It is my sad duty to report that "GTI: Untold Sorties" has been pushed onto an even further back burner. This time it is not due to the restrictions of FS2, or the limitations of my hard drive cappacity, but something more essential to use and test of FS... my flight stick. Yes, after more than 7 months of faithful (if not uneventful) service to my in my quest to become THE space supperiority fighter pilot, my Logitech WingMan Strike Force 3D w/USB & Force Feedback, has gone the way of the wounded champion race horse... and will likely be shot. It seems that a malfunction in the force feedback system has caused it to fail in the left side, so I can no longer steer my fighter. I was flying the FSPort, attempting to prevent the Lucifer from completing its jump to Sol (and keeping my Herc intact), when my stick suddenly went hard left on its own. I tried to fight it for control, but my fighter continued its flat spin no matter how I positioned the stick. Occasionally, in the past, it has cut out on me completely... a problem which could only be rectified by a system reboot (which I had to do about 1/2 hour before said incident). In fact, this problem began to manifest itself just two weeks in to its initial use back in January. I plan to test out how much control I can sustain without FF using the stick's utility program. My previous main flight stick too was a Logitech Wingman, and in fact the model down from this one. It too died a similar fate, though about a year and a half after I got it. A friend recently fixed the control mechanism, but could not repair the FF systems.
In any case, should this current problem turn out to be fatal, I will have but two options: wait until I can buy... sorry, afford a new flight stick [got this one at a Cosco for $50 (can.), about $25 less than I've seen for my previous stick which is the model down as I've said], or abandon this campaign. Now you might say, "You don't need a stick to FRED", but then how could I test my missions? You might say "Just get a cheap stick and use that", well... I've honed all my FS combat skills into that stick. I know what every button does without even thinking about it, and I know how to iron out or deal with all its little quirks (until it dies, perminantly). If I were to fly with a cheap stick, I'd have to learn to fly all over again... I'd be a green pilot again.
I may have the oppertunity to pass by another Cosco in a couple of weeks, but there's not guarantee that they'll have the same stick or any Logitech sticks, or even any sticks what so ever... let alone at such a deflated price.
It's likely that I'll return to playing Railroad Tycoon 2 or Need For Speed: High Stakes... or maybe just downloading from KaZ... sorry, Peep-to-Peer file swapping services (not supposed to say their name out loud). That's not to say that you won't find me in these forums, giving my occasional 2 cents.
Later... much Later!
