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EVE New Citizens Q&A

 
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Any advice/tips/pointers for using hotkeys in combat?
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Anni Hil-Ator
Tribal Liberation Force
Minmatar Republic
#1 - 2014-03-07 04:17:17 UTC
Right now I'm still running level 1 missions in my shitfit frigate, but I'd like to develop good habits early for using hotkeys in combat (so that I won't be inept whenever I getting around to knocking out a POS with my Dreadnought). Pirate

The thing is... I have no idea how hotkeys work in battle. I'm used to much simpler games (like SC2/DotA/LoL) where the same basic hotkeys are used repeatedly and the effect is very straightforward. But, obviously, with Eve being so much more complex... I have no idea which hotkeys I'll regularly be using in engagements, how they work (point, click, and pew-pew?). And I don't know how I should rearrange my hotkeys for maximum efficiency.

If any of you could simply explain as much detail about this as you can, I'd really appreciate it. And, as I say, I'm mostly concerned with combat in this regard. I don't mind pointing and clicking with my mouse for everything else... but I want to be as efficient as possible in combat.
J'Poll
School of Applied Knowledge
Caldari State
#2 - 2014-03-07 05:01:46 UTC
ctrl + click = lock

F1 - F8 = highslot 1 - 8

for rest I just use my mouse

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Galaxy Pig
New Order Logistics
CODE.
#3 - 2014-03-07 06:17:46 UTC
Yeah, that's about what I use as well, but be aware that you can drag other modules to the F1-8 positions. I typically place my scrambler web and any ecm up there, so they can all be mashed pretty much simultaneously.

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Anni Hil-Ator
Tribal Liberation Force
Minmatar Republic
#4 - 2014-03-07 08:59:13 UTC
Thanks, that actually is good to know and helps a lot. Can anyone tell me how the F-keys work if you've put your guns into a group? I can test it out... but it still might be more clear if someone spelled it out. ALSO... how does the "reload" hotkey work? Do you just hold down 'R' and then click your weapon/group?
Ovv Topik
Pator Tech School
Minmatar Republic
#5 - 2014-03-07 09:31:56 UTC  |  Edited by: Ovv Topik
Personally, I have the 3 range control settings in a row on the keyboard.

Approach (To close range)
Orbit - set to the optimal range of my gun/ammo combination
Keep range - Set to max scram range or maximum falloff of guns, which ever is less.

I have my mouse wheel button set to 'Look at' so I can see what guns they have fitted.

And I have keyboard shortcuts for 'Drone return' and 'Drone attack'. There is no hotkey for 'Launch Drones' because there are often multiple flights of drones in the bay. The quickest way is to just drag them in to space.

You read a lot about manual piloting, but I have found in the 30 - 60 seconds that is a Frigate fight, other than slingshotting a kiting foe or spiraling in on a target, I'm better off using the time managing heat, reps and ammo and just using the 3 hot keys to dictate range.

Works for me! - Usually.

Edit: All these keys are set around the Shift key which is most often used. Shift Clicking individual modules toggles 'overheat' and trust me - There is no other single skill that you will be sure won you a fight than 'Thermodynamics V'.

A single cycle of heat on your AB is often enough to close/pull range, and a quick blast of heat on all 3 mids (AB/Scram/Web) is usually enough to stop a kiting Condor or Slicer from getting to range.

Doing missions is a good way of getting used to using the hot keys without taking your eyes off the screen.

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Inxentas Ultramar
Ultramar Independent Contracting
#6 - 2014-03-07 10:49:24 UTC
Use the F key to make your drones attack your current target.
Jori McKie
Hedion University
Amarr Empire
#7 - 2014-03-07 15:48:05 UTC  |  Edited by: Jori McKie
There is a difference in need of hotkeys between solo/smallscale and gang warfare (+10peeps)
In gang warfare common ones are:
ctrl + click = lock
strg + space = full stop
F1 to F8
Drone Attack and Drone Return (there is no Drone deploy hotkey)
Broadcast for Armor/Shield
Reload ammo

Solo/Smallscale
Important are hotkeys for active tanking mods, propulsion mod and the option to overheat them. Execellent cap managment and overheating is what will let you win a fight. Additonal to the ones above (exception is i don't use F1 to F8) i have on/off hotkeys for:
Prop mod
Repair mods, be it armor or shield
Cap Booster
Active Hardener

I use the same hotkeys to overheat those mods with a "Shift" combo. Hotkeys are on q,w,e,r // a,s,d,f // y,x,c,v
I don't use any hotkey to navigate, that is done manually by double click in space or selecting via mouse and UI.


I have no idea why but some actions are delayed via hotkey, like the one "set full speed". Using the mouse in the UI is instant (as instant as EVE is working under the 1s tick), using a hotkey is delayed by roughly 2 sec. Why i know that? Try to enter a FW outpost in a kiting Frig getting past a scram/web Frig and you know what i mean.

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Qalix
Long Jump.
#8 - 2014-03-07 17:37:35 UTC
Feyd Rautha Harkonnen
Doomheim
#9 - 2014-03-07 18:58:53 UTC
I have a couple that suit my playstyle...where my most important keys are close and right under one hand...

Lock Target bound to F key (F#ck you!)
Warp Disruptor/Scram bound to A key (Aquire!)
Weapons group bound to S key (Shoot!)
Drones Engage bound to G key (GO drones!)

Then consider the following scenario...

Camping a gate a +1 appears on local, I put my mouse on the overview items list and hold down the F (lock) key while spamming mouse-clicks on the bottommost free line on the list, so that the instant a ship uncloaks it appears sorted at the bottom under my awaiting mouse pointer and target cycle immediately begins.

While targetting is happening, I quickly evaluate if I can kill (or waste sec status on) the ship. If so I quickly hit the 'A' (Aquire point) key to commit to tackling. The next two keys of S and G should be self explanatory.

P.s.
Where this particular mapping also helps me is when I am in a small ship (Ishkur) fighting a bigger one with drones, and while I am safely under his guns at a 500m orbit -- I need to clear his drones quickly. So in quick succession I am going down the list of his drones on my separate 'Drones' overview tab, using F + mouse clicks to target all, then cycling "S" and "G" through the targets to get my guns and drones focussing fire and popping said drones as quickly as possible.

F

Would you like to know more?
MadMuppet
Critical Mass Inc
#10 - 2014-03-07 20:35:32 UTC
Shift+Ctrl+target = unlocks target (handy if you need to dump a targeted ship or wreck quickly)

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Gyromite
AWE Corporation
Intrepid Crossing
#11 - 2014-03-07 20:47:24 UTC
Shift + F1 (assuming your weapons stack is on the F1 slot) = toggle overheat.
Alaric Faelen
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#12 - 2014-03-10 05:36:48 UTC  |  Edited by: Alaric Faelen
I personally use;

F1 my prop mod. F2-4 is cloaks, tanking, sebos...
F5-8, offensive modules in descending order of range.

Basically, if things really get chaotic I can wipe my finger down the keyboard and it should work......Big smile

F9- broadcast for reps, I change it depending on whether I am in an armor or shield fleet, but most logi bros don't stand on ceremony when they see a broadcast and throw out reps regardless.

I have both alliance and coalition comms open at once most of the time, and have Push To Talk set for the / and * key (one for each) that I use the number pad on my keyboard to activate.

It's pretty rare that I need more hotkeys than that. I hold the Ctrl key and click with the mouse on my overview to target enemy ships. I tend to manually pilot in space or if the FC requires, anchor on him (you have your FC on watchlist, right?) so the nav controls like align, warp to, orbit, etc don't get used much.
Most warp navigation I do tends to be done by right clicking in space (which also conveniently shows personal and corp bookmarks for your current system) and selecting options there instead of the overview.

The reason I chose to put my offensive modules in the second bank of F keys (my keyboard groups them into blocks of four) is that I far more often use my prop mod and tank modules than my guns. Every gate or JB requires you to reactivate your tank/sebo/etc.

Overview tips- I use a main PvP tab that only displays enemy ships (neutral, hostile, limited engagement) and basic navigation like stargates and stations. No brackets.
A second tab is for drones only, no brackets. I fly fast tackle a lot, so often my guns are more for killing drones than ships.
Third tab is Logi, very rarely do I fly logi, but if the FC needs me to re-ship on short notice, I have a tab ready that shows only friendly ships. No brackets.
Fourth tab is Nav, which I have gates, JB's, cyno beacons, POS towers, and Blops and Titan ships. I leave brackets on for this tab. I can quickly jump to it to get oriented to things like my fleet- I may be zoomed far out if I fly a Dictor or bomber where I use the tactical overlay, and hovering my mouse over modules to see their range, so ships themselves may not be visible on screen and brackets helps.
Fifth tab is everything that is a collidable object. This is for cloaky ships- to avoid being decloaked (it still happens Cool) No brackets.

I have my D-Scan linked to my Overview settings so I can immediately filter results when scouting.

Hope it helps. Good luck!