What kind of controllers are recommended to play this game?

[Holon]

And also... is there any chance to play this game comfortably with mouse and keyboard?

[arko7]

Not really... I'd recommend buying a joystick (I use very old Saitek AV8R-01 and it works just fine) for the true experience.

[Lisias]

I COMPLETELY MESSED UP!

I was reading another game's Forum, switched to this window without realising it was FoN, and... 🤦

Anyway. I'm using the Thrustmaster TCA Captain Pack X Airbus Edition and it's serving me very, very well. The quadrant almost have no use, but it adds a nice touch to the simulation.

But most of the time, I'm playing on the Steam Deck and it does pretty nicely.



The best possible experience is building or buying a customized Control Panel, something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJmt7yM1gBE

or this: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/topic/156435-kerbal-instrument-panel-in-desk-apollo-themed-hardware-controller/#comment-2954802

or even this: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/topic/182211-ksp-controller-build/#comment-3541724

perhaps like this: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/topic/192479-my-ksp-controller-spacex-inspired/#comment-3757977

Obviously, there're simpler and cheaper versions available - but in essentially all of them, some elbow grease are require from the new owner.

HOWEVER... They are pretty good for rockets, and sucks for everything else. :)

I managed to get a reasonable compromise with a set of different (off shelf) controllers working in tandem:

1. Thrustmaster TCA Captain Pack X Airbus Edition for the atmospheric flights (I have also the rudders). There's also the Boeing equivalent (what I liked more, but didn't have the desk space for it).
2. Logitech Heavy Equipment Side Panel for controlling the spaceship in... space. :) Can also be useful for rovers, but personally I found it uncomfortable for that. If you really have the desk space, the full pack (with steering wheels) would greatly improve your ground driving activities.
3. A Steam Controller for EVA. Really, I loved this old controller pad and I strongly recommend you find one if you can. It sucks for flying planes, but for ground activities it really rocks!

Now... This is a civilian setup, If you intend to go BDArmory, a military Joystick+ThrustLever will serve you well. The TCA Joystick is pretty good and you can do dog-fighting on it, but the TCA Quadrant just don't work for fighters.

[Eiko]

A good quality gamepad is good enough if you're not looking for the immersion of a HOTAS setup.

I have >1000 hours played in FoN and almost all of that was with an Xbox elite 2 controller. It has to be a good quality controller though with enough trigger positions, or else you won't have enough fine control over the engines for VTOL.

Kb/m is technically possible and I've seen people do station intercepts and smooth VTOL landings with keyboard only, but personally I wouldn't find it very fun to play that way.

[Holon]

I decided to buy me a simple 4 axis flight stick. I have other games where I can use it, so it seems worth it.

[basarJensen]

Also, the game is very playable and very enjoyable with only one Gladiator NXT Standard (€180 in EU). All main flight controls can be assigned (surface and Orbital/RCS), and the bottom central axis, albeit tiny, is very smooth and precise as a throttle.