The context menu

Press ] (right bracket) to open the context menu. Arrow Up and Down through the options and press Enter to choose one. [ (left bracket) fires the top option immediately without opening the menu. Shift+[ queues the top option instead of doing it right away.

The context menu lists the actions available for the selected pawn at the cursor tile. It is the keyboard equivalent of a right-click menu. With a colonist selected, pressing ] on a tile or object shows what that colonist can do there. Point the cursor at a weapon on the ground, press ], and the menu might offer "Equip bolt-action rifle." Press Enter to issue the order.

The list changes with context. A pawn near a door, a downed colonist, or a stack of steel each produce different options. On a designation type in the Architect menu (such as a chop-wood order), the menu offers bulk actions like "Cancel all designations," which wipes every matching order at once.

On the world map

The context menu works the same way on the world map. Select a caravan with comma and period, move the cursor to a destination tile, and press ]. You get options such as "Travel to," "Trade with," or "Attack," depending on what is on that tile. The selected caravan is the actor and the cursor tile is the target, exactly as a selected pawn acts on a tile back home. For commanding the caravan itself (settle, split, rest, merge), use its gizmos with G.

A DLC example: picking a xenotype (Biotech)

During character creation with the Biotech DLC active, the context menu is how you change a colonist's xenotype. Place the cursor on a pawn, press ], and the menu includes the pawn's current xenotype (usually "Baseliner"). Press Enter on it to open a list of every xenotype.

For more on pawns, see selecting pawns.