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Basic Ship Control Guide in SpaceBourne 2

SpaceBourne 2

For newcomers to SpaceBourne 2, it can be quite challenging to understand the basic mechanics, even with the in-game video tutorials. Difficulties begin with the very first quest when the player needs to simply get into their ship and take off, let alone landing. In this guide, you will learn how to control your ship, take off and land, as well as discover many useful features that will definitely come in handy during the game.

How to Enter and Exit Your Ship

Approach the cockpit of your ship. You will see that the game prompts you to press “F” for interaction.

Enter the ship

Press “F”, and you will find yourself in the ship’s cockpit. While in the cockpit, you can see two options:

  • Exit (G) – exit the ship;
  • Takeoff (or “Undock” in older versions of the game) (R) – take off.

Take off end exit

You can activate either option by holding the corresponding key or simply clicking on them on the screen while in first-person cockpit view. So, to exit the ship, you should briefly hold the “G” key or select the “Exit” option, switching to the first-person cockpit view.

Camera (View) Switching

You can control both the ship and your character from both first-person and third-person perspectives. You can switch the camera with the “C” key.

camera switching

In earlier versions of the game, the ship had a total of 4 cameras: first-person cockpit view, far behind, close behind, and front view with the cockpit in sight. You could switch between the main two cameras (“far behind” and “first-person cockpit view”) by holding the “C” key for half a second.

Takeoff and Landing

To take off from the dock, you must first activate the “Takeoff” option while in the first-person cockpit view. Otherwise, you won’t be able to take off.

Takeoff

The vertical movement of the ship is controlled by two keys: “R” for up and “V” for down. To take off, hold “R“. The Landing Gear will be retracted automatically, and you will hear a voice message about it.

To land the ship, you need to deploy the Landing Gear again with the “N” key (you can also retract it manually with the same key). A landing camera pointing at the landing gear will appear on the left side of the screen. This is done to make it easier for you to land, observing the process from the most convenient angle. A green indicator will also light up on the ship’s interface, signaling that the landing gear is deployed.

Landing

When the landing gear is deployed, you can land the ship on any surface using the “V” key (down). When the landing is complete, the view will automatically switch to the first-person cockpit camera.

Lifehack: Pressing the “Z” key activates the Free Look Camera. This will allow you to easily fix the ship in the desired position during landing.

Ship Controls in Flight

For controlling the ship (in the default settings preset), standard keys are used:

  • W – forward;
  • S – backward;
  • A/D keys shift (not rotate!) the ship left/right, respectively;
  • Quick double-tapping A or D – sharply shifts the ship to the corresponding side.

Ship controls in flight

Flight direction correction is performed using the mouse.

ship control modes

There are two control modes that can be toggled with the “K” key. In the first mode, the ship will smoothly change its position relative to the cursor, which is controlled by the mouse. In the second mode, the cursor “sticks” to the center of the screen, and mouse movements directly rotate the ship. To understand the difference, try switching between these modes during flight.

You can also rotate the ship on the roll axis using the “Q” and “E” keys.

ship roll

As you already know, upward movement is the “R” key, while downward movement is the “V” key. “Z” still activates the free camera so you can inspect the ship from all sides. To speed up, hold the “Shift” key.

acceleration

If you want the ship to automatically continue moving in the selected direction (which, I note, is sometimes very useful!), you can press Caps Lock. After that, you will hear a beep, and a lock icon will appear in the ship’s main interface.

flies automatically

Now you can release the “W” key, and the ship will continue to fly. But be careful, as this is not autopilot, just automatic straight-line movement. It’s important to remember that the turbo boosters are not infinite. They have a certain charge level, which is displayed on the vertical scale in the center of the screen.

turbo charge level

If the boosters are active, they consume charge and will stop working when it runs out. When the boosters are inactive, the charge gradually recovers.

How to leave the ship in flight

You can leave the ship right in flight, even while in space. The ship will remain hovering in place. To leave the ship, you need to hold down the “G” key.

Leaving the ship

This key activates the jetpack, which allows your character to fly like a real Superman. Controlling the character’s flight is as easy as controlling the ship:

  • W, A, S, D – forward, backward, sideways;
  • R, V – up, down;
  • Shift – acceleration;
  • Caps Lock – automatic movement (as if the “W” key were held down);
  • G – activate/deactivate the jetpack.

To return to the ship, fly to its cabin and press “F” again.

Main interface elements

The radial scale in the center of the screen shows how many degrees the ship has deviated from the “level” position on the roll axis (Q, E). If the two blue triangles point at each other, it means your ship is in a perfectly level position on the roll axis.

radial scale

The vertical scale with numbers in the center shows how many degrees the ship has deviated from the “level” position on the pitch axis (up, down – controlled by the mouse). There is a long line in the middle of this scale. It indicates that the ship has zero deviation on the pitch axis.

vertical scale

In simple terms, if you see positive numbers on this scale (for example, 20), it means the ship is gaining altitude. If the numbers are negative (for example, -20), it means the ship is descending.

In the rectangular cell on the left, you can see the current speed of the ship (although it is still unclear to me in what units of measurement). If the speed is positive, the ship is moving forward. If the speed is negative (for example, -200), the ship is moving backward.

rectangular cells

In a similar rectangular cell on the right, you can see the current altitude of the ship (as I understand it, above sea level). As you ascend, this number will increase, and as you descend, it will decrease.

Red and blue marks on the speed scale indicate the range of maximum available speed with and without boosters. You can adjust the maximum speed by scrolling the mouse wheel. This can be very useful when landing, when you need to reduce the speed to a minimum, or when exploring planets, when you would like to fly not too fast in auto-mode (CapsLock) so that you have time to look around (Z).

Speed limit and wind direction

The arrow icon next to the speed scale represents the wind direction and speed on the planet. In strong winds, the ship will shake extremely hard. You can press “Z” to activate the free camera. This will allow you to look around without feeling the shaking.

Weapons, ship perks, consumables

By default, the ship’s weapons are not activated. To activate them, press the “Tab” key. You will hear a sound signal “Weapons online!“. Now you can shoot.

The starting ship has 3 types of weapons, which are displayed in the lower-left corner of the screen:

  • Gatling, turret (key 1) – a standard machine gun, designed to damage ships;
  • Rail, laser (key 2) – a laser cannon, designed to damage shields (first, you must destroy the enemy ship’s shields with this weapon, and then attack with others);
  • Missile (Space key) – standard missiles, designed to damage enemy ships.

weapons

Below each weapon is its heat scale. If it fills up completely, the weapon will overheat and lose effectiveness significantly. You will have to wait a few seconds for it to cool down. If you enable the “Show weapons heat at crosshair” option in Settings → Interface, you will also see weapon heat scales next to the ship’s crosshair.

Heat scale at crosshair

To the left of the crosshair, the shield reserve (blue) and armor (red) scales are displayed. In battle, damage is first dealt to the shields, and when they are depleted, it goes to the ship’s armor.

armor and shields

The basic ship also has a stealth mode perk “Cloak“, which is activated/deactivated by key 3. It is crucial not to confuse it with launching missiles. When the stealth mode is activated, the ship becomes transparent, and enemies do not see it.

energy

Stealth mode consumes 6 units of energy per second. The available energy can be seen in the lower-right part of the ship interface. When the “Cloak” perk is active, it will also be indicated under the energy scale.

A ship can have up to three perks, which will always be displayed on the panel below its energy scale. Next to each perk, a hotkey is indicated that activates it (for example, 3, 4, 5). In the cells opposite, the amount of energy consumed by the perk is written in green font.

ship perks

Some perks consume energy once upon activation, while others consume it every second while active or until the energy runs out. You can view your ship’s perks by pressing “U” and going to the “Ship” tab.

ship perks

The ship can also be equipped with consumable components at stations. Consumable components, if equipped, will be displayed on the left side of the interface to the right of the weapons. Hotkeys for their use may vary in different presets, so you should check them in the control settings.

consumable components

Power management

You can manage the ship’s power by changing the power priority for the main systems: engines, offensive systems, and defensive systems. This is done using the arrow keys on the keyboard (). Indicators responsible for the power of the main ship systems are also located on the lower right, next to the energy scale.

Power management

The amount of power that systems receive affects their efficiency. If you reduce engine power to a minimum, the ship will fly very slowly even when accelerating. If you increase engine power to the maximum, the ship will fly at the highest possible speed. The same applies to the other systems.

How to summon your ship

You can also summon your ship if it is far away from you.

  • To do this, first activate the cursor with the “H” key.
  • On the “Signals” panel, located in the upper-right corner of the screen, click on the green icon of your ship.
  • Then click on the name of your ship in the list and select the “Call Ship” option in the appeared menu.

The ship will fly to you on autopilot.

summoning the ship

As you can see, there are several more options in this menu. For example, you can remotely look into the cargo hold of your ship by selecting the “Connect to Cargo” option.

hover bike

Moreover, you can summon a Hover Bike and ride it on the planet’s surface. All this is available from the beginning of the game! When you return to the ship, your Hover Bike will be loaded automatically.

The “B” key is responsible for the navigation systems. If you press it, you will hear a sound signal “Navigations Online“, and in the ship’s interface, there will be marks of settlements and other interesting objects on the planet.

Navigation on planet

They are displayed as orange triangles. Note that if the navigation systems are active, you will not be able to enable automatic straight flight with the “Caps Lock” key, which is quite strange.

How to leave a planet

To leave a planet in SpaceBourne 2, you must board your ship, take off, and simply fly upward until you find yourself in space.

Leaving the planet

You will get there much faster if you redirect maximum power to the engines (as described above) and activate the boosters (shift).

How to drift in space

You can drift in space if you gain speed and turn off the engines with the left “Alt” key. The ship will enter drift mode and continue uncontrolled flight.

drifting in space

You won’t be able to change its trajectory but will be able to rotate the ship itself.

How to change the ship control settings

Press “Esc” and go to “Settings” → “Input” → “Ship“. In the left part of the window, you can configure everything you need: mouse sensitivity and all control keys.

ship control settings

You can also switch the settings preset to an alternative one, prepared by the developer in advance.

Congratulations. Now you know how to control a ship in SpaceBourne 2. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments.

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4 COMMENTS
  • Deo
    Deo
    GUEST

    I bought a flagship and have been using it for awhile now but when I try to switch to another ship, it wont let me and something pops up on the screen saying something about the big ship but the words are cut off the screen and I cant read what it says to do. How do i switch from a flagship?

    Reply
    • Kianl
      Kianl
      ADMIN
      Reply to Deo

      Unfortunately, I may not be able to help you with this. It’s likely another bug. What I can tell you is that to change ships, you don’t necessarily have to dock with the station. You can just fly closer to it, leave your ship (G), and then summon another one from your collection using the special console inside the station. If the ship physically won’t let you out, the “I got stuck” function (Esc) and restarting the game might help. Restarting the game generally resolves many bugs in SpaceBourne 2.
      If none of this helps, try to understand what the game is displaying on the screen. There might be some hints in the message that could help you resolve the issue.

      Reply
  • bob
    bob
    GUEST

    How do you execute the dodge maneuver?

    Reply
    • Kianl
      Kianl
      ADMIN
      Reply to bob

      Hi. I’m not quite sure what “dodge maneuver” you’re referring to. If you mean a sudden shift of the ship to the left or right, it can be done by double-tapping A or D, respectively. If you’re talking about evading an attack, the best method is to use the ship’s “Cloak” perk.

      Reply
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