Nobody said commanding a starship would be easy. Before mastering command of your ship and crew, the Captain must learn the geography of the command console. A summary of the default command keys accepted is shown below. The Preferences option on the title screen allows you to assign the commands shown below in red to any key of your choosing, providing each key is used for only one command. However, some keys are reserved: these are shown below in blue.
  
 
• F: Fires one of the Fore torpedo bays. If one bay is currently reloading, the other bay will be fired.
• A: Fires the Aft torpedo bay.
• SPACE: If the laser is locked on a target, this fires the laser cannon until either it is let up or the laser energy charge is completely drained. It will also stop if the target ship is no longer in range (i.e., leaves the view screen area).
• CONTROL: If the laser is in targeting mode, this key toggles the laser lock among all of the enemy ships visible in the Radar Window.
• Arrow keys: Control ship movement. Up arrow thrusts forward, down arrow thrusts in reverse. SHIFT-down arrow brings the ship to a halt.
• TAB: Selects the next crew member below the currently selected one. The crew member's commands will appear in the Command Window.
• ESC: Emergency warp. Remember that the warp destination is selected at random from one of the surrounding eight sectors, and that this of course will only work if the warp engines are functioning.
• - or +: Adjusts the warp speed accordingly. You do not have to press the SHIFT key to use +.
• H: Hails a base (space station or planetary base). You must be within a certain range, and at full stop (use SHIFT-down arrow for full stop).
• Q: Aborts the current game and returns you to the title screen.
• 1,2,3,4,5: Selects the appropriate crew command listed in the Command Window.
• RETURN: At any time, this re-displays the currently selected crew member's commands in the Command Window. This is useful if a message is being displayed in the Command Window which is obscuring the currently available commands.
• OPTION: While viewing the Long Range Scan or Galactic Map, depressing and holding down this key allows you to use the arrow keys (or whichever keys are being used to control the ship) to maneuver the selection box around between sectors.
• SHIFT: used in conjunction with one of two keys. SHIFT-TAB works like TAB but in the opposite direction (selects the crew member above the currently selected one). SHIFT-down arrow brings you to a complete stop.
• C: Activates the ship's computer. The available commands will appear in the Command Window.
• CAPS LOCK: Pauses the game for as long as it is activated.
