Why I use a mouse rather than a joystick

[poser765]

I use a TM Warthog joystick and throttle, and the mouse just for looking around.

Ugh, mouse for ship control just doesn't work for me, I end up chasing that little orange triangle all over the shop and getting horribly out of shape (same problem in SC).

I think if a PC owner was considering a component upgrade, a joystick upgrade should also be considered just as video card/cpu/memory. If you're a heavy flightsim gamer, it makes sense, but it just depends on the 'priority' if you like, of the enjoyment to be had in ED vs just getting by with the mouse control.

Mouse control can obviously be very good (I think SubSynk uses mouse, or was in one of his Twitch streams I watched)...

You know, it just takes a bit of getting used to. While it's not the most intuitive...mouse control is still somewhat intuitive. After a couple of hours it's second nature.

I used to be a big flight sim junkie. I've used stick and throttles, and yoke and peddles. I gave up all that stuff when I started gaming exclusively on a laptop. All that junk doesn't pack well when I am in a new hotel every night for work. So I've made peace with the mouse and keyboard. It just takes time to get a handle on.

 

[CMDR Brock Samson]

KB/M works great for me

 

[Dorohedoro]

Im so sad...

I was thrilled yesterday, I was unboxing and installing my flight hotas X.

After a couple of hours I cant play with that thing, I'm back to mouse+keyboard, and here is why:

With my mouse every is so precise, I can aim really fast tiny spots, move around, fight and dock with the little movements of my hand with almost no effort, quick and with no energy wasted at all.

With the joystick... for me.... its a pain in the a**. After spending almost a hour mapping and trying to get used to the handle I can say, without a doubt, Im less effective with the joy than with the mouse+key. I have to make more moves and effort with my body just to make the same movements, my back hurts, and I get soo tired really fast. In this game for you to accomplish something you have to play for a long period of time, non stop, and I cant do that with this joystick, its just too tiresome for me. Also, I cant be that precise, the hotas is nice, but I find a lot more easy to control the speed of the ship with the keyboard, it was a nightmare yesterday when I went to a confligt zone to kill some guys... my god, what a mess, the hotas has a "zero zone" in the center and sometimes I was stuck in there trying to change my speed, I can do that much more faster with my keyboard. Also, the stick, Im not that fast with the stick. if I try to make evasive manouvers with the stick I have to be really agressive with my body to be effective, and trust me, with this thing Im way less precise, I cant make those little movements and remain in a fixed spot to aim better like I do with my mouse with no prob, well it can be done with the joystick of course, but with a big amount of practice and effort, physical and mental effort... so, I will be wasting a lot of energy just to make the same or worse. And docking... my god, what a mess.

I dont know, maybe I got used to fly with my kb+m that I'm too late for a change.

The worst of all? I cant return the joystick, the store has a no refund policy, so... I dont know what to do here, maybe I will give a second chance t the joystick in the future, but with another game, a flight sim maybe, where I dont have to spend this much time playing, something more casual I mean...

 

[Enride]

Im so sad...

I was thrilled yesterday, I was unboxing and installing my flight hotas X.

After a couple of hours I cant play with that thing, I'm back to mouse+keyboard, and here is why:

With my mouse every is so precise, I can aim really fast tiny spots, move around, fight and dock with the little movements of my hand with almost no effort, quick and with no energy wasted at all.

With the joystick... for me.... its a pain in the a**. After spending almost a hour mapping and trying to get used to the handle I can say, without a doubt, Im less effective with the joy than with the mouse+key. I have to make more moves and effort with my body just to make the same movements, my back hurts, and I get soo tired really fast. In this game for you to accomplish something you have to play for a long period of time, non stop, and I cant do that with this joystick, its just too tiresome for me. Also, I cant be that precise, the hotas is nice, but I find a lot more easy to control the speed of the ship with the keyboard, it was a nightmare yesterday when I went to a confligt zone to kill some guys... my god, what a mess, the hotas has a "zero zone" in the center and sometimes I was stuck in there trying to change my speed, I can do that much more faster with my keyboard. Also, the stick, Im not that fast with the stick. if I try to make evasive manouvers with the stick I have to be really agressive with my body to be effective, and trust me, with this thing Im way less precise, I cant make those little movements and remain in a fixed spot to aim better like I do with my mouse with no prob, well it can be done with the joystick of course, but with a big amount of practice and effort, physical and mental effort... so, I will be wasting a lot of energy just to make the same or worse. And docking... my god, what a mess.

I dont know, maybe I got used to fly with my kb+m that I'm too late for a change.

The worst of all? I cant return the joystick, the store has a no refund policy, so... I dont know what to do here, maybe I will give a second chance t the joystick in the future, but with another game, a flight sim maybe, where I dont have to spend this much time playing, something more casual I mean...

Stick with it, since your just beginning its expected that it will feel both awkward and cumbersome to use the joystick.
But eventually it will feel natural and you will have much better control over your ship and maneuvers And its alot more fun too!

But take time and find a good seated position with the controllers placed in a comfortable way, bad positioning will quickly make your arm/elbow/shoulder/back ache and can potentially hurt you longterm.
Just as with regular computer use, its essential to be in a comfortable position for long term use.

Stick with it, its ALOT more fun with a joystick

 

[Ydiss]

Im so sad...

I was thrilled yesterday, I was unboxing and installing my flight hotas X.

After a couple of hours I cant play with that thing, I'm back to mouse+keyboard, and here is why:

With my mouse every is so precise, I can aim really fast tiny spots, move around, fight and dock with the little movements of my hand with almost no effort, quick and with no energy wasted at all.

With the joystick... for me.... its a pain in the a**. After spending almost a hour mapping and trying to get used to the handle I can say, without a doubt, Im less effective with the joy than with the mouse+key. I have to make more moves and effort with my body just to make the same movements, my back hurts, and I get soo tired really fast. In this game for you to accomplish something you have to play for a long period of time, non stop, and I cant do that with this joystick, its just too tiresome for me. Also, I cant be that precise, the hotas is nice, but I find a lot more easy to control the speed of the ship with the keyboard, it was a nightmare yesterday when I went to a confligt zone to kill some guys... my god, what a mess, the hotas has a "zero zone" in the center and sometimes I was stuck in there trying to change my speed, I can do that much more faster with my keyboard. Also, the stick, Im not that fast with the stick. if I try to make evasive manouvers with the stick I have to be really agressive with my body to be effective, and trust me, with this thing Im way less precise, I cant make those little movements and remain in a fixed spot to aim better like I do with my mouse with no prob, well it can be done with the joystick of course, but with a big amount of practice and effort, physical and mental effort... so, I will be wasting a lot of energy just to make the same or worse. And docking... my god, what a mess.

I dont know, maybe I got used to fly with my kb+m that I'm too late for a change.

The worst of all? I cant return the joystick, the store has a no refund policy, so... I dont know what to do here, maybe I will give a second chance t the joystick in the future, but with another game, a flight sim maybe, where I dont have to spend this much time playing, something more casual I mean...

This is it, exactly. The best solution is the one you're used to and the one you prefer.

When I first played on a playstation it took me a while to get used to the analogue controller. But I had to, there is no other choice. However, this method isn't always the best. It's better for driving games (I loved the controller when driving in gtav) but worse for aiming weapons (I hated it when shooting in gtav). The same is reverse on the pc. Driving with the keyboard isn't nearly as fun as it is with a wheel or analogue stick. But shooting is much faster and more accurate.

I have always used mouse and keyboard and it's what I'm most comfortable with. But if I had loads of driving games I'd buy a wheel. And I'd get used to it. If I had loads of flight sims I'd buy a stick and get used to that.

The wonderful thing about ED is FD have managed to create a control method that is not hindered by your choice of input (except keyboard only - you need two axes for analogue input, one for roll and one for pitch - keyboard limits the freedom of these two axes so is limited as an input method without a mouse).

The mouse settings are very well designed. Using the most suitable combination of these settings means anyone can tweak the input to allow full control.

Analogue input only excels over digital input where variable values can be used and the speed you can go from zero input to maximum is important (steering for driving games, where there's a difference between slowly turning and quickly turning, pitch and roll for flight where it's important to be able to quickly pull up or down and gradually pull up or down). A mouse can do all of this because of the dead zone settings and ED's hard coded maximum for pitch and roll.

This is why I've always told players who considered getting a HOTAS to think hard on their decision. It will not make you a better pilot on its own. It isn't necessarily easier. If you have already learned the mouse and have your settings how you like them, switching to a stick will take a significant level of effort to learn.

What you gain from that effort is the most immersion. A flight stick and throttle is as close to the real thing as you can get.

But it's not superior.

That said, you've spent all that money. You now have the most "ideal" control for a flight based game because it's closest to the real thing. You might as well practice until it's second nature.

I wouldn't bother myself, though. I know I'll never get as accurate over tiny movements with a stick as I can with keyboard and mouse. And I don't have to keep switching between the two when I want to use the keyboard.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

Why do people reach deep down into three month old threads?

I use a joystick in my left and and a mouse in my right. My joystick does all my maneuvering and my hat buttons deal with pip management, my mouse is set to headlook, and my mouse buttons are set to weapons control, targeting, and throttle.

I love this set up. Absolutely love it. Lots of head movement freedom allows me to really focus on my target, and I can open and check window panes on the fly.

 

[Dorohedoro]

I cant guys, I cant with the joystick, my back hurts, also my arms... and I cant be precise like I am with the mouse, with my mouse its so easy to do everything and I can play, like... 5 or 6 hours nonstop. I dont know, maybe my desk/chair are not fit for the joystick/hotas combo...

Why do people reach deep down into three month old threads?

Because I have something to say about this topic and didnt want to start another similar thread.

 

[X2Eliah]

Arm/back ache with joystick means that the desk height is totally wrong for using a joystick ^^
I had a similar issue - there was nowhere to put the joystick in a good position, to avoid cramping / wrist-strain.

 

[Jolly_Roger]

The game I was playing before ED for my space game fix was X3 and I used the K&M for that and still use it with ED.
Just don't think I'd succeed with a HOTAS as I have carpal tunnel in both wrists and I don't fancy forking out £100+ just to see whether it makes a difference in my gameplay.

 

[Beardless]

Joystick is just more fun to fly with. Clue is in the name JOYstick

Anyone who says otherwise is wrong (unless you have a medical condition)

 

[Roobarb]

With a few tweaks to the default control settings, M/K control is a perfectly viable alternative to joystick control. In some ways, it's better.