RTS - Do you use hotkeys?

I just got into RTS games after a 6 year drought. I was into the old command and conquer red alert games and recently beat some games recommended to me

dawn of war, lord of rings BFME, Rise of legends, and now CoH

I heard from many people that if i plan to play online that i should learn hotkeys to be competitive. I never really saw the need to use hotkeys since i could just click on whatever i need almost as fast as it would be to find the key and push it.

if you guys use hotkeys, how do you use them effectively or do you assign them and if you do, what general keys do you hotkey?

 

i used to use hot keys but what i found better was to get a Nostromo n52.
This lil gaming goody is totally customizable and you can also program macros.
I play BFME 1, 2 and ROTWK as well as SupremeCommander right now. Theres just too many hotkeys to try get used to when using a keyboard.
The Nostromo has made gaming so much easier and faster.
And lastly, this saves the keyboard letters from fading over time from constant gaming use.

 

Hotkeys is a must if you play competitively online. They are much faster than move, point and click. Watch some of your more experienced RTS friends play or some competition video on youtube to see how effective hotkeys really are.

Assigning hotkeys to any key on the keyboard is good, as long as you can remember where they are and what they're assigned to. Locating your main keys nearer the center of the keyboard instead of the left side of the keyboard is much more effective, as you have a wider number of keys available at your disposal. Although doing something like that would usually mean a reassignment of almost every key in game.

 

I use hotkeys. Customized for wc3 and Standard for C&C3, you need them to be competitive.

 

In my eyes hotkeys are a must in an RTS. The use of hotkeys makes the production of your base alot simpler and faster if you know your hotkeys. Also, you can't micro without hotkeys

 

what do you mean by micro?

 

I have a Logitech G15 keyboard and alot of the hotkey buttons are designated for micro-usage


Micro is a term for controlling multiple units at once with each doing its specific job. Think multitasking....in a video game

Great RTS'ers are known for their "uber-micro."

 

whats an example? not sure i know what this means.

 

an example of "micro" would be for instance when you are playing WC III or WC III TFT, and are using casters. The casters have individual spells that give their armies they are supporting different buffs, these can be turned on and off by the use of hotkeys. Turning on and off healing spells, dispelling summoned units, taking control of opponents magical spells etc etc. They are also used for any other unit in an RTS, but that was just a small example..hope that defined it a little bit.

 

I use hotkeys all the time since I ain't that accurate with a mouse, so its just easier to use the keyboard

 

hrmm, maybe i dont play games that use this micro management?

or if i do i dont know that im doing it or utilizing it

i play lord of the rings BFME, dawn of war, and Rise of Legends

 

At the higher levels of online gaming, using hotkeys and micro-usage would save you those critical seconds/split-seconds to help give you an edge/or keep you from giving up that edge against a skilled opponent.

 

Best way to describe micro is moving a unit back when it gets hurt but still strategically keeping it in the battle so you are dealing higher overall damage output than the opponent.

Add spell casting, ability usage, macro (producing resources/structures/units at the base the same time you are microing), and many other commands and now your basing skill almost on actions per minute

 

ohh ok that makes a bit more sense.

i'll have to learn how to start base building while controlling squads.... didn't know that you could do that. how do you place the buildings then if you arent pointing the mouse and placing the strucutre at a specific location?

 

I play Dawn of War online and have never, ever used hotkeys. I still have a 73% win rate so I wouldn't agree that it's an absolute most, but it does sound very handy. What would be an example of hotkeys in dawn of war? Anyone...?

 

i could be wrong, but i used "b" then "l" to build a listening post instead of clicking on a servant, then build, then on the listening post icon.

i also used "b" and a few other letters for things like generators and units.

but that was the extent of my button usage.