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- Feb 8, 2014
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* Don't feel like reading the paragraphs for the details? The most important stuff is underlined! *
Lemme know what you think or if anything has already been said or done! Thanks!
Certain aspects of this game's controls and configs when directed at joysticks makes it extremely annoying or counter-productive to play with one. One such aspect is the firing reticle that makes it nearly impossible to fly with a joystick and actually effectively target and fire at an opponent. Another is the lack of throttle options for thrust control, or for that matter, thrust control at all.
Tricky Firing with a Fast and Wild Reticle
The current method uses an outer ring and an inner circle. With a mouse, one would move the mouse and the inner circle moves in that direction, the larger ring(and ship) chasing after the smaller. When using a mouse, the smaller circle rarely leaves the range of the larger, except when doing extreme turns, making fine course firing simple. Mouse controls allow for simple movement of the smaller circle, and therefore easy aiming of the weapons. The problem with this when using a joystick is that the fine-controls for this are terrible, making it extremely difficult for accurate targeted firing. Instead of staying within the range of the larger circle, the smaller circle almost ALWAYS moves far outside the larger, even with the slightest joystick/ship movement, causing firing at odd directions. The weapon systems fire at the smaller circle, which is where the ship is going, rather than staying fixed within the center of the larger circle, which is where the ship is actually facing at the time. One would think the simple fix to this is changing the sensitivity of the movements, however; this simply makes it so you have to push your joystick further to get the same sudden jump to the far outside of the larger circle. The easiest fix for this would be to add an option in a players controls that 'fixes' the weapons firing to the center of the larger circle, rather than chasing after the wilder smaller circle used for movement.
Why Can't I Stttaawwwppp
When using any form of throttle, this game only supports the ability to have the throttle set up in one way, which is liked by some, but generally not the usual setup used.
Typical Throttles: Pulled all the way back - Ship stopped, throttled down; Pushed all the way forwards - ship accelerates at max speed
This Game: Push throttle forwards - ship accelerates; Pull throttle back - ship goes backwards; somewhere in the middle - eventually stop maybe?
This second method is generally offered by all space games or flight simulators, but almost always second to the first method, which is far easier to use and less cumbersome. The second leaves one guessing when they've actually stopped their acceleration, or in a constant game of move it just a little bit more one way or the other. This becomes extremely annoying when trying to dock or do any other kind of flight. As opposed to its keyboard opposite, you hold down the key and it moves you in the direction you want to go, let go and it slows to a stop. Simple and easy. Of course there is the break, which would be useful if it worked in conjunction with throttle. The throttle still needs to be in that 'sweet spot' for the break to actually take effect. The simplest fix to this would be to add an option for forward thrust only. Currently there seems to be a category in the settings labeled 'forward thrust,' but upon setting it to the throttle axis, it either did not work, or still had the same forwards-backwards effect.
What's even the point in throttles though?
Of course, even if this was implemented, there is the fact that there is no actual speed control when using a throttle. The biggest thing that would mean anything is if the ability to control exact speeds with the throttle was added. If you want to go a certain speed with the keyboard, currently its hit and release W repeatedly to keep at that speed. With a throttle, its completely useless as there is no speed control at all. Even the slightest throttle acceleration has you going at max speed eventually. The easiest way to fix/improve this for both is to change it so that there is a throttle bar somewhere with visual speed indicators. Holding W will raise the throttle bar to a certain speed until you let go, then it will hold it at that speed. To lower speed, one would hold S to lower the throttle back down. This would then also work for a joystick throttle. Without this kind of function, this game won't be as good as it could be when flying ships.
After having played this game for a long time with keyboard and mouse, and having gotten a joystick for some other games, the thought occurred to me to try it with Starmade. Unfortunately it seems like way more trouble to use a joystick in Starmade as opposed to its simpler and easier to use Keyboard and Mouse counterpart. This game's flight dynamics could use some improvements to keep up with the awesome ships players can make and add to the games overall functionality. Holding W is a little.. too simple. Or at least an option to use throttled speed or the current method would be nice.
Lemme know what you think or if anything has already been said or done! Thanks!
Certain aspects of this game's controls and configs when directed at joysticks makes it extremely annoying or counter-productive to play with one. One such aspect is the firing reticle that makes it nearly impossible to fly with a joystick and actually effectively target and fire at an opponent. Another is the lack of throttle options for thrust control, or for that matter, thrust control at all.
Tricky Firing with a Fast and Wild Reticle
The current method uses an outer ring and an inner circle. With a mouse, one would move the mouse and the inner circle moves in that direction, the larger ring(and ship) chasing after the smaller. When using a mouse, the smaller circle rarely leaves the range of the larger, except when doing extreme turns, making fine course firing simple. Mouse controls allow for simple movement of the smaller circle, and therefore easy aiming of the weapons. The problem with this when using a joystick is that the fine-controls for this are terrible, making it extremely difficult for accurate targeted firing. Instead of staying within the range of the larger circle, the smaller circle almost ALWAYS moves far outside the larger, even with the slightest joystick/ship movement, causing firing at odd directions. The weapon systems fire at the smaller circle, which is where the ship is going, rather than staying fixed within the center of the larger circle, which is where the ship is actually facing at the time. One would think the simple fix to this is changing the sensitivity of the movements, however; this simply makes it so you have to push your joystick further to get the same sudden jump to the far outside of the larger circle. The easiest fix for this would be to add an option in a players controls that 'fixes' the weapons firing to the center of the larger circle, rather than chasing after the wilder smaller circle used for movement.
Why Can't I Stttaawwwppp
When using any form of throttle, this game only supports the ability to have the throttle set up in one way, which is liked by some, but generally not the usual setup used.
Typical Throttles: Pulled all the way back - Ship stopped, throttled down; Pushed all the way forwards - ship accelerates at max speed
This Game: Push throttle forwards - ship accelerates; Pull throttle back - ship goes backwards; somewhere in the middle - eventually stop maybe?
This second method is generally offered by all space games or flight simulators, but almost always second to the first method, which is far easier to use and less cumbersome. The second leaves one guessing when they've actually stopped their acceleration, or in a constant game of move it just a little bit more one way or the other. This becomes extremely annoying when trying to dock or do any other kind of flight. As opposed to its keyboard opposite, you hold down the key and it moves you in the direction you want to go, let go and it slows to a stop. Simple and easy. Of course there is the break, which would be useful if it worked in conjunction with throttle. The throttle still needs to be in that 'sweet spot' for the break to actually take effect. The simplest fix to this would be to add an option for forward thrust only. Currently there seems to be a category in the settings labeled 'forward thrust,' but upon setting it to the throttle axis, it either did not work, or still had the same forwards-backwards effect.
What's even the point in throttles though?
Of course, even if this was implemented, there is the fact that there is no actual speed control when using a throttle. The biggest thing that would mean anything is if the ability to control exact speeds with the throttle was added. If you want to go a certain speed with the keyboard, currently its hit and release W repeatedly to keep at that speed. With a throttle, its completely useless as there is no speed control at all. Even the slightest throttle acceleration has you going at max speed eventually. The easiest way to fix/improve this for both is to change it so that there is a throttle bar somewhere with visual speed indicators. Holding W will raise the throttle bar to a certain speed until you let go, then it will hold it at that speed. To lower speed, one would hold S to lower the throttle back down. This would then also work for a joystick throttle. Without this kind of function, this game won't be as good as it could be when flying ships.
After having played this game for a long time with keyboard and mouse, and having gotten a joystick for some other games, the thought occurred to me to try it with Starmade. Unfortunately it seems like way more trouble to use a joystick in Starmade as opposed to its simpler and easier to use Keyboard and Mouse counterpart. This game's flight dynamics could use some improvements to keep up with the awesome ships players can make and add to the games overall functionality. Holding W is a little.. too simple. Or at least an option to use throttled speed or the current method would be nice.
