How to Use Hot Keys in Age of Empires

Last Updated: March 29, 2019

Hot keys are keyboard shortcuts that you can use in your Age of Empires game that enable you to get things done faster and easier. Once you know how to use hot keys effectively, you will be a better AoE player who can multitask better than your rivals. Using a mouse will cost you precious time and reduce your winning chances.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Universal Hot Keys

1
Pause the game. You can pause any AoE game by hitting Escape.
2
Pause the game and produce the Pause menu. If you want to quickly pause any Age of Empires game and bring up the game’s Pause menu, use the hotkey F10 (Fn 10).

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3
Close Age of Empires. You can quickly close Age of Empires by pressing Alt + F4.
4
Chat. Press Enter during the game to bring up the chat window where you can type messages to your rivals and allies.
5
Go to your game help menu. You can view help by pressing F1.
6
Kill a unit. To quickly kill your own unit, select it and then press the Delete button on your keyboard. This also applies to buildings.^{[1]
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Image titled Use Hot Keys in Age of Empires Step 6

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Age of Empires I

1
Select your Town Center(s). To select the Town Center that is closest to view in the game world, press the combination Ctrl + H. Pressing this hot key subsequent times will select your next Town Center and will keep cycling through all existing Town Centers.
2
Change game speed. You can increase the speed of the game in AoE1 by pressing + (plus) or decrease the speed by pressing - (minus) to slow it down.
3
Select various other buildings. You can use various key combinations to select various buildings in AoE1. Pressing Ctrl + the hotkey the first time will select the building, while pressing the combination additional times will cycle through all buildings of that type. Here are some examples:
- Press Ctrl+B to select your Barracks.
- Press Ctrl+D to select your Docks.
- Press Ctrl+A to select your Archery Ranges.
- Press Ctrl+K to select your Siege Workshops.
- Press Ctrl+P to select your Temple.
- Press Ctrl+Y to select your Academy.
4
Create villagers. To create a villager, simply press C on your keyboard. This will both select your closest Town Center and start the process of creating a villager. If you once again press C, you will enter an additional villager into the village to go to your creation queue, and so on.
5
Construct buildings. You can construct buildings by first left-clicking a villager to select them, pressing B to issue the Build command, and then pressing the hotkey that corresponds to the building you want the villager to construct. For instance:
- Press B and then E to construct a house.
- Press B and then N to construct a Town Center.
- Press B and then C to construct a Government Center.
- Press B and then P to construct a Temple.
- Press B and then L to construct a Stable.
6
Assign military units to a group number. With the units you want selected, press Ctrl + (1-9) to assign them to a group number from 1 through to 9.
- To select the units in the groups you assigned, press the respective number key from 1 to 9 on your keyboard.
- To both select a group and center the game screen on them, press Alt + (1-9). These group assignment hot keys are very useful when you have a large army and wish to be able to quickly issue attack or defend commands.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Age of Empires II

1
Alter the game speed. You can change the speed of the game in AoE2 by pressing + (plus) to speed it up or - (minus) to slow it down. This allows you to take more time in making decisions or to speed up your way to victory when you have the upper hand over your rivals.
2
Train units. You can use hotkeys to quickly train units by pressing the building’s selection combination and then pressing the unit training hotkey. For instance:
- Press Ctrl+H to select your Town Center and then C to train a villager.
- Press Ctrl+A to select an Archery Range and then A to train an archer, R to train a Skirmisher, and C to train a Cavalry Archer.
- Press Ctrl+K to select your Siege Workshop and then R to train a Battering Ram, N to train a Scorpion, and A to train an Onager.
- Press Ctrl+B to select your Barracks and then S to train a Swordsman, and B to train a Spearman.
3
Save your villagers by ringing the Town Bell. If the enemy descends on you suddenly, hit B to command your villagers to stop working and garrison inside the nearest building. Press B again to send them back to work.
4
Assign army units to a group number. Select the units you want and then press Ctrl + (1-9) to assign them to a group number from 1 through to 9.
- To select, say, all the units in group 1, simply press the number key 1. Press 2 to select all the members of group 2, and so on.
- Press Alt + (1-9) to both select a group and focus the game screen on them. This group assignment strategy is very useful when you have a large army to manage.
- Press Shift + (1-9) to add selected units to the respective already assigned groups.
5
Construct structures. In AoE2, you can quickly construct any building by selecting a villager, pressing B and then the corresponding build hot key. For instance:
- Press B and then A to construct an Archery Range.
- Press B and then K to construct a Siege Workshop.
- Press B and then V to construct a Castle.
- Press B and then I to construct a Mill.
- Press B and then E to construct a House.
- Press B and then S to construct a Blacksmith.
6
Jump to buildings. You can quickly navigate the game world without scrolling around with the mouse or keyboard arrow keys. To do this, simply press Ctrl + (building hot key). The jump to building hot key is the same as the build hot key. For instance:
- Press Ctrl + A to jump to an Archery Range.
- Press Ctrl + K to jump to a Siege Workshop.
- Press Ctrl + V to jump to a Castle.
- Press Ctrl + I to jump to a Mill.
- Press Ctrl + S to jump to a Blacksmith.
7
Cycle through all idle villagers. Press . (period) to cycle through all your idle villagers.
8
Cycle through all idle military. Press , (comma) to cycle through all your idle military units.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Age of Empires III

1
Find your Explorer. An Explorer is the leader of the colony in AoE3 (not available in other Age of Empires versions). To quickly find and select your hero, press the hotkey / (forward slash). You can command him to construct buildings using the following hot keys:
- Press / and then P to construct a Trading Post.
- Press / and then G to construct a Town Center.
2
Go to your Home City. A Home City in AoE3 is the city that sends the Explorer to find and colonize the New World. You go to the Home City to seek reinforcements to enable you to properly govern your colony. To quickly go to your Home City press H, and press H again to return to the game world.
3
Find your Town Center. Press the hot key T to instantly go to your Town Center.
4
Find other buildings. You can use the combination Ctrl + (building hot key) to instantly go to the respective building. For instance:
- Press Ctrl+B to go to your Barracks \ Blockhouse
- Press Ctrl+C to go to your Church
- Press Ctrl+D to go to your Dock
- Press Ctrl+A to go to your Artillery Depot
- Press Ctrl+I to go to your Mill
- Press Ctrl+K to go to your Bank
- Press Ctrl+L to go to your Plantation
- Press Ctrl+M to go to your Market
- Press Ctrl+E to go to your House \ HouseEast \ HouseMed \ Manor
- Press Ctrl+P to go to your Trading Post
- Press Ctrl+Q to go to your Field Hospital
- Press Ctrl+R to go to your Arsenal
- Press Ctrl+Z to go to your Capitol
5
Construct buildings. in AoE3, you can quickly have your villager construct any building by pressing B and then the corresponding building’s hot key. For instance:
- Press B and then B to construct a Barracks \ Blockhouse
- Press B and then C to construct a Church
- Press B and then D to construct a Dock
- Press B and then A to construct an Artillery Depot
- Press B and then I to construct a Mill
- Press B and then K to construct a Bank
- Press B and then L to construct a Plantation
- Press B and then M to construct a Market
- Press B and then E to construct a House \ HouseEast \ HouseMed \ Manor
- Press B and then P to construct a Trading Post
- Press B and then Q to construct a Field Hospital
- Press B and then R to construct an Arsenal
- Press B and then Z to construct a Capitol
6
Use the HUD (heads-up display) hot keys. There are different hot keys for displaying various pieces of info on your HUD:
- Press F2 to display improvements
- Press F3 to display objectives
- Press F4 to display player score
- Press F5 to display chat menu
- Press F6 to display tribute menu
- Press F7 to display player summary
- Press F10 to display in-game menu
- Press F11 to display game time
7
Quick saving and loading. Press F8 to quickly save your game progress, and F9 to quickly load from the last quick save point.
8
Grab a screenshot. Press Ctrl-F12 to quickly capture a screenshot of the game screen.
9
Select the next idle villager. Press . (full stop) to cycle through all your idle villagers one by one.
10
Select the next idle military. Press , (comma) to cycle through all your idle military men one by one.
11
Cycle through all ships. Press ‘ (single quote) to cycle through all your ships.
12
Cycle through all wagons. Press ; (semicolon) to cycle through all your wagons.

Community Q&A

Question

How can I assign a hotkey number to a group of military units?

Community Answer

You use "control" + any number(0-9). This will assign that number to the selected unit(s).