🚀 go-pugleaf

Yes. Gamepads are great for more modern games because you can use the two
POV's to steer the fighter and roll it. And you mostly have a third axis for
your speed and 9 buttons for several properties

Regards

On Mon, 02 Aug 2004 20:19:53 GMT, "CK" <zsimo64@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Was wondering if anyone can give me some advice for a joystick for WC series
> and for Space sims in general? Are Gamepads any good?

Personally, I would recommend against gamepads as flight control
devices.  To me, the whole d-pad thing is, IMO, a piss-poor substitute
for a stick to actually wrap your hand around.  (Shaddup with the
dirty "hand on stick" comments, folks. :P )

For WC, the older games need analog joysticks (not too easy to find
nowadays), as they don't understand digital input.  This isn't as much
of a problem for much of the WC line, as it can be played in Windows
(either natively or with the help of a 3rd-party program, like MyJEMM
to run Privateer and Armada in a DOS environment from inside Windows),
but if you go into "pure" DOS for a game, it won't be able to see the
digital stick.

(And then there's Privateer 2: The Darkening, which even with the
Win9x version doesn't care too much for digital sticks in general, but
that's another issue entirely.)

For modern space sims, generally speaking, the more buttons you can
get, the better off you are.  Switching hands between joystick and
keyboard is not the best way to improve reaction time.

Which sticks in particular is another matter entirely, and one for
which I'm not informed enough to comment intelligently, having little
need for a "latest and greatest" joystick.

SubCrid Death
-- 
Official Net.Nazi, LOAF's Merry Guild http://www.wcnews.com/loaf/
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"Glenn Janot" <son-goku@arcor.de> wrote in message
news:410ea16b$0$28851$9b4e6d93@newsread4.arcor-online.net...
> Yes. Gamepads are great for more modern games because you can use the two
> POV's to steer the fighter and roll it. And you mostly have a third axis
for
> your speed and 9 buttons for several properties
>
> Regards
>
cheers, any gamepad in particular?

I for one use the Logitech Wingman Rumble Pad.

It's got a round view swith, which can be used to look around your ship :)
It has two joysticks on it, one for steering, one for rolling
And of course 9 buttons
And a Z-Axis for speed control

Here's a pic of it:
http://home.arcor.de/son-goku/Rumblepad.gif

Regards

CK wrote:

> Was wondering if anyone can give me some advice for a joystick for WC series
> and for Space sims in general?

IMHO the undisputed king of sticks here is the CH Force FX with the CH 
Pro Throttle. Not sold anymore however. (Stick was force feedback 
capable and does work with old games (analoge game port interface)).

As far as advice goes - well most depends on how much money you want to 
spend. If you are a spacesim/flighsim enthusiast I'd definitely buy a 
HOTAS system - one stick and one throttle (and maybe add rudder pedals). 
Plan to spend $200-$400 on that. Make sure they have lots of buttons 
that are fully programmable. If you plan to also play (very) old games 
look for a stick that has a programmable throttle (keystrokes assigned 
to throttle axe) as well.
In the $50-$70 region just look which one fits your need best. There are 
a magnitude of logitec, microsoft, saitek,... in that range. Nothing 
extremely spectacular however.
In any case I'd try the stick before you buy. Not necessarily in a game, 
but at least how well it fits your hand. I have at least one (cheapo) 
stick that HURTS my hand when using.

> Are Gamepads any good?

For space sims? No. Sure you can play with them, but its only a small 
step up from the keyboard.
For jump and runs or for beat em ups definitely.

--
Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

[Delete the karl after the @ to avoid my spam trap]