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Empyrion - Galactic Survival > Guides > zaphodikus's Guides
164 ratings
Missing Hotkey List
By zaphodikus and 1 collaborators
Updated 2022
Hotkeys not found in the keyboard menu, and settings not written down anyplace else.
Updated to version 1.10.
Errors or omissions please comment below or friend me so I can set you as a contributor.
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Created by
zaphodikus
Offline
Runeshadow
Online
Category: Crafting, Game Modes, Gameplay Basics, Modding or Configuration, Multiplayer, Secrets, Walkthroughs, Workshop
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
25 Oct, 2020 @ 9:17am
24 Aug, 2024 @ 12:52pm
5,714 Unique Visitors
257 Current Favorites
Guide Index
Overview
Shooting 
Building 
Camera Control 
Controllers 
Credits 
Comments
Shooting
Survival mode and when shooting/chewing gum.

At a glance
(click image to enlarge)

Action man Mode
Key
Action
1 thru 9
Select weapon from hotbar
0
Deselect all hand weapons from hotbar
weapon + right click (rmb)
Look down sights/alternate fire (right mouse button)
rmb + mouse wheel
Zoom while looking down any weapon/drill with sights
j
Jetpack on/off ([ spacebar ] to use jetpack)
u
Helmet on/off
r
Reload (tools that use cells use up 1 charge)
ALT
Toggle mouselook (3rd person of piloting only)
z
Drops held item/weapon!
Warning, can be very inconvenient!
right click + homing missile
DON'T lead the target, fire when indicator is red
wasd on foot
Forwards strafe-left backwards strafe-right (** see crabbing)
wasd in water/space
Forwards strafe-left backwards strafe-right **
[ space ]
Up/Jump , hold down for suit jetpack
SHIFT + w
Sprint (works on *ladders too) ***
* ladders = (elevator blocks)
** Crabbing : Using 2 adjacent direction keys together to move faster - most effective while swimming, and while flying. You get diagonal motion, but cover more ground.
*** SHIFT + w will get you moving, but a bunny-hop using jet-pack is more efficient for short sprints in close combat. Press SHIFT+W, then tap the jetpack, SPACEBAR and let go SHIFT while airborne. This will recover stamina as long as you can stay airborne, so tap spacebar once more and then go back to holding SHIFT once you land to get more distance.

More Action-person mode
Key
Action
p
Open vehicle/base control panel (point at base)
f
Harvest/open container/door...
f (2)
Also, mount dismount bike or leave cockpit
SHIFT + f
Take all from container
u
Helmet (requires a suit)
l
Flashlight (requires a suit)
TAB
Open inventory
b
Scoreboard
<
Faction chat
>
Global chat
v
1st/3rd person view
The 'p' to access the control panel for ships is tricky to use and much like ALT+O for blueprint you have to be near.

When flying/swimming/using drone
Key
Action
F5
Send/recall drone
o (flying)
Level (to gravity)
x (flying)
Shield toggle if ship has one
SHIFT + w
Faster (if swimming) **
c
Swim down **
[ SPACE ]
Swim up **
** If you equip a weapon while swimming, it slows all movement and makes you sink.
To move faster while swimming you can use a similar bunnyhop technique for running.
Get to the surface first , Hold SHIFT+W, tap the jet-pack until you start to clear the water, release SHIFT and W, tap the jet-pack twice to stay up, once you do hit the water, swim normally for a while, and repeat.

Evaluating Options
Key
Action
m
Map
PAUSE
Pause game
F1
PDA
F3
Tech tree
b /F4
Factions list
F5
Personal drone
t
Swap hotbars (in logistics mode)
tap any number twice
Swap hotbars (in logistics mode)

Ship Controls
Key
Action
x
Shields on/off
k
Warp to system in sights (shields must be down)
q/e
Roll ship left/Roll right
y
Switch on/off power
i
Cruising brake on/off
CTRL + w
Sets cruise control speed (handsfree mode)
1 thru 9
Select weapon
SHIFT + i
Pilot mode (follow mouse mode)


Hover Vessel keys
Key
Action
SHIFT+O (flying)
Lock orientation
SHIFT + SPACE
Vessel jump (requires boosters) *
* SHIFT + O is useful for making sloped cuts with a mining HV. I find I often have to tap SHIFT + SPACE twice, to make my HV hop. Not sure why though.

Containers
Key
Action
SHIFT + left-click
Send entire stack

Constructor/Blueprints
Key
Action
ALT+o
Save to blueprint **
SHIFT + click
Queue 10 of or remove 10 queued items
CTRL + click
Queue 100 of or remove 100 queued items
CTRL + SHIFT + click
Queue 1000 of or remove 1000 items from queue
** You need to be facing the base/ship to create a blueprint. I find I have to be pretty close and have to press ALT+O (Oh, not zero) a few times before the game registers it.
Building
Creative mode and Building stuff hotkeys

General
Key
Action
` (backtic)
Open console : the key left of the 1 on most keyboards
ALT + o
Save blueprint (warning overwrites)*
h
Open creative menu
Insert/Del
Change rotation axis (when placing block)
Home/End
Rotate block (when placing block)
lmb and drag
Place a row of blocks with your mouse
CTRL+ lmb
Place a sheet of blocks by dragging mouse over an area



The Shape Sorter

To clone or copy a block shape and colour, stand near to and aim at the source block while you have a block in your hotbar. Hold CTRL and press RMB.

Key
Action
RMB
Shape chooser menu (if block has multiple shapes)
LMB
Place block
SHIFT+RMB
Remove block under cursor
CTRL+RMB
Clone block shape under cursor. You must have a block in the hotbar first. (Copy block)

Sensors and Circuits
Circuits and triggers are another whole guide. These hot keys let you control your ships and base power.
Key
Action
CTRL + ALT + arrows
Motion sensor SHRINK trigger area axis
CTRL + arrows
Motion sensor ENLARGE trigger area on axis
CTRL + SHIFT + number
Toggle device group on or off *
CTRL + ALT + number
Toggle circuit on or off **
You need to be facing the base/ship to create a blueprint. I find I have to be pretty close and have to press ALT+O (Oh, not zero) a few times before the game registers it. How to blueprint

* Custom Groups
CTRL+ SHIFT + top number keys. Toggles a custom control device group 1-8 on or off.

There are only 8 Custom switchable device groups, tap P and choose the Main tab to name a group, then choose the Devices tab to assign the group to the custom group.

** Signal Groups
CTRL+ ALT + top number keys. Toggles circuits 1-8 on or off. Limited to the 1st 8 circuits.



When placing a blueprint
Key
Action
F2
Open blueprint factory
Pageup/ Pagedown
Raises/lowers it
Home/End
Closer or further away
Ins/Del
Rotates it

In Creative Mode
Key
Action
h
Items menu (type itemmenu in survival)
j
'j'et-pack hover mode
CTRL + direction
Fly faster
CTRL + SHIFT + direction
* Fly even faster

Build/Debug menu
Key
Action
n
Build tools dialog *
n
Debug Menu*

* The Build 'n' tab:
  • Place blocks "connected" to the grid of a nearby structure
  • Enable symmetry build mode
  • Copy/Paste blocks and save selections to the clipboard
  • Undo/Redo buffers

* The Debug 'n' Tab:
  • Lets you show air-tightnes, oxygenated blocks.
  • Lets you show ship centre of gravity and Base Structural integrity.
Camera Control
Control the camera for those perfect screenshots
Key
Action
v
* First/3rd person view
PGUP/PGDN
Move camera up/down (3rd person view)
F6
toggle HUD (waypoints, tactical, none)
0
* Deselect all hand weapons from hotbar
F7
Screenshot as PNG high quality **
F12
Screenshot to Steam folder as low quality **
F8
Show FPS
ALT
* Toggle mouselook (3rd person and piloting only)
mousewheel
Zoom (3rd person views only)
CTRL
Fly faster (creative , godmode only)
CTRL+SHIFT
Fly deliriously faster (creative , godmode only)

Screenshots
* Deselecting all weapons makes for better screenshots.
** Screenshots saved using F7 are high quality PNG, while the Steam F12 screenshots are a smaller compressed JPEG. See comment below thanks to @PhEONix.

Controllers
A few notes
A few notes on controllers... please contribute as you can here.
The game has a file that allows it to save your hotkeys, which makes swapping configurations a bit simpler. Most notable is the ability to disable mouse control as show in screenshot below by simply setting the 2 places where hasMouse occurs, to false, not true .

Macros Shortcuts
You can now pro-program 4 scripts or commands for the console. (Creative or administrator mode)
CTRL+F1
CTRL+F2
CTRL+F3
CTRL+F4
Typically I have used the shortcuts when I want to make screenshots of something, you can create a command to set the time of day or to clear the weather. But the developers did not give us a way to close the console afterwards, so this feature is a bit un-useable unless you want to hit ESC after CTRL+F1/F4 every time.

Credits
For 'reasons' steam does not let you add more than about 8K of bbcode to a section in a guide, so the material in each section might look a bit arbitrary. I spent a lot of time making up graphics for this guide, and eventually less and less time playing the game anyway. I now rely on player corrections to the guide. I'm more often writing reviews and collecting/curating games which you can check out here
https://cs2bus.com/groups/EmpathyGames .

Yes, that's the end
63 Comments
< >
10saketh 30 Dec, 2024 @ 1:44am 
Is it possible to change the pause key as I have a compact keyboard on my laptop
10saketh 23 Dec, 2024 @ 1:55am 
Thanks for the reply.
zaphodikus  [author] 19 Dec, 2024 @ 7:59am 
Alt + o = save blueprint, the hotkey is hard to use because you have to be either aiming directly at the ship and above it, or standing touching the ship or building's bounding box, or else nothing happens... unless they changed the hotkey lately
10saketh 19 Dec, 2024 @ 4:01am 
Thank you for this hotkey list. Although is it really Alt + O and not Alt + Q ?
zaphodikus  [author] 24 Aug, 2024 @ 12:53pm 
Added 'x'
zaphodikus  [author] 14 Jul, 2024 @ 4:57am 
:-) No worries Red Wizard of Carmarthen. I very much enjoy how this game which I have always loved from the EA days has given my much joy. I return to it every so often, and update this guide. So if you, or anyone find some helpful tips, do let me know. I know I have to write a separate guide for working with signals still, the existing guides are good, but I just don't play often enough lately to put in the work on a new guide yet.

The big thing is to never ever hit the drop 'Z' key while a favourite weapon is equipped and in a firefight! My biggest hope for this game is that the building system eventually lets us have pre-calculated lights that cast real shadows. I love building complex things, and the hard max size limits and the way light passes through walls has often put me off playing it much more.
Red_Merlin 13 Jul, 2024 @ 9:24pm 
I know I'm sorta necro'ing the post (I'm only late by 8 months compared to the last comment lol) but this is really helpful and wanted to say thanks a million. Especially when compared to the wiki which is pitifully small and painfully simple. Bare basic knowledge. I went on a quest for shortcuts after accidentally copying the block i was looking at for the 3rd time, first time i wrote off as accidentally hitting 1-3 keys. But trying to replicate it after the 3rd accidental block copy i knew somebody must know the shortcut. Anything that makes this cumbersome build system a little easier is much appreciated lol
Mozetronick 22 Dec, 2023 @ 3:39pm 
OK. Maybe when you have time. In any case, thanks for making the edits. Have a great weekend and happy holidays.
zaphodikus  [author] 22 Dec, 2023 @ 2:21pm 
I thought I might miss things. I did forgot the signals, I don't often use signals, got a bit lost trying to set up a example , will have to wait until after Christmas, because these really need a screenshot. Forgot that the Steam compressed screenshots are not great, I must do better, just slower. :lasershot:
Mozetronick 22 Dec, 2023 @ 1:55pm 
I see you added hotkeys for groups, but forgot about CTRL+ALT+1 for signals. I already wrote to you about this in my first message. Just be more attentive before realizing what you read.