Analog Control of left/right/up/down in FA Off

[Javert]

Hi all,

I've seen a few posts from commanders who are expert in FAOff flying, which mentioned that for the best FA-off skills, you need to have full analog control over your side and vertical thrusters.

I would like to hear from commanders who have set this up, and if so how did you actually achieve this in practicality?

For example, do you have two separate joysticks and program one of them to control side and vertical thrust? If so, do you still have a separate HOTAS throttle and how practical is that to control for you? What actual setup / joysticks are you using for this?

The only joystick I've heard of which seems to attempt to solve this issue is the X56 but it seems to have pretty bad reviews so far.

The idea of learning to fly FA-Off in this way appeals to me, but I'm not quite seeing in practice how to get a good setup for it. I am currently using an X55 and it doesn't have enough analog axes to achieve this.

 

[CMDR-Bullsey]

i map one of the toggles on my joystick to control thrusters that way it gives me full control of the ship
while FAof and boost is mapped to the buttons of my throttle

 

[Javert]

i map one of the toggles on my joystick to control thrusters that way it gives me full control of the ship
while FAof and boost is mapped to the buttons of my throttle

Yeah for sure - I have done the same thing as well - what I meant was having full analog control of the thrust level on the side and vertical thrusters. At the moment, just mapping a toggle to it just gives me zero power, or 100% power, nothing in between.

 

[mrsiCkstar]

A lot of HOTAS systems come with an analogue thumb stick on the throttle. The Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar, the CH Pro Throttle or some Saitek HOTAS systems for example. Just bind your lateral and vertical thrust on that.

 

[Javert]

A lot of HOTAS systems come with an analogue thumb stick on the throttle. The Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar or Saitek HOTAS systems for example. Just bind your lateral and vertical thrust on that.

That's an option also but the thumb stick only has one axis and it is pretty stiff, and the range of movement is quite small, and it has no sprung centrepoint so it's certainly not ideal. Might give it a try though.

There are also two analog control wheels on the Saitek X55 throttle but again, using a wheel for this function is not going to be easy.

I'm sure I've seen posts from others who actually use two joysticks for this. I remember there was one amazing video of FA-Off flying discussed on the forum and nobody could understand how this guy flew so accurately, and then he mentioned that he was using two separate joysticks with one of them wired to the vertical and lateral thrust so he could get full analog control on all thrust axes.

 

[mrsiCkstar]

That's an option also but the thumb stick only has one axis and it is pretty stiff, and the range of movement is quite small, and it has no sprung centrepoint so it's certainly not ideal. Might give it a try though.

There are also two analog control wheels on the Saitek X55 throttle but again, using a wheel for this function is not going to be easy.

The thumbstick on my Cougar has two axii and it is self centering. Range of travel is also good enough to be accurate. The same thing is true for the CH Pro Throttle. Not all HOTAS are created equal, though. The last time I had an X52 was in 2007, but if I remember correctly, the thumbstick on that was terrible. It was a sort of nipple that had practically no range of movement at all. The new X-56 has a proper 2 axis thumbstick on both the throttle and the stick.

 

[IronDuke]

I have a left stick, the Saitek ST90, with the axes bound to lateral thrust. The strange digital button throttle thingy is bound to throttle, but since I fly 100% FA-Off, it's more like it's bound to thrust.
Two joysticks absolutely rules. Never used a HOTAS, and never will.

--IronDuke

 

[Frenotx]

I mostly stick in FA-on, but someone watching my ship would probably have a hard time telling that. I have a twin joystick setup: left hand has vertical and horizontal thrust (with rool on twist), and the right hand has pitch and yaw. Having both finer control over, and a more intuitive connection with the lateral thrusters really changed the way I fly. My movements are focused on putting the ship where I want it, rather than trying to arc my flight path to point the way I want. It's difficult to describe, but extremely satisfying. Since I also control the throttle with the left hand (digitally via a few buttons), my left hand is entirely focused on positioning, leaving my right hand to focus on targeting, aiming, weapon control, etc. Having the controls split that way makes it easier to split your thinking that way, which seems well suited for space- keep your positioning and facing decoupled.

 

[Fishy]

The last time I had an X52 was in 2007, but if I remember correctly, the thumbstick on that was terrible. It was a sort of nipple that had practically no range of movement at all.

Yup. It's set up to move the mouse pointer by default (there's a button beside it to click) but it has abysmal range.

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

Thumbstick on my CH throttle. two axis.

 

[WreckWren]

CH Throttle thumbstick is alright for this, but there are QC issues with the sticks specifically. Mine no longer centres properly in any direction and has lost at least 50% of its returnable range.

CH responded to this by saying they take no responsibility and the store should replace it, which they didn't.


Just putting it out there, two T.16000m joysticks is a LOT cheaper and a lot more effective. Do that.

 

[Javert]

I have a left stick, the Saitek ST90, with the axes bound to lateral thrust. The strange digital button throttle thingy is bound to throttle, but since I fly 100% FA-Off, it's more like it's bound to thrust.
Two joysticks absolutely rules. Never used a HOTAS, and never will.

--IronDuke

OK so what is your right stick then? Also an ST90 or something else?

To all - thanks this is the type of feedback I was after as I'm actually wondering if two mid range joysticks would actually be a better setup than a single hotas - fine control of throttle may not be that important in ED due to the way the flight model is set up.

 

[Bambi]

Gamepad is pretty ideal for that kind of control. Especially if you have Star Citizen style toggle yaw controls freeing up the other stick completely.

 

[Rocky-451]

Analogue vs digital control is configured in your Controls Settings rather than determined by hardware, isn't it? Check this thread for details: You're Doing It Wrong: Analogue Vs Digital Settings in ED