Are you sick of running around in Bronze and Silver league in StarCraft
II?  Want to get better?  There are so many little
things you can do to
give you the extra edge, and we’ll go over the one that doesn’t even
involve any strategy on your part—team hotkeys.

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/89513"> src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/89513"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 300px; height: 300px;">

style="font-style: italic;">Check ou the tabs--a team of SCV
production, combat units, and field repair workers.  The only
thing I'm missing are my Starports.  I'm slacking.

The Basics



For the uninitiated, setting up a team is as simple as selecting
something and pressing Ctrl + a number.   
You can set up to 10 teams.  A unit can be a part of more than
one team.  Buildings can be teamed as well as units, and the
two can be teamed together.  Units with abilities to be
activated will always be aligned in front of those that do not, so if
you select a Protoss ground force, your Sentries and High Templar will
immediately be the active ones for spellcasting.



The most important part is that a double tap of that team will
immediately center the camera on them!



Stepping it up Early Game



The first thing you should do after sending your workers to mine and
starting production of another is form teams of your starting
units.   Make your primary structure a team for
certain.  The ability to create workers at any given time
without looking is invaluable.  If you are a Zerg player,
making your initial Overlord a team will give you the ability to react
faster to incoming threats that could cost your precious early
supply.  The next step is to set a team with your scouting
worker.  You do not have the time to follow it around manually
and manually jump back to base to continue
production.   So let’s break down the use of hotkeys
vs. pure mouse selection in an example



WITHOUT hotkeys, scouting



Select worker, move to enemy base.  Manage base until worker
finds enemy, click minimap to return to worker, click to back of their
base and look for signs of a strategy.  Click minimap back to
base, start additional workers and production, click back to worker,
select worker and continue dancing around gathering
intelligence.  Repeat.



WITH hotkeys, scouting



Press 1, move to enemy base.  Press 9, and hit S to spawn some
SCVs and start production of a barracks while there, make it part of
team 3.  Double tap 1 to center on SCV when you arrive at
opponent’s base, and occasionally press 9 to continue SCV
production.  Scout every corner of the base while continuing
worker production and keeping your SCV alive, and then press 3 to spawn
Marines when it completes, then 9 and B to switch to an Orbital Command.



Sounds stupid
Stow.  What’s the point?



The first point is you will not miss anything or screw up with your
scout.  Taking your eyes off it for a second can lead to 4
Probes probing your worker with high voltage if you just strolled
through the mineral line without paying attention.  You also
might get blown up as you’re scouting a building in progress, and if
you didn’t click on it because your eyes were elsewhere, you have no
idea what it is.  Say it’s a Protoss opponent.  You
see one Gateway finish, and another building springs up.  If
it’s a second Gateway, you have to play completely different than if
it’s a Cybernetics Core. 



The second point is that your production will never cease. 
Fully utilizing your resources is a key part of becoming better in
StarCraft II, and it’s far superior to build one unit every time it’s
available to be built, than to queue two of them at the same time with
your resources stockpiling.  Paying attention to your worker
production, and use of special production abilities (Chronoboost,
MULEs, Spawn Larva) will give you a monetary and production advantage
that can carry throughout the game.  Sure you can do this
without the use of teams, but once you get the hang of it, you can
manage your base near blind.   You’re not playing
Civilization V here, you can stare in awe when there isn’t an opponent
looking to crush you.



Moving to the Midgame
and Beyond



Teams can make or break you as you go on in the leagues.  How
many times have you sent an attack force in, lose it all, and return to
a base devoid of any kind of military force and  a huge
stockpile of resources?  If you keep your production
structures as a team, you can produce without losing track of the
battle.  Let’s say you want to keep up your Terran army in the
field :



Hit 7 to select your Barracks, and press A to make Marines. 
Hit 8 to select your factory, and then hit S to make a Siege
Tank.  Now hit 2 to reselect your army and continue issuing
orders.



You just did everything you need to do without even moving the
camera.  Now you can even set the rally points of your
production to where the fight is to stream in constant troops! (…just
be sure to change it back if it’s a losing battle)



Dividing Concaves



This is an advanced strategy to deal with charging units and low-unit
count battles.  Typically you’ll be running around with your
army as one team, or two at the most.  Consider splitting it
into more for greater precision and control.  Take for
instance the inevitable Zerg vs. Terran Infantry situation that is
Banelings.  Say you don’t scout them and you get a glimpse of
neon green death rolling at your infantry pack.  If you
retreat , the Banelings will eventually catch you or the Zerglings will
get in front of you to prevent a full retreat and let the Banelings
impact in an oh-so-unpleasant fashion.



Dividing your Marines into two groups will prevent them from being
focused so easily.  If you put your Marauders in front, and
then have two separate fire teams of Marines, you can manipulate your
enemies’ advance to your advantage.  If they go for one flank
of Marines, you can retreat them while the other opens fire and
destroys them hopefully before they reach their targets.  The
same goes for the other side.  The major difference is that
instead of doing a full retreat and avoiding the problem without
returning any fire, this will enable you to dodge the deadly explosion
while at the same time preventing most of them from having a chance to
go off to begin with. 



Using teams can make dealing with intensive micromanagement a whole lot
easier.  Defeating a Zealot with 2 Marines is entirely
possible, but without the use of teams will likely tie you up and
prevent you from producing or saturating your economy, making further
Zealots much more effective against you than they should be.



The one unfortunate victim of team production usefulness is the Warp
Gate.  Since these have to be placed manually in a pylon
field, it can prove difficult to macromanage these
effectively.  Many top players will place Pylons in key
positions across the map and even on their opponent’s doorstep as they
prepare to attack.  Try making a team of these pylons in key
locations, and then it’s as simple as -- Double tap pylon Key to center
camera, press W to select warp gates, push desired units and place
quickly, then double tap back to your army.



With some practice, you can do this in a second or two.  The
best players in the world can do this in their sleep, so taking a page
from their book can definitely improve your game.  Try using
hotkey teams more and you’ll see a major improvement in your skill
level!