AICS Menu and Windows

The AICS Menu and Windows

AICS ("AI Control System") is the mod's main menu. Everything in it can also be done by chat, but sometimes a button is quicker than typing.

[COMMS] Bill (Eng): It's a lot of buttons. I counted them. Then I lost count. Then I made a button for counting.

Opening things

Input	Opens
Left-click the speech-bubble toolbar button, or Alt+K	The chat window
Right-click the same button, or Alt+J	The AICS menu

The toolbar button shows up in Flight, Map view and the Space Center.

The chat window

• Type, press Enter to send. Shift+Enter makes a new line; the box grows up to about five lines, then scrolls.
• While the input box has focus, KSP's keyboard controls are locked, so typing "stage" won't actually stage. Click outside the window to fly again.
• Replies are labelled with who's talking: the pilot (Sidry: ...), a crew member ([INTERCOM] Bob (Sci): ...), Science: ... notes, or Bridge: ... for bridge messages.
• Clear wipes the window and the conversation history.
• Drag it by the title. Resize it from the // grips (top-right or bottom-right, minimum 300 x 200). Close it with the x. Position, size and backend are saved.

The AICS menu

The menu is sticky: it stays open until you right-click the button again or press its X. Click an item to expand its panel underneath; several can be open at once. Panels with an autopilot show a green filled circle while engaged and a grey empty one when not.

The header shows MJ (green) or no MJ (grey) depending on whether MechJeb2 and kRPC.MechJeb are installed, plus three toggle buttons:

• chat opens or closes the chat window,
• status opens or closes the STATUS window,
• systems opens or closes the Systems dashboard.

Each button looks pressed while its window is open. The STATUS and Systems windows can be dragged, resized from the // grip and closed with x; their positions are remembered. The Systems window also has the "Blink the craft's lights during a MAYDAY" checkbox.

The panels

1. Aircraft Autopilot: altitude (MSL or AGL), vertical speed, heading, roll and speed holds. See Autopilots.
2. Approach & Autoland: runway, short or long final, approach heading, vertical (rocket) or plane landing at a spot, touch and go count, chute check, Land, Abort.
3. Landing Guidance: map pick with a green four-prong cursor (MechJeb's is the yellow three-prong one) for a vertical landing or to save a spot, saved spots, land at your KSP target.
4. Flight Plan: templates, Ask AI, Check, Fly, Stop. See Flight Plans.
5. Orbit Plan (MechJeb): ascent, launch into a target's plane, circularize, set Ap/Pe/inclination, match planes, transfer to a body.
6. Capture Assist: capture numbers on arrival, capture burn, aerocapture periapsis.
7. Docking (MechJeb, experimental): rendezvous and dock with your target.
8. Orbital Autopilot: station keeping over a longitude, antenna lock.
9. Sun Lock: nose to the sun (space only).
10. Power: electric charge, net rate, time to empty or full. Works even with the bridge off.
11. Science: collect all, transmit, watcher mode (off / remind / auto), reset experiments.
12. Crew Transfer / EVA: crew per part, move kerbals between parts (including ships docked to yours), and "return to ship" for a kerbal on EVA within 50 m.
13. Taxi: waypoints, routes, speed cap, mark a spot. See Autopilots.
14. Abort / Status: stop every bridge autopilot, quick altitude, speed and heading readout.
15. Settings: the AI backend dropdown with a hint for each backend, the API key field (paste and Save; stored in the bridge's .env and shown only as the last four characters; Clear key removes it), URL and model for the Custom backend, "ChatGPT via" (API key or desktop app), a dependency check (missing mods, bridge OK or not responding), "Prefer MechJeb when available", the collapsed AICS tab, opacity, and a reset for the menu position.

Landing window

The landing autopilots show a small window with the live distance, ETA and phase. It has an x too.

[INTERCOM] Bob (Sci): Which button makes it go to the Mun? Sidry: Several, in the right order. Please don't press any of them.