Wait Command

The Wait command is command that can be used to pause a unit's command queue. The most common uses are on factories, to pause production, and missiles within a missile silo, to sychronise a launch.

Issuing a wait command does not override a unit's command queue, as would be the case with most other commands. Instead, issuing a wait command with no modifiers inserts a wait command at the front of the command queue. Units with wait as their active command stop and do nothing, except automatically fire at enemies within range. Issuing a second wait command removes the first, since wait commands annihilate each other when they meet in a command queue.

Wait can be used to pause an existing command queue, or to have a unit not execute a set of shift-queued until the wait is canceled. The wait command can be queued after existing commands with the shift modifier key. Further orders can be queued as normal after the wait command, but they will not be executed until the wait command is removed (by reissuing the wait command).

Synchronising a Missile Silo

Here is how to use the wait command to launch three Shockleys at three Antinukes.

* Select the three Shockleys, making sure not to select the Missile Silo.
* Issue a wait command (default Ctrl+W).
* Select one of the Shockleys and while holding shift (adds the next command to the command-queue) add a Force Fire order on the first Antinuke.
* Select another Shockley and while holding shift (adds the next command to the command-queue) add a Force Fire order on the second Antinuke.
* Repeat for the last shockley missle and the last Antinuke.
* Select the three Shockleys, making sure not to select the Missile Silo.
* Clear the wait command (default Ctrl+W).

Upon receiving the second wait command (clear wait) all three Shockleys will execute their Force Fire commands.

Wait command variants

While the standard wait command must be manually removed, there are a few special variants that remove themselves automatically when certain conditions are met. They are not bound to hotkeys by default, but can be found in the ingame hotkey menu and then bound to hotkeys.

Gather wait

Gather wait causes a group of units to wait until all units in the group have reached the gather wait command. The gather wait command is automatically inserted at the end of the command queue (without needing to hold shift while issuing), unlike the other forms of the wait command.

Death wait

The death wait command causes a unit to wait until the selected unit dies. Upon activating the command, the player is prompted to click on a unit (friendly or enemy) to wait for. It can be queued after other commands by holding shift while clicking on the unit to wait for (otherwise it is inserted at the front of the command queue).

Squad wait

The squad wait command can only be applied to factories. Upon activating the command, the player is prompted with a slider bar to select the squad size to wait for. Hold shift while selecting the squad size to queue the wait command. Units created by the factory will then wait until a group of the selected squad size is produced before executing further commands.

Note that squad wait is only useful if the squad wait command is itself queued (e.g. after an initial move command out of the factory). Without queuing the squad wait command, it is applied to the factory itself, which will stop the factory from producing anything (if you accidentally do this, issue a normal wait command to your factory to cancel the wait).

Timer wait

The timer wait command is automatically removed after some time. Upon activating the command, the player is prompted with a slider bar to select the time (in seconds) to wait for. Hold shift while selecting the wait time to queue the wait command; otherwise, the command in inserted at the front of the queue.