The Joystick/Controller discussion thread
Yes it is rather annoying, as I had been holding out as well.
Also annoyingly our lovely government slaps a import duty on them as well, so even if you buy from Amazon.com you end up paying £150.
Is saving £36 worth the lack of warranty?
You may want to add your postcode in if you want to ensure your goods arrive promptly...
The shipping costs seem reasonable for your location as well.... Do you have Prime or something?
So, an update on the t.16000:
It seems to work fairly well, to be honest. It's certainly way more fun to control the ship via the stick, and you do get a lot more direct control. I cannot say that it's made playing easier, though - sure, with gimbal weapons it's easier, because with the stick I can stay on an opponent's trail better and turn way more precisely. But aiming with non-aim-correcting weapons? (lasers, partly the ammoguns) Ughhh forget about that; mouse seems way way better for that purpose (finetuning the aim). It might be a case of what I'm just used to, however - I've 10 years of muscle memory for mousing, and practically none for a joystick.
The buttons are still disappointing, but at least none have fallen off ^^. The hat switch seems to work well, though - even if it's a digital switch, not an analog.
One thing though - It's not entirely... comfortable. Something is off with the wrist-rest on the stick, it feels way too rigid and oddly shaped - it feels like I'm resting the side of my hand on the edge of the support, not the flat bit; the finger-separation grooves on the stick also don't quite match how thin/fat my fingers actually are.
So, er.. Idk. It's a mixed bag. It seems to work well enough, and nothing's fallen off or become loose so far, and it gives a noticeable improvement in control feel; but it comes at a cost of (arguably) comfort and habit.
It seems to work fairly well, to be honest. It's certainly way more fun to control the ship via the stick, and you do get a lot more direct control. I cannot say that it's made playing easier, though - sure, with gimbal weapons it's easier, because with the stick I can stay on an opponent's trail better and turn way more precisely. But aiming with non-aim-correcting weapons? (lasers, partly the ammoguns) Ughhh forget about that; mouse seems way way better for that purpose (finetuning the aim). It might be a case of what I'm just used to, however - I've 10 years of muscle memory for mousing, and practically none for a joystick.
The buttons are still disappointing, but at least none have fallen off ^^. The hat switch seems to work well, though - even if it's a digital switch, not an analog.
One thing though - It's not entirely... comfortable. Something is off with the wrist-rest on the stick, it feels way too rigid and oddly shaped - it feels like I'm resting the side of my hand on the edge of the support, not the flat bit; the finger-separation grooves on the stick also don't quite match how thin/fat my fingers actually are.
So, er.. Idk. It's a mixed bag. It seems to work well enough, and nothing's fallen off or become loose so far, and it gives a noticeable improvement in control feel; but it comes at a cost of (arguably) comfort and habit.
I'm hesitant to buy a joystick. With a 3dof joystick you'd still need 6 keyboard buttons to control speed and lateral movement. With HOTAS you don't have lateral movement / strafe. With keyboard you only have digital input. If you don't use tilt on joystick it's even worse. Gamepad only gives you 4dof. What would be the ideal joystick controller?
Was looking at the razer hydra but cancelled to wait for the sixense stem controllers. I was also looking at this "3DConnexion SpaceNavigator 3D" but it's game support is rather bad, even though they can emulate joystick finally. The ideal solution to me sound like a 6dof joystick mounted on a spring, so you can use it like a joystick but still move it to strafe. So if you take your hands off it springs back to neutral position. The "precision of control" is my main concern with this type of "free floating" input device. Without a spring to drive the handle back to neutral, you have to keep your sixense controller at a specific position and orentation if you want to fly straight.
I'd really love to know what you joystick buffs think about the sixense controllers / razer hydra. Can it work better than classic joystick?
Oooh no. Motion tracking? No no no no ain't gonna happen nope. You're looking at a severely sacrificed precision and responsiveness, *and* it's a right pain for games to implement 'native' support for that. And, frankly, gesture recognition is a lot like voice recognition - anything that makes you individually different from the common average humanoid will cause problems.
Take a look here, this video shows how you can use different modes for the razer hydra / stem. It sounds like you can combine the precision and absolute aim of a mouse with relative movement like a joystick.
It might be difficult to set up, but you can probably create a profile that looks just like a 2 joystick setup to the game.
It might be difficult to set up, but you can probably create a profile that looks just like a 2 joystick setup to the game.
I have an x52pro, I have the two normal stick axis and twist mapped to pitch/roll & yaw, the throttle is obvious. The lateral up/down/left/right are weak enough that you don't really need an axis, digital will do; I have them bound to the index finger PoV hat on the throttle.
6 DoF right there, and I still have a range of buttons and dials un-mapped, even after binding targetting, ship UI panels, fire grouping, even ship spotlights etc.
So a new version of the Saitek X52 (which has proved so popular with ED alpha players) has arrived, the X55!
Yet annoyingly it costs £186 in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saitek-Flig...TF8&qid=1392631222&sr=8-1&keywords=x55+saitek
Yet only $200 (£128) in the US: http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Catz-Sait...631243&sr=8-1&keywords=Saitek+Pro+Flight+X-55
I appreciate that postage and packing needs be added, but presumably that will still yield a saving.
Perhaps this will become the new favourite among ED players.
That is not strictly true, it is available for pre-order. It has not been officially released yet... I was lead to believe it wasnt going on sale until April...
And that was just for US/Canada.
Kro
For what my personal opinion is worth, I would suggest waiting before you buy the X-55 to see what the reviews are like. I don't see a need to rush and then regret. There may also be a SC branded HOTAS coming, which might also be worth considering even if you never play SC.
Commander Wombat
Commander Wombat
Has there been any followup to the SC-branded stick thing after the initial idea was mentioned?
They've released a version that doesn't move. You can walk around it and look at it, but that's about all.
Just rumors, no real information, facts or anything. My viewpoint though is that ED will most likely not be out for a few months and the PC and gaming hardware would have advanced by then and we will also have a better idea on what is the best way to control ED.
Commander Wombat
Greetings Commanders,
Somewhat tongue in cheek - this could be an interesting controller to use - even has built in voice-recognition
No offence meant to anyone!
Kro
I feel the need to do a public service announcement. mammary glands are equally sensitive to male testes. Rough handling is not fun or erotic, but in general intensely uncomfortable.
Knowing this, it's very hard to take such pictures as innocent humor. It's not so much that it's disrespectful (though there is an element of that) but that it gives very much the wrong idea to a lot of impressinable young blokes.
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Stick for plane like controls. Stick twist or pedals for yaw. Thumb hat on the stick for lateral translation. Throttle on the stick for main engine control, with buttons for afterburn and retro. That's what I did during my Allegiance pilot career, and what I plan to do here.
/edit a small clarification. For Allegiance the roll / yaw were mapped to different axis than here since yaw is not nerfed there. Rolling is still important, but not primary.
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You don't strictly need analog controls for either throttle or lateral/vertical thrusters.
In some ways digital can be better, as you need to often quickly flip between extremes.
Having three analog axes to cover the rotation is good, as aiming is where the precision becomes useful.
In some ways digital can be better, as you need to often quickly flip between extremes.
Having three analog axes to cover the rotation is good, as aiming is where the precision becomes useful.
So a new version of the Saitek X52 (which has proved so popular with ED alpha players) has arrived, the X55!
Yet annoyingly it costs £186 in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saitek-Flig...TF8&qid=1392631222&sr=8-1&keywords=x55+saitek
Yet only $200 (£128) in the US: http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Catz-Sait...631243&sr=8-1&keywords=Saitek+Pro+Flight+X-55
I appreciate that postage and packing needs be added, but presumably that will still yield a saving.
Perhaps this will become the new favourite among ED players.
£169.99 is the official UK price:
http://store.gameshark.net/Saitek_P..._on_Throttle_and_Stick_System_for_PC/5733/173
Whereas I believe rolling actually give a corkscrew motion which is quite hard to aim at.
Get a HOTAS stick and there's button's you can have for latteral movement... I've got 2 wasted wheels and 2 wasted POV hats (one of them digital) on my stick currently, as they're not bound and not used for anything in X3.
Ah nice, an index finger PoV hat on the throttle of course. Is there any cheaper option for that than the x52 pro?
Thanks for all the comments!