Learning better micro

Anybody have any tips on learning how to micromanage units better? Beyond obvious things like hot keys and using control groups.

I sometimes lose units simply because there's something else going on and I can't split my attention effectively. Part of this may be an inherent lack of multitasking twitch ability, but I'm wondering if there are also strategies that people use to make their micro management more effective.

Pay attention to the sounds. Usually units tend to say something when they are attacked by the enemy. Also from the unit icons on the top right corner of the screen you can see if they are in action or idle. You probably already know this but getting used to that habit helps with your game awareness.

But I think the majority of the micro skills come with lots of experience so just keep playing and don't give up

Grid Keys
I switched over from the classical hotkeys to using grid keys. All hotkeys are now mapped to characters my left hand can reach and now I never really have to move my left hand from its place.

AutoHotkey
Use this for any key mappings that you really think can be in a better place for you. I use it for the tactical map. 0 on the numpad is a silly place to have it. I've mapped it to CAPS lock. Which brings me to my next point...

Tactical Map
A lot of people swear by it. I still can't get myself to check it a lot, but it comes in very handy when things get messy and you need a big picture. It shows you which units are engaged in combat and you can immediately double click on them and start micro managing them. You can also give direct orders (such as attack move, and shift clicking) directly from there.

Attack Move
Saves you a lot of work for units that fight best at range. Just shift click to the capture point, and even an ongoing engagement, and they will stop and engage any targets at max range. If shift clicking into a battle, just be careful you don't shift click too deep into enemy territory because if you haven't given them any additional orders since the attack move, after the engagement they will automatically keep pushing forward (say, into an MG, ambushing tank, bunker, etc.). Obviously, don't use this for units that fight best at short range, such as shock troops or flame units.

Tab
I always forget to use this, but it's very useful. When you have a group of units selected, hit tab to select individual units and give them orders without having to mouse over them and select them individually. Really handy when trying to select a squad that's bunched up with another squad and you can't seem to select it.

Stress
When fighting gets really tense, adrenaline kicks in. You lose fine motor control and start missing keys and making idiotic decisions. I take breaks in between intense 1v1s by watching replays and/or messing around in 4v4. It sounds silly, but it helps a lot.

As a final note, since I've started doing all of the above, I really almost stopped using control groups entirely. Which is weird, because I used to use them constantly for COH1 & 2 and all RTS games in general. I still use them for artillery and some tanks, but that's about it. Anyone else have the same thing happen to them?

whenver i press the tac map button my game always lags for a full second, then again for a full second when i close it. I really wish it didnt or else id be using that all the time.

whenver i press the tac map button my game always lags for a full second, then again for a full second when i close it. I really wish it didnt or else id be using that all the time.

Me too. I always thought it was just my computer being crappy. Good to know it's not just me.

Although, it happens the first time then seems to go away after that. I'll look for that next time. Either way, I strongly agree. Has it been mentioned before as a bug or cause for concern?

Attack Move
Saves you a lot of work for units that fight best at range. Just shift click to the capture point, and even an ongoing engagement, and they will stop and engage any targets at max range. If shift clicking into a battle, just be careful you don't shift click too deep into enemy territory because if you haven't given them any additional orders since the attack move, after the engagement they will automatically keep pushing forward (say, into an MG, ambushing tank, bunker, etc.). Obviously, don't use this for units that fight best at short range, such as shock troops or flame units.

Sometimes attack move might be good, but if you have the time and multitasking skills you should always manually micro your units to stay at range and use better cover. Using attack move extensively can result in situations where your long range units stop in the middle of red cover to engage a unit resulting in them taking too mucn unnecessary damage. I guess this might work well with units like mortars though.

Other points are very much true though, especially autohotkey is a really useful tool.

Sometimes attack move might be good, but if you have the time and multitasking skills you should always manually micro your units to stay at range and use better cover. Using attack move extensively can result in situations where your long range units stop in the middle of red cover to engage a unit resulting in them taking too mucn unnecessary damage. I guess this might work well with units like mortars though.

Other points are very much true though, especially autohotkey is a really useful tool.

But you get multiple notifications (bar, flashing icon, minimap, voicelines) when your attack moving squad gets into combat, so you can react almost instantly, then you can decide what to do with them.
I think the best way to keep track is to regularly watch the top right bar, when a squad gets low you can select it and retreat it without needing to switch your camera to that spot.
and use control groups for important units!

Queueing orders. Not only so you can set your engineers to cap the entire right side but to make them move around the map in a specific way. Paramount to set of flanks effectively.

Tactical map. I would stress this one to adress your issue! It is really helpful I find, especially for new players to give them a feeling like they can oversee everything and not keep idle units in corners of the map for example. It's impossible to "forget" a unit if you are using it. I've put spacebar as my hotkey for it and I use i a lot probably way to much actually. I don't even look at the minimap at all just flash the tactical map for a split second and you'll be able to see so much more. Especially in team games you can really help your team out seeing flanks coming in and predicting movement. Commanding units in tactical map is also a nice thing to do sometimes if you are in a hurry as you can retreat a unit through that map for example.

Tab. Someone mentioned it earlier but when selecting units in buildings it's a quick way of selecting the squad inside. Click on the building and hit tab and it'll select the squad inside so wherever you right-click they will exit the building on that side. (Have they actually changed that so you don't have to do that anymore?)

In my experience, tactical map lag only happens when you open it first. So turning it on and off at the beginning would help.

Also, I suggest that you measure your APM each game. You can find several free programs on the internet for that. Even though CoH requires less APM compared to Starcraft, 100 (preferably 200) is the minimum APM to be competitive in my opinion. I improved my APM from ~110 to ~160 quite quickly by using an action counter. It helped me a lot especially in late game.

In my experience, tactical map lag only happens when you open it first. So turning it on and off at the beginning would help.

This has been my experience as well.

Also, I suggest that you measure your APM each game. You can find several free programs on the internet for that. Even though CoH requires less APM compared to Starcraft, 100 (preferably 200) is the minimum APM to be competitive in my opinion. I improved my APM from ~110 to ~160 quite quickly by using an action counter. It helped me a lot especially in late game.

Thanks for sharing this bit. Any recommended software or method for COH2? Does the program slow down the game at all? I have no experience with this, and any other advice would be appreciated.

Thanks for sharing this bit. Any recommended software or method for COH2? Does the program slow down the game at all? I have no experience with this, and any other advice would be appreciated.

I found one here. It seems fairly light.

I found one here. It seems fairly light.

Thanks, much appreciated!

The good news is, I don't really think you require great micro for COH2 to be decent, positioning and strategic decisions are a good leveler in Coh2.

Saying that, Micro like any skill, is about learning good habits and repetition.

Some good tips already given, so i'll just add that learning build orders and capping orders will alleviate some of your efforts on that front, allowing you to concentrate more on your micro.

In terms of factions, I think Ostheer is a good one for learning the game. Positioning is very important for Ostheer, and they require a decent amount of micro, but not an excessive amount imo, compared to USF for example.

Even though CoH requires less APM compared to Starcraft, 100 (preferably 200) is the minimum APM to be competitive in my opinion. I improved my APM from ~110 to ~160 quite quickly by using an action counter. It helped me a lot especially in late game.

I highly doubt that so high APM number is needed in coh2. Most of the players just get high APM because they spam the same order 2-5 times which is not necessary. Watch VonIvan's stream some time, his APM is very low but he is still in the top 10. So it's only about what you do and when, not about click spamming.

If you average 100-200 APM in CoH2 you are just click spamming unnecessarily Even in intense situations you don't need 200 APM.

I highly doubt that so high APM number is needed in coh2. Most of the players just get high APM because they spam the same order 2-5 times which is not necessary. Watch VonIvan's stream some time, his APM is very low but he is still in the top 10. So it's only about what you do and when, not about click spamming.

If you average 100-200 APM in CoH2 you are just click spamming unnecessarily Even in intense situations you don't need 200 APM.

+1


IMHO is quite more important to know every shorcut and to have a good gridkey than your APM...So you can give orders faster than only using your mouse, but that is all...

In SC2 you need so high APM because you are all the time making new drones, new buildings (oooh I need some supply depots because I want to make more rines!!) making new units from your buildings...but in COH2 you only need to focus on actions, positioning, fighthing and so on....so much less APM required here....

Well I think so at least....

I always assign numbers (Ctrl+NUMBER) to different squads with different roles. for example for OKW I use 1 for sturmpios (repair and AI), 2 for schrekVolk (AT), 3 for Pfuz and volks (long range AI) etc.
this way you can select them in the heat of battle without getting confused (and it's also very good for retreat, specially when you here them shout for arty from the other side of the map). This is also very good for positioning defenses (MGs, ATGs etc.)

Anybody have any tips on learning how to micromanage units better? Beyond obvious things like hot keys and using control groups.

I sometimes lose units simply because there's something else going on and I can't split my attention effectively. Part of this may be an inherent lack of multitasking twitch ability, but I'm wondering if there are also strategies that people use to make their micro management more effective.

I do!

Stream your games.

I've been streaming over the past weeks and during my 1st and 2nd broadcast got absolutely blasted. They blasted me for good intentions though. Since than I've changed my camera angle, learned to use the key board hot keys, ESPECIALLY for tank combat. Playing some games with higher ranked players it not bad either but that requires relationship building. I'd recommend streaming.

All of the above are great tips: For me, I improved my micromanaging skills the most by watching replays, a lot of replays; but not all from the top top tier. If you go this route, I highly suggest you watch replays from top players who aren't moving across the screen like a bat out of hell, ie, watch someone who moves, reacts, takes action, etc, in the same time or close to it that you do. Watching top tier players are great except some of them go too fast for you to learn anything from the replay. I personally haven't tried the tactical map, but I like to regularly cycle through my ctrl groups to make sure that no one is idle.

well, a lot of micro is just plain experience. you will know what match ups between units you can win and what you need to move where to win engagements. macro is a little harder in my opinion, as you need to be microing multiple firefights across the map, reinforcing troops back at base, and then calling in new troops as you get enough resources. keep an eye on the top right for ur units cards and make sure everyone is in fighting condition. the unit cards in the top right are incredibly helpful for not losing squads.

and no ones mentioned.. but if you use arrow keys.. you need to stop.

move the camera around by clicking on the minimap, double clicking units, double clicking control groups. If you need to fine tune your camera use edge scrolling.