So I've been playing through the campaign over the last few weeks, this being my first proper RTS outside of Brutal Legend which hardly counts, but I've really had ambitions of getting into the multiplayer since watching Brad play it live (Well, archived anyway) is what got me hooked on Starcraft II replays, which lead to me getting the game. In less than a week I went from dismissing Starcraft II as being of a genre I had no interest in, to spending hours upon hours watching replays thanks to seeing not only how enthralling the multiplayer is, but how Brad was able to become competent over time. So tonight I decided to give the online a proper go (Though I had lost horribly to a friend who decided to proxy a pylon in my base), going into a practice league match with a written down build order and all the knowledge I had attained from watching a ton of replays.
After a 20 minute match in which I tried to adapt my build order slightly to adjust for Practice league conditions, forgot to upgrade either of my bases to Orbital Commands, and couldn't stop my hands from constantly shaking, I managed to secure my first victory on the internet. So glad I won too, great for my moral and confidence, though I imagine a defeat is in the cards still considering the sloppiness of my playing. Through that match I see I've managed to do well enough, but I see, watching the replay, many ways to improve my game, the best of which possibly being refining my Control Group use. Basically, I used 5 for my CCs, 6 for my Barracks, and 7 for my Starports (Chose against using my factory, though probably should've done considering my surplus resources. Some tanks would be nice in future matches) My army and my Vikings went without control groups for a few reasons, one going through the campaign I found it annoying to constantly add the new units to the group to make sure they were on board, two I'm never sure how I want to separate out my army particularly if I'll just end up moving them together anyway, and three since I don't know what to do I end up doing nothing.
Since what I feel like it is key in SC2 to have a system at all times such that it eventually becomes muscle memory, I'd like to ask you guys how you organize your control groups. Doesn't matter what faction you prefer, probably going to be trying them all out properly until I start to develop a feel for one. Thanks.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
Game » consists of 10 releases. Released Jul 27, 2010
The first chapter in the StarCraft II trilogy focuses on the struggles of the Terran race, as seen through the eyes of Commander Jim Raynor, leader of the rebel group Raynor's Raiders.
How do you guys organize your control groups?
For Zerg, they're pretty much dedicated to any Hatchery, Lair, or Hive that I have. Infestors get one as well if I end up making them.
Terran I have 1 set to my main base. 2 is for my Reactor Barracks, 3 and 4 occasionally are set to Reactor Factory/Starport, and the rest generally remain empty. When using Terran I have a habit of not using Control Groups very often if at all. Zerg I find my self having to to keep up with larva production. If I have any Infestors, Ghosts, or other ability heavy units on the field I'll give them their own as well.
1-whole army
2-5 control groups (air, ghost, ground,tanks, etc..)
7-barracks
8-factory
9-starport
0-command center
1) Army with main abilty
2) Army with 2nd ability
3) Air army
4) Buildings
5) Command Centre
6) Worker
7) All workers except nr.6.
1) Main army
2) Support units (Medivacs, Raven)
3) Barracks w/Reactor
4) Barracks w/Tech Lab
5) Command Center
You can stick all your unit producing buildings on one key then use TAB to switch between them, same with armies
@Sorrowsan: I really like the idea of using 0 for the scout, thanks for that. Seems disconnected from the army, since it'd be beyond all the unit producing structures, yet still a thing.
Depends what setting you play on, some people play on the grid style, where the hotkeys are mapped to a grid layout and thus putting your CCs/Hatches at 1 is alot more useful as you can just spam 1qqqqqq instead of 6qqqq.
I use what most of these guys use which is 1 and 2 being respective armies (land/air) 3-5 is production and 6 is my CC. However, I'm slowly changing to use 4-5 as production (All reactor buildings on 4, all techlabs on 5, this is because Terran macro is kinda stuffed as the unit priority for reactor units is kinda buggy/annoying) so we'll see how that goes.
Anyone want to explain real fast why you wouldn't just want to put all your hatches into a single group and what are all the disadvantages that that technique has? That would be fantastic.
a) You have a far away expac so your rallies might be set to different places or you need different units
or
b) You sometimes spam a button and don't want to make 5 hatcheries worth of drones, so making 2 hatcheries worth and saving 3 for any production units?
But, really, I don't know. :P
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