Hot Keys - why require "ctrl”?

[pfg1701]

Is there a reason game programmers made it necessary to require “ctrl” to effectuate a hotkey? For example, to “Show SOP Ranges” one must push “Ctrl-P.” Why not just “P?” There are not that many hot keys that a single letter can’t be used for all of them.

I ask because it’s a bit of an annoyance to have to use two hands on the keyboard instead of just one. So, instead of playing with one hand on the key board and one on the mouse, players must continually go back and forth with the mouse hand, for apparently no reason. As for me, the more I play the game the more of a needless annoyance this becomes. And, unless I’m mistaken, the game doesn’t allow me to reassign hot keys to make the system more convenient.

[CapnDarwin]

The main reason is a code base limitation coupled with the need for alphanumeric entry. So we went with Windows standard hotkey use. Most overlays and info displays can be opened via mouse click on menus or the speed buttons at bottom of the screen. Some folks have mentioned using a key mapping tool to both rebind and add the Ctrl bit.

[Shadrach]

I use the following AHK script to override the hotkeys:
https://pastebin.com/z7SGg3AB

It maps the most used commands to the left-hand side, including moving the map with WASD.
Doesn't work 100%, sometimes the game just won't accept input, depending on which control has the focus, but I've gotten most of the teething issues out.

Much more effective when opening the dialogs that are used all the time - for instance SOP Ranges is set to 'H'.