Flight Controls are horrible

[ᛣ Munin ᛉ]

What the hell is this? They feel slow and weird, their controls make no sense, q and e for rolling? Nope. Its harder to fly in this game than to fly in realistic milsim games or dedicated plane simulators. I come into this and they are just....ugh. Suddenly I also have 6 locks and .. no CM or anything? I enjoy the infantry combat, but the air combat is just dumb. Is there anyway to change these horrible controls to like roll on q-e or connect joystick to it?

[SirMan]

Originally posted by Ren:

god forbid a game that has unique playstyles that require some level of skill and practice to utilize effectively.

If your "realistic flight sims" were actually realistic, you might come to appreciate just how easy it actually is to master the pilot controls in PS2 once you put in a litte practice.

But I wouldnt expect your generation know anything about persistance and perserverance. Dont worry I blame your parents.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Boomer much?

[esturias]

Originally posted by Theredpanda:

Boomer much?

Nah, it's just a desperate try of a fanboy to get around admitting that his beloved game has some obvious flaws. That's often the case when people use the term "unique" in that context. Insults about how people criticising something simply are too dumb to understand it are optional, but perfectly add to the stereotype of a butthurt fanboy.
You have that a lot in modern art, too.

[Duuvian]

EDIT: I didn't read the thread but:

I have some tips for flying that might help

Practice in the VR training area for a while if you are absolutely new to flying in Planetside. It will take maybe 5 minutes before you are able to send bullets towards the training dummies in an ESF once you know what buttons are needed by checking keybinds and pushing to see what do if not sure

First, there is an analog throttle setting in the keybindings. When you press this, your aircraft stops much faster than holding s key. It changes you nearly instantly from flight mode to hover mode, which is very useful both for simple things like landing as well as dogfighting. I bound mine to G

Don't unbind s though because slowing down gradually is still useful. HOWEVER I wonder how an alternate universe myself whom bound analog throttle to the s key instead and learned to fly using that as their stop method would perform. I don't think I'd like it personally but I wouldn't shake that universe's me and scream what are you doing either.

You will also want to change your flight mouse sensitivity. Since people and mice vary, I cannot just tell you what I use and expect it to work; however it should be gentle enough to be able to jerk your crosshairs where you want without overshooting while sensitive enough that you can easily start moving the aircraft at it's maximum roll and nose up/down speeds for when you are shot at.

Second you must practice a bit with vertical thrust (spacebar default) and to a lesser extent descend (I bound mine to x so I can reach it easy from wasd) in both flight and hover mode.
Different Chassis on the aircraft make a marked difference. for example I use Dogfighter on the Reaver. I find the thing I miss most when I try other airframes is Dogfighter's fast wing roll rate. This is because when you roll and apply vertical thrust, you do a straight nose barrel roll. This is important because essentially it gives the planetisde VTOL an extra axis of thrust. While you can't set the flight engine to fly backwards, you can use the vertical thrust to fly backwards like a helicoptor but also fly downwards with descend though that is much slower than asending with vertical thrust.

As Dogfighter allows you to change the orientation of the vertical thrust faster by rolling quicker you are able to do things like a more nimble "tornado" (don't know what the aeronautical term is sorry) while keeping the nose mostly steady on a ground target by using rudder. such as a burster max firing on you that you must evade.

Hover is also an often used chassis because it allows you to utilize the afterburners in hover mode more effectively. When in hover mode the afterburners supercharge your vertical thrust (spacebar) so you shooot straight up like a rocket. This sort of afterburner usage is common in dogfights to create space and is countered either by focussing nearly completely on dodging while closing with afterburner or by performing one's own hover acrobatics while firing. What weapon you are using would weigh heavily into which tactic would be preferable. with close range weapons wanting to swoop close while long range weapons might want to hover dance.

The Racer or whatever the speed chassis is called I don't know enough about. I don't know if the extra speed makes a difference in say a chase and how it effects afterburner performance, If the speed bonus isn't negligible it would be useful in a pursuit craft but that's about it unless a secondary like a one shot air dropped bomb were to be added. Then being speedy could be nice in theory as you loop around again and again to reload while if possible outrunning pursuit.

If you are flying I recommend you get the chassis you like maxxed first though it will be rough not having the nice things except that. That way you will not have to adjust 3 times as you finally upgrade the chassis. Fuel tank type may also be similar in that it would effect what your best flight patterns are; for example I use quick recharge because it punishes me less from using quick tap of afterburner to "jump" the esf a short distance quickly which seems to mesh with dogfighter well. If I used hover style I would likely choose the long duration but since I don't that is just a guess.

I truly enjoy the afterburners. I also like the big nose cannons; but fuel tanks will make you so much more nimble once you learn how to use. However the loss of the secondary weapon is very limiting so you may have better success focusing on guns or rockets rather than dodging. The big nose cannon secondaries chew up harassers pretty well, which I like. That's the only secondary I've tried in more than passing so far and I pair it with an Airhammer because the Airhammer is pretty bad for an aircraft gun against most vehicles. (maybe not Valks, they don't seem to take Airhammer as well as the others being easier to hit with slow pellets than a fast turning ESF and less tanky than a Lib or Gal)

Timing is important; try to keep in mind about how long it takes a guy on the ground to swivel a skyguard at you and start shooting and keep dodging. Learn to fly low behind cover (especially if you use dogfighter frame) even though those damn trees will snag your wings even after all this time

Cover is just as important to a Reaver as it is to any other planet mans; approach from behind it , park to repair behind it, afterburner behind it when the flak is lighting up around you.

Don't take too long to line up a shot when moving slowly. A tank driver sees that from 499m away and he'll snipe you with an AP cannon. For the same reason, don't fly in straight lines. If big projectlies are being fired at you, keep changing the direction the aircraft is moving in (you don't have to be looking away from them to do this)

You can "fall" behind cover faster by rolling upside down and using vertical thrust than you can by diving the nose into a curved flight. This works well for cresting hillsides because the ground's slope gives you a few more timebits to roll upright.

Flying around cover to try to shake an ESF doesn't work unless you break their line of sight. That means you might have to get as close as you can get to terrain on a tight af turn if you try it. This is why I say be familiar with descend as well; when you make a tight turn around terrain you will be pulling up, so descend will alter your trajectory slightly away from whatever is oriented above you which may be a hill you are pulling up around to escape pursuit and need to descend to keep from contacting the terrain "above" you.

If using terrain to shake pursuit, once you feel they don't see you, try something like fly over the top or half loop downards and see if they fly over you.

Try to stay near friendly air if you see it but not so close that it's dangerous unless you are attacking together. If your faction has AA such as a vehicle column, do not hesitate to lead enemy aircraft over it.

As far as the controls, I have to say Planetside was actually the first gam with flight elements that really fit with me and the aircraft/spacecraft didn't feel even just a bit clunky. I've tried a lot of various pure keyboard flight models like IL2 and the old Sierra brand flight sims but I feel like mouse for aiming and rolling the way PS2 does it lets me be head and shoulders above other games.

i tried BF1 for the first time recently and while my main complaint was that I couldn't get my rudder binds to work (and there is no way I'm even going to get into a plane in multiplayer to get an honest opinion of a game if I'm facing pvp lords without a RUDDER damn) it felt very similar to PS2 and I think except for the glaring rudder issue (or nose left/right or whatever they called it) I would have enjoyed it

But then I turn and look at X4, which is a spaceship game I have been playing recently.

I bound the binds as close to PS2 as I could, but the way the mouse has a deadzone and how I have to move the mouse to the corner to make the fighter roll instead of rolling the mouse is different and I don't like it in comparison.

I hope this doesn't sound like fanboyism but my honest opinion is that PS2 has the best flight control system I've found yet for a non simulation flight game; pretty much every game I've ever played with aircraft has gotten mouse utilization wrong and since I started PS2 I found mouse aiming and rolling is so much steadier than a keyboard.

Various joysticks, remotes and controllers might be excellent for flying as well but so far my best control has been the old point and click.

I had an cheap Siatek Av8or joystick back when I played WW2 flgith sims but really I never was too impressed with it as a control scheme. The best use I got out of it was the silly flick switches on it in a spaceship game that had 3d thrusters. I do think for a $20 new joystick I shouldn't have expected even as much as I got out of it though a world where $20 joystick is the beesknees control schema sounds potentially pleasant

I don't recommend pure keyboard in a flight game that requires aiming if the mouse setup is not terrible. Keyboards are generally analog which means the key is either on or off. This means for example in a plane you are yanking the control 100% to maximum and then to 0% on release. It's good for roll and rudder because that's going to get you dodging as fast as possible, but for aiming it's not as smooth as mouse or thumb stick. Rudder in PS2 is pretty slow so it can be used well for fine aim correction for example as you spin wildly to dodge ground fire but want your crosshairs to pass over or linger on something as your view spins.

That's just my opinion on my experience in how I do things handsomely; so it could very well be wrong for you

[esturias]

Keybindings are - as always - essential. I'd never bother to try learning it with the default ones.

But honestly, I'm not at all interested in flying as long as the controls and especially the physics are that bad.
The ground vehicles are bad enough, but I'd rather keep touching the air vehicles with nothing but rockets or bullets.

[ᛣ Munin ᛉ]

Wtf why was this necroed, stop.

[Clonefarmer]

Originally posted by Ino 桜⛩:

Wtf why was this necroed, stop.

Because the flight controls still suck.

[Sedrido]

Originally posted by Ino 桜⛩:

Wtf why was this necroed, stop.

who doesnt like a bit of necromancy here and there gotta keep those bones movin ya know

[dirtycheeseburgers]

i found binding your thumb buttons on the mouse to pitch up/down helps A LOT for moving yourself around a bit more.

oh yah and capslock as your throttle toggle is

[Sir_0v3rk1ll]

Originally posted by Ino 桜⛩:

What the hell is this? They feel slow and weird, their controls make no sense, q and e for rolling? Nope. Its harder to fly in this game than to fly in realistic milsim games or dedicated plane simulators. I come into this and they are just....ugh. Suddenly I also have 6 locks and .. no CM or anything? I enjoy the infantry combat, but the air combat is just dumb. Is there anyway to change these horrible controls to like roll on q-e or connect joystick to it?

yes they are. controls suck for flying. but nothing we can do about it. this aint a battlefield game so enjoy it the best you can.