're as follows.
1 - Scout / Harass
2/3 - Main Force / Casters
4 - CC/Nexus
5/6 - Production
7 - Detection
Does anyone have a configuration that works really well for them? Thoughts on the above set? Let's rap, folks.
I usually do a 2 tech 1 reactor where i have 1 scv supply builder 2 techs 3 reactor 4 command center and then 5-7 factor, starport and then 8 is my army and 9 is my ghost or raven. Helpful? probably not :P
In SC1, i used 1-6 for units, 7-9 for research buildings/comsat, and 9-0 for air units
Obviously, its different in SC2. I haven't worked it out yet, usually i start off with 1 being fighting units, 2 are infantry buildings, 3 is air buildings, and 4 is cc/nexus. then i can expand around and change up my groups, but 4 is always cc/nexii/hatcheries
i usually have 5 as my nexus, until they become warpgates my gates are 4, then either robo or stargate becomes 4 because W warps in the units. 3 is usually my scout (obs or hallucinated phoenix) 1 is my army and 2 is my casters in that army as well (blink and such away from main army if need be or up levels yadda yadda) oh and my first scouting probe is 1 until it dies or gets to the Xel'naga Tower of my choosing. If i go more i make production buildings on the right side of 5 cuz i dont need to micro them as intensively as i do my army.
1 is my builder, 2 is my nexi, 3 is my scout and later my gates, 4 -0 is my army
1: scout -> main force
2: harasser (Usually mutas)
3: infestors
4: Queens
5: hatcheries
6: overlord/overseer
7: overlord
1 - Production buildings
2 - Zealots
3 - Stalkers
4 - Scouting Probe (early game) then Void Rays
Other units go with 2 or 3, depending of the unit kind. Probably should move Void Rays to 5. I don't think i want to use 6, i have short fingers.
As Terran I use 0 for OCs and Nukes, 9 for research/upgrades, and 8 for production. 1-6 I use for my main forces, generally keeping lower tier and more general units towards the 1 side and higher tier and more specialized units towards the 6 side. Sometimes I save 7 for any extra special situations, like Medivacs loaded with SCVs for repair, Ghosts for nuking, a frequently used supply depot doorway, or a special harassment group of sorts. Usually, however, 7 just gets used for my main forces.
1. Hatchery
2. Hatchery
3. Hatchery
4. Hatchery
5. Hatchery
6. Infestor
7. Infestor
8. Infestor
0 is all my Nexus or Orbital Commands
9 is scout/nydus/upgrades
1-3 are production buildings (or hatcheries if Zerg)
4-8 are unit ctrl groups
1 - Main Army (this is moreso to control the "mass")
2 - Key units (Units which I'll want to pull back to avoid damage. That or if I split my army this is the second one)
3 - Army Production buildings (I do tab usage rather well)
4 - Worker Production (Simple)
5 - Key Structure (Ghost Academy, Nydus Worm) (This way i can get them rebuilding/reused as they come available without leaving the action)
6 - Upgrade Buildings (No need to go back to base to upgrade)
7 - Temporary slot
8 - Temporary slot
9 - Temporary slot
10 - Temporary slot
I use temporary slots for a lot of reasons. If I suspect I'm attacked soon as terran with a wall in, i'll grab 5-6 scvs in a temp group to swiftly pull them to the frontline. I will also setup groups of 2-3 workers to fast transition to refineries if I think of it. I might setup a group of casters in there specifically. It is just a need at the moment.
If it's not "whole army" micro, I typically block or CNTL click to do what I need in a clutch.
1+ 0-CC (The 1 later becomes units. Just for early game.)
2-Scout (Later becomes units.)
So that’s 1 to 4 army, split in to casters, melee, range and special or flanking forces etc.
5- barracks
6-factories
7-Starports
8-Amories
9- Anything I deem fit at the time.
Does this really belong here, wouldn't it do better in Strategy?
Perhaps - I'm new to posting, so it never really crossed my mind to throw it any where else. Thanks for the input so far gang, I'm working at making my hotkey choices more deliberate and accessible thanks to all of this.
@Deathstar (and maybe others) - You've got all of your hatcheries keyed to different groups - I just realized this myself, but you can group them all in one and hitting select larva selects ALL available larva - then you just rally the eggs to where you want them to go. Handy, that. Same with infestors, you can put them all together and the one with the most energy will cast your spells.