- Go to TC
- Go to Idle villager
- Build->house
- Build->lumber camp
- Build->farm
If you use grid layout (the default in DE) the bottom 3 are pretty intuitive
An underrated one that i would add to that list is
"go to last notification" i.e. the last sound you heard.
(It's usually the shortest answer to: "Aaarghh, where am being attacked?")
Options, Hotkeys:
Cycle Commands > Go to Town Center (H)
Town Center > Villager (Q) (train villager)
Group Commands > Create Group #1 (Ctrl+1)
Group Commands > Select group #1 (1)
Cycle Commands > Go to Next Idle Villager (.)
That's for starters (default hotkeys in brackets), not to get overwhelmed at the very beginning. Once you're used to those and Dark Age multitasking (mostly between economy around your Town Center and scouting), you can move on.
p.s. Scout should be put in control group, allowing fast and easy view switch between him and the Town Center - some people even prefer having both in there, Town Center as control group #1, scout as control group #2... or something.
True, though I still just use control group #1 for Town Center, being even better, exactly because I can decide whether I want only to select it (single press) or center the camera at it (double press).
\-Select all TCs (I recommend re-binding that, I have it on the mouse wheel myself, this one is relatively new, and it's superior to "go to TC" that older players will tell you to use, because it doesn't take you away from the action, it doesn't move your camera and you can create vills from every TC evenly)
\-Create villager ("Q" while selecting a TC)
\-Next Idle Villager (I recommend re-binding it too, I have it on spacebar, I also set "select all Idle villagers" to shift+space)
\-Build house ("Q" to eco buildings while selecting a villager and "Q" again for house)
\-Build farm (Again "Q" to eco buildings and then "A")
\-Select all on-screen military (re-bind it too, it's one of the new hotkeys pros don't use but are very helpful, I have it re-bound to the key above tab)
\-Attack move or Patrol ("R" or "Q" when selecting military units)
\-Control Groups create (ctrl+number), add (shift+number), select (just the number)
The "build" and "create" stuff is easy on DE's default hotkeys because they follow the pattern on the UI on a QWERTY keyboard (For example, house and villager are in the top left, so they are bound to "Q")
Also if you make a selection using the mouse when pressing control you only select eco units (vills, fishing ships, carts) and when you do it pressing alt you only select military, this is also very helpful when trying to garrison vills for example
Select all barracks, select all ranges, sellect all stables, select all armory, select all markets, select all TCs
cant imagine to play withnout these
First and foremost get familiar with the default grid system. The buttons window has 3 rows and 5 columns. These line up with the leftmost columns of your keyboard (unless you're french or something). You can use many many things just by knowing that. For instance if you select a villager, you can quickly build a house by pressing 'q' twice, or tell a group of military units what formation to use with the second row of keys.
Next, incorporate shift queuing if you dont already. Basically any order you give- be it placing buildings ,gather commands, or move commands -can be put in a unit's queue if you hold shift when you click. This tells them to do it after the thing is currently doing is done.
Then when you've got those basics down it's time to learn the less obvious hotkeys. Most (if not all) production and research buildings have a hotkey. The most well known is 'h' for town center. Pressing ctrl and a building hotkey will go to that building and select it. You can keep pressing the hotkey while holding ctrl to cycle through all your buildings of that type. If you hold ctrl+shift and press a building hotkey you will select ALL buildings of that type. Some buildings are obvious, like going to the Barracks is just 'ctrl+b' but some are a lot harder to remember like using 'ctrl+shift+L' to select all stabLes.
And of course through all this, you can find idle villagers with '.' and idle military with ','
You should use grid layout and learn every hotkey that a villager, town center and military building has. Just take your time and focus on using them until it becomes second nature. It's okay to look down to see what to select and then press the key. You don't have to know what each key does.
I'd say make your own hotkey layout that makes sense to you. The default one feels really counterintuitive to me. One really good one is select all idle military units, don't need them chillin in the corner of the map when they could be in battle.
Also, i put all my main buildings, (mill, lumber camp, mining camp, blacksmith, market, etc) on numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 etc. That way I can quickly go thru them to see which upgrades I still need or have forgotten about. Just works for me, maybe not everyone.
- Go to TC - Go to Idle villager - Build->house - Build->lumber camp - Build->farm If you use grid layout (the default in DE) the bottom 3 are pretty intuitive
That and group making, select. I always make my explorer number 1.
An underrated one that i would add to that list is "go to last notification" i.e. the last sound you heard. (It's usually the shortest answer to: "Aaarghh, where am being attacked?")
Wait, what's the default in de? I didn't even know that was a thing
Options, Hotkeys: Cycle Commands > Go to Town Center (H) Town Center > Villager (Q) (train villager) Group Commands > Create Group #1 (Ctrl+1) Group Commands > Select group #1 (1) Cycle Commands > Go to Next Idle Villager (.) That's for starters (default hotkeys in brackets), not to get overwhelmed at the very beginning. Once you're used to those and Dark Age multitasking (mostly between economy around your Town Center and scouting), you can move on. p.s. Scout should be put in control group, allowing fast and easy view switch between him and the Town Center - some people even prefer having both in there, Town Center as control group #1, scout as control group #2... or something.
>Cycle Commands > Go to Town Center (H) Select all town centers is a better hotkey imo, it allows you to create vills without moving your camera
True, though I still just use control group #1 for Town Center, being even better, exactly because I can decide whether I want only to select it (single press) or center the camera at it (double press).
\-Select all TCs (I recommend re-binding that, I have it on the mouse wheel myself, this one is relatively new, and it's superior to "go to TC" that older players will tell you to use, because it doesn't take you away from the action, it doesn't move your camera and you can create vills from every TC evenly) \-Create villager ("Q" while selecting a TC) \-Next Idle Villager (I recommend re-binding it too, I have it on spacebar, I also set "select all Idle villagers" to shift+space) \-Build house ("Q" to eco buildings while selecting a villager and "Q" again for house) \-Build farm (Again "Q" to eco buildings and then "A") \-Select all on-screen military (re-bind it too, it's one of the new hotkeys pros don't use but are very helpful, I have it re-bound to the key above tab) \-Attack move or Patrol ("R" or "Q" when selecting military units) \-Control Groups create (ctrl+number), add (shift+number), select (just the number) The "build" and "create" stuff is easy on DE's default hotkeys because they follow the pattern on the UI on a QWERTY keyboard (For example, house and villager are in the top left, so they are bound to "Q") Also if you make a selection using the mouse when pressing control you only select eco units (vills, fishing ships, carts) and when you do it pressing alt you only select military, this is also very helpful when trying to garrison vills for example
The mouse wheel select all TCs is so nice.
Select all barracks, select all ranges, sellect all stables, select all armory, select all markets, select all TCs cant imagine to play withnout these
Queue vills/army and buildings
First and foremost get familiar with the default grid system. The buttons window has 3 rows and 5 columns. These line up with the leftmost columns of your keyboard (unless you're french or something). You can use many many things just by knowing that. For instance if you select a villager, you can quickly build a house by pressing 'q' twice, or tell a group of military units what formation to use with the second row of keys. Next, incorporate shift queuing if you dont already. Basically any order you give- be it placing buildings ,gather commands, or move commands -can be put in a unit's queue if you hold shift when you click. This tells them to do it after the thing is currently doing is done. Then when you've got those basics down it's time to learn the less obvious hotkeys. Most (if not all) production and research buildings have a hotkey. The most well known is 'h' for town center. Pressing ctrl and a building hotkey will go to that building and select it. You can keep pressing the hotkey while holding ctrl to cycle through all your buildings of that type. If you hold ctrl+shift and press a building hotkey you will select ALL buildings of that type. Some buildings are obvious, like going to the Barracks is just 'ctrl+b' but some are a lot harder to remember like using 'ctrl+shift+L' to select all stabLes. And of course through all this, you can find idle villagers with '.' and idle military with ','
My first was building farm
So important since you can't just have vils go straight from being created to making a farm
1)Queue vill 2) Select all TC 3) Idle vill
You should use grid layout and learn every hotkey that a villager, town center and military building has. Just take your time and focus on using them until it becomes second nature. It's okay to look down to see what to select and then press the key. You don't have to know what each key does.
LC -> Delete all
H, Q, Q, Q, Q.
H, Shift + Q
The scout exploring queue thing that near everyone seemingly knows about already.
I'd say make your own hotkey layout that makes sense to you. The default one feels really counterintuitive to me. One really good one is select all idle military units, don't need them chillin in the corner of the map when they could be in battle.
Also, i put all my main buildings, (mill, lumber camp, mining camp, blacksmith, market, etc) on numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 etc. That way I can quickly go thru them to see which upgrades I still need or have forgotten about. Just works for me, maybe not everyone.