Tank controls

[Snulken]

I'm new to this game and the controls felt weird to me but a quick look in options revealed that you can actually enable real tank control. As in you press W and the mech/tank goes forward toward they direction its facing.

Just a little heads up for people who don't like the way it controls by default. Also you can have separate controls for A-Gravs if you want :)

[Chef]

Tank controls are best controls, good man.

[Vanagandr]

They're the default, aren't they?

I mean, IIRC a lot of the original drama was from people who didn't expect them.

[Chef]

Originally posted by Areetsa:

They're the default, aren't they?

I mean, IIRC a lot of the original drama was from people who didn't expect them.

They were, and the update won't mess with your control settings if that's how you had them set before, but as of the Up-Armored release, the game does now default to screen-absolute controls on a fresh save file. All the options are still there to customize them as you please.

The default setting was changed to accommodate new players who may have difficulty with tank/vehicle-relative controls.

I'll always recommend tank/relative controls myself, but I'm a purist.

[Black Hammer]

I played with the new absolute controls, bought the Rat King, and proceeded to immediately lose my mind.

[Phantom Hoover]

I'm pretty confident that tank controls are Objectively Worse than screen-absolute simply because they require you to visually track your vehicle to know where it's going. This is a game where the action is blistering and precise, and where ballistics are deliberately complex to the point where you need to aim firing lines properly rather than speculatively flinging rounds towards the enemy. It's hard enough even to glance at your health bar sometimes without also having to look at your vehicle to see where it's pointing.

[Kyronz]

I am wondering the same thing, the bindings say things like "forward" but that goes to top of screen not forward. Is there anyway to force the controls or rebind them so they actually make sense?

[MagneticJerk]

Originally posted by Phantom Hoover:

they require you to visually track your vehicle to know where it's going.

They don't. You can just remember where it was pointing last, and since it doesn't turn without any input from you you can track mentally where it's turning whenever you turn it. It requires practise, but once you have it down you don't need to look at your vehicle to figure out where its going at all.

Don't forget that absolute also doesn't let you reliable control your facing at all, which is a huge issue with tanks especially. Even just reversing reliably is pretty much impossible, which isn't a huge issue with mechs since their cockpit determines the armour direction, but tanks have a really hard time with them.

[Sar]

The only downside of using tank controls I've found is that eventually trying to play any top-down or (pseudo)isometric action game with screen-absolute controls (so any of them, pretty much) will result in running into walls and endless frustration.

But then again, you have Brigador, so other similar games are suddenly less important...

[Hydra Corvi]

Originally posted by Sar:

The only downside of using tank controls I've found is that eventually trying to play any top-down or (pseudo)isometric action game with screen-absolute controls (so any of them, pretty much) will result in running into walls and endless frustration.

And I thought I was the only one with that problem...

But then again, you have Brigador, so other similar games are suddenly less important...

10/10

[Sar]

Originally posted by Phantom Hoover:

they require you to visually track your vehicle to know where it's going

Well, unless you enjoy walking into walls or getting a surprize Bombucha up your exhaust port, you already do that anyway, to some extent. What MagneticJerk said is also correct, though going from a slower turning vehicle to a faster one might require a bit of readjustment.

[Chef]

Originally posted by Phantom Hoover:

I'm pretty confident that tank controls are Objectively Worse than screen-absolute simply because they require you to visually track your vehicle to know where it's going. This is a game where the action is blistering and precise, and where ballistics are deliberately complex to the point where you need to aim firing lines properly rather than speculatively flinging rounds towards the enemy. It's hard enough even to glance at your health bar sometimes without also having to look at your vehicle to see where it's pointing.

It's a debate that never ends, but that's what the options are for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[♡ Katalina Aryze ♡]

The tank controls are perfect, I'd even go a far as to say that this is the first game that I actually favor tank controls over traditional style controls.

[None]

I tried it for a little bit, but I cannot for the life of me play this game with that screen-absolute mode of control. I think that "off-sight sense" that keeps track of what my vehicle is doing without looking at it is just too bound to the tank control style in my brain by now.
Good on the devs for giving them both as options!

[jozef_the_grey]

I have to agree that in certain situations tank control feels more natural, but overall screen-absolute, after a bit of getting used to, is just so much more efficient when the going gets tough. But then again, it's all subjective I'm sure.

[Morty2989]

Options are nice but tank controls will always be the right way to play.