Xbox Controller Mapping: Dog Fighting Advice

[Sneake Llama]

Hey all. Trying to really hone my skills in dog fighting, practicing advance maneuvers with the thrusters and FA off and such.

I am having a hard time with it as the controller has limited button as opposed to a HOTUS. Anyone have any tips or wanna share what works for them?

My current struggle is using thrusters and pitching at the same time. I only have 1 thumb and it feels like I need at least 2 to simultaneously thrust forward/backward while thrusting left/right and up/down all the while trying to keep the pitch oriented at my target.

Roll and pitch are mapped to my right stick.

Throttle is mapped to the left stick [up/down]. I have feeling I should change this to the bumpers? I currently have target selects as the bumpers. Yaw is also mapped to the left stick [left/right].

My thrusters are mapped to the directional buttons, which is where i start having trouble, as this is where I wish I had a second thumb.

My PIPs are mapped to X,Y,B, and A.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated! I have tried with the alternative controls, but I it seems I am either not maping them properly, or the alternative controls just don't have the button options I want for certain functions.

Peace

 

[ThatRubberDuck]

if you have the elite controller you can map your throttle up/down to the two stick clicks and then map two paddles to those which frees up the bumpers for whatever you need it for chaff/ecm/FAoff ect, not sure if it'll help with whatever your looking for but I found it handy

 

[mung0]

Use whatever works but that's quite a far-out setup.

The standard controller layout on the Xbox version works pretty well given the limitations.

Broad strokes of it -

Bumpers - throttle
Left stick - pitch & roll
Right stick - yaw on X axis, vert lats on Y axis

Main triggers - guns
ABXY buttons - various functions.. Select target, boost, hardpoints, hyperspace, and from there combo buttons for loads of stuff
Dpad - pip management

That's the basics, with throttle on the bumpers you can control throttle while manauvering without too much trouble.

 

[Roasted1982]

Use whatever works but that's quite a far-out setup.

The standard controller layout on the Xbox version works pretty well given the limitations.

Broad strokes of it -

Bumpers - throttle
Left stick - pitch & roll
Right stick - yaw on X axis, vert lats on Y axis

Main triggers - guns
ABXY buttons - various functions.. Select target, boost, hardpoints, hyperspace, and from there combo buttons for loads of stuff
Dpad - pip management

That's the basics, with throttle on the bumpers you can control throttle while manauvering without too much trouble.

That's what I use but there is some limitations with this. You can't circle strafe effectively without having a dedicated forward and reverse thrust mapping vs thrusters up and thrusters down. Also the default mapping of switching between left and right thristers and yaw doesn't allow you to do maneuvers like the barrel roll corkscrew while staying on target. I dunno what the solution is though.

 

[mung0]

That's what I use but there is some limitations with this. You can't circle strafe effectively without having a dedicated forward and reverse thrust mapping vs thrusters up and thrusters down. Also the default mapping of switching between left and right thristers and yaw doesn't allow you to do maneuvers like the barrel roll corkscrew while staying on target. I dunno what the solution is though.

It's certainly not perfect, we don't *quite* have enough buttons for full 6-axis while keeping basic functions at a single button press really. The Xbox version defaults cover basic flying pretty well, advanced manauvers less so.

I changed up the alt controls (yknow the right stick click switch by default) to move yaw onto the left stick with horizontal lats on the right stick. That lets me circle strafe just fine, downside is losing roll means you go off kilter after a while but you can switch, correct and switch back again to apply correction easily enough. It's good for planetside work anyway. 'Helicopter mode' I call it.

It would probably be much more logical to keep yaw on the right stick and put horizontal lats onto left stick for the alt controls, but hundreds of hours docking under the default of lats on right stick have burned hard into my muscle memory.

 

[MVous]

I've only been at this game for a little over a month, and am only Competent in combat in this game, so feel free to ignore me. I played BF4 for a long time and became quite the ace at helicopters and jets, though this is a bit more complex. I've been messing around with control set ups and I keep coming back to my "default."

I run an Elite and my set-up is:

Throttle up - R trigger
Throttle down - L trigger

Primary Weapon - R bumper
Secondary Weapon - L bumper

Yaw and vertical thrust - L stick axis
Pitch and roll - R stick axis

*EDIT* also, I might add that I don't have any yaw into roll.

PIP management - D-pad

And various combinations of button/paddle presses for other functions.

I tried using paddles for combat functions, but muscle memory was pushing me back to my original set-up. The biggest problem I have with my set-up is that I have "use heatsink" mapped to LB/RB, so I can only use primary and secondary weapons separately. To work around this, I've started using pulse or burst turrets on larger vessels (no matter maneuverability) mapped to primary, larger weapons to secondary, and heat sink/scb/chaff to primary all in the same fire group. On my Vulture I run two gimballed pulse, so they're LB and my sink/scb/chaff are RB.

Probably going to change my Vulture set-up today since my nemesis are the Deadly+ FDS variants. Not enough hull damage and they have too much firepower for their maneuverability for me to be competitive. Took out a Master Conda on my own with current set-up, so IDK.

Anyway, hope that wasn't too long. Best of luck!

 

[Sneake Llama]

It's certainly not perfect, we don't *quite* have enough buttons for full 6-axis while keeping basic functions at a single button press really. The Xbox version defaults cover basic flying pretty well, advanced manauvers less so.

I changed up the alt controls (yknow the right stick click switch by default) to move yaw onto the left stick with horizontal lats on the right stick. That lets me circle strafe just fine, downside is losing roll means you go off kilter after a while but you can switch, correct and switch back again to apply correction easily enough. It's good for planetside work anyway. 'Helicopter mode' I call it.

It would probably be much more logical to keep yaw on the right stick and put horizontal lats onto left stick for the alt controls, but hundreds of hours docking under the default of lats on right stick have burned hard into my muscle memory.

I like the alt switch method. Biggest thing for me is finding the right feel for the thrusters mixed with everything else. I want to get comfortable being able to stay in the enemies blind spot, but trying to find that sweet comfortable setup is tough.

I'll try that alt switch, but currently I have right stick click as FA off/on and left stick as boost. Gonna have to do alot of tinkering.

 

[heliman001]

I map my controller like a mode 2 radio controller.
So right stick works like a conventional aircraft joystick,forward is nose down and back nose up.
Left and right roll in that direction.
Left stick left and right is yaw/rudder.
Up and down is thrust control up or down.
Throttle is on the bumpers which I have mapped to the top Elite controller paddles.
The rest is pretty much standard.
I find this is the most logical setup for me.
If you want to use fixed weapons then longer sticks are a must.

 

[TERMINATRIXXX]

I use P1 to boost so i can use LS and RS at the same time.
P3 + RS Click is Chaff
P3 + LS Click is ECM
P2 + P4 = FA On/Off (i use two sets of these smaller paddles as the original paddles are too sensitive/accidently clicked etc)
A + LB = SLF Attack target
A + RB = Engage at will
RB + LB = 50% Throttle
LB + RB = 0% Throttle

Elite controller required

 

[Sneake Llama]

I think I found something that will work. Haven't tried it yet, but going over it in my brain, I think it will work for me. (I don't have an elite controller)

Y = Frame Shift
Y + Dpad = Landing Gear
X = Hardpoints
X +Dpad = Shield Boost/Chaff/Heat Sink
B = Boost
B + Dpad = FA off
A = Select Target Ahead
A + Dpad = Next/Previous Hostile; Next/Previous Target


Bumpers = Throttles
Triggers = Primary/Secondary Fire
Dpad = PIPs

Left Stick = Yaw/Vertical Thrust
LS Click = Alt Flight
Right Stick = Pitch/Roll
RS Click = Headlook


I see alot of people like Yaw/ Vertical Thrust on the right stick. I guess I'm just used to other games like someone mentioned where vehicles are throttled with the left stick. Since I currently had throttle on the left stick, i think replacing it with the vertical thrust makes the most sense for me. I guess the Lateral Thrusts arent has important? I will probably have those on the alt flight.

Gonna have to practice to get used to this new setup. Anyone see anything I missed, or have any more suggestions? I wish I had an Elite controller, but until I can afford that hefty price tag, I'm stuck with this.

Peace

- - - Updated - - -

RB + LB = 50% Throttle
LB + RB = 0% Throttle

Elite controller required

I like that setup. I will incorporate that in my mapping!

 

[agentbeef]

pitch and yaw on left stick
roll and up/down thrust on right stick
inc speed right bumper
dec speed left bumper
all other buttons as normal
that's for a regular xbone pad.