Author Topic: Thrusters: Should I be using them?  (Read 4594 times)

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Thrusters: Should I be using them?
I'm just curious if they prove to be useful or not in game? I've got my 360 wired controller am using it for the game. Right now I've got my right analog stick set to bank control as well as equalizing shields and matching speed. I was thinking about mapping the entire thing to thrusters but I'd like to hear from peeps if thrusters are actually any use or if I shouldn't bother with it, thus freeing up my analog for other things.

 

Offline Androgeos Exeunt

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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
What do you mean by thrusters? Do you mean increasing/decreasing speed manually, setting throttle to one-third, two-thirds or full, using the afterburners, or what?
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Quote: Tuesday, 3 October 2023 0133 UTC +8, #general
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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
the thrusters that move the ship laterally and vertically while still facing a certain direction. I already have decrease speed, max, afterburn and full stop set to a button :)

  
Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
I don't think the default Freespace engine had those vertical and lateral thruster controls. Also, flying in one direction whilst facing another isn't possible in the retail version of Freespace 1 or 2 (would've been cooler if it was, but meh).

However FSO has a "glide" function that you would need to have enabled in the key settings on the options page (the default is Alt-G), but if you're wanting that to work in the FS1 or 2 campaigns, you need to edit some tables to get it working, I think. Hopefully someone else who's more in the know about such stuff will tell you how.

The Babylon Project has some ships which have lateral and vertical thruster controls though, together with the glide function, but not all playable ships have these controls.

 

Offline Rodo

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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
the thrusters that move the ship laterally and vertically while still facing a certain direction. I already have decrease speed, max, afterburn and full stop set to a button :)

that only happens on the special mod of BtRL as far as I know, are you playing the battlestar mod?
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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
I was thinking about mapping the entire thing to thrusters but I'd like to hear from peeps if thrusters are actually any use or if I shouldn't bother with it, thus freeing up my analog for other things.

If it's the BtRL mod, then from my experience yes, they can come in handy. I use the keyboard for them as I only have one joystick and not enough buttons on it. Experiment with the key bindings and see what feels right for you.

 
Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
Yeah I played it for a bit. It was cool but hella hard - asteroids kept killing the damn mining ship. I only ever made it to the ace twice and once I ran out of bullets, the other I was gliding, doing alright, then glided right into an asteroid.

Well, if it doesn't work in FSO then that solves that :)

Now I just have to work on an optimal controller layout for the game and xbox 360 wired controller... figure out what I'll be using most and map it to the controller.

 

Offline FUBAR-BDHR

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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
Certain ships in TBP have glide ability as well.  Actually you can use glide and thrusters on them so you can be moving one direction, sliding another and facing a third. 
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Offline Androgeos Exeunt

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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
Flaming Sword's Shivans! mod also allows you to pilot Shivan craft, and these have glide capabilities if I remember correctly.
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Quote: Tuesday, 3 October 2023 0133 UTC +8, #general
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Offline karajorma

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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
I don't think the default Freespace engine had those vertical and lateral thruster controls.

It did actually. But the Terran Mara was the only ship the player ever flew capable of using it, so since the controls were never explained most people assume the feature was added in FSO.

If you watch the Shivans even in retail you can quite clearly see the Mara's making use of slide though.
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Offline Androgeos Exeunt

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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
Glide speed is a bit slow, though. 15 m/s is warship movement speed.
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Quote: Tuesday, 3 October 2023 0133 UTC +8, #general
MP-Ryan
Oh you still believe in fairy tales like Santa, the Easter Bunny, and free market competition principles?

 
Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
How are the thrusters controlled in FS? I recall it being really annoying to use when I tried it in TBP. But when I played the demo for this other game, Starshatter, the directional thrusters were linked to the Joystick's hat which made perfect sense. Normally the hat is used for looking but that's of marginal value in an actual battle I Find.

 

Offline Mongoose

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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
You should be able to assign thrusters to the hat switch, but the catch is that FS2 doesn't seem to recognize diagonal hat input.  I ran into that when I was fooling around with tables for a Descent-style flight model; I'd assume one would have to wait for the distantly-planned controller updates to get that changed.

 

Offline FUBAR-BDHR

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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
It's something crazy like shift-1 shift-2 not even sure what the others are. 
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Offline eliex

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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
Too complicated to use in a dogfight I guess.

 

Offline Androgeos Exeunt

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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
Too complicated to use in a dogfight I guess.

You've never seen me type QFT, but here it is. :nod:

As if pitching, rolling and thrusting isn't enough to think about on top of shield management, energy transfer, weapon toggling and ordering wingmen during a dogfight...
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Quote: Tuesday, 3 October 2023 0133 UTC +8, #general
MP-Ryan
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Offline Mongoose

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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
You'd never hack it in Descent, my friend. :p

 

Offline Androgeos Exeunt

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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
Descent is different, Mongoose, and while my efficiency is about 29/100 in multiplayer (average is about 45 to 50/100, I can actually get by pretty well on a keyboard using only pitch, thrust and roll. I have keys for gliding, but I hardly ever use them. Besides, Descent doesn't place much emphasis on shield management with energy transfer, and it completely leaves out ordering wingmen unless you're in multiplayer.
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Quote: Tuesday, 3 October 2023 0133 UTC +8, #general
MP-Ryan
Oh you still believe in fairy tales like Santa, the Easter Bunny, and free market competition principles?

 

Offline Mongoose

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Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
True, but wingmen can usually be handled one-handed while you keep your business hand on your stick (lulz).  If you use the hat switch for sliding controls, you can incorporate them without making any other control concessions.  As for shield management, I plopped the equalize shield control on my stick as well, so as to always have that easily available; anything more detailed than that can be handled just as communications would.

 
Re: Thrusters: Should I be using them?
So I guess ordering around wingmen in game is actually pretty important huh? Is that how they stay alive? Mine seem to be dying quite a bit, lol.

Also, I'd like to eventually see and use thrusters. I have an xbox360 controller so I'd just map thrusting to the right analog stick if I really wanted to.