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[G] Unit/Structure Selection Priority
NO DRUGS. Ghost has a higher selection priority than marine/marauder, preventing stimpack usage.
Introduction Everyone has done it before. If you are a Terran, you’ve seen a ghost or raven boxed together with your bio army annoyingly prevent stim at battle. If you are a Protoss, you’ve seen a HT or mothership override sentry command cards at bottom right, causing you to miss crucial forcefields. If you are a Zerg, you’ve seen a drone from a cancelled hatchery that is hotkeyed together with other hatcheries hinder your favorite SDDDDDDDD, and the drone meaninglessly just stop at “S” command in the middle of nowhere. All these are because every unit/structure has a predetermined priority level. When different units/structures are selected together, certain unit/structure takes over the command cards and therefore spell/ability use. From experience, we already know how this works for typical unit compositions, or some of you have even read http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Unit_Hotkey_Priority before. However, not everything is explained. What about structures? What about interracial priority in team games? Which spell/ability would your marine/siege tank/zergling/baneling/zealot/stalker/sentry army use when you are the last guy standing in a 4v4 game? In order to account for any combination of units/structures within a race or among three races, I have done a comprehensive research on this subject, testing all units and structures that I can think of.
List + Show Spoiler +Priority from highest to lowest. High priority = small number. ALL+ Show Spoiler + 001 Queen 002 Queen (burrowed) 003 Raven 004 Infestor 005 Infestor (burrowed) 006 Mothership 007 Ghost 008 High Templar Hallucination 009 High Templar 010 Corruptor 011 Baneling 012 Battlecruiser 013 Sentry 014 Baneling (burrowed) 015 Marine 016 Phoenix Hallucination 017 Phoenix 018 Roach 019 Roach (burrowed) 020 Marauder 021 Warp Prism Hallucination 022 Warp Prism 023 Brood Lord 024 Broodling 025 Siege Tank 026 Mutalisk 027 Viking 028 Carrier 029 Ultralisk 030 Ultralisk (burrowed) 031 Banshee 032 Stalker Hallucination 033 Stalker 034 Overseer 035 Colossus Hallucination 036 Colossus 037 Thor 038 Overlord 039 Medivac 040 Void Ray Hallucination 041 Void Ray 042 Hydralisk 043 Hydralisk (burrowed) 044 Hellion 045 Zergling 046 Zergling (burrowed) 047 Archon Hallucination 048 Archon 049 Reaper 050 Immortal Hallucination 051 Immortal 052 Infested Terran 053 Point Defense Drone 054 SCV 055 Dark Templar 056 Infested Terran (burrowed) 057 Changeling 058 Zealot Hallucination 059 Zealot 060 MULE 061 Observer 062 Drone 063 Drone (burrowed) 064 Orbital Command 065 Orbital Command (lifted) 066 Command Center 067 Supply Depot (raised) 068 Refinery 069 Barracks 070 Engineering Bay 071 Missile Turret 072 Bunker 073 Sensor Tower 074 Ghost Academy 075 Factory 076 Starport 077 Armory 078 Fusion Core 079 Command Center (lifted) 080 Factory (lifted) 081 Starport (lifted) 082 Barracks (lifted) 083 Supply Depot (lowered) 084 Probe 085 Planetary Fortress 086 Warp Gate 087 Spine Crawler (uprooted) 088 Spore Crawler (uprooted) 089 Larva 090 Tech Lab (independent) 091 Auto-Turret 092 Tech Lab (with Barracks) 093 Tech Lab (with Factory) 094 Tech Lab (with Starport) 095 Nexus 096 Pylon 097 Assimilator 098 Gateway 099 Forge 100 Fleet Beacon 101 Twilight Council 102 Photon Cannon 103 Stargate 104 Templar Archives 105 Dark Shrine 106 Robotics Bay 107 Robotics Facility 108 Cybernetics Core 109 Hatchery 110 Extractor 111 Spawning Pool 112 Evolution Chamber 113 Hydralisk Den 114 Spire 115 Ultralisk Cavern 116 Infestation Pit 117 Nydus Network 118 Baneling Nest 119 Roach Warren 120 Spine Crawler (rooted) 121 Spore Crawler (rooted) 122 Lair 123 Hive 124 Greater Spire 125 Creep Tumor 126 Nydus Worm 127 Reactor 128 Baneling Cocoon 129 Zerg Cocoon 130 Brood Lord Coccoon 131 Overseer Cocoon 132 Infested Swarm Egg
Terran Units+ Show Spoiler + 003 Raven 007 Ghost 012 Battlecruiser 015 Marine 020 Marauder 025 Siege Tank 027 Viking 031 Banshee 037 Thor 039 Medivac 044 Hellion 049 Reaper 054 SCV 060 MULE
Zerg Units+ Show Spoiler + 001 Queen 002 Queen (burrowed) 004 Infestor 005 Infestor (burrowed) 010 Corruptor 011 Baneling 014 Baneling (burrowed) 018 Roach 019 Roach (burrowed) 023 Brood Lord 024 Broodling 026 Mutalisk 029 Ultralisk 030 Ultralisk (burrowed) 034 Overseer 038 Overlord 042 Hydralisk 043 Hydralisk (burrowed) 045 Zergling 046 Zergling (burrowed) 052 Infested Terran 056 Infested Terran (burrowed) 057 Changeling 062 Drone 063 Drone (burrowed) 089 Larva 128 Baneling Cocoon 129 Zerg Cocoon 130 Brood Lord Coccoon 131 Overseer Cocoon 132 Infested Swarm Egg
Protoss Units+ Show Spoiler + 006 Mothership 008 High Templar Hallucination 009 High Templar 013 Sentry 016 Phoenix Hallucination 017 Phoenix 021 Warp Prism Hallucination 022 Warp Prism 028 Carrier 032 Stalker Hallucination 033 Stalker 035 Colossus Hallucination 036 Colossus 040 Void Ray Hallucination 041 Void Ray 047 Archon Hallucination 048 Archon 050 Immortal Hallucination 051 Immortal 055 Dark Templar 058 Zealot Hallucination 059 Zealot 061 Observer 084 Probe
Terran Structures+ Show Spoiler + 053 Point Defense Drone 064 Orbital Command 065 Orbital Command (lifted) 066 Command Center 067 Supply Depot (raised) 068 Refinery 069 Barracks 070 Engineering Bay 071 Missile Turret 072 Bunker 073 Sensor Tower 074 Ghost Academy 075 Factory 076 Starport 077 Armory 078 Fusion Core 079 Command Center (lifted) 080 Factory (lifted) 081 Starport (lifted) 082 Barracks (lifted) 083 Supply Depot (lowered) 085 Planetary Fortress 090 Tech Lab (independent) 091 Auto-Turret 092 Tech Lab (with Barracks) 093 Tech Lab (with Factory) 094 Tech Lab (with Starport) 127 Reactor
Zerg Structures+ Show Spoiler + 087 Spine Crawler (uprooted) 088 Spore Crawler (uprooted) 109 Hatchery 110 Extractor 111 Spawning Pool 112 Evolution Chamber 113 Hydralisk Den 114 Spire 115 Ultralisk Cavern 116 Infestation Pit 117 Nydus Network 118 Baneling Nest 119 Roach Warren 120 Spine Crawler (rooted) 121 Spore Crawler (rooted) 122 Lair 123 Hive 124 Greater Spire 125 Creep Tumor 126 Nydus Worm
Protoss Structures+ Show Spoiler + 086 Warp Gate 095 Nexus 096 Pylon 097 Assimilator 098 Gateway 099 Forge 100 Fleet Beacon 101 Twilight Council 102 Photon Cannon 103 Stargate 104 Templar Archives 105 Dark Shrine 106 Robotics Bay 107 Robotics Facility 108 Cybernetics Core
This is what the word "comprehensive” requires in my standard. Let me know if I missed something. Bolded = structure. The only ones I didn’t test were vespene geyser, xel’naga tower, scantipede, Artosis bot 2000 etc. because they are somewhat tangent neutral objects. Well, no campaign-only diamondback etc. either.
Notes (general) + Show Spoiler +The list alone might not be self-explanatory enough. No ExceptionPriority level is universal. When A<B and B<C, then always A<C. No matter how many different units/structures are selected in whatever order, priority follows the list consistently. TabPressing tab while having selected multiple types of units/structures cycles through them and allows you to use spell/ability/production from units/structures that don’t have the highest priority. Many Terran players use this to cycle through barracks-factory-starport while having them all in a same hotkey rather than 3 different ones. Also, some Protoss players press tab once to blink stalkers because stalker has the second highest priority after sentry in the deathball without HT/mothership. Tab-selected units=stalkers are highlighted.Same PriorityAs obvious as it sounds, units/structures of the same type have exactly the same priority. However, I do not know how they are ordered among them at the bottom of the screen. Order of birth seems irrelevant. This randomness(?) is responsible for Zerg units made from a undesirable larva at a distant hatchery when all hatcheries are hotkeyed together. All larvae have the same priority, but the first larva could be from your main or 3rd depending on… purely luck(?) These 24 marines have the same priority, but what determines who fits where among them?Unit vs StructureGenerally speaking, units have higher priorities than structures when selected together, but there are a few exceptions. Why?It seems that priority is determined primarily by "SubgroupPriority value" each unit/structure has. Open map editor -> Data -> Units in XML view for Ordering some with this value, + Show Spoiler + 21 Queen 19 Raven 18 Ghost 17 High Templar 16 Sentry 15 Marine 15 Phoenix 15 Roach 14 Brood Lord ... 07 Immortal 06 SCV 05 Zealot 04 Drone 04 Orbital Command 03 Barracks 03 Planetary Fortress 02 Tech Lab 02 Nexus 02 Nydus Worm 01 Reactor
Not a single unit/structure contradicts actual test results in-game. Other factors must exist for tie situations, but this SubgroupPriority value is the main contributor for sure.
Notes (unit/structure specific) + Show Spoiler +ModeSiege tank has tank mode and siege mode. Viking has fighter mode and assault mode. Warp prism has transport mode and phasing mode. Ghost has weapons free state and hold fire state. However, all these are irrelevant when it comes to priority. Again, I’m not sure how order within the same unit type is determined.Barracks/Factory/StarportAdd-on attached is irrelevant. Reactor – regular – tech lab order is consistent at the bottom of the screen, but it plays no role in changing priorities. Pressing tab once, all factories are highlighted together regardless of different add-ons.Tech Lab and ReactorTech labs’ priorities depend on the main structures they are attached to. On the other hand, all reactors have the same priority despite different main structures. Lifted StructuresOnce lifted, these structures no longer have the same priorities as the landed ones until they land again. Supply DepotLowered supply depot literally has a lower priority than raised supply depot by a large margin within Terran structures. Spine/Spore CrawlerJust like raised/lowered supply depot, uprooted and rooted crawlers have different priorities. Creep TumorActive creep tumor or not is irrelevant. ChangelingNormal/marine/zergling/zealot form changelings all have the same priority. BroodlingWhether it is spawned from a broodlord or a dead structure is irrelevant. It is kind of obvious, but I tested just in case. CocoonsYes. Even cocoons have priorities. Not surprisingly, cocoons are at the bottom of the list with infested swarm egg being the lowest of all. Blizzard can't nerf it any further Neural Parasited UnitsNPed enemy units are nothing special. They follow the list, too as if they were your own or your teammate’s units from beginning. Burrowed UnitsBurrowed units have slightly lower priorities than their fellows on ground. HallucinationUnlike burrowed units, hallucinated units have, interestingly, higher priorities than real units of the same type. Not that it matters for gameplay ever, but who knew? Dark TemplarDark Templar has 2 different graphics: with dagger or with double scythes. However, this doesn’t affect the priority at all.
Final Thoughts + Show Spoiler + Without bothering to use tab key, your marine/siege tank/zergling/baneling/zealot/stalker/sentry army would use “explode” (or burrow) because, unfortunately, baneling has the highest priority among them. I think many team game players have this experience where you couldn’t stim marines or place forcefields because of a few banelings your teammate left behind or secretly shared control of. (Never share control without telling your teammates about it for this very reason.) I had a similar experience in a team game, and the liquipedia page was incomplete, so I decided to take it into my own hands. Even for 1v1, structure priority part must be new information. I don’t think knowing this priority suddenly makes anyone play any better, but I hope it’s been an interesting and somewhat helpful read. Feedback/correction is much appreciated.
Orek's Articles/Guides + Show Spoiler +
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Really great post (once again )! I've always been annoyed about the difficulty of using ravens or ghosts in my army because it means stim isn't immediately available, and my poor mechanics don't make things any better.
As for the priority of units of the same type, one thing I think I can say is that units will have lower priority if they are added to a control group when the group already has that type of unit (and, similarly but more obviously, selecting a group of marines . and then shift-adding more marines will show the later group after the first group). This doesn't explain everything, and I'm not 100% sure it's true, but I think it is.
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I want sticky for this.
I like how the hallucinated units are prioritized over the real ones, and how the Queen is #1.
+ Show Spoiler +I like how the Queen is #1 because whenever I face Queens in an army composition, it feels imbalanced. I'm not saying it is, but it's my most hated unit. Two Queens kill four Banshees with Transfuses. T_T
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I've been very annoyed with using ghosts in my bio army as well. When I could just have all my bio under a hotkey ready to be stimmed and have my ghosts under their own control group I instead always have the ghost command card under the whole bio hotkey even while prioritizing marines or marauders in the control group with ctrl+click. Thus I end up with 2 control groups with ghosts prioritized which is really annoying. I know it's just a matter of getting used to but i'd at least like to have the ability to choose the top priority unit type when ghosts are included.
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I feel that priority should be able to be customized, like hotkeys.
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Same Priority I actually registered for this (and don't think I may post anything like, ever...) Hello, got curious about that (tried it in editor long time ago, but forgot about it). Tested in editor: made 3 rows of 4 Ghost (all created at the start of the map)
EXPERIMENT: At the start shoot 1st from the right in the row 1 (from top) to yellow HP. 1st from the right in the row 2 to orange HP. Poor guy n.1 in row 3 gets to be red. Select them all by moving mouse top to right. As you can see, they are prioritized by their position on the map (x first, then y). I tried restarting and moving them around (one by one, after shooting with one ghost selected before them to shoot them), and discovered it's by their starting position. Also note, that if you mix them around (like anyhow) and select them again, the order at the bottom of the screen remains the same.
Tried if it's the time you select them, or hover mouse over them, or if you drag mouse the other way around. Nope.
Also if you add another ghost far bottom to the right, and do the thing above again, and move the whole 1st row below him ( or to the right maybe, doesn't really matter) and select all ghosts once again, the last row (at the bottom of the screen) will be increased by 1 green full HP ghost. Deselect that guy by shift-clicking on him. Yeah, it's that lonely guy you added!
Of course, I have no Idea how this works in ladder, when production buildings are involved. But I will go try it now, then finish the post. So: When production buildings are involved, it's by the time of creation of the unit (or building, tried that too). Note, that with single press of hotkey, not all the buildings start producing (like in warcraft 3), rather one per click. Therefore, not more than one unit is created at the same time. When it comes to zerglings and same kind of buildings constructed (by chance, it can happen) at the same time, I suppose it would be sorted the way of ghost experiment. Checking the zergling part, no way Im going to build 2 depots in the exact same milisecond, sorry... Looks like the zergling at the left (when you dont rally the larva) has greater priority.
What I don't like is that you cannot attack units at the selection chart (bottom of the screen) or use abilities on them. That was possible in WC3 (holy light oh yeah).
Also thank you orek for posting such interesting things here, I read most of them and even remember them. AND even use knowledge gaind from some of them on ladder.
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United States4883 Posts
Lol I am always amazed at these threads hahaha. It's like opening up a dictionary to the X's and learning all the words; I'm sure it's useful at some point, but mostly it's just compiled research about stuff that people will never ever think about. And you keep thinking up new topics.
It's impressive.
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On December 01 2012 18:54 slowbacontron wrote:Really great post (once again )! I've always been annoyed about the difficulty of using ravens or ghosts in my army because it means stim isn't immediately available, and my poor mechanics don't make things any better. .
Erm, use different hotkeys?
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w00t, orek coming through with yet another awesome guide!!!!
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Are larvae priorities not chosen by their age? I was pretty sure they were..I"m probably wrong though
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On December 01 2012 23:23 SC2John wrote: Lol I am always amazed at these threads hahaha. It's like opening up a dictionary to the X's and learning all the words; I'm sure it's useful at some point, but mostly it's just compiled research about stuff that people will never ever think about. And you keep thinking up new topics.
It's impressive.
Are you fucking serious?
We use this every time we bind units. For some of us, it's second nature to separate units based on priority, and to know how many times to tab when units with conflicting priority share control groups.
This can be particularly useful in teamgames, where often, unit control is granted.
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Another interesting guide, I'm sure some people will learn useful info about their race from this!
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Your guides are so thorough. I wonder about these things so much, but never actually get around to figuring it out. I really appreciate your effort into putting out these writeups. Great job :D
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Thank you so much for these guides! Very helpful
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This is such an idiotic thing. The order of buildings especially make absolutely no sense. Cyber Core is after Fleet Beacon? This makes tabbed production much less efficient than it could be.
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I don't have time to test atm, but is it possible to hold down tab + select and the selection automatically goes to the second tier or something? Like you need to quickly blink away but there are sentries in your army so you just tab + select then blink.
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On December 19 2012 08:20 JaKaTaK wrote: This is such an idiotic thing. The order of buildings especially make absolutely no sense. Cyber Core is after Fleet Beacon? This makes tabbed production much less efficient than it could be.
The flip side of that coin is that you can access Cyber Core with one keybinding (default: Shift + Tab) since it's always last, IIRC, whereas FleetBeacon is somewhere in the middle.
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Thank you for this very helpful guide. I was looking for this exact info. As for
As obvious as it sounds, units/structures of the same type have exactly the same priority. However, I do not know how they are ordered among them at the bottom of the screen. Order of birth seems irrelevant.
They are ordered by their relative positions in the unit array structure (in the memory), which is a function of when they are created - for example: index = unit 0 = zergling 1 = queen 2 = drone 3 = baneling 4 = hatchery
But, when a unit dies, it's spot becomes free and the next made (completed) unit will be placed there. So if the drone dies, and then a hydra is made the array index would be:
0 = zergling 1 = queen 2 = hydra 3 = baneling 4 = hatchery
Cheers.
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On March 17 2013 15:47 Kalamity wrote:Thank you for this very helpful guide. I was looking for this exact info. As for Show nested quote +As obvious as it sounds, units/structures of the same type have exactly the same priority. However, I do not know how they are ordered among them at the bottom of the screen. Order of birth seems irrelevant. They are ordered by their relative positions in the unit array structure (in the memory), which is a function of when they are created - for example: index = unit 0 = zergling 1 = queen 2 = drone 3 = baneling 4 = hatchery But, when a unit dies, it's spot becomes free and the next made (completed) unit will be placed there. So if the drone dies, and then a hydra is made the array index would be: 0 = zergling 1 = queen 2 = hydra 3 = baneling 4 = hatchery Cheers.
Based on what ?
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You could just have the units on separate hotkeys, which has been stated before, i know. What actually makes things easier is to only have units of the same type in a single hotkey. For example: When going bio with ghost - put bio with stim in the desired hotkey, and ghosts on another. What many people do that baffles me is that they have bio + ghost in the same hotkey, and at the same time they also have the ghosts in a single hotkey. Man.. i remember BW and WC3 with their limited unit selections. That taught people to use hotkeys appropriately, and lots of them!
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On March 17 2013 17:00 Kaitlin wrote: Based on what ?
Based on how the game does it.
Read the selection buffer and check each unit (structure) index via:
UnitArrayIndexPosition = ReadMemory(B_SelectionStructure + O_scUnitIndex + i * S_scStructure) >> 18
B_SelectionStructure := SC2EXE + 0x0215BF90 S_scStructure := 0x4 O_scUnitIndex := 0x8
where 'i' is the iteration number of the selected units (beginning at 0).
You will then observer what I surmised in my previous post.
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On March 17 2013 15:47 Kalamity wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Thank you for this very helpful guide. I was looking for this exact info. As for As obvious as it sounds, units/structures of the same type have exactly the same priority. However, I do not know how they are ordered among them at the bottom of the screen. Order of birth seems irrelevant. They are ordered by their relative positions in the unit array structure (in the memory), which is a function of when they are created - for example: index = unit 0 = zergling 1 = queen 2 = drone 3 = baneling 4 = hatchery But, when a unit dies, it's spot becomes free and the next made (completed) unit will be placed there. So if the drone dies, and then a hydra is made the array index would be: 0 = zergling 1 = queen 2 = hydra 3 = baneling 4 = hatchery Cheers. On March 17 2013 18:26 Kalamity wrote:+ Show Spoiler +On March 17 2013 17:00 Kaitlin wrote: Based on what ? Based on how the game does it. Read the selection buffer and check each unit (structure) index via: UnitArrayIndexPosition = ReadMemory(B_SelectionStructure + O_scUnitIndex + i * S_scStructure) >> 18 B_SelectionStructure := SC2EXE + 0x0215BF90 S_scStructure := 0x4 O_scUnitIndex := 0x8 where 'i' is the iteration number of the selected units (beginning at 0). You will then observer what I surmised in my previous post. Hi OP here. I'm not a map editor expert, so I don't quite understand what you wrote. Do you mean that's how the priority is decided among, say, Marine A, Marine B, Marine C, Marine D, and Marine E? That's what I wanted to know, and I'm not sure how your example with different units explains it. Did you actually mean 0 = Marine A 1 = Marine B 2 = Marine C 3 = Marine D 4 = Marine E ? Otherwise, different units will be prioritiezed differently anyways as listed in the OP. I don't think dead drone is replaced by a hydralisk which has entirely different priority, unless we are misunderstanding each other.
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On March 18 2013 03:29 Orek wrote:
Hi OP here. I'm not a map editor expert, so I don't quite understand what you wrote. Do you mean that's how the priority is decided among, say, Marine A, Marine B, Marine C, Marine D, and Marine E? That's what I wanted to know, and I'm not sure how your example with different units explains it. Did you actually mean 0 = Marine A 1 = Marine B 2 = Marine C 3 = Marine D 4 = Marine E ? Otherwise, different units will be prioritiezed differently anyways as listed in the OP. I don't think dead drone is replaced by a hydralisk which has entirely different priority, unless we are misunderstanding each other.
Sorry, I didn't really explain that well...was posting between games haha. Yes, that is correct - when units have the same priority, they are then ranked according to their positions in the unit array.
If you have two units in the unit array:
0 = Marine A 1 = Marine B
and you make a new Marine (c), the unit array becomes
0 = Marine A 1 = Marine B 2 = Marine C
if Marine B dies, and you make a new Marine (D), the array (and hence the selection order) becomes:
0 = Marine A 1 = Marine D 2 = Marine C
Cheers.
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On a side note of unit selection, is there a way to prevent one mouse click from selecting 2 or 3 units at a time? This is most prevalent when clicking on a worker in a mineral line, and you click once and somehow multiple workers are selected.
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On March 18 2013 07:37 Forsy wrote: On a side note of unit selection, is there a way to prevent one mouse click from selecting 2 or 3 units at a time? This is most prevalent when clicking on a worker in a mineral line, and you click once and somehow multiple workers are selected.
A click will only select one unit. If you're selecting 2 or 3 units, you are inadvertently boxing. Keep your mouse still while clicking is the solution.
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On March 18 2013 07:37 Forsy wrote: On a side note of unit selection, is there a way to prevent one mouse click from selecting 2 or 3 units at a time? This is most prevalent when clicking on a worker in a mineral line, and you click once and somehow multiple workers are selected.
Don't hold ctrl while clicking?
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On March 18 2013 12:34 Kaitlin wrote:Show nested quote +On March 18 2013 07:37 Forsy wrote: On a side note of unit selection, is there a way to prevent one mouse click from selecting 2 or 3 units at a time? This is most prevalent when clicking on a worker in a mineral line, and you click once and somehow multiple workers are selected. A click will only select one unit. If you're selecting 2 or 3 units, you are inadvertently boxing. Keep your mouse still while clicking is the solution. I'm fairly certain that I'm not boxing or holding ctrl. It's a glitch that just sometimes happens. Probably when miners are crossing over each other
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