H.O.T.A.S. sucks to mouse?

What do you feel better to aim?


  • Total voters
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Fixed Weapons Post

So, I'm experienced user of H.O.T.A.S. Warhog and I love to use it and I feel flying is much easier with joystick.
But after I purchased 7 Railguns Anaconda (fixed pointing weapons) shooting is significantly easier with... MOUSE?

Confused.
 
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You're at an Anaconda and you have a Warthog, but you're saying mouse is better than a joystick for you?!?

Something seems amiss.
 
Your post left me confused too. Could you please clarify what is the problem?

Edit:

Ah I understand now. You are saying that mouse is better for fixed guns? Well that may indeed be true as you are by default more precise with it. To be precise in such manner with joystick takes practice and a good setup with extension of the handle.
 
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As A warthog owner myself I've always been unconvinced that a H.O.T.A.S. is significantly better than M&KB. Sure with two untrained players I think the HOTAS is gonna have less of a learning curve but when you consider that many if not most of the Always FA off style players tend to be Mouse and keyboard users I suspect that once the learning curve is mastered there are some advantages to the way the mouse and keyboard work in doing certain things and I think small corrective movements is one of them.

I'll be curious to see how adjusting my curves as in the video above would help me gain some fine control but I have to wait to see how the warthog feels with the extension I have incoming. Should give a bigger throw and more accuracy. It's been recommended to me by other users of the Warthog since the accuracy bit depth isn't fully utilized in it's default length. Apparently it also helps reduce the stiffness especially on that initial push away from the center point. I'll try to post back here with my findings once I receive it.
 
I was playing with a logitech joystick. However the second gaming machine I have under my desk at work (management is cool with it as long as its during lunch) doesn't have one. So I've been using a mouse to control it. And while I like the number of controls at my fingertips using the joystick I gotta say I prefer flying with the mouse. Being primarily an FPS player my aim is MUCH more accurate with the mouse.
The main problem I am having with the joystick is it seems to be acting like a digital stick instead of analog. Small movements don't do anything. Large movements on the stick do but then it becomes hard to hold it steady on a single course/target. I have tried playing with the dead zone sliders in the configuration and they seem to do nothing.
 
If you bind pitch and yaw to the mouse aiming is literally point in the direction you want to shoot, rolling every now and then to compensate for gimped yaw. Nothing else can get easier than that so I see using peripherals like a HOTAS as adding some challenge for the sake of a more immersive control system.
 

Mike Evans

Designer- Elite: Dangerous
Frontier
I was playing with a logitech joystick. However the second gaming machine I have under my desk at work (management is cool with it as long as its during lunch) doesn't have one. So I've been using a mouse to control it. And while I like the number of controls at my fingertips using the joystick I gotta say I prefer flying with the mouse. Being primarily an FPS player my aim is MUCH more accurate with the mouse.
The main problem I am having with the joystick is it seems to be acting like a digital stick instead of analog. Small movements don't do anything. Large movements on the stick do but then it becomes hard to hold it steady on a single course/target. I have tried playing with the dead zone sliders in the configuration and they seem to do nothing.

You've probably bound the joystick axes wrong. Make sure you're only binding the AXIS bindings and not the digital only up, down, left, right etc. bindings. Every axis of control has a single axis binding that is analogue.
 
If you bind pitch and yaw to the mouse aiming is literally point in the direction you want to shoot, rolling every now and then to compensate for gimped yaw. Nothing else can get easier than that so I see using peripherals like a HOTAS as adding some challenge for the sake of a more immersive control system.

I'm mouse and KB and this is the way i'm set up, it's just like playing an FPS but with much more vertical freedom.

I tried a cheap HOTAS I had but I found it horribly inaccurate
 
If you bind pitch and yaw to the mouse aiming is literally point in the direction you want to shoot, rolling every now and then to compensate for gimped yaw. Nothing else can get easier than that so I see using peripherals like a HOTAS as adding some challenge for the sake of a more immersive control system.


I tried the mouse pitch/yaw combo, and then decided to use my full X-55 HOTAS setup...and hated it.

I then tried just the joystick and using the keyboard with my left hand, and this is the best setup for me. The stick gives me much quicker control then the mouse, and using the keyboard over the throttle gives much more flexibility with commands.

The throttle imo just complicates things too much.
 
I guess thats all just training.
For example, i play shooters with a VERY old Trackball from Microsoft. The funny thing is, that i can hit pixel perfect with it, while i cant aim with a regular mouse or even a gaming mouse. No one else i know can even use a trackball to navigate across the desktop, they cant use their index finger to roll the ball or use the thumb for the buttons.
Same goes for hotas, gamepads and whatever else exists.
Some can use one better, while some can use something else better. Its just a matter of training.
You cant force yourself to be perfect right from the beginning, maybe it will take a few weeks, months or even years until you master the hotas control, but sooner or later it will happen
 
I guess thats all just training.
For example, i play shooters with a VERY old Trackball from Microsoft. The funny thing is, that i can hit pixel perfect with it, while i cant aim with a regular mouse or even a gaming mouse. No one else i know can even use a trackball to navigate across the desktop, they cant use their index finger to roll the ball or use the thumb for the buttons.
Same goes for hotas, gamepads and whatever else exists.
Some can use one better, while some can use something else better. Its just a matter of training.
You cant force yourself to be perfect right from the beginning, maybe it will take a few weeks, months or even years until you master the hotas control, but sooner or later it will happen
Speaking about training...at some point in the (unfortunately not "near" I suspect) future, I should receive a full King's Assembly, and I have no idea how long it is going to take me to learn how to use that thing effectively...every time I look at it, I think it's insane, but I still can't wait to give it a whirl and see how it goes... :)
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...-a-computer-mouse-full-of-awesome/description
http://solidartlabs.com/

-- Pete.
 
Speaking about training...at some point in the (unfortunately not "near" I suspect) future, I should receive a full King's Assembly, and I have no idea how long it is going to take me to learn how to use that thing effectively...every time I look at it, I think it's insane, but I still can't wait to give it a whirl and see how it goes... :)
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...-a-computer-mouse-full-of-awesome/description
http://solidartlabs.com/

-- Pete.

Interesting piece of hardware. Though my brain would probably go into meltdown with that. Personally I'm happy enough with my HOTAS. Big ships are easy enough to hit with fixed guns, and small ones tend not to carry chaff, so gimbal and turret are good there. Since I don't engage in PvP I have no problems that way. I tried mouse control once and found it impossible to dock. I constantly oversteered and then overcompensated. That must have looked like drunken flying. I'm fairly happy with the HOTAS controls in ED. I know many older games that have joystick support but are impossible to play with joystick, since you pitch/yaw twice as fast with a mouse in those games.
 
I find a HOTAS much better when it comes to overall combat movement, especially in crowded warzones.
With a joystick, the pros outweigh the cons, it's a more complete experience.

I had a similar issue when I got a Logitech driving wheel, I couldn't make the lap times I was making with the keyboard.
But all that changed after I got used to the pedals and steering.

It's the same with the joystick, you get more control and it feels more natural, you just have to adapt to it.
I think it's normal, at first, to aim better with the mouse, it's a 2D pointing device that we use daily since we were kids.
 
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My A4Tech Bloody V8 does it job. I even thinking about that seats that placed in Anaconda cabin - hope in near future i can play with friend as shooter of my weapons (like its gonna be in StarCitizen).
Or at least make some more space to switch to mouse when I stopped to aim with rails.
 
Speaking about training...at some point in the (unfortunately not "near" I suspect) future, I should receive a full King's Assembly, and I have no idea how long it is going to take me to learn how to use that thing effectively...every time I look at it, I think it's insane, but I still can't wait to give it a whirl and see how it goes... :)
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...-a-computer-mouse-full-of-awesome/description
http://solidartlabs.com/

-- Pete.

That is the most ridiculous peripheral I've ever seen. Looks like it would be worse than each of the things it's supposed to replace... Have you tried aiming with your mouse, using just the palm of your hand? Used joysticks with the edge and tip of your thumb at full extension? Yuck.
 
That is the most ridiculous peripheral I've ever seen. Looks like it would be worse than each of the things it's supposed to replace... Have you tried aiming with your mouse, using just the palm of your hand? Used joysticks with the edge and tip of your thumb at full extension? Yuck.
I'm not going to knock it until I've tried it...it's an interesting idea, and although seeming impractical at first, there may be merits to it.

Of course the ergonomics are going to be important, and they do seem to be working hard on those from the latest updates. Of course I'm also guessing the final product won't have the thumb stick at full extension, it'll be in a far better place. The Kickstarter images are just the very very early prototypes, and even look completely different to the current prototypes which are still very much under development.

-- Pete.
 
My experience:

With Mouse+Kb I'm more precise with fixed guns and my hand will never get tired. Joystick is less precise but more funny, my hands will get tired after a couple of hours of gameplay. In the long term I prefer to have fun (my hands will hurt? who cares?), so I will stick with... the sticks :p

Anyway I had to vote for the mouse to be coherent with the poll.

EDIT: and I use dual joystick setup as I'm lefty and HOTAS producers don't love lefty ppl.
 
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