What type of controller will you be using for Elite Dangerous

[Yaffle]

There was an analogue joystick for the BBC Micro - I think that it was compatible with Elite back in the day....

I can confirm it was, and beautifully done it was too. My mate and I used to fly together, so one would do the joystick bit the other the throttle (you really needed two hands on the joystick). It was truly analogue, as in move the stick 2/3 towards the edge of its range and you would rotate at 2/3 the maximum speed.

Happy days <eyes mist over>

 

[The Space Pirate]

Here's the Speedlink Black Widow I mentioned earlier:

One of the things I love about it is the way rudders are controlled. No stick twist, something I never liked. Instead, it has a sort of rocker switch which can be seen on the throttle. It's analogue so you can choose how much rudder you want. Once you try it, you'll never want to go back to stick twist. The only thing better would be an actual set of rudder pedals.

As well as that because the throttle is offset to the side, you can put this on your lap and its held securely due to one hand always being on the throttle. The throttle itself is chunky and feels very realistic. The precision of the stick is extremely high. All in all it's the best stick I've ever used especially for £24.99.

 

[Memnoch]

That rudder implementation is quite clever! I've never seen that before. How does it work with the game?

 

[Seonid]

You just select the Control option and put it in (Black Widow presets not working for me, stick works in game fine, ticket in). I use it for yaw:

I had to dead-zone the throttle about 25% as I tend to unconsciously move it when flying, well, trying to fly anyway as I currently suck badly at it.

 

[Yaffle]

I just bought this joystick :
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/pc-ac...-catz-cyborg-fly-5-joystick-06764357-pdt.html

(Going back several days, apologies).

How stable is it? My main joystick issue in the past has been that I get so "immersed" in the game I tip the whole darn thing over. Those little suction pads never seem to suck (or they suck at sucking, which is weird).
ATM I have just a keyboard and mouse, but am open to these newfangled things.

 

[Alien]

it is stable on a desk. On your lap (if you play like that) you need to make sure the base is fully supported underneath just in case

 

[Yaffle]

it is stable on a desk. On your lap (if you play like that) you need to make sure the base is fully supported underneath just in case

Thanks for that, most helpful.

Luckily, and due to a fairly strict upbringing, I don't play with anything in my lap lest someone get the wrong idea.

This may be worth a punt - it's far, far more reasonable in terms of both desk real estate and cost than the X52 and its ilk, and I have never even held an XBOX or similar controller before.
I'm concerned I lack the sheer number of fingers I'll to deal with this via keys in the old school manner.

 

[avow555]

Here's the Speedlink Black Widow I mentioned earlier:

One of the things I love about it is the way rudders are controlled. No stick twist, something I never liked. Instead, it has a sort of rocker switch which can be seen on the throttle. It's analogue so you can choose how much rudder you want. Once you try it, you'll never want to go back to stick twist. The only thing better would be an actual set of rudder pedals.

As well as that because the throttle is offset to the side, you can put this on your lap and its held securely due to one hand always being on the throttle. The throttle itself is chunky and feels very realistic. The precision of the stick is extremely high. All in all it's the best stick I've ever used especially for £24.99.

This stick seems to have captured one or 2 peoples eye and whilst they attempt to tell us all it's technical wonders the truth about this stick is that it is cheap...
The rudder control situated on the throttle is nothing new and I first saw this configuration on a Saitek X45 HOTAS.
At best it works okay but the problem this has compared to a twist or pedals is that it forces you to use a couple of digits (fingers) on your left hand to control it. On my twister those same digits will be controlling a hat switch a roller switch and a button or 2. In other words the this configuration reduces your effectiveness
I have used this stick as a friend of mine bought one recently. It works ok but I wouldn't encourage anyone to buy this stick it's just not good enough unfortunately. My friend I am glad to say is sitting with an X52 pro hooked up to his PC now, he smiles a lot nowadays.

If you wanna buy cheap kit by all means do so...
Please don't try and sell the idea to other folk your cheap kit is wonderful...

 

[Memnoch]

Here's the Speedlink Black Widow I mentioned earlier:

All in all it's the best stick I've ever used especially for £24.99.

If you wanna buy cheap kit by all means do so...
Please don't try and sell the idea to other folk your cheap kit is wonderful...

I'll remind you of this post when Space Pirate is pwning you in PvP.

......I'm 41 years old and I just used "pwning" in a sentence. <walks away muttering>

 

[Yaffle]

I'll remind you of this post when Space Pirate is pwning you in PvP.

......I'm 41 years old and I just used "pwning" in a sentence. <walks away muttering>

It looks like a handy Scrabble word though!

 

[Bikerix]

See There is the other problem, If you say 'time to wake up' and decide to buy a joystick.
You then find that the Xbox controller looks like a mini keyboard with the buttons in the wrong place, and (like someone said earlier in this forum) not enough fingers.
so you plum for a flight stick (which makes sense on this game), but there are so many. And they range (again on the forum) from £25 to stupid mounts.
Also none of these offer the option to take it home and try it for a month or two before you try another and so on until you find the one that you can use and are happy with.:S

So instead of moving forward you stand still with your keyboard and mouse configuration.

 

[Memnoch]

Also none of these offer the option to take it home and try it for a month or two before you try another and so on until you find the one that you can use and are happy with.:S

So instead of moving forward you stand still with your keyboard and mouse configuration.

I'm the last one to talk here but this isn't some hardcore flight sim, so I would think that any stick designed for one of those would be perfectly fine for ED. The Thrustmaster T.16000 seems to be a good choice in many peoples eyes, as does the X52 and X52 Pro. My only suggestion would be to decide how much you can comfortably afford, look at a range of sticks that are around that mark and then have a look on SimHQ or other flight sim related websites for reviews by armchair pilots. They will give you an honest account of the stick, including some quite in-depth technical information on its performance. And if it is good enough for them....

 

[Robbie]

Considering this post currently has 26k+ views, it would've been better if the OP had made this post into a poll for those uses of joystick, gamepad or keyboard/mouse. Is there anyway that this post can be turned into a poll? if not by the opening poster perhaps made into one by a moderator.

Would be really nice to see poll results for something like this!

 

[NeilF]

Considering this post currently has 26k+ views, it would've been better if the OP had made this post into a poll for those uses of joystick, gamepad or keyboard/mouse. Is there anyway that this post can be turned into a poll? if not by the opening poster perhaps made into one by a moderator.

Would be really nice to see poll results for something like this!

I think people are more interested in specific devices and advice rather than 12,213 people are using a "joystick".

 

[Robbie]

I think people are more interested in specific devices and advice rather than 12,213 people are using a "joystick".

Given the post title, a poll is relevant, and gives an informed an immediate overview, without having to read through hundreds of opinions here. I don't (like many others here no doubt) have time to read everything in this thread.

 

[NeilF]

Given the post title, a poll is relevant, and gives an informed an immediate overview, without having to read through hundreds of opinions here. I don't (like many others here no doubt) have time to read everything in this thread.

Fair enough... But who cares if more people are using joysticks? Or more people are using keyboard/mouse? People use what they prefer, not what other people prefer? More people in the poll are using a keyboard & mouse so I won't use/buy a joystick then?

People (IMHO) read this thread to see the type of specific equipment other people are using... I plan to use my cheap and chearful old joystick, but I certainly know what the more expensive alternatives are now thanks to this thread

 

[The Space Pirate]

This stick seems to have captured one or 2 peoples eye and whilst they attempt to tell us all it's technical wonders the truth about this stick is that it is cheap...
The rudder control situated on the throttle is nothing new and I first saw this configuration on a Saitek X45 HOTAS.
At best it works okay but the problem this has compared to a twist or pedals is that it forces you to use a couple of digits (fingers) on your left hand to control it. On my twister those same digits will be controlling a hat switch a roller switch and a button or 2. In other words the this configuration reduces your effectiveness
I have used this stick as a friend of mine bought one recently. It works ok but I wouldn't encourage anyone to buy this stick it's just not good enough unfortunately. My friend I am glad to say is sitting with an X52 pro hooked up to his PC now, he smiles a lot nowadays.

If you wanna buy cheap kit by all means do so...
Please don't try and sell the idea to other folk your cheap kit is wonderful...

Yeah.... not everyone can afford to, or wants to drop £50-£100 on a joystick...

Have you actually used a Black Widow? The rudder is controlled by two fingers of the hand that always rests on the throttle regardless, so they're hardly going to waste the way you seem to be implying. It's superior to the crappy stick twist simply by virtue of the fact that it more closely replicates rudder movement. As for my 'effectiveness', it's gone up tons since I actually ditched 'auto rudder' due in no small amount to the Black Widow's configuration.

Oh and good luck with your hat switch, I'm sure you'll have no problem spotting me before I blow you into spacedust as I keep track of your every movement with my Track IR. There's one thing a POV hat might be of use for, but I've never been able to set it up and that's as a trim control - has anyone ever managed to configure their POV switch to control the trim?

You seem to have it in your head that cheap always means 'bad' - well that's simply not always the case and the Black Widow is one such occasion. I posted this stick up here because a) it's good and b) it's cheap. I'm not trying to 'sell' anything.

 

[The Space Pirate]

I just bought this joystick :
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/pc-ac...-catz-cyborg-fly-5-joystick-06764357-pdt.html

I was going to get that before I found the Black Widow, which won due to its rudder configuration and price in that order.

Sounds like people have actually used the Black Widow with the game - your thoughts, guys?

How stable is it? My main joystick issue in the past has been that I get so "immersed" in the game I tip the whole darn thing over. Those little suction pads never seem to suck (or they suck at sucking, which is weird).
ATM I have just a keyboard and mouse, but am open to these newfangled things.

I hate suction cups - they suck (ahaha) at keeping the controller still. Before I got my current stick, I popped it on a tray and put that on my lap; that gives you a much lower stick position as well which is a lot more comfortable for me. Thanks to the reasons outlined above, I've ditched the tray now.

 

[Seonid]

I find it excellent, though I had to dead-zone the throttle lever a bit due to small unconscious movements. Feels pretty solid.

 

[The Space Pirate]

I find it excellent, though I had to dead-zone the throttle lever a bit due to small unconscious movements. Feels pretty solid.

Nice! I look forwards to getting stuck in come January.