Controls
These are the default keys of Cherry 1.3.1017. W A S D and Sneak are the game’s own “Movement” keys, and left- and right-click its attack and use; Left Alt is under “Cherry Flight”, H and Y under “Cherry Ship Stations”. Change any of them in Options › Controls › Key Binds.
Keys are named by where they sit on a US keyboard. Yours may label the same key differently; Key Binds shows each one by your keyboard’s name for it.
Aircraft — the Stratos-900 airliner and the Aegis-X fighter
- Place: use the item on the ground where she has room; she stands there facing the way you look.
- Board: right-click the middle of the aircraft. The first aboard flies her (the Stratos-900 seats 18). Leave with Sneak; you cannot leave in the air.
- Fuel: on the ground, use a Propellant Canister on her, one per use.
- Recover: stopped on the ground with nobody aboard, hold Sneak and right-click her with an empty hand.
- When you board, and whenever she is parked, a short guide to these keys shows above the middle of the screen.
| Steer | Look where you want to go: she banks, turns, climbs and dives towards it by herself. |
|---|---|
| Throttle | W more, S less; the lever stays where you leave it. Full throttle lights the Aegis-X afterburner. On the ground, S at zero holds her on the brakes. |
| Look around | Hold Left Alt (on a Mac, Left Option): she keeps her course while you look about. |
| View | Yours to choose: it never locks to first person or tilts with the aircraft. F5 changes it at any time. |
| Missiles (Aegis-X) | Left-click fires at the target the radar has locked. |
| By themselves | Flaps, landing gear, wheel brakes, reverse thrust, afterburner, canopy and rear ramp, and the arresting hook. |
Take-off and landing
- Take-off: hold W to full throttle and look a little above the horizon. At take-off speed she raises her nose and lifts off, then raises her gear.
- Landing: look at the runway a little below the horizon. She lowers her gear, holds her approach speed and flares just before touchdown. Once down, hold S to bring the throttle to zero: she brakes, and reverses if she can. To go around, look up and hold W.
Aegis-X weapons
- Load: use a Cherry Guided Missile on an Aegis-X on the ground, one per use. She carries two, and a new one comes loaded.
- The radar picks the target by itself: it watches 30° around the nose out to 512 blocks, in the air and on the ground, and locks the contact nearest the nose once it has held it for about 1.5 seconds.
- Left-click fires a missile at the locked target: in the air only, at most one a second.
Ships — the Leviathan-Class ferry and the Dreadnought-Class destroyer
- Place: look at the water from the shore or a boat and use the item. She floats with her stern just past the spot you look at and her bow the way you look, where the water is at least as deep as her draught along her whole length (3.5 m for the Leviathan-Class, 4 m for the Dreadnought-Class).
- Walk her decks and interiors. Standing at a station shows the key that takes it: H. Press H again to leave; at the wheel, Sneak leaves too. The chart table opens a screen instead: close it to leave.
- Recover: stopped, with nobody else aboard, stand amidships (on the Dreadnought-Class, in the CIC), hold Sneak and right-click at your feet with an empty hand.
| Engine | W ahead, S back towards stop. Holding S from ahead stops at zero; press it again to go astern. The engine stays where you leave it. |
|---|---|
| Rudder | Hold A for port (left), D for starboard (right). Let go and the wheel centres and she holds the heading she has. |
| At the wheel | W A S D steer the ship instead of walking you. The instruments show above the hotbar, with a short guide to the keys when you take the wheel. |
Chart table
- At the chart table, H opens the chart. Left-click adds a waypoint; the mouse wheel zooms.
- Its buttons switch the autopilot on or off and clear the route. A leg across land or shallow water is refused. The autopilot only steers: set the engine ahead at the wheel, and it stops the engine at the last waypoint.
Doors (Leviathan-Class)
- Stopped (under 0.3 m/s, engine at 0) and at the wheel, Y opens and closes the bow visor and the ramps.
- The engine gives no thrust until the doors are shut. The ramps can be walked on once fully down.
Guns (Dreadnought-Class)
- At the wheel, with nobody at the gunnery console, the guns are yours: both triple turrets train on the point you look at. Left-click fires a salvo, every 10 seconds; right-click launches the VLS at the target the radar has locked, once its hatch is open.
- A gunner who takes the gunnery console in the CIC takes the guns over; they come back to the wheel when the gunner leaves. Sonar: ships, boats, swimmers and submerged contacts on a sweeping scope.