Advanced Hotkeys & Customization

Advanced Hotkeys & Customization

Mastering the art of hotkeys and personalizing your control scheme in Age of Mythology: Retold can dramatically improve your reaction time and overall efficiency, especially in competitive multiplayer scenarios. Moving beyond the default settings allows for a more intuitive and fluid gameplay experience, letting you focus on strategy rather than fumbling with the mouse.

Customizing Your Hotkeys

The game offers extensive options to rebind almost every action to a key of your choosing. This is crucial for optimizing your build order, unit management, and god power usage.

1. Accessing the Hotkey Menu: From the main menu, navigate to Options, then select Controls. Here you'll find the Hotkey Configuration tab.
2. Understanding Hotkey Categories: The hotkeys are typically organized into categories such as:
   • Global Commands: Actions like "Select All Idle Villagers" (default: .), "Go to Last Event" (default: Spacebar), or "Cycle Through Town Centers" (default: H).
   • Unit Commands: Actions specific to selected units, such as "Attack Move" (default: A), "Stop" (default: S), or "Patrol" (default: P).
   • Building Commands: Hotkeys for constructing specific buildings. These are often tied to the first letter of the building (e.g., T for Town Center, B for Barracks).
   • God Powers: Each God Power has a unique hotkey, usually assigned to a number key or a function key.
3. Rebinding Hotkeys:
   • Click on the action you wish to rebind.
   • Press the desired key combination on your keyboard.
   • Confirm your changes.
4. Strategic Rebinding Tips:
   • Grouping Similar Actions: Consider grouping frequently used actions close to your left hand's resting position (e.g., QWER for production buildings, ASDF for unit commands).
   • "Select All" Hotkeys: Rebind "Select All Idle Villagers" to an easily accessible key like ~ or a mouse button for quick resource management. Similarly, consider hotkeys for "Select All Military Units" or "Select All Economic Buildings."
   • Control Groups: While not strictly hotkeys, mastering Control Groups (Ctrl + 1-9 to assign, 1-9 to select) is paramount. Rebind these if your keyboard layout makes the default numbers awkward.
   • Camera Hotkeys: Assign specific camera locations to hotkeys (e.g., Shift + F1 to set, F1 to recall) for quickly jumping between your main base, forward settlements, or battlefronts.

Advanced Control Group Strategies

Control groups are your best friend for managing a sprawling empire and diverse army. Don't just use them for your main army!

• Control Group 1: Main Army. Your primary offensive force.
• Control Group 2: Secondary Army/Raiding Force. Useful for flanking maneuvers or harassing enemy villagers.
• Control Group 3: Myth Units. Keep your powerful Myth Units separate for focused ability usage.
• Control Group 4: Siege Units. Essential for targeting enemy buildings and walls without your melee units getting in the way.
• Control Group 5: Production Buildings. Group all your Barracks, Archery Ranges, Stables, and Siege Workshops together. This allows you to quickly queue units without cycling through each building individually.
• Control Group 6: Town Centers. Crucial for maintaining constant villager production.
• Control Group 7: Docks. For naval production and fleet management.
• Control Group 8: Temples. For quick Priest/Monk production or researching upgrades.

Pro Tip: Double-tapping a control group key will center your camera on that group, allowing for rapid tactical assessment.

Interface Customization

Beyond hotkeys, Age of Mythology: Retold offers several interface options that can be tweaked for a better experience.

• UI Scaling: Found under Options > Graphics. Adjust this if the default interface elements are too small or too large for your monitor resolution.
• Resource Display: In Options > Game, you can toggle various resource displays. Ensure you have the "Show Resource Income" option enabled to monitor your economic flow in real-time.
• Minimap Settings: Customize the minimap's size and transparency in the Options > Game menu. A larger, more opaque minimap can be beneficial for situational awareness.
• Unit Health Bars: Adjust how and when unit health bars are displayed (e.g., always, when damaged, never) in Options > Game. Seeing health bars for damaged units can help you prioritize healing or retreat.

Experiment with these settings in custom games or against AI to find what works best for your playstyle. A well-configured control scheme is the foundation of high-level play in Age of Mythology: Retold.