During Age of Empires IV campaign mode, you will have all the time in the world to plan and put your strategy into practice. But it is inevitable that in moments of competition against other players the difference between high ‘APM’ and low ‘APM’ becomes clear and starts to weigh in the balance.
APM – Actions per Minute
That’s why the best players forget about the mouse and use several shortcuts on the keyboard to be able to interact with the game more quickly.
Hotkeys and Shortcuts are for every action you can imagine. From selecting an army to even defining a to-do list for one of your units. That’s why they end up serving as another strategic tool for players.
This guide details each of the Shortcuts and HotKeys you will find in Age of Empires 4 and their effects.
Age of Empires 4 | Keyboard Hotkeys
Basic
| Hotkey Default | Secondary Hotkey | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Left Click a unit | N/A | Select unit |
| Double Left Click a unit | Control and [ Left Click ] a unit | Select all visible units of same type |
| Shift and [ left click ] a unit | N/A | Add/Remove unit from selection |
| Left Click ground and drag mouse | N/A | Bandbox select groups of units |
| Left Click ground | N/A | Confirm building or ability placement |
| Shift and [ left click ] ground | N/A | Queue building or ability placement |
| Right Click ground or unit with unit(s) selected | N/A | Issue contextual order to selected unit(s) (ie. Move, Attack, etc) |
| Right Click ground and drag mouse with unit(s) selected | N/A | Issue facing move order |
| ESC | N/A | Cancel / deselect unit / game menu / skip NIS. Not user remappable. |
Controls
| Hotkey Default | Secondary Hotkey | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Control + A | Ctrl + K | “Select all units on screen” |
| Control + Shift + A | Ctrl + Shift + K | “[Shift]: Select all units” – Appears as shift message on Control-A binding |
| Y with a unit selected | Ctrl + Y | Access secondary UI panel |
Camera
| Hotkey Default | Secondary Hotkey | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ALT and move mouse | Caps lock | “Rotate camera (hold)” |
| [ | Num 6 | “Rotate camera 45 degrees counter-clockwise” |
| ] | Num 4 | “Rotate camera 45 degrees clockwise” |
| Backspace | Num 0 | “Reset camera” – 1st press resets camera rotation, 2nd press resets zoom |
| F5 | N/A | “Focus on selected unit(s)” |
| Home | N/A | “Follow Selected Unit” |
| < | ALT+A | “Pan camera left” – Default binding remapped on non-English keyboards to the key at that location |
| > | ALT+D | “Pan camera right” – Default binding remapped on non-English keyboards to the key at that location |
| / (up arrow) | ALT+W | “Pan camera up” – Default binding remapped on non-English keyboards to the key at that location |
| / (down arrow) | ALT+S | “Pan camera down” – Default binding remapped on non-English keyboards to the key at that location |
Unit Management
| Hotkey Default | Secondary Hotkey | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Tab | Right arrow | “Cycle through selected units (forward)” “Cycle through selected unit types (forward)” Ensure multiple types of units are selected and Tab with units selected |
| Control + Tab | Left arrow | “Cycle through selected units (reverse)” Cycle through selected unit types (reverse) Ensure multiple types of units are selected and Control + Tab with units selected NB: can’t do shift-tab because it’s the steam overlay ;( |
| 0-9 | Num [x1] | “Select Control Group X” 1x selects group, 2x selects and centers camera on group (or follow depending on user setting “Focus on selected unit(s)”) |
| Control and 0-9 [ range above ] | Num X [x1] | “Set Control Group X to selected unit(s)” Assign group to selected units Note: Setting a control group when no units are selected effectively removes that control group |
| Shift and 0-9 [ range above ] | N/A | “[Shift]: Add Group To Selection” Changing this to “[Shift]: Add Selected Units to Group” Add selected units to group Appears as shift message on 0-9 binding |
| F1 | M | “Select all Military Production Buildings” pick center-most building of selection using setting FindAndCyclePickType for pick-type (since mongol buildings can move, so follow actually has meaning) |
| F2 | K | “Select all Economy Buildings” as above |
| F3 | O | “Select all Research Buildings” as above |
| F4 | P | “Select all Landmarks, Wonders, and Capital Town Centers” |
| F5 | J | Focus on Selected Unit(s) |
| H | L | “Cycle through Town Centers” |
| Control + H | CTRL + L | “Focus on Capital Town Center” Select and center camera on Capital Town Center |
| ‘ (Apostrophe) | ] | “Cycle through individual Monk units” (FindAndCyclePickType) Default binding remapped on non-English keyboards to the key at that location |
| / | [ | “Cycle through individual Scout units” (FindAndCyclePickType) Default binding remapped on non-English keyboards to the key at that location |
| . (Period) | N | “Cycle through Idle Economy” (idle economy include villagers, trade carts, fishing ships, and trade ships, officials (chinese civ)) (IdleVillagerPickType) Default binding remapped on non-English keyboards to the key at that location |
| Control + . (Period) | CTRL + Up arrow | “Select all idle Villagers” Pick all idle villagers (IdleVillagerPickType) Default binding remapped on non-English keyboards to the key at that location (if all idle villagers are selected and made un-idle, Ctrl-. will not change the current selection – as designed) |
| Control + Shift + V | Up arrow | “Select all Villagers” Pick all Villagers (FindAndCyclePickType) |
| Control + Shift + R | Page up | “Return all Villagers to work (from Seek Shelter)” |
| , (Comma) | Down arrow | “Cycle through idle Military units” Default binding remapped on non-English keyboards to the key at that location |
| Control + , (Comma) | CTRL + Down arrow | “Select all idle Military units” Default binding remapped on non-English keyboards to the key at that location |
| Control + Shift + C | CTRL + M | “Select all Military units” |
| Control + F | CTRL + V | “Cycle through Villagers gathering Food” Cycle through groups of villagers gathering Food |
| Control + W | CTRL + B | “Cycle through Villagers gathering Wood” Cycle through groups of villagers gathering Wood |
| Control + G | CTRL + J | “Cycle through Villagers gathering Gold” Cycle through groups of villagers gathering Gold |
| Control + S | CTRL + K | “Cycle through Villagers gathering Stone” Cycle through groups of villagers gathering Stone |
| Shift and [ unit production hotkey ] or click button | N/A | Queue production of 5 units of that type |
| Delete (hold) with unit selected | CTRL + = | Delete unit or building |
| Insert | CTRL + – | “Toggle Team-based or Unique player colors” |
Communication
| Hotkey Default | Secondary Hotkey | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Shift + Enter | “[All] Global chat” | |
| Enter | / | [Team] Team chat |
| Enter with chat open | N/A | Send chat message |
| Tab with chat open | N/A | Swap between [All] Global and [Team] Team chat |
| Page Up | Shift + > | “Scroll chat messages (older)” |
| Page Down | Shift + < | “Scroll chat messages (newer)” |
| F6 | Ctrl + F | “Toggle Players & Tribute panel” |
| Spacebar | Num Enter | “Focus on last event” Center camera on last notification |
| Control + E then Left Click | Ctrl + P | “Notify Ping” |
| Control + R then Left Click | “Attack Ping” | |
| Control + T then Left Click | Ctrl + D | “Defend Ping” |
Game
| Hotkey Default | Secondary Hotkey | Description |
|---|---|---|
| F10 | ` | “Game Menu” |
| F11 | Ctrl + T | “Toggle game time display” |
Single Player
| Hotkey Default | Secondary Hotkey | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ESC | ` | Pause game |
| Pause | N/A | “Pause Simulation” |
| F8 | Ctrl + Q | “Quick Save” |
| F9 | Ctrl + I | “Quick Load” |
Now that you have a better understanding about Age of Empires IV Shortcuts. It’s time to learn a little more about the game, so here are some guides:
