Control Station

The Control Station is a Functional Block in Space Engineers.

Function
A Control Station is an essential piece of equipment of a manned ship or station. Sporting many different features, they serve as the main command center for using a Vessel. They recharge an Engineer's Suit with Energy, provided the Seat is connected to a functioning Power Source.

Unlike the Flight Seat, the Control station does not have the option to go into 1st Person, and unlike Cockpits, is not available on Small Ships.

Ship Controls
(Using Default Keyboard Configuration)

T - used to get in and out of the seat. Vehicles are controlled in much of the same manner as an Engineer's Jetpack, with Acceleration and Turning Speed dependent on the Number of Thrusters and Gyro's respectively.

K - access the Ship or Station's Control Panel, where one can Look at and change the settings of nearly any Functional Block on the Ship, Provided the Block's ownership is either set to the Engineer accessing the control Panel, their Faction, Or Nobody.

G - Access the Ship or Station's Toolbar Configuration, where one can set specific groups of Blocks on a Ship to do Specific things. Hotkeys are nearly essential for Weapon systems, as well for Rotor or Piston driven doors, and artificial Mass/Gravity Generator propulsion Systems.

Y - Toggle All Reactors on the Ship, so one can Save Uranium when not in use. This doesn't include Solar Panels, meaning the ship will not entirely shut down if some are installed and facing the Sun.

P - Toggle All Landing Gear on the Ship, Releasing the craft from a surface, or Docking it to it provided the landing gear is within close enough Proximity.

L - Toggle All Floodlights on the Ship. This can be particularly useful as Floodlights are known to cause a considerable drop to FPS when in use, so this enables them to only be used sparingly and when needed.

Options
Like nearly all Functional Blocks, there is the option to Hide the Block from being able to be viewed on the Terminal, and the option to have it shown on the HUD of an Engineer, provided there is an active Antenna connected to the structure.

The Control Station can be Set to Control Thrusters, Wheels, or Both, depending on what method the vehicle uses to move. The Handbrake and Inertia Dampeners work as expected, bringing the Vehicle to a halt through the use of Wheels and Thrusters respectively when enabled. There is also the Option to set the Control Station as the 'Main Cockpit', which makes it the only one effectively able to move the ship, which is useful for keeping boarders from easily gaining control, and letting other Control Stations, Flight Seats or Cockpits be used for controlling Turrets and other functions without risk of accidentally interfering with the rest of the ship.