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Things you may not have known about playing KSP & its interface copied from http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/21dco6/things_you_may_not_have_known_about_playing_ksp/

Building craft

  • Shift-clicking any part of the ship will select the entire ship for movement, while Alt-clicking copies that particular part and everything attached to it
  • Holding shift while moving the mouse wheel zooms you view in and out, rather than moving up and down
  • Ctrl-Z can undo the last change you made to your craft, though be aware: it often undoes the 2 most recent changes. Ctrl-Y reverts the undo process
  • you can turn parts 90 degrees with QWEASD, and make precise adjustments with Shift-QWEASD: this turn the part 5 degrees, so press shift-[direction] 9 times to rotate the part 45 degrees in that direction. Note: this will never go the direction you want it to go first time; accept this and be at peace
  • If a part has become turned and twisted in a way you don't want, hitting the Spacebar while you have it selected will return it to default orientation
  • X increases build symmetry number, and shift-X decreases it - C and Shift-C quickly toggle angle snap
  • The action group menu lets you add all kinds of functionality to the buttons 0-9, to the 'abort' button (typically bound to Delete or Backspace), to the lights button, to the landing-gear button etc. Click on a the action group you want to add something to, then click on the part, and the menu will show all the part's functionality which you could use. This is useful for grouping all your 'science-collection' to one button, or for single button extend/retract all of your solar panels, or maybe you would like your Ladders to extend too when you press G for your landing gear
  • If you're building something that you wish to use in a sub-assembly (like a lander or satellite which you want to attach to a different rocket) start with a docking port, not the craft's main command capsule or probe core! This allows you to select everything from that point on which makes up the actual craft and save it as an assembly without getting stuck with the root part - alternatively, save an entire craft as a sub-assembly by shift-clicking any part of the ship to select it all, and save that
  • You can tweak the amount of fuel in fuel tanks at launch while building, as well as extend/retract landing struts and turn lamps on and off by using the right-click menu

General

  • The F5 button quicksaves the game! So long as you are not about to crash, your thrust is set to 0, and you are not in atmosphere (unless you've landed), you can create a savepoint. Later, holding F9 will return you to this save. WARNING: incautious loading if you haven't saved for a while can wipe out hours of work!
  • additionally, pressing Alt-F5 will allow you to save the game with a name, and Alt-F9 will allow you to choose a quicksave to load
  • Physics-warp works while engines are throttled up! If you're using ion engines with an hour-long burn time, or if you're flying a stable plane in atmosphere, or even if you're just walking with an EVA Kerbal you can hit Alt-. to increase time acceleration to X2, X3 and X4 even while thrust is engaged. Bonus: this may make your physics act in hilarious ways, like squishing your rocket and making your Kerbal dance
  • You can move fuel (and other resources) between different tanks by Alt-Rightclicking on each of the two tanks you want to transfer between, and pressing 'in' or 'out'. Press 'stop' when you're done.
  • You can pan the camera position relative to your craft by holding the middle mouse button, this is great for screenshot composition - re-center it afterward by double-clicking the middle button
  • Science can be retrieved from science modules like goo canisters by approaching them with an EVA Kerbal - this science can be stored in any command pod so that it becomes unnecessary to bring each of your science modules down for a landing
  • Bring up the Navball in map-mode by clicking the little arrow tab at the bottom of the screen or press the Decimal [ . ] key on your keypad

Flying craft in space

  • Alt-L will lock your staging: avoid accidental decoupling.
  • When planning maneuver nodes to intercept distant bodies you can click on the periapsis/apoapsis indicators to display these numbers permanently, rather than having to hover your mouse over them. Click cautiously to avoid clicking on the orbital path itself, as that prompts a maneuver node
  • Caps Lock will turn on 'precision' controls, which decreases the sensitivity of your directional and RCS maneuver input. Note: this will also effect the functioning of your SAS, possibly reducing its effectiveness for certain maneuvering
  • Holding F will temporarily turn off SAS if it is on. This is useful to let your craft spin to a new position before letting SAS hold it at wherever orientation it has reached when you release F. Alternatively, it will temporarily engage the SAS if it is inactive: this can be used to arrest a spin without draining power from your batteries with constant-on SAS
  • You don't need to switch to Translation-mode to use your RCS to maneuver for docking: the IJKL keys will do that in normal staging mode, and H and N thrust forward and reverse with your RCS respectively - even from the map view, so long as you have the Navball up (which is also required to change your thrust settings). This can be extremely useful for fine-tuning at a maneuver node to optimize a distant intercept point
  • Having trouble orienting your craft for docking? Rightclick on the exact docking-port you're aiming for and select that as the target, rather than the entire ship. Also, right-click no your own docking port and select 'control from here' to have your navball display your vectors and target position relative to that part of your ship
  • Hitting X cuts throttle to 0% instantly - strangely for Kerbals, there is no standard key to go to 100% throttle (Z would be cool, if you're listening Squad)
  • Activating time acceleration arrests your crafts rotation! This can be very useful if your craft has too little torque to come to a stop easily - I consider this to be cheating somewhat, but it is what it is
  • Pressing Tab moves your view centering in Map mode, cycling through different celestial bodies - useful for far-away maneuver nodes and encounters. Backspace returns the view to your craft (in Map mode)