XS Space

Pilot guide · Hosted by Nova

Controls

Arrow keys or WASD fly the ship; weapons and abilities sit on keys you can reach without moving your hands. Press F1 in the arena for this reference and the volume slider.

Play XS Space Rules and first flight

At a glance

The keyboard

Your left hand flies and fires: WASD to steer, Shift to boost, Space for guns and Tab for the cannon. Items sit on the number row above it, and abilities on the letters around it.

Esc F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 F10 F11 F12 ` 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - = Del Tab Q W E R T Y U I O P [ ] \ Caps A S D F G H J K L ; ' Enter Shift Z X C V B N M , . / Shift Ctrl Alt Space ← ↑↓ →
  • Movement
  • Weapons
  • Items
  • Abilities
  • Game

Reference

Every key

Each action has a laptop key first, then the full-keyboard key that also works.

Movement

↑ or W
Thrust forward
↓ or S
Thrust backward
← or A
Rotate left
→ or D
Rotate right
Shift
Afterburner

Weapons

Space or Ctrl
Fire guns
Tab or Enter
Fire cannon
E or `
Deploy mine
M or Del
Toggle multifire
R or Insert
Toggle rear fire (Icarus)

Items

1 or F2
Repel
2 or Shift Del
Burst
3 or F3
Rocket
5 or F4
Brick
6 or F5
Decoy
4 or F6
Thor
8 or F7
Terraformer

Abilities

G or Home
Stealth
C or Shift Home
Cloak (Arachne, Shade)
X or End
X-Radar
Q or PgDn
Warp, at full energy, leaving you almost none (to your portal if you have one)
7 or Shift PgDn
Drop a portal
V or Shift End
Anti-Warp
F or Shift Insert
See Mines (Hydra)
B
Bouncing bullets and bombs on or off (bullets once won; bombs on the Hydra)

Game

F1
Controls reference and volume
Z
Hold to zoom the minimap

In the arena

Reading the screen

  1. Engine levels. Your energy, recharge, turning, speed and thrust upgrades, each out of four (energy out of five).
  2. Energy. Your health and your ammunition, as a number and a bar.
  3. Top players. The ten pilots holding the most Xenite, the leader with a gold star, and the month’s and all-time records.
  4. Minimap. The circle, the storm, the land you have explored and every ship. Hold Z to zoom it.
  5. Inventory bar. Your items, top to bottom on keys 1 to 8, with a count on each.
  6. Weapons bar. Gun and cannon levels, then the abilities your ship has, lit while they are on.
  7. Your ship. Your name and the Xenite you carry, with chevrons below for how far you have powered up.
1600 Pilot ◆ 100 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The arena screen. The numbers match the list beside it.

Worth knowing

Tips

  • Use your browser's fullscreen mode (F11, or Ctrl + Cmd + F on a Mac) for a wider view of the arena.
  • Rotation only turns the ship. To stop, turn around and thrust against your direction of travel.
  • An ability or item key does nothing until your ship has that ability or item.
  • Every action has a key a laptop has: items on 1 to 8, in the item bar's order (each slot shows its number), and abilities on letters round WASD. The full-keyboard keys (F keys, Home, End, PgDn, Insert, Del) still work.
  • On Windows, fire with Space rather than Ctrl when you use the number keys: Ctrl with a number switches browser tabs.
  • XS Space needs a keyboard. A phone or tablet without one can read these pages, but not fly.

“Find Shift before you need it. The moment you need the afterburner is a poor time to go looking.”

Zhao flies the Arachne

Ready to fly?

The arena is always open.

Pick a ship and launch under your LarkSpark name. Nova and the rest of the cast keep the sector busy until other pilots arrive.

Play XS Space