Helicopter and Jet flying, Joystick or Mouse..

[CHUGGA-CHUGGA]

Hello all,

Well i hope this hasn't been posted before, i just did a quick forum search and nothing came up, (wouldn't want my second thread so fare to be double posted and removed.) so i went ahead with it.

As you can see by the title of the thread, I'm posting a question/census of the preferences of Pr pilots.

I personally cannot fully decide. I have been using and am currently using my Logitech EXTREME 3D PRO , which is serving me with, with twist able joystick for rudder movements and throttle/collective as a movable ... yoke? it satisfies all my rotary and fixed wing needs.

Recently i was flying around on a training server and decided to try out my mouse. I hoped into a Helicopter and started to fly around.. Well at first the response of the mouse was an upside compared to the slightly sluggish joystick... BUT soon to come was the downside, personally i WAY prefer the adjustable throttle control compared to on/hover/off of W&S keys.

Once i had crashed and burned, i respawned at the JET base, hopped into one and waited. Once i had it nicely warmed up, i began to TRY and taxi... Using the joystick made it much easier than when i was trying to taxi with the mouse, constantly "stroking the mouse pad" with my mouse was getting annoying while trying to get the plane to taxi onto the runway.
Once in the air i begin some simple turns and roles, the response when rolling the aircraft with the mouse was fine, if not a bit touchy but when i began to do some tight horizontal turns i was back to stroking the mouse pad...

When using my joystick with the JETS, everything was FINE!, i could taxi easily, turn well, and do some fun low level flying with precision. Not to mention the increased realism i felt while controlling the aircraft with joystick compared to mouse/keyboard.

ok... so the verdict..

Well fixed wing is 'plane' and simple.... Joystick, for the numerous reasons i stated above^

But for the helicopter..... I liked the response of the mouse, i can see where it would come in handy with delicate landings in between buildings etc...
but with the joystick my flying was much more fluent and smooth, and just like with the jets, gave me a much more realistic feel...

Ive also felt that my landings seem to be a bit faster with the mouse compared to joystick, im much more .. picky with my landings on the joystick, seeing that it takes my longer to line up the helicopter compared to the mouse....


All that's nice but it leads me nowhere....


So if you want please post your preferences and side of the debate bellow, help us all out.

Thanks again, CHUGGA CHUGGA

[smee]

planes joystick
helo mouse.

with the helo , my thrustmaster seems to get confused when I used twist rudder and turn Roll.

[CHUGGA-CHUGGA]

Thanks for the reply smee, yeh i was wondering about what to do with the helo, planes a no brainer..

I just dont like moving my mouse up then off the pad then down then back up in an upwards stroking motion like ive said before.

Thanks again

0.CHUGGA.CHUGGA.0

[Proff3ssorXman]

Joystick for everything.

I have been playing flight sims for pretty much as long as I could spell computer, so I haven't really done anything else.

I have tried Mouse+Keyboard when I haven't had my joystick, and whilst I can fly, I can't do evasive action, and everything feels out of sync.

[Cptkanito]

Same for me, Joystick for everything

I really think a joystick gives you more control over the aircraft. Everybody is different, just see which you prefer and go with that.

[SgtFailure]

well you can actually taxi by holding the "up" button, theres no need for constant rolling of mouse. and basically for tight turns i will use the direction buttons also, no point stroking the mouse and end up not turning at all, its all about synchronization of the mouse and the keyboard.

-SgtFailure

[Nickbond592]

yes its essential to have a joystick to fly the jets, you cant fly properly and your manouveraility is vastly hampered if your using a mouse to fly a jet in PR

The choppers are a different story, people are fairly evenly split on what they use to fly.
Personally i use a keyboard and mouse, started in vanilla and after some experiance in 2v2 heli vs heli matches i moved on to PR, although flying in PR is quite different in most aspects the basic control of a helicopter still uses a lot of the skills i picked up in vanilla.

I have tryed to use a joystick to fly a helicopter and i just cant seam to get to grips with it properly, every manouver i know relies on me instictivly just moving my hands in a certain direction without me thinking about it, so when i try to replicate this with a joystick i crash and burn lol

there are a few advantages and disadvantages with both peripherals,
for example, yes a joystick is more smoother in flight, but with a mouse and keyboard you can have 100% throttle followed by 0% throttle instantly and can stab away to pull of some interesting manouvers a hell of a lot harder to achive using a joystick throttle,

But at the end of the day its down to user preferance, I know of good pilots that use both the joystick and the mouse/keyboard setups and even one that uses pure keyboard, whatever works best

[CHUGGA-CHUGGA]

Hello all,

thank you for your replies,

yes i have been flying on simulators (namely FSX) for awhile now, and of course, joystick is the only thing i use in the simulators.... but im having second thoughts about that in Pr. Was doing so more flying today, yes the quick stabs of power and quick lurchy movements of the mouse compared to slow smooth of the joystick really does come in handy .. haven't used mouse&KB in combat yet but I'm sure i will get the chance.

Thank you Sgt Failure for that useful information about taxiing, im sure it will come in handy when i don't have my joystick at hand.

Hmm still undecided, but i have to say the throttle control on my joystick really helps, the landings (for me) are softer with it.

Talking about evasion techniques.. I don't really know any written techniques, kinda just try to make a break for cover, so i haven't (luckily as I'm still deciding) got any hand movements imprinted into my brain.

Well thanks for you thoughts

P.S nice sig nikbond, how come you can have animated sigs??

[smee]

always wondered about getting some foot peddles for rudder. Thought that could be kewl.

Did try TrackIR, but needed to run in mouse mode to use which considering i use mouse was a no no. So that went back.

[Zrix]

I rarely fly jets in PR, but joystick is my preffered controller in both planes and helis.

In some cases you can actually get a more rapid and precise response with a mouse, but overall I prefer the stick as it makes flying smoother, and makes long continous manouvers possible.

[SgtFailure]

Yea i prefer the joystick, but the previous one i had broke into 2 pieces and since then i cant find any joystick for sale. i always run out of space when trying to pull away from a dive to avoid missiles...Another limitation of the mouse.

SgtFailure

[McBumLuv]

I find Joystick for both is uber win. While helicopters are often a bit harder to keep level with a joystick (bigger learning curve for it, but still just as possible), they allow you to do all the evasive maneuvers you need to perform. Especially when you're going at full speed, the helicopter acts alot like a plane when diving, and joysticks are much more fluent for me, and allow for better control with fewer jags and such.

[badmojo420]

I have tryed to use a joystick to fly a helicopter and i just cant seam to get to grips with it properly, every manouver i know relies on me instictivly just moving my hands in a certain direction without me thinking about it, so when i try to replicate this with a joystick i crash and burn lol

LOL switch joystick and mouse around and thats me. In the heat of the battle i panic and can't wrap my head around flying with the mouse. It just doesn't give me that feeling like i'm in total control, more like i'm using a mouse to control a virtual flight stick. But thats just me.

[McBumLuv]

Yup, with helicopters I found it took a lot longer getting used to, but now I can't go back.

[Mile5]

I have a joystick too but never fly much.. It does very well tho, especially whilst flying planes. Helicopter seem like a whole different ball game to me when I try and use a joystick for it though. Nothing good ever came from it.

It surprises me tho that nobody here has vouched for the keyboard only control. I've been doing it that way for ages and still do it. It responds really quickly, there is no mouse dragging and you won't ever be grabbing anything other than your keyboard. The only thing you will miss is having a throttle control, but this is quickly overcome since most of the time it's either full reverse or full throttle (even when you actually have throttle control).

Also, try setting your throttle control for vehicles! Driving your apc through town at the speed of the infantry walking next to you becomes really easy.

[CHUGGA-CHUGGA]

Thanks for the replies guys,

Smee, so you move your head whilst looking at the monitor? so really slight movements gets you big movements in-game?? Yeh rudder pedals look awesome, if you really wanna go all out you can get heli collective and joystick too, and yoke and throttle.

Yeh well it looks like a lot of people are saying joystick, which is kinda swaying my usage, although Mile5 did 'vouch' for the only keyboard control, Yeh i used to use that when connecting my joystick was too much of a hassle. It was fine for controlling jets except for one thing, the pitch sensitivity was way different than the roll sensitivity, so i would tap up, and tap right -> and i would have the plane inverted.. and for helicopters i found it too clumsy and not sensitive enough.... but that's just what i experienced.

Oh and seting my throttle control to joystick for land vehicles, wow that sounds great, really impress some of the squad members, moving in formation with them when im in an APC

Thanks for all your ideas and though, CHUGGA.CHUGGA

[TomDackery]

I found that Jets and most Helos (namely the Apache, Cobra, Blackhawk, "Cow", and Huey) work well with the joystick. However, for the Helicopters I don't use the joystick throttle, seeing as I don't feel like messing with that for an hour or so to 0 it out.

However, for the Littlebird, those are very touchy helicopters, and in my opinion need the delicate touch of a mouse.

But thats just me.

[CHUGGA-CHUGGA]

Yes i agree, i do like the joystick with most helicopters but i do like my throttle control with them, i don't know about yours but mines a rotatable paddle, no messing about trying to for 0, although if i put the stick all the way down my skids dig into the ground because i have negative blade pitch. But landing the helo becomes easy as i just do the throttle by feel. I haven't tried the mouse with the littlebird in comparison though so ill see how it goes

Thanks , CHUGGA.CHUGGA

[Havoc134]

I find that using amouse is hard for jets because its almost impossible to make tight turns. You dont have that problem with a mouse.

[McBumLuv]

I find that using amouse is hard for jets because its almost impossible to make tight turns. You dont have that problem with a mouse.

Wait, what does that mean?