Hands-on with SWTOR's Galactic Starfighter

[GalacticKegger]

They don't have to mimic any specific free flight game, they all have joystick support. H.I.S, world of planes, warthunder.

All purpose-built flight sims then?

[Vandicus]

I may be mistaken here, can you fly around upside down in GS? can you pull an immelmann or split s without the use of some special ability?

 

Yes, though only Kuat Mesas truly has an upside down(there isn't any directional orientation in space). i never made a practice of "reorienting" myself while dogfighting in GS because doing so is entirely unnecessary.

Edited November 15, 2013 by Vandicus

[Mallorik]

Yes and yes. Can even pull the Top Gun slam on the reverse thrusters, let the guy on your tail blow past, kick the thrusters back in and lock onto his 6. I even tried a Lumchevok but since there's no gravity in space dragging the tail was not possible so I couldn't complete it.

 

The top gun slam thing doesn't mean its free flight, being able to use and hold all the axis makes it free flight, and means it should have joystick support, period.

[Mallorik]

Yes, though only Kuat Mesas truly has an upside down(there isn't any directional orientation in space). i never made a practice of "reorienting" myself while dogfigintg in GS because doing so is entirely unnecessary.

 

yeah I didn't mean relative to the ground, I just meant can you turn and hold all the axis, yaw, pitch and roll.

[Mallorik]

All purpose-built flight sims then?

 

HIS is far from sim, same with world of warplanes. Warthunder is closest to sim but still more arcade than sim.

Edited November 15, 2013 by Mallorik

[ZETA_SCORPII]

HIS is far from sim, same with world of warplanes. Warthunder is closest to sim but still more arcade than sim.

 

Do you even know when you stopped enjoying video games?

[GalacticKegger]

The top gun slam thing doesn't mean its free flight, being able to use and hold all the axis makes it free flight, and means it should have joystick support, period.

Your mind appears to be made up on this, with no level of convincing otherwise possible. I'm good with that. I would hope that you refrain from trying to chase people away because it isn't what you want. I would also hope that you try it out on the PTS.

[Mallorik]

Do you even know when you stopped enjoying video games?

 

So because I know the difference between an arcade and a sim flight game means I don't enjoy both of them?

[PlasmaJohn]

In short, anyone using a joystick with the current GS design will not be competitive. There is just too much focus on using the mouse cursor to aim your guns within the weapon arc. To make joysticks truly viable and competitive, they'd either need to add some sort of auto-tracking, or better yet go back to the X-wing model, where guns are aimed straight ahead.

Or maybe... leave the mouse for targeting while the stick controls direction and speed. (yeah, yeah, fixed mount weapons not turreted...)

 

That said, I'd kill for track IR support.

Having read about TrackIR... that would be hot.

[Mallorik]

Your mind appears to be made up on this, with no level of convincing otherwise possible. I'm good with that. I would hope that you refrain from trying to chase people away because it isn't what you want. I would also hope that you try it out on the PTS.

 

When have I told anyone not to play GS? im just making an argument that if its free flight it needs joystick support. And im doing it on these forums where everyone is already subbed, not on outside forums where people are deciding whether to sub or not. Youre preaching to the choir on these forums when all you do is defend bioware for bad choices, if more people let them know they are bad choices maybe they would stop making them.

 

And yes I will be on the pts immediately trying to get my controllers to work, although I have little hope trying to bind analog roll keyboard controls to a gamepad or joystick axis.

[Infernixx]

There's a lot of entitlement in this thread regarding joystick support, especially considering you can do everything necessary to implement such a thing on your own without BW having to spend extra resources catering to 2-3 snowflake controllers.

 

But then I've come to expect that nothing is ever good enough for some people.

[Lord_Ravenhurst]

I don't see this as a space sim, more like a quick arcady style multiplayer Rogue Squadron in predefined scenarios.

 

Let's face it, people who want a space sim will play Star Citizen anyway, people who want to play SWTOR will stick with Galactic Starfighter for quick battles every now and then.

 

 

If BW ever adds ground vehicle combat it would most likely be warzones with AT-STs and tanks, somehow similiar to World of Tanks

Edited November 15, 2013 by Lord_Ravenhurst

[Zoom_VI]

When have I told anyone not to play GS? im just making an argument that if its free flight it needs joystick support. And im doing it on these forums where everyone is already subbed, not on outside forums where people are deciding whether to sub or not. Youre preaching to the choir on these forums when all you do is defend bioware for bad choices, if more people let them know they are bad choices maybe they would stop making them.

 

And yes I will be on the pts immediately trying to get my controllers to work, although I have little hope trying to bind analog roll keyboard controls to a gamepad or joystick axis.

 

Everything I have seen says you can bind controls to a joystick with the exception of a couple individual joysticks.

 

Joysticks work, what I see is your complaining that the flight control is not optimized for joystick users. Sorry the vast majority of swtor players don't own joysticks they are not going to cater to you.

[Hambunctious]

Everything I have seen says you can bind controls to a joystick with the exception of a couple individual joysticks.

 

Joysticks work, what I see is your complaining that the flight control is not optimized for joystick users. Sorry the vast majority of swtor players don't own joysticks they are not going to cater to you.

 

You'd be wrong, they don't work, and can't work with the moving target reticules being tied to mouse movement.

 

Don't spread false info.

 

Edit: You don't actually control your ship like any decent space shooter, you control your target reticule with a mouse, and the ship follows that reticule eventually.

Edited November 15, 2013 by Hambunctious

[Mallorik]

Joysticks work, what I see is your complaining that the flight control is not optimized for joystick users. Sorry the vast majority of swtor players don't own joysticks they are not going to cater to you.

 

Exactly "Swtor players" people who are already playing this game. Why limit your appeal to another audience when it is so easy to add?

 

Anyway I would argue that the people who would play this all the time (swtor players like me included) are the people who love flight games, and those people want joysticks in their flight games.

[Zoom_VI]

You'd be wrong, they don't work, and can't work with the moving target reticules being tied to mouse movement.

 

Don't spread false info.

 

Edit: You don't actually control your ship like any decent space shooter, you control your target reticule with a mouse, and the ship follows that reticule eventually.

 

I swear I just read a thread on this recently.

 

No matter, some people play this game now on Xbox controllers (my old guild's GM did) binding to a joystick should be no more difficult.

 

I don't understand hwo you justify it anyway, its worse than the people argueing macros should be allowed because X and Y games had macro functionality. Only this is more extreme because Joysticks are actual hardware that have to be bought, rather than simple coding.

[Mallorik]

Edit: You don't actually control your ship like any decent space shooter, you control your target reticule with a mouse, and the ship follows that reticule eventually.

 

That is what I was assuming, most flight games who offer keyboard and mouse support operate that way, and lock the reticle when a stick is enabled.

 

Really ruins the whole feeling of actually flying.

[Hambunctious]

No matter, some people play this game now on Xbox controllers (my old guild's GM did) binding to a joystick should be no more difficult.

 

 

The difference being you can actually control your ground character's movement with keyboard commands that can be bound to a controller. GS doesn't operate the same way, but it should have. No one would have a problem otherwise.

 

I think there's some 3rd party software that might allow a person to simulate mouse movement with a controller. I forget the name of it though. I'll have to search the net for it.

Edited November 15, 2013 by Hambunctious

[Andryah]

I think there's some 3rd party software that might allow a person to simulate mouse movement with a controller. I forget the name of it though. I'll have to search the net for it.

 

Logitech's G13 joystick does it right out of the box. I'm sure most joysticks actually do as well, IF you actually bother to use their native configuration and mapping software.

 

If you're running LGPS v3.06 (or higher), you enable mouse emulation by clicking on any of the 4 arrows around the center thumbstick button, and choose "Assign Mouse..." from the popup menu. you can't click the round button in the center because that's for the thumbstick button.

 

Stop trying to make this look like rocket science. It's not.

Edited November 15, 2013 by Andryah

[Hambunctious]

There's a few programs that claim to allow a xbox controller to control a mouse pointer. There's no native solution for it, however. There's no native solution for my saitek, or sidewinder precision pro either.

[Mallorik]

Logitech's G13 joystick does it right out of the box. I'm sure most joysticks actually do as well, IF you actually bother to use their native configuration and mapping software.

 

If you're running LGPS v3.06 (or higher), you enable mouse emulation by clicking on any of the 4 arrows around the center thumbstick button, and choose "Assign Mouse..." from the popup menu. you can't click the round button in the center because that's for the thumbstick button.

 

Stop trying to make this look like rocket science. It's not.

 

For a joystick to really work they need to allow the ability to lock the reticle, or take the two days it would take middle schooler to do it in his computer class.

[Vandicus]

For a joystick to really work they need to allow the ability to lock the reticle, or take the two days it would take middle schooler to do it in his computer class.

 

You can lock the reticle. That just conveys an inherent disadvantage though.

[Svii]

Wow.. talk about maximizing an absolutely pointless discussion. It's been said earlier, GS is optimized for use with KB+Mouse. The end.

 

I saw Freespace mentioned, that game is actually better with a mouse instead of a joystick. Because it was designed that way.

 

The internet

 

PS. Really looking forward to GS!

[Ingmar]

I've noticed that many people here are telling those of us who prefer and/or demand joystick support to look at World of Warplanes to see that a flight sim doesn't need a joystick to be good.

 

I play World of Warplanes. With a joystick. I wouldn't play it if it didn't have joystick support. I tried flying in that game with a keyboard, then with a mouse.

 

Yes, I realize that SWTOR is an MMO more like World of Warcraft than World of Warplanes. Yes, I realize that most people don't have a joystick. Yes, I realize that I am in a minority (however vocal). And yes, I realize it's time to manage my expectations.

 

I will expand on what I said about having high hopes for this game. My hope was that BioWare/EA/Disney had realized that there actually was a gaming audience that would play a space combat sim like World of Warplanes, set in space, and had decided to tap into it. My hope was that the older monthly subscription system would be done away with in favor of microtransactions. And I really wanted to fly an X-Wing against other players.

 

So I'm disappointed. If you are excited about Galactic Starfighters, specifically about playing a space combat game without gamepad or joystick support, I'm happy for you. I say that without any rancor. But the game will continue to not be for me. Don't get mad just because I don't like the same things as you do.

 

Here's hoping that the future brings something we can all enjoy.

 

All I can say is that you need to try it before you pass judgement. I found the control scheme to actually be very clever, and it plays very well with a mouse and keyboard. I was surprised; I even asked before we got to play the demo about why we weren't getting joystick or gamepad support. After playing it, I can't see how it would be anything but *worse* with a joystick. They did a really good job with this, and I think you should give it a chance.

[Mallorik]

You can lock the reticle. That just conveys an inherent disadvantage though.

 

With a locked reticle and a joystick, ill gladly let you think im at a disadvantage.