Had a Wonderful Time

[Frenotx]

Just got back from a sortie in a Patreus expansion CZ, and I gotta say, that was the most fun I've had in a video game in quite a while. Was blasting my "high energy" playlist, and zipping around in my federal dropship. That advanced accelerator is highly entertaining to use, and the pulse turrets + gimballed burst turrets are great for taking down small prey / finishing off the more evasive big boys. Had my shields fail many times, but who cares? That's what that literal boatload of hull, those chaff launchers, and that pair AFMUs are for. My dual joystick control setup is lovely for throwing that big hunk of driftship in all manner of crazy maneuvers, and is very satisfying to use, ta' boot. If any of you are considering making the leap from M+KB, I highly suggest looking into a dual stick rig as opposed to a HOTAS. A HOTAS is fantastic for an airplane, dual sticks make more sense (to me) for a spacecraft.

Man. My hands are actually kinda tired from all that. What a fantastic experience. Just wanna say THANK YOU FRONTIER. Your game still has lots of room for improvement, but you've definitely got something special here. Keep your chin up, and the good times rollin'!

 

[Yomamas Fett]

Right On Commander!

 

[daygobah]

Just got back from a sortie in a Patreus expansion CZ, and I gotta say, that was the most fun I've had in a video game in quite a while. Was blasting my "high energy" playlist, and zipping around in my federal dropship. That advanced accelerator is highly entertaining to use, and the pulse turrets + gimballed burst turrets are great for taking down small prey / finishing off the more evasive big boys. Had my shields fail many times, but who cares? That's what that literal boatload of hull, those chaff launchers, and that pair AFMUs are for. My dual joystick control setup is lovely for throwing that big hunk of driftship in all manner of crazy maneuvers, and is very satisfying to use, ta' boot. If any of you are considering making the leap from M+KB, I highly suggest looking into a dual stick rig as opposed to a HOTAS. A HOTAS is fantastic for an airplane, dual sticks make more sense (to me) for a spacecraft.

Man. My hands are actually kinda tired from all that. What a fantastic experience. Just wanna say THANK YOU FRONTIER. Your game still has lots of room for improvement, but you've definitely got something special here. Keep your chin up, and the good times rollin'!

Humm 2 joysticks....

That does sound like a good plan. Might have to try that out.

 

[Frenotx]

Right On Commander!

On that note, actually made a lot of progress towards dangerous during that fight. 8% to go!

 

[Pazmino]

Could you post a picture of the setup & what they are? Using a Logitech Extreme and love it (since its cheap and does the job), but the keyboard for the thrusters kills me. Thank you!

 

[HardstyleFlavor]

Could you post a picture of the setup & what they are? Using a Logitech Extreme and love it (since its cheap and does the job), but the keyboard for the thrusters kills me. Thank you!

You mean the Extreme 3D Pro? It has a little plastic throttle on the base of the stick

 

[GluttonyFang]

Fold

Lol next time call me, I'll join you in Patreus' CZ, easily <3

 

[Frenotx]

Could you post a picture of the setup & what they are? Using a Logitech Extreme and love it (since its cheap and does the job), but the keyboard for the thrusters kills me. Thank you!

CH Fighterstick on the right (primary joystick)
X / Y: Yaw / Pitch
Trigger / pinky button: Primary / secondary fire
Lower hat: Targeting
Top-left hat: Energy balancing
Top-right hat: Countermeasures
Pov hat: Pov
Red button on top: Reset pov
Red button on side: Shift (gives all the hats 8 functions instead of 4)

Saitek AV8R-01 on the left (secondary stick)
X / Y / Twist: Lateral thrust / Vertical thrust / Roll
Trigger: Boost
Hat: -100%, -50%, 50%, 100% throttle
Small black button: 75% throttle
Big black button: 0% throttle
Red button: FA off (hold)
Switch 1: Scoop / hardpoints
Switch 2: Gear / lights
Switch 3: Sensor zoom in / out
Switch 4: Hyperspace / super cruise
Mode switch: FA off (toggle)



Tweaked the controls quite a bit. Might seem odd at a glance, but when you actually use it, everything feels very natural and is very satisfying.

 

[Hilight]

Saitek AV8R-01 on the left (secondary stick)
X / Y / Twist: Lateral thrust / Vertical thrust / Roll
Trigger: Boost
Hat: -100%, -50%, 50%, 100% throttle
Small black button: 75% throttle
Big black button: 0% throttle
Red button: FA off (hold)
Switch 1: Scoop / hardpoints
Switch 2: Gear / lights
Switch 3: Sensor zoom in / out
Switch 4: Hyperspace / super cruise
Mode switch: FA off (toggle)

View attachment 53244

Tweaked the controls quite a bit. Might seem odd at a glance, but when you actually use it, everything feels very natural and is very satisfying.

Your setup looks very well thought out. You are the only other player I can recall seeing here on the forums that has a AV8R-01, which is the stick I use as well. I have heard many say that the build quality of the Saitek equipment leaves a lot to be desired since Madcatz acquired them, but my AV8R has been a rock for many years now.

 

[Frenotx]

Your setup looks very well thought out. You are the only other player I can recall seeing here on the forums that has a AV8R-01, which is the stick I use as well. I have heard many say that the build quality of the Saitek equipment leaves a lot to be desired since Madcatz acquired them, but my AV8R has been a rock for many years now.

Mine has actually been a bit of maintenance nightmare, actually. I've had to pull it apart and apply contact cleaner to the pots several times. Even still, I've had to set very large dead zones. Works fine as my secondary stick since I don't need a high degree of accuracy there, but it would be pretty unacceptable as a primary stick.

 

[Hilight]

Mine has actually been a bit of maintenance nightmare, actually. I've had to pull it apart and apply contact cleaner to the pots several times. Even still, I've had to set very large dead zones. Works fine as my secondary stick since I don't need a high degree of accuracy there, but it would be pretty unacceptable as a primary stick.

I've never had to open mine up...but then again, until ED came out about the only thing I've used it for in some time is FSX

 

[Cornelius lucius]

Nice looking set up, I'm using an x55 and living it. Much more fluent than the old extreme 3D pro I was using, sadly don't have enough room for 3 monitors tho.:/
On a side note it looks like we play the same games..
When I sit down in front of the PC its a tussle between booting up Civ or ED.(which mod is that by the way?)

 

[Frenotx]

Nice looking set up, I'm using an x55 and living it. Much more fluent than the old extreme 3D pro I was using, sadly don't have enough room for 3 monitors tho.:/
On a side note it looks like we play the same games..
When I sit down in front of the PC its a tussle between booting up Civ or ED.(which mod is that by the way?)

I actually don't remember the name of the mod pack- the bf found it. It has a few balance and ui tweaks, and a handful of mid-to-late game new tile improvements. It's a lot of fun. Just wish there was a way to have combat animations, but not have the camera automatically fly all over the world to each fight.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

If any of you are considering making the leap from M+KB, I highly suggest looking into a dual stick rig as opposed to a HOTAS.

If two sticks is a little daunting for you to invest in, I highly suggest just a single joystick and the mouse. You definitely don't have as many inputs as a second joystick (the loss of an axis is especially noticeable), but you do have all the precision a mouse can offer you.
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In my set up, I have a joystick in my off hand and a mouse in my main hand. A single six axis joystick with a hat can take care of everything maneuvering just fine. I use my mouse for head look.
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I cannot stress enough how powerful and immersive it is to have head look tied to something as natural as a mouse.
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Seriously. Especially on ships with good canopies, being able to keep a natural, responsive, and accurate head look going gives you a serious advantage. Having control of your visual means that I can see exactly what their thrusters are doing, and I can adjust my view depending on my current maneuvers so my dashboard elements never fall off screen. If I need to enter a menu, you can do that with head look too - by opening a menu this way, my hat, triggers, and thumb buttons (lateral/forward/reverse thrusters and pip allocation buttons) change to UI buttons, meaning I can still turn and maneuver my ship (and shoot!) while changing target to their power plant, or looking at what that sensor blip that just dropped in was.
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A dual stick set up would be glorious - but a stick + mouse set up is very strong too.
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Warning: It did take a while to get used to using a joystick in my off hand - it's a right handed joystick and my precision with my off hand was less than stellar. It will take practice.