Hotkeys discussion

Let's talk about hotkeys here

Discussion about the game and its default mods.

Do we need a button for quick production cancellation?

Yes, this idea sounds good
17
85%
No, none else but you needs this button
2
10%
"Micro does not matter after 4th minute of gameplay". (c) Happy
1
5%
 
Total votes: 20

Anykeyich
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Hotkeys discussion

Post by Anykeyich »

Hello everyone!

I have not found a topic for discussion of hotkeys, so let's talk about them here.

Inspired by Korean SCBW-players I decided to control all my production only from keyboard. But then I found out that there is no hotkey for cancelling all the production. So if I have a queue with many different units/buildings, I need to use Crtl and middle mouse button to cancel every que.

So I thought that it would be cool to have a such hotkey to make all production transitions faster.

What do you think about it, guys?

Inb4: @Happy, I still believe that good micro can play an important role even after 4th minute of the gameplay.

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WhoCares
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Post by WhoCares »

That's the reason why i don't use key shortcut to build because the game allows half the feature, you can build on hotkey without using the mouse but not cancel. So what the point to make a huge config if at some point you have to go clicking anyway.

it should be : let say
"f1 to fx" to build (as it is right now)
shift + "f1 to fx" to build by five (as it is rignt now)
"supression hotkey" + "f1 to fx" to cancel the queue (to implement)

and additional feature : 1 key to pause/unpause protuction by tab

if selecting infantry tab is "R" than "pause/unpause queue hotkey" + "R" would allow pause unpause the queue in process

and why not use the supression hotkey for the same to clear an entire tab : "supression hotkey" + "R"

that way it would be worth it bind the whole lot and try to never again go in that menu clicking as EVERYTHING could be done by hotkeys combination.

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Clockwork
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Post by Clockwork »

Nice ideas would add a new level for macroing.

I said however not to not micro after 4 minuites but you can stop mashing fuck out of the f1 and f2 keys for fastest build order speed if you so wish.

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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday »

I have decided to only have the most important build hotkeys in my keyboard. I wonder how that will turn out in the long run. I feel producing units takes much less % of actual gameplay than in StarCraft and Age of Empires 2 for example.
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WhoCares
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Post by WhoCares »

I agree with you doomsday in the facts this will help a few % of the game.

But those are the % that with the right occasion can you give you the edge.

For my part I would try to train with a full set of construction binds if those feature come up.

Too often i feel like losing an eternity resetting my queues because i need another unit asap other than the one i was building. So many times I build this unit in a emergency and don't requeue the original build because of the heat of the game with the consequences of not producing ... Having the skill/confort of doing that on the keyboard while keeping my mouse on a battlefeild can make me avoid lot's of mistale or unevitable drop of attention to prioritize an unexpected production.

Anykeyich
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Post by Anykeyich »

Doomsday wrote: I wonder how that will turn out in the long run
Let me quote WhoCares from our Discord-conversation:
when someone f**ks up all your eco at once and you have to pause in a hurry to requeue harvester or mechanic "to salvage an interesting sh*t"
Especially in the games with low ping, Instead of cancelling the line with several units there i would prefer to click two keys: cancel all the production and order mechanic. Or send an engineer to deny War Factory's production, why not? It will really save a couple of so important seconds, and who knows, maybe even turn the whole game.
We just want to make the game even more convenient.

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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday »

I would certainly enjoy cancel all in current build que hotkey.
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
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Raishiwi
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Post by Raishiwi »

I know my setup is so much different than everyone else's, but if I just had an ALT or CTRL modifier for my current build hotkey to cancel that item I would be SO happy. I've tried playing around with different macro ideas but nothing so far.

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Sleipnir
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Post by Sleipnir »

We already support Alt + F4 to cancel flak truck production ;)

Adding support for Ctrl+hotkey to cancel that item seems like an obvious thing to do, although it will conflict with people's custom hotkey setup for support powers.

noobmapmaker
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Post by noobmapmaker »

I once suggested "priority building". By pressing ALT (for instance) + select the unit you want, the unit(s) are added to the queue with priority and building will start as soon as the current unit/building is ready (or should it start directly?). When the priority units/buildings have been built the queue resumes as it was. So basically you shove a unit/building in front of the queue. This was unfortunately not accepted because buildqueue management is part of the game.

https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/issues/11726 - with link to other buildqueue related discussions.

Cancelling an entire queue seems like a nice/must have feature though - has a github ticket been made? And respect for the entirely building with hotkeys approach, I can't do it...
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SirCake
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Post by SirCake »

I would suggest a slight change in the "ctrl"+cancel mechanic. Instead of canceling only one stack of units upon ctrl+cancel, instead the whole build queue should be emptied.
Then you could also bind some hotkey to canceling a queue like ctrl+"S".

@ WhoCares to not use Keyboard for that reason seems odd, since you can still save about 80% of clicks in the side menu. Its like buying a full price milk of another producer just because your favourite brand does only have 80% reduction in price^^

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Sleipnir
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Post by Sleipnir »

The ctrl+f-keys are currently used for normal production in the RA mod, which can have more than 12 things visible in the build palette at once. We could move the later items to alt + f-key to free up ctrl, but this would then mean disabling alt+f4 to kill the game on Windows.

The last time we tried to remove alt+f4 there were enough complaints to have to revert it, so it's not clear whether this is a viable approach. Only supporting hotkeys for the first 12 items is also not viable, so we may have to live without cancelling via hotkey if people want to keep their alt+f4 quit.

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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday »

Personally I would like new hotkey: cancel all in current build que. I would not find generic cancel modifier very useful.
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anjew
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Post by anjew »

Sleipnir wrote: Adding support for Ctrl+hotkey to cancel that item seems like an obvious thing to do, although it will conflict with people's custom hotkey setup for support powers.
Who's custom hotkey setup? Why isn't it the standard if you are promoting it (considering it comes unbound)? I personally use N, M etc. So I'm not one of these people but Im curious why ctrl + is needed when there is an entire keyboard to bind since most bindings are unbound by default. Shift can also be a good modifier.
Sleipnir wrote: The last time we tried to remove alt+f4 there were enough complaints to have to revert it, so it's not clear whether this is a viable approach. Only supporting hotkeys for the first 12 items is also not viable, so we may have to live without cancelling via hotkey if people want to keep their alt+f4 quit.
There is also the entire Keypad of the keyboard that isnt used, thats 17 keys that arent used (although i presume numlock cant be rebound).
Doomsday wrote: Personally I would like new hotkey: cancel all in current build que. I would not find generic cancel modifier very useful.
But I think this is the most sensible approach, only cancelling the build queue currently opened. I support this avoiding using the mouse is always good for micro and means you can easily cancel while your in the middle of managing something else
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Sleipnir
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Post by Sleipnir »

anjew wrote: There is also the entire Keypad of the keyboard that isnt used, thats 17 keys that arent used (although i presume numlock cant be rebound).
A significant fraction (probably more than half, certainly no less than a third based on reported display resolutions) run OpenRA on laptops, which generally don't have a keypad. That invalidates it for default bindings, especially something as important as production.

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