There is a wealth of keyboard shortcuts, hotkeys, controls, and keybinds available to use in Age of Empires 4. Getting to know them and using them throughout gameplay will improve reaction times and increase a players actions-per-minute in the real-time strategy game. Ultimately, efficient use of your keys and micromanagement skills will help you to secure success.
Without further ado, this guide explains all the keyboard shortcuts, hotkeys, rebinds, and controls available to use in Age of Empires 4.
The tables below describe the primary hotkey, secondary hotkey and an explanation of what they do. Where '-' is shown on its own, this means there is no secondary hotkey applicable to that action.
Gameplay
F10
'
Game Menu
F11
Ctrl + T
Toggle game time display
ESC
'
Pause Game
Pause
-
Pause Simulation
F8
Ctrl + Q
Quick Save
F9
Ctrl + I
Quick Load
Controls
Left Click a unit
-
Select unit
Double Left Click a unit
Ctrl + Left Click a unit
Select all visible units of the same type
Shift + Left Click a unit
-
Add/Remove unit from selection
Left Click ground and drag
-
Band a select group of units together
Left Click ground
-
Confirm placement of building or ability
Shift + Left Click ground
-
Queue placement of building or ability
Right Click ground with units selected
-
Issue a contextual order to selected units (Move, Attack, etc)
Select all landmarks, wonders, and capital town centers
F5
J
Focus on selected units
H
L
Cycle through town centers
'
]
Cycle through individual monk units
/
[
Cycle through individual scout units
.
N
Cycle from idle economy
Ctrl + .
Ctrl + Up arrow
Select all idle villagers
Ctrl + Shift + V
Up arrow
Select all Villagers
Ctrl + Shift + R
Page up
Return all villagers to work
,
Down arrow
Cycle through idle military units
Ctrl + ,
Ctrl + Down arrow
Select all idle military units
Ctrl + Shift + C
Ctrl + M
Select all military units
Ctrl + F
Ctrl + V
Cycle through villagers gathering food
Ctrl + W
Ctrl + B
Cycle through villagers gathering wood
Ctrl + G
Ctrl + J
Cycle through villagers gathering gold
Ctrl + S
Ctrl + K
Cycle through villagers gathering stone
Shift + unit production hotkey (or click button)
-
Queue production of 5 units of that type
Del (hold) with uni selected
Ctrl + =
Delete unit or building
Insert
Ctrl + -
Toggle team based or unique player colours
Communications
Shift + Enter
\
All global chat
Enter
/
Team chat
Enter with chat already open
-
Send chat message
Tab with chat already open
-
Swap between global and team chat
Page up
Shift + >
Scroll older chat messages
Page down
Shift + <
Scroll newer chat messages
F6
Ctrl + F
Toggle players and tribute panel
Spacebar
Num Enter
Focus on last event
Ctrl + E then Left Click
Ctrl + P
Notify Ping
Ctrl + R then Left Click
-
Attack Ping
Ctrl + T then Left Click
Ctrl + D
Defend Ping
Observer and Replay
Ctrl + U
U
Toggle cinematic mode
Ctrl + C
P
Toggle free camera
Ctrl + F
L
Toggle fog of war
- (Dash)
Num-
Slower
=
Num+
Faster
Ctrl + ]
Ctrl + .
View next player
Ctrl + [
Ctrl + .
View previous player
There we have it. Players can now try to get the most out of their gameplay by utilising the above hotkeys! Please note, however, that these shortcuts sadly aren't customisable. For those who are new to the game, we have a useful guide of beginners tips here, and some guidance on how to tackle the first portion of the campaign, The Normans.