Control Seat

Control Seat


Function:	Seat in between lots of consoles. More like a bridge seat....
DLC?	Vanilla

Fits small grid
Mass:	263.0 kg
Hitpoints:	965
PCU:	50
Size:	3x3x3
Time to Build:	20 sec

Fits large grid
Mass:	446.0 kg
Hitpoints:	1560
PCU:	150
Size:	1x1x1
Time to Build:	32 sec

Data Controls:	[purge] (?))

The Control Seat is a compact Cockpit block. With its wide visibility in first as well as third person view it is suitable for rovers as well as large ship bridges.

Its disadvange is that Block Placement Mode (CTRL key+G key) is not available^[1], which makes it less useful for a compact constructor-style ship. Apart from that, it functions identically to other cockpits.

Gallery

Small-grid Control Seat on the left, large-grid on right side

Trivia

Hotfix 193.020 saw the Small Control Seat moved out of Decorative Pack II DLC and into the base version of the game.
A large grid version of the Control Seat block was added in Version 1.193.1 of the base version of the game.

Cockpit Control

A cockpit block is essential to steer spaceships or rovers, and can secondarily be used as control station for a stationary base. Its third function is providing Life Support for the player.

The multiple variants of cockpits function the same, they only differ in proportions, mass, visibility, material cost, conveyor ports, and grid size.

Control Options

Control panel Screen	Toolbar	Description
Toggle on/off	Toggle on/off Toggle off Toggle on	When a block is toggled off, it does not fulfill its function and does not use power.
Show block in Terminal		If you have many blocks that clutter your Control Panel, but you never need to configure them, hide them here.
Show block in toolbar config		If you have many blocks that clutter your toolbar config, but you never want to use them on the toolbar, hide them here.
Name		Give the block a unique name that makes it easy for you to find it in the search with only few keystrokes.
Show on HUD on/off	Show on HUD on/off Show on HUD on Show on HUD off	If an antenna is broadcasting from this grid, you can use this to mark this block on the HUD. E.g. to highlight blocks that need repair, emergency exits, etc.
Custom Data		Used by scripts only.

Block-specific controls

You can allow or disallow yourself to use certain cockpit functions. For example, a straight-boring drill rig does not want to worry about drift caused by the pilot touching the mouse — so switch off manual gyro control. Or, if the wheels of a monorail tram are controlled by a timer block, you switch off manual wheel control, and so on.


Control panel Screen	Toolbar	Description
Control Thrusters	Control Thrusters on/off	(For grids with thrusters only:) Whether the pilot's directional inputs activate thrusters.
Control Wheels	Control Wheels on/off	(For wheeled grids only:) Whether the pilot's directional inputs propel and turn wheels.
Control Gyros	Control Gyros on/off	(For grids with gyroscopes only:) Whether moving the mouse controls turning (pitch, roll, and yaw).
Handbrake	Handbrake on/off	(For wheeled vehicles only:) Enables you to add the Handbrake action to the Toolbar slot to brake quickly.
Park	Park on/off	Whether pressing `P key` unlocks/locks connectors and landing gears. See Cockpit Controls for how to configure this for your grid's blocks!
Inertia Dampeners	Inertia Dampeners on/off	(For grids with thrusters only:) Whether pressing `Z key` toggles assistive Inertial Dampers.
Show Horizon and Altitude	Show Horizon and Altitude on/off	See details about showing "Altimeter and Attitude" below.
Main Cockpit	Main Cockpit on/off	If the grid has multiple cockpits, specify which is the main cockpit. The main cockpit can steer vehicles (even from turret view), configure Jump Drives and initiate jumps. Non-main cockpits on the same grid cannot.
Enable target locking	Enable target locking on/off	See Target Locking to learn how to make turrets lock on to targets.
Set up action	(triggers the action)	See details how to configure "Cockpit Alarms and Countermeasures" below.

LCD Panel options

See LCD Surface Options for how to run scripts or display text or images on the built-in LCD panels of the cockpit. For example, to display a preflight checklist or locked targets.

How to Use Cockpit Controls

To sit in a cockpit, face the cockpit and press F key to enter.

To control functional blocks while seated in a ship or station, press K key to open the Control Panel.
- If you build several cockpits on a grid, set one as the main cockpit here.
Press G key to assign important control panel actions to your Tool Bar.
Press P key to (un)lock Landing Gears and Connectors. To configure this behaviour, see Cockpit Controls.
Press Y key to switch on/off all Batteries and Reactors.
Press L key to switch on/off all Spotlights.

Press F key again to exit the cockpit.

How to Steer

How you place the cockpit on a mobile grid defines its forward direction.

To move forward / backwards / left / right, press the WASD keys
To move up and down, press SPACE key and C key
To yaw and pitch, move the mouse or use the arrow keys (requires Gyroscope)
To roll, press Q key and E key (requires Gyroscope)
To toggle Inertial Dampers, press Z key

Yaw	Pitch	Roll

Tip: Different points of view help you when docking. To toggle between first and third person, press V key. Hold ALT key and move the mouse to change the viewing angle in third person!

Note: If you see a message "A connected ship has taken control"^[2], another player is using the cockpit of a ship that is docked to yours.

How to Use Ship Tools

Does your grid have Block Weapons or Block Tools? Set up their controls before leaving the dry dock!

Aim at the cockpit and press F key to sit in the cockpit.
Press G key to open the cockpit’s Toolbar config.
Drag the icons for each type of Block Weapon or Block Tool to the Toolbar for quick access.
Press 1 key to 9 key to select that tool or weapon, and then -click and -click to use it.

Additionally assign other block actions to toolbar slots, such as AI turret range increase/decrease, thruster overrides, or parachute opening.

How to Switch Weapons

First, see Block Weapons for how to set up weapons in the toolbar.

To switch between sets of equipped weapons, use -click.
To cycles between single-gun and all-gun modes within the same type (all Rocket Launchers->all gatlings->all guns, for example), use single--click
To switch to the next weapon of the same type that has ammo loaded, use double--click.

How to View Altimeter and Attitude

While seated in the cockpit of a mobile grid in natural gravity, a cockpit indicates attitude (horizon) and altitude (height) on your HUD. If it doesn't, enable the Show Horizon and Altitude toggle in the cockpit's Control Panel.

The artificial horizon near your crosshairs shows your pitch and roll, angles which are often hard to tell without a reference point.
Your altitude in metres above ground is displayed in the middle of the HUD, as a number below the crosshairs. Knowing your height above the terrain is relevant when landing and flying to avoid collisions.

Note that the Cockpit HUD does not display your height above non-terrain structures (such as stations or landing pads), nor your height above sea level. You can't use the altitude to know how deep into the atmosphere you are and how effective your Atmospheric Thrusters will be.

Tip: You can also display artificial horizon, altitude, attitude, and angular momentum, on any of the built-in LCDs in your cockpit.

How to Set Up Alarms and Countermeasures

The cockpit can trigger an automatic reaction when it detects a hostile target lock on the grid.

For example, you can configure it to switch on defensive AI turrets, or to play an audible alarm, or to switch on red lights, or to release a merge block that drops decoys, ... Similarly, configure it to switch off your custom “Red Alert” as soon as you break out of target lock.

This is how:

Click Set up Actions to select from the available actions:

The action in the first slot triggers when you are targeted.
The action in the second slot triggers when you have broken out of target lock.

If you want to trigger more than one action, select a Timer Block as action, and set up the desired toggle actions inside the Timer block.

Do cockpits maintain Life Support?

Cockpits offer passive life-support functionality to seated players:

Being seated recharges your suit power. An unpowered seat maintains suit power indefinitely but doesn't recharge it.
Sitting in an open cockpit in an airtight room, or in a closed cockpit conveyored to a source of oxygen, recharges your suit oxygen while seated.
Open cockpits in low oxygen environments do not recharge your oxygen.

Construction

The Control Seat can be built on small and large grids. It is not airtight, it has no windows and no conveyor ports.

The small-grid version is 2x3x3 small blocks in volume, and the large-grid variant takes up 1x1x1 large blocks but visually it fills only half this volume. The small grid variant has one, and the large-grid five LCD Surfaces of varying sizes that can be customized.

Recipe

Control Seat
Component	Large Ship/Station Required	Large Ship/Station Optional	Small Ship Required	Small Ship Optional
Computer	100	—	15	—
Display	6	—	2	—
Motor	2	—	1	—
Construction Comp.	30	—	20	—
Interior Plate	30	—	20	—