Joysticks...

TerrorFirmer

Hi lads,

I'm looking for a good joystick for my pc. Whats the best make to go for on a tight enough budget? I need it for Battlefield 2. I'd ask in that forum but I'm cat banned.

I currently use the mouse and keyboard for flying attack copters, as you can imagine its grand against ground targets but if I try to take on other copters it's impossible so it's about time I invested.

The thing is I always have to use keyboard for take off/land/turn, and mouse for general movement. How do you emulate this with just a joystick? Or is there two parts to a joystick? Or do you use keyboard and joystick for bf2?

Any help appreciated!

Dcully

Logitech extreme 3D,excelent joystick,i use it with BF2.
I recommend keyboard inputs for accelerate/decelerate and joystick for everything else when flying.

cdb

Hey Havok,

I have an old Microsoft joystick I'm finished using. It uses a game port connection, 15 pin, usually on the soundcard. Say 15 Euro's if it suits.
Otherwise usb is the way to go...

cheers,
CDB.

TerrorFirmer

Thanks lads, got one yesterday, cheap generic one but for all the flying I do it's good enough. Although, I flew jets for awhile in BF2, no probs at all - caught on pretty quick, shot down a heli or two and another jet.

However I tried fly a Helicopter and was all over the place, usually crashing. I can fly pretty okay with mouse and keyboard, can't do anything with joystick! I have wasd for acc/dec and turn left/right, with joystick for banking and going up/down....just can't manage it at all, I try do any sort of evasive move, or even hover, and spiral out of control. Much practice needed tonight so I suppose....:)

OMcGovern

For helicopter flying, you should go for one with rudder control.
A normal joystick doesn't control the rudder, so you also need to use the keyboard. I had trouble myself with heli's on FS 2004...

I won a 2nd hand X45 on eBay last week.... can't wait to try it out...

http://www.saitekusa.com/usa/prod/x45.htm

TerrorFirmer

Ah sure I'll just stick to the jets and transport helicopters so....I'll just stay being the "noob" that does nothing but sit in the gunners seat in the attack copters :cool:

That x45 looks great......Might look at getting a better stick in the future but for now, this one'll do me.

What exactly is rudder control? Sorry, but I just don't know....is this what causes me to fly all over the shop when trying to evade in a copter? ie I try fly forward in a hurry and end up spiralling backwards etc...

Might try out some other games with this, like Sturmovik and Flashpoint....but no point investing in these games if rudder control is essential in most cases I suppose.

Stephen

A joystick with rudder control is usually one you can twist left or right, to control the direction your chopper faces. If you push the stick left or right on a normal stick it will cause your chopper to bank, so you need to use the keyboard to control the rudder.

Airblazer

rudder control determines what direction your plane flys...
most joysticks have a twist action on the handle so you twist left for going left and so on..
don't confuse it with the roll action..this is when you hit push the joystick to the left/right and your plane/chopper spins..
the two are used in conjunction to give your more accuracy over your movement...
a good joystick to get is microsoft's force feedback 2..they've stopped making them but you can buy them for about €40 on ebay..these are the best joystick ever made and are very accurate as they come auto calibrated..plus they have eight buttons so you can have access to all your needs in bf2 without having to use the keyboard..

ps.just saw that stephen beat me to it..damn long-winded explanations

jonski

I stopped using the Joystick for BF2 a good while ago , keyboard and mouse ftw

TerrorFirmer

jonski wrote:

I stopped using the Joystick for BF2 a good while ago , keyboard and mouse ftw

As sad as it is, thats what I'm going to have to go back to

Although I'll keep the joystick for jets. At least that way I can convince myself I didn't just waste my money for absolutely no reason just yesterday!

stevenmu

For heli flying you really want a HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) setup, the X-45s mentioned above are meant to be excellent but expensive. I've a thrustmaster afterburner 2 that I picked up years ago in PC World for €60 and I've found it to be really good. Not sure if they're still made or for sale anywhere but worth a look if they are.