How difficult is this game?

[kkang2828]

I'm thinking of buying all or some of the X-wing series games, but I'm worried about the difficulty since I'm not much of a hardcore sim player. Where would you put each of the X-wing series game's controls difficulty on a scale of 5, with 5 being modern hardcore sims like star citizen, elite dangerous, DCS, IL2 BoX, and falcon 4.0, and 1 being modern arcady games like EA star wars battlefront 1/2, battlefield, etc?

Also, should I but the Steam version or the GOG version?

Thanks.

[Rontagosh]

I'll generally answer your question first: easy mode (or novice to officer ai) is easy. Some missions in the story can be difficult, but rewarding. It can be challenging if you want it to be (ai at top ace to jedi difficulty), but it is masterable. The AI can become predictable with practice, and you can take advantage.

I've only played XvT and XWA. XvT is way harder; better ai and starships are more deadly to fighters. I've never mastered XvT. XvT is still super fun to play.

I've also played Star Citizen (but only a little bit), which seems to have a learning curve that XWA doesn't have; it's more simmy. I've played the battlefield and battlefront games (old and new), but i'll only be rating the new one/s.

In order of hardest to easiest, imo, (5 is hardest, 1 is easiest)


Star Citizen - 5
XvT - 4
XWA - 3
Battlefield games - 2
Battlefront (new) - 1

From what I know, games like IL2 make all of the above games seem like arcade; it's very simmy.

Battlefield and battlefront are very simple and arcadish, and while the SW flight sims are arcadey, they have far more depth. Consider something like XWA as a sim to star wars canon, albeit not a hard sim.

I recommend the GOG version. At the time i bought it, it was more compatible with the mods, but the steam version may have caught up to it. The GOG version is tried and true for me, plus I prefer their service more, but that may be bias.

Bear in mind, I think all xwing games are playable for any new player to joystick flight sims, if you play on easy. I recommend Tie Fighter, XvT, and XWA, out of the star wars flight sim games, but I especially recommend XWA due to a still very active and awesome modding community. Tie Fighter has a fantastic story. XWA's story is cool too, but I mostly play for custom missions made by editors (so fun!!!...and XvT has editors too).

Hope I answered your question. Let me know if I can elaborate.

[kkang2828]

I meant difficult as in difficult to control, not difficult missions. But your ratings and the reasons behind it seem pretty fair. Thank you for the kind reply.

[Ma77i7yahu]

If you're talking about controls in terms of simply flying, it'd be a 1 - but you need a joystick or a game controller. Do note, however, that only X-Wing Alliance utilises the Z-axis for rolling.

Having said that, taking a broader view of 'controls' though it'd be more around a 3 where you need to constantly adjust your power configurations for lasers and shields and transfer between the two and use the targeting computer to keep track of craft during the mission.

I have the Gog version of the games, if that counts for anything. X-Wing Alliance worked fine without any manipulation. I had to follow the instructions in one of the threads here to get the 3D graphics and music to work properly for the other three games.

[delta]

I don't suppose it's possible to play this with a keyboard and mouse? Used to have a joystick, but I've long since misplaced it.

[kkang2828]

Originally posted by Ma77i7yahu:

If you're talking about controls in terms of simply flying, it'd be a 1 - but you need a joystick or a game controller. Do note, however, that only X-Wing Alliance utilizes the Z-axis for rolling.

Having said that, taking a broader view of 'controls' though it'd be more around a 3 where you need to constantly adjust your power configurations for lasers and shields and transfer between the two and use the targeting computer to keep track of craft during the mission.

I have the Gog version of the games, if that counts for anything. X-Wing Alliance worked fine without any manipulation. I had to follow the instructions in one of the threads here to get the 3D graphics and music to work properly for the other three games.

Thanks for the reply. I guess I meant the broader view of 'controls'. There really isn't an exact word for it.

As for joysticks, I have a Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS X. Does it work well with the X-Wing series?

P.S. What exactly do you mean by "Do note, however, that only X-Wing Alliance utilizes the Z-axis for rolling."?

[Ma77i7yahu]

Originally posted by kkang2828:

As for joysticks, I have a Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS X. Does it work well with the X-Wing series?

P.S. What exactly do you mean by "Do note, however, that only X-Wing Alliance utilizes the Z-axis for rolling."?

I imagine your joystick should work well. I don't know about the throttle control part of it though, but you really don't need to manage your throttle that way anyway. Most of the time you'll use a few keys ([, Enter and Backspace) to get your throttle right:

[ = 1/3 throttle, which is a throttle percentage for tight turns in X-Wing vs TIE Fighter and X-Wing Alliance
Enter = match speed of ship targeted
Backspace = full engine throttle
+ - = adds or subtracts 3% engine throttle.

To clarify, I meant the Z-axis rotation, which is the stick twist on most joysticks. This is usually used for rolling your craft. Old games, like X-Wing and TIE Fighter don't respond to this rotation. They instead have a button that you need to press to rotate your craft to re-orient your ship relative to your surroundings. You can't roll your craft up and to the left, for example, in these games, but in X-Wing Alliance you can.

[kkang2828]

Originally posted by Ma77i7yahu:

Originally posted by kkang2828:

As for joysticks, I have a Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS X. Does it work well with the X-Wing series?

P.S. What exactly do you mean by "Do note, however, that only X-Wing Alliance utilizes the Z-axis for rolling."?

I imagine your joystick should work well. I don't know about the throttle control part of it though, but you really don't need to manage your throttle that way anyway. Most of the time you'll use a few keys ([, Enter and Backspace) to get your throttle right:

[ = 1/3 throttle, which is a throttle percentage for tight turns in X-Wing vs TIE Fighter and X-Wing Alliance
Enter = match speed of ship targeted
Backspace = full engine throttle
+ - = adds or subtracts 3% engine throttle.

To clarify, I meant the Z-axis rotation, which is the stick twist on most joysticks. This is usually used for rolling your craft. Old games, like X-Wing and TIE Fighter don't respond to this rotation. They instead have a button that you need to press to rotate your craft to re-orient your ship relative to your surroundings. You can't roll your craft up and to the left, for example, in these games, but in X-Wing Alliance you can.

Thanks.