Newcomer / Intro BRICK?

[MickyG1982]

Yikes.

So the replies are "don't worry, there are much WORSE ships out there later in the game".
OR
"Just buy $100 joystick to make your $40 game playable."

I just tried it again with a controller plugged in but no dice. I can control the menu with my controller but nothing else. And I really dont want to spend $100 to make the game barely playable. :/
As for the pitch and roll, the issue I have is if I move my mouse left or right I just start spinning stupidly while still pointing in the same direction.

Well, I got this game because I wanted to explore deep space, so that is what I am going to do! just point it in one direction and go! Whoo! XD

I play on a cheap wired xbox controller, using the default context control scheme.

just when you want to manouver in a none brick like way you have to reduce the throttle into the blue zone rather than charge about everywhere at full throttle.

 

[Ashnak]

Yikes.

So the replies are "don't worry, there are much WORSE ships out there later in the game".
OR
"Just buy $100 joystick to make your $40 game playable."

"Worse" is relative - if (when...) you start flying FA off, you will come to cherish those ships where you actually have a little time to think about what you need to do on the inputs . And regarding that 100$ joystick... it won't end there.

...
As for the pitch and roll, the issue I have is if I move my mouse left or right I just start spinning stupidly while still pointing in the same direction.

Check your control bindings. For starters, you should have "Flight Assist On" (and might even want to unbind any buttons related to that, so you don't switch it off accidentally) - and if you have problems re-centering your mouse, enabling "relative mouse movement" (or whatever it's called - something "relative" "mouse" something) might help.
Controller - which one? The basic XBox controller works reasonably well, considering the lack of axes and buttons. Again, check out the bindings (or pay close attention to the tutorials). IIRC roll and pitch in tge default setup are on the left stick, yaw and up/down on the right stick, forward/back on the right and left shoulder buttons.

Well, I got this game because I wanted to explore deep space, so that is what I am going to do! just point it in one direction and go! Whoo! XD

Good luck with that. You're going to need it - your ship won't refuel by itself.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

Which games give you end-game gear when you first start?

As others said - learn2fly - takes a while, but it's worth it.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VQ_3sBZEm0


Sorry, I just had to...

 

[Shevek_Starkiller]

Well thanks guys, you have been sort of helpful XD
I think I have to increase the deadzone for the roll because even the smallest twitch has me spinning like a top. I manually set up the controller so the shoulder pads control the roll and it feels a lot better to me. Ill....take some time before I start putting $100 into this game, it isn't mech commander after all!

 

[Leper Messiah]

Thats the issue - I am playing the tutorial.
Just trying to shoot the canisters and fighting the first pilot one on one. And I'm not suggesting they give you a end game ship, just one that feels nice to fly. (And I can't change the pips yet as far as I know because I am still in the first demo training section)
As for games with better controls, I can list off the top of my head:
No Mans Sky,
X-Wing vs Tie-Fighter
X3 and X4
Endless Space
Xenocracy

Would using a console controller be better, do you think?

I can't speak for all those games but the ones I can are manoeuverable fighters. Elites main owned ships arn't fighters, not even the Sidewinder. There are fighters in the Elite launched from the main ships (that are large enough) but I've never flown one but from what I recall reading they are very manoeuverable.


Oh and early doors I was very disapointed by the yaw, I read it was a conscious decision to not have "turrets in space".

 

[kalniel]

Well thanks guys, you have been sort of helpful XD
I think I have to increase the deadzone for the roll because even the smallest twitch has me spinning like a top. I manually set up the controller so the shoulder pads control the roll and it feels a lot better to me. Ill....take some time before I start putting $100 into this game, it isn't mech commander after all!

Glad you're getting there. We've gone from a brick to spinning like a top - perhaps we should be recommending slower ships again

When I tried gamepads I used to prefer having one stick manage the roll and another the pitch - it helped with the sensitivity and is a bit more like you'd control a radio controlled plane.

 

[CMDR Yates]

As for the pitch and roll, the issue I have is if I move my mouse left or right I just start spinning stupidly while still pointing in the same direction.

Want to turn more than a few degrees to the right, for example? Roll your ship 45° to the right. Stop rolling when what was "right" is now "up". Then pull back on the mouse to pull your nose up in the direction you want to go. This is how the ships in Elite are designed to be flown.

 

[aRJay]

Well thanks guys, you have been sort of helpful XD
I think I have to increase the deadzone for the roll because even the smallest twitch has me spinning like a top. I manually set up the controller so the shoulder pads control the roll and it feels a lot better to me. Ill....take some time before I start putting $100 into this game, it isn't mech commander after all!

This is the key to the game you really do need to select the control axes/buttons/keys that are comfortable for you, the defaults are fine for most but not always for everyone, just keep doing the tutorials as they start in exactly the same place and ship it makes it easy to judge if your latest changes to the controls are helping.

You don’t have to spend that much on external hardware for the game a cheap joystick would let you see if that is better for you, if it is then there is a whole world of joysticks, throttles, pedals and other controllers available out there to investigate many of which are nowhere near as little as $100.

 

[Nadreck]

As for the pitch and roll, the issue I have is if I move my mouse left or right I just start spinning stupidly while still pointing in the same direction.

Change your control setup. Mouse is easier with pitch and yaw (pointer moves up-down-left-right as a mouse usually does), use keys to roll.

Roll and pitch to turn sharply, use mouse as normal for fine control/aiming. I also have my spacebar bound to "pitch up", so I can roll and bank with just the keys and use the mouse only for aiming.

 

[Demonlord79]

Well I'm sadly going to put this BLUNTLY because most players want help you by giving you helpful tips. You say you've been playing space games for decades....You might be confusing a consol game to PC games cause Elite is nothing like you are describing. I've been playing this game since day one of it's release of the vanilla and have put over 6000+ hours into this game and 2/3's of it was with a keyboard and mouse. It just sounds like your trolling now.

Sidewinder slow and sluggish like a brick? You are doing everything wrong due to it is rather one of the most maneuverable ships in the game. But it seems that you are determined to convince people that this game is terrible.
Not to sound too mean but maybe you should go find a new game.

This is a VERY complex space simulator with a serious key binding setup not a high action point and shoot space arcade game. Please don't bash this game because it is a rather hard game with a learning curve to get used to.
That being said I sorry you don't like this game and do hope you find something that suites what you're looking for.

 

[Dommarraa]

I play happily with Keyboard Only, so it cant be that bad.

 

[Hvalreki]

Just run a few missions and get some decent modules and that will help a lot. There are big differences in handling between the different ship types so if you don’t like you can switch up to a more maneuverable ship once you have some $$. Later if you unlock Engineers you can upgrade your drives which also helps - a T-9 still handles like a very big brick even engineered.