Better way to control ships?

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Itusa
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Better way to control ships?

Post by Itusa »

Because in all seriousness the arrow keys are flawed and the mouse idea...yuk.

If I just tap the key lightly the ship may alter direction from anywhere between 1 degree and 15 almost randomly. The mouse is apparently no better. The slightest twitch sends the ship in a spin or doesn't move at all depending on the setting.

I suspect that typing in a new heading would help particularly with docking. Especially if you could set a distance you would like to travel manually. Is there a control method like that available?

Also...what does the auto tracker do and how do I use it? So far it seems like a waste of money...oh and same for the tractor beam...pressing the space bar with the tractor beam selected sends out a beam of light but otherwise...nuthin! Thanks!
Operating System: (Linux) Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety)
Vegastrike-taose: 0.5.1
Itusa
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Re: Better way to control ships?

Post by Itusa »

Also what about setting the speed manually e.g via typing. Instead of tap a d hope I get the right speed.
Operating System: (Linux) Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety)
Vegastrike-taose: 0.5.1
loki1950
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Re: Better way to control ships?

Post by loki1950 »

You could use a joystick with a throttle but I find Mouse Glide useful since my joystick bit the dust even survived a 20 ship furball fight :D with Mouse Glide BTW speed is a meaningless concept in space it's velocity that is important everything is a vector not scalar terms such as speed :wink: the only time I worry about velocity is on a docking approach then it's a couple meters/sec which is simple to get just [backspace] to zero wait till that happens then a few taps on the [+] key for the final approach using the type in method would need a major rewrite of flybywire.ccp the control module.Tractor beams do work but are tricky find some auto-tracking upgrades for your gun and missile mounts that remember the vector thing your tractor must cancel the velocity of the object your are capturing before it starts moving in your direction all objects have inertia in vegastrike.

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Itusa
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Re: Better way to control ships?

Post by Itusa »

I find it odd that velocity isn't tied to the scroll wheel now that I think about it.

I'm also not convinced a major rewrite would be needed unless the code is that badly designed. Surely just a case of taking input from the chat feature (I.e treat it as a terminal interface)? Then inserting that value instead of the key command? Not that I'm a coder at all.

For so.e reason i still can't get yhe tractor beam to do anything except emit a beam though... Hmmm.

Thanks!
Operating System: (Linux) Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety)
Vegastrike-taose: 0.5.1
Maxaxle
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Re: Better way to control ships?

Post by Maxaxle »

Quick idea that might just be awful: Treat the mouse cursor as a finger on a touchpad; a movement to the left 1 inch would turn the ship 30 degrees, a movement to the right 6 inches would turn the ship 180 degrees. Both cases would base acceleration on mouse acceleration and stop the ship's rotation when the mouse stopped.
Itusa
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Re: Better way to control ships?

Post by Itusa »

That's pretty much what Mouse Glide does, although you have to bring the mouse back to the centre of the screen to stop.

Certainly if there was a shortcut key to just stop turning, like the backspace key for velocity would be useful, regardless of mouse position (or force mouse back to centre). That would be a useful compromise.
Operating System: (Linux) Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety)
Vegastrike-taose: 0.5.1
Maxaxle
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Re: Better way to control ships?

Post by Maxaxle »

1. My initial idea was more like a touchpad, i.e. you only rotate as long as the mouse is moving. As soon as it stops moving, regardless of position, the ship would stop turning.
2. Indeed, a "center mouse cursor" key would be nice.
DarkVixen
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Re: Better way to control ships?

Post by DarkVixen »

I use an XBox-like game controller I got from a friend, it has two little joystick-like-things that I use for heading, pitch, roll and it has two linear triggers I use as throttles (they all appear as axises for Vega Strike).

It works okay for me, but it does have a large "null zone" for each axis so when I fly starships that turn fast it's hard to get a precise heading. It's also hard to aim during fights but I suppose its better than a mouse.
Maxaxle
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Re: Better way to control ships?

Post by Maxaxle »

DarkVixen wrote: It works okay for me, but it does have a large "null zone" for each axis so when I fly starships that turn fast it's hard to get a precise heading.
Dead zones, huh? Maybe Windows' Control Panel has something to say about your game controller.
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