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Hotas Or Not?


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#1 Attackmack

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Posted 28 November 2012 - 12:48 PM

Hi guys, im new here and fairly new to Mechwarrior in general. Havent played much of the previous games but i absolutely love big fighting mechanical monsters.
Ive just tried my first game, completely witless and useless but ill be reading up before trying again and might be looking to join a more serious group aswell.

But heres my first question: Is there any advantage to play this game with a hotas other then the feel of it?
I am (was) a simjunkie and used to play alot of flighsims. Everything thats overly complicated appeals to me, and could i design this game myself, I would make it require a cold rampstart to even get the mechs up and running.

So naturally im looking to maybe buying myself a hotas again to use with this game. But im wondering if it might actually be a disadvantage to use HOTAS in a game that is designed so much for use with mouse/keyboard. It seems everything is done so quickly with a mouse, and the FPS-nature of this game makes me wonder if a HOTAS would simply be slow and bulky compared to mouse/keyboard?

I would use it just because its fun, but if itll make me lose when i would have won had i used mouse/keyboard, then ill have to reconsider.

THanks in advance for replies!

#2 Strikhedonia

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Posted 28 November 2012 - 01:44 PM

I tried my HOTAS rig for a few matches. It has promptly been shelved in favor of the mouse and keyboard. The game just wasn't responsive enough with the joystick to justify using it.

If you have the HOTAS by all means hook it up and give it a try. I know a few players who swear by it. Others, like myself, found it a disadvantage. I wouldn't recommend buying a HOTAS for this game though.

#3 Dorado

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Posted 28 November 2012 - 01:53 PM

I would wait on investing in a good HOTAS set till PGI better supports joysticks (if ever). I too have always played MW/BT games with HOTAS and sorely miss it. As it is now, just not worth the headache of trying to set up and tweak it to have it -maybe- be sufficient. I definitely wouldn't sink money into a HOTAS set if you don't already own one just for this game till we at least see what PGI & Razer do about the Artemis.

#4 TheFuzzyBunny

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Posted 28 November 2012 - 02:13 PM

I use a Thrustmaster with the throttle and joystick separated so that I run throttle and mouse. I found the keyboard to lacking for throttle control. Between the throttle and mouse I have enough buttons to control all the in game and voice chat features.

#5 CyBerkut

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Posted 28 November 2012 - 02:45 PM

FWIW, I have a Saitek X52 Pro hooked up. Despite plenty of tweaking and experimenting, I have gotten to the point where I virtually never touch the joystick. My right hand is virtually always on the mouse. My left hand is on the throttle, however... and I have my feet on a set of Saitek Combat Rudder pedals.

Someday, if PGI adds in enough bells and whistles to properly support HOTAS use the way it should be... maybe I'll get that right hand back on to the joystick. It's going to take more than just making the leg turning analog though.

To the OP... if you don't have a HOTAS yet, I wouldn't recommend getting one just for this game, at this time. If you have other games/sims to use the HOTAS with, then use your best judgement. Right now, the mouse (or a trackball) in your dominant hand, and placing your other hand on a keyboard or abbreviated gaming keyboard (ala N52 or G13) is probably your best bet amongst the better known control setups. Of course, YMMV.

#6 Chrithu

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Posted 28 November 2012 - 03:09 PM

Can't judge without a pic.

#7 Attackmack

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Posted 29 November 2012 - 09:59 AM

Ok tnx for the answers.
Makes me a bit sad though. Bad hotas support aswell as the very minimum controls available/needed to control your mech kind of takes away the joy of building myself a simpit (which i had planned).





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