There are some strategies that will be transferable from SC1 to SC2, in particular managing your home base while still keeping on the offensive. I was curious as to other people’s mental strategies for keeping your economy running and tech-ing up while engaged and micromanaging battle.

This is how I micro my base while trying to remain focused on offense, keep in mind I am a Terran player (When playing Protoss or Zerg I use variations of the same strategy but they are customized for each race). The key for me to effectively manage my base is through setting building hot keys:

0-Main Command Center(CC)
9-Expansion CC
8-Barracks
7-Factory
6-Starport

It is always the same and it allows me to still manage my base without visually switching. In addition, after my economy is established I use 0 and 9 as a Comsat hotkey enabling a flexible method of scouting and detection, while still giving me easy access to Command Centers.

I’m always looking for ways to improve my system so please let me know about how you effectively manage your base while keeping an aggressive offense. I believe these strategies will still apply to SC2.

Most people I know that play starcraft use 5-0 as their production structures (barracks, hatcheries, gateways), or even as much as 3-0.