Controls.. Again.

Vhaegrant

V
A keyboard and mouse player here.

If I may be as bold to offer a few suggestions that have helped me...
  • I prefer the mouse to be Pitch and Yaw. I place roll on the A & D keys.
  • Still playing around with sensitivity but I find zero deadzone on the mouse better, just have to get used to a slight bounce if you over compensate.
  • With acceleration controls on the W & S keys it's handy (especially with docking) to put the 'Set speed to 0' on the 2 key.
  • Get used to using 'Flight Assist Off' when dogfighting, it's one of the best ways to turn onto your target if you get into a turning competition.
  • The two side menus and their controls are used a lot so I mapped them over on the numeric keypad.

Handy hints I wish I'd realised...
  • With the speed set in the blue zone, Pitch up is the fastest way to turn so remember to roll onto the target and use pitch up.
  • Power balance is vital in some situations, 4 pips in engines makes a noticeable difference in speed, 4 pips in weapons can keep those class 1 lasers up and firing far longer. (I map them to the 4 arrow keys for ease of access)
  • That little circle above your speed indicator is a navigation compass, the yellow point is your map target, rectangle if it's in front of you. This makes finding your jump point so much easier.
  • Gimble mounts can counter out some of the accuracy issues of aiming, however a skilled opponent will go into stealth mode.
  • The third scenario 'Sidewinder Face-off' is a lot harder than it was originally and is probably one of the harder scenarios. Certainly gives you good practice for dog fighting.
  • The only balance control in the game is whether you feel you can win a situation or not, there is no shame from running from a combat if you feel overpowered.

I hope you persevere with the game through Beta to launch (even if it means taking a break for awhile. Once the game expands out of the 5 beta systems I feel you'll get a true sense of the scale of the game.
 
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reload

reload
Good to see the community rallying round and helping change someone's mind.

As others have mentioned though evilgenx - it might be worth looking into the Thrustmaster T-flight Hotas X. Certainly compared to the money you have invested in the game, the $40 or so would be a worthwhile investment. I know you state you prefer a gamepad but I really, really think it'd be worthwhile.
 

Literalyte

Literalyte
The only money I have invested into this game is the price of my kickstarter pledge. I don't have a joystick, at least not one that I would use.

Mouse and keyboard, to me, feels superior. It's more precise and it allows for quicker response. I feel that I would be much less good with a railgun if I were using a joystick or controller.

I recommend you set deadzone to zero, play with absolute pitch/roll and bind your keys in the following configuration: upwards vertical thrust to space, downwards vertical thrust to left control, afterburner (or whatever it's called) to left shift, UI focus to tab and speed graduations (-20%, 0%, +20%, +40%, etc.) to the numeric keypad.

Deadzone must be set to zero if you want a smooth mouse configuration! That I cannot emphasize enough. Also, absolute pitch/yaw is not worth trying.
 

Lindonius

Lindonius
Literalyte said:
The only money I have invested into this game is the price of my kickstarter pledge. I don't have a joystick, at least not one that I would use.

Mouse and keyboard, to me, feels superior. It's more precise and it allows for quicker response. I feel that I would be much less good with a railgun if I were using a joystick or controller.

I recommend you set deadzone to zero, play with absolute pitch/roll and bind your keys in the following configuration: upwards vertical thrust to space, downwards vertical thrust to left control, afterburner (or whatever it's called) to left shift, UI focus to tab and speed graduations (-20%, 0%, +20%, +40%, etc.) to the numeric keypad.

Deadzone must be set to zero if you want a smooth mouse configuration! That I cannot emphasize enough. Also, absolute pitch/yaw is not worth trying.
Click to expand...

Precision has been my biggest trouble with the joypad, after reading this I might just have another go at K&M again. I just put 4 rail guns on my cobra :cool: and can't hit a cow's backside with a banjo using the pad.

If that doesn't work it's back to the gimballed weapons for me.
 

Lirka

L
I personally bought a Thrustmaster T-flight Hotas X just for immersion reasons, but I was very good with a M+K setup. Got interdicted by 3 Cobra's the other day when I was still in my base Sidewinder with 1 laser, and I won the fight. So K+M is totally doable, but it takes practise. At the moment I'm worse with the joystick, but I've only had it for a few days.

As othes have said, if you use K+M bind roll left to A and roll right to D. And keep accelerate and decelerate to W and S. Mouse is for yaw left and right and pitch up-down. You need to keep fiddling with the mouse and those deadzones untill you think you have something that is close to what you want.

With this setup I had 1,2 and 3 as the power distribution of shields systems and engines. It's easy to reach and you don't have to move your hand.
I used Q and E for thrust left and right. And R and F for thrust up and down.
Shift as boost, and Alt as head look. And I used Z for flight assist off.

Do remember that flight-assist off is really REALLY hard with K+M though. Only use it for sharp turns for now.
 

Philip Coutts

Volunteer Moderator
Philip Coutts
I've played with an xbox controller and now a Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X. Both cost under £40 and I'm getting on just fine. I tried mouse and keyboard and it's not for me but then I haven't played a space game with a mouse ever before. Maybe if I put in a bit of practice I'd get better but I like playing with my pretty cheap T-Flight.
 

Vhaegrant

V
Another consideration is whether your mouse has the ability to change its sensitivity on the go.

I know this is a function of many gaming mice. I use a Logitech G700 and can set upto 5 different dpi levels switching between them with one of the mouse buttons.

I know it's an additional level of faff to content with, but may give that level of fine tuned control you want when it comes to aiming. I've not got into the habit of using it due to the fast paced nature of combat. At the moment I find it's far easier to learn not to move the mouse too much when returning to centre.

Watching the arrow indicator(when using the mouse) I have to make a conscious effort to not imagine the pointer returning to centre (this was causing a lot of 'bounce' as I tried to centre the invisible pointer) this is minimised with zero deadzone.
 

Lindonius

Lindonius
Tried a bit of mouse and keyboard last night and it's definitely more precise IMO. Found the flying slightly more difficult though but I think I just need to get used to it. Looks like the way forward for me. No more oversteer!

OP I'd recommend having a good session or 2 with the K&M, it seems to be better than the joypad.

I found these vids helpful when setting up the controls as well as the great advice from Vhaegrant and Literalyte....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4y8FDDVKT4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep0mgKcRjRM

I went with absolute pitch and yaw in the end, I find it easier to aim because I can adjust a little to the left and right without using keys.
 

pchees

P
Hi

Am 4 days into the game. I used to play classic Elite years ago on my spectrum.

I am using the keyboard and mouse at the moment and I must admit that I have been struggling. Original Elite is much easier to control.

However I am getting better and today I finally killed that ******g sidewinder in the 3rd combat scenario. Yeehhh for me.

It does take practice and a lot of tweaking on the controls to get the right fit for you. It is still not perfect for me but everyone is right in saying that practice makes perfect and I am sure I will become an expert at it over time.

I have ordered an Xbox/PC controller adaptor so that I can use my Xbox controller with the game so will try that as well as an alternative.

Anyway, I am enjoying the game a lot and look forward to exploring the universe with you all.
 

SpaceLynx

SpaceLynx
i'm going with this setup:

View attachment 5593

using one button as "shift" is a good thing. just hold it and press another button to map.
a doubled coolie hat is great - default for thrusters and shifted for energy balance.
 

SpaceLynx

SpaceLynx
th3_fr4gil3 said:
you had a USB MS sidewinder?
and what is that 'Star Raiders' thing, looks familiar but i'll be damned if i can remember why?
Click to expand...

yes, there was/is a gameport to usb adapter included with the ms sidewinder precision pro. the stick always was a little bit loose in the middle, but with a minimal deadzone it works just fine.

on the left you can see an atari 2600 video touch pad with a whopping amount of 12 buttons. ;) connected via the 2600-daptorII to usb.
of course i'll use my own elite overlay instead of the star raiders overlay.
hell yeah, i could use the pc keyboard but ... nah.
:)
 
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