Customized keyboard shortcuts

[Karsten75]

I'm making this here, but it is probably more for CW2 than that I'm hoping that this will get into CW1.

Can the keyboards shortcuts be customizable?  I don't often play CW on a desktop, but I did last night and it was very awkward to get to the "P"ause" key while my right hand was also manipulating the mouse.  It would have been nice if I could have selected a different key as the Pause key.

On a side note - I play on a laptop (Thinkpad) that has a little mouse button in the middle of the keyboard - so my index finger manipulates the mouse, my thumb is on the mouse buttons and  my ring finger can reach the Pause key.  When trying to play on the desktop, my entire right hand was off the keyboard, manipulating the mouse and it was very awkward.  I had to cross my left hand over to reach the P-key and that meant my left hand had to travel a lot to also manipulate the numeric keys to build units, and activate them.

How do others play?

[Michionlion]

um... well if you're not super serious about a high score then you can just use your right hand all the time, for p and clicking.  Its not like you're clicking every second.  And then if you're in a tight situation, pause then do your clicking and moving units.

[Fisherck]

I play on a netbook, so even though I can reach my pinkie finger over to the p, I usually just use my left hand. More simple, and I can just leave it there (I do pause a lot).

[Kapoios]

How do others play?

I also play on a laptop. I use my left hand (I'm left handed) on the touchpad, thumb on the left button, index on the pad. My right hand has thumb on space and index on P. I also use Q and A (disarm and deactivate) a lot. I observed myself playing after you posted and it turns out I sometimes press Q and A with the left and sometimes with the right hand, while the hand pressing them has thumb on space. Apart from those, I also use X when destroying things, but I'm not sure which hand I use for that, probably either, like Q and A. Maybe also sometimes use 1 or 2, but that's very rare and not a habit.

As a slightly unrelated thing, I sometimes don't understand why people don't like touch pads. A touchpad will always be at the same place when you return if you put your hand to the keyboard unlike the mouse that can be in an area spanning several square inches in various directions. You also don't move your pointer randomly when returning to the touchpad, like it's inevitable to do with a mouse, when you return from the keyboard quickly to grab it. And, of course, a touchpad tends to be nearer the keyboard than a mouse. Oh, and when you have your hand on the touchpad like I do, your hand configuration is almost what you need to switch to keyboard. Not the silly gesture of grabbing a mouse.

I don't know if custom keyboard shortcuts would help me in a desktop. I tried playing at a friend's computer once and I definitely missed the proximity and reliability of location of my touchpad. That said, I very much like your idea. It certainly can't hurt anyone and seems easy to implement. I could maybe add collectors and relays (1 and 2) to the right of P ([ and ]) since those are useful but I don't use them because of their inconvenient positions.

[UpperKEES]

Yes, I'd love customizable shortcut keys as well. I always use my right hand for the mouse and my left hand for the keyboard. Because I pause so often I would have chosen the spacebar for pausing when I was up to me. Also the fact that the Q & A-keys are rather close to the X has caused some deleted weapons in the past.

I never use the 1-9 keys for the different units, but I think these kind of shortcuts will become more important in  CW2, as there will be many more unit types in various submenu's as far as I understood.

I do hate touch pads of laptops because they are less precise and using a mouse feels more intuitive to me. And Kap, didn't you recently tell me you sometimes double clicked a drone by accident because you touched the touch pad twice?

[Kapoios]

And Kap, didn't you recently tell me you sometimes double clicked a drone by accident because you touched the touch pad twice?

Not exactly. It's not a fault of the touchpad thing, but mostly a brain failure. I never tap to click. I usually have "tapping to click" deactivated, because I like to click with my thumb (I think people with less mobile fingers might find this gives them cramps, but I like it that way), though I checked my settings and it seems it's activated on this computer (I deactivated it now! :) ). But that's not the problem, at all, it seems. I observed myself with that too. Turns out I click drones again because I sort of click units again in an OCD way to be sure they are selected. But I blame the game a bit, too, because drones are the only [expletive deleted - G.] thing that doesn't get a circle around it when selected, so I click them again, since I'm not quite sure they're selected, with undesirable results. I think this all happens on a subconscious leve. I might make a suggestion to Virgil to put a circle on drones too. That would be very nice and hopefully not hard to put in if there's an another update to CW1.

[Karsten75]

Here is a Thinkpad keyboard.



Note the little red pointer in the center.

Now visualize my right  hand lying flat on the keyboard, with my index finger on the red button (trackpoint) to move the mouse. My ring finger is conveniently situated on the P and my thumb is on the mouse buttons (right above the touchpad - which, incidentally, I disable) and very, very close to the space bar.

That leaves my left hand free for Q, A, and the gamut of unit keys. WHich probably explain whey I play a lot with blasters and mortars and not so much

Switching to a mouse, my right hand has to move all over the place - and I agree with Kapoios that there is always unwanted mouse movement when one's hand returns to the mouse. It is much harder to keep one's hand stable than to keep one finger stable when the entire hand is already resting somewhere.

Frankly I hate playing with a mouse.

I might make a suggestion to Virgil to put a circle on drones too. That would be very nice and hopefully not hard to put in if there's an another update to CW1.

It has been made a few times... :)  But Virgil has been known to implement requested functions after a suggestion gets re-raised!  :)

[UpperKEES]

Yeah, I've used those trackpoints in the past as well (very early laptops had them too), but I never seemed to end up at the right spot. Maybe they improved over time (they are great on the Blackberry's), but for me nothing beats a good ergonomic mouse. Anyway, the more different preferences, the more need for customized shortcuts!

[Kapoios]

Now visualize my right  hand lying flat on the keyboard, with my index finger on the red button (trackpoint) to move the mouse. My ring finger is conveniently situated on the P and my thumb is on the mouse buttons (right above the touchpad - which, incidentally, I disable) and very, very close to the space bar.

Isn't that a big distance to be comfortable with? I can imagine doing that with my pinky, but with the ring finger I can't imagine that being comfortable. Maybe you have a small laptop or big fingers! Mind you, I'm only 1.65 and that comes with all your extremities being small (there's only one thing on me that isn't small).

That leaves my left hand free for Q, A, and the gamut of unit keys. WHich probably explain whey I play a lot with blasters and mortars and not so much

I wonder if the reason I don't use number keys much is that I'm left handed. The ones I would most commonly use, especially 1, are inconveniently placed, when my left hand is occupied with the touchpad.

Frankly I hate playing with a mouse.

I'm glad I'm not alone!

It has been made a few times... :)  But Virgil has been known to implement requested functions after a suggestion gets re-raised!  :)

Ok, in that case, like a good boy, I'll use the search function and find the thread and bump it up :)

[Blaze]

I use my left hand to pause and my right hand for everything else.
I'm not a score junkie.

[thepenguin]

Note the little red pointer in the center.

I hate those things

[Kamron3]

Try using your left finger. I find it pretty easy, though, it took me a bit of work just to get used to the little red button with my right hand.