Star Citizen: Chris Robert`s new space sim (the Wing Commander guy)

Page 250 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Stringjam

Golden Member
Jun 30, 2011
1,871
33
91
I was wondering about something....

I wonder how they're going to deal with ships when their owners die in the game. Maybe it's been talked about, but I haven't heard anything.

Say you fire up your Connie, get a crew (friends or NPC), and fly out to a planet - then you exit the ship and get shot. Now what? You'll wake up in a med facility of some sort if your character has enough left in him, but what about your ship and the friends still onboard?

Right now, if you were to respawn that ship - everybody inside would be killed, but this is obviously just a placeholder mechanic.

I'm guessing your friends could fly it back to you, or if it's a solo ship, you could get a ride back there and hope it wasn't stolen. I can think of a lot of issues that will have to be dealt with to make this work, though.

Since you're dead (but not actually dead), do you still remain in possession of the ship? Does ship security resume at that point (if so, let's hope you can add friends to a permissions list)?

A "return to home" auto-pilot mechanic could work here - but once again, if it's a multi-crew ship, that could really screw over your crew in the middle of a battle.
 

Sabrewings

Golden Member
Jun 27, 2015
1,942
35
51
I think they plan on things in the persistent universe to be... persistent. If you die, it'll sit there and hang out until something happens to it. Does someone steal it? Does someone blow it up? Is it gathered for salvage? In the case of multicrew, do your friends save it for you or opt to steal it from you if they can break your master access codes? If so, it gets reported as stolen by you and they are now on the run or have to try and sell it hot at a shady port.

I'm more concerned with the apparent instant teleportation mechanic of dying and waking up in a hospital bed millions of kilometers away in a few seconds.
 
Feb 4, 2009
34,506
15,737
136
I think they plan on things in the persistent universe to be... persistent. If you die, it'll sit there and hang out until something happens to it. Does someone steal it? Does someone blow it up? Is it gathered for salvage? In the case of multicrew, do your friends save it for you or opt to steal it from you if they can break your master access codes? If so, it gets reported as stolen by you and they are now on the run or have to try and sell it hot at a shady port.

I'm more concerned with the apparent instant teleportation mechanic of dying and waking up in a hospital bed millions of kilometers away in a few seconds.
I wondered this too could you use LTI to duplicate a ship? Could I say Sabre lets go off and mine an asteroid in my Rock Pew Pew ship we fly off then I log out
 

Sabrewings

Golden Member
Jun 27, 2015
1,942
35
51
I wondered this too could you use LTI to duplicate a ship? Could I say Sabre lets go off and mine an asteroid in my Rock Pew Pew ship we fly off then I log out

If I understand you correctly, you would have to report it as stolen. Then you would wait until a new ship is delivered to you based off supply and demand for that ship in the economy. Ships are produced at a certain rate from the factory, and then NPCs as well as players consume that number. You might be waiting a decent while.

The insurance mechanic doesn't make a new one pop up immediately after being destroyed unless it's a cheap ship that is easily procured for you. It also may be used depending on the condition of yours when lost and how quickly you need a new one. You may have to drop a little change on it to bring the maintenance up to speed.
 

Linux23

Lifer
Apr 9, 2000
11,303
671
126
Sorry, noobie again. Can anyone provide their joystick mappings? I bought two T.16K's and its a beast setting things up.

I think this is the first game I bought into where I don't know how to get an optimal dual joystick setup. Smdh.
 

GoodRevrnd

Diamond Member
Dec 27, 2001
6,803
581
126
Maybe my info is dated but weren't they talking about around 64 player per space battle in a kind of locked event?
This is what I always thought. I don't think they ever claimed to be able to handle more than ~200 in an instance at BEST. I think people have started letting their expectations get away from them and the instance limitation isn't something that's been talked about much in a long time since probably RSI doesn't even have a very good idea where it will end up, given there's whatever the netcode is capable of - all the insane features they add that tax it + whatever optimizations they're able to do later.
 
Feb 4, 2009
34,506
15,737
136
Haha I just noticed my Cutlass has teeth on its "wings". Definitely influenced by this

llxBmNe.jpg
 

Stringjam

Golden Member
Jun 30, 2011
1,871
33
91
Sorry, noobie again. Can anyone provide their joystick mappings? I bought two T.16K's and its a beast setting things up.

I think this is the first game I bought into where I don't know how to get an optimal dual joystick setup. Smdh.

Do you have pedals?
 

Seba

Golden Member
Sep 17, 2000
1,480
134
106
My main bindings:

Right hand joystick
- X-axis: yaw
- Y-axis: pitch

Left hand joystick
- X-axis: strafe left/right
- Y-axis: strafe forward/back
- rotZ-axis (stick twist): roll

Pedals
Strafe up/down
 

Linux23

Lifer
Apr 9, 2000
11,303
671
126
Do you have pedals?
No. But from what I've been reading about them it seems to be a valuable asset for this game and most flight based games.

Any pedal recommendations that won't break the bank? Lol.
 
Last edited:

Linux23

Lifer
Apr 9, 2000
11,303
671
126
My main bindings:

Right hand joystick
- X-axis: yaw
- Y-axis: pitch

Left hand joystick
- X-axis: strafe left/right
- Y-axis: strafe forward/back
- rotZ-axis (stick twist): roll

Pedals
Strafe up/down
OK cool. I'm going to give that a go for the basics.

So to takeoff I hit the Spacebar (the guys in game are really helpful) but what do you set for thrust fwd/back?

This game has so many options that with my limited free time it'll take a month for me to really get comfortable. The plus side is that I can see myself having a blast with this thing.
 

Linux23

Lifer
Apr 9, 2000
11,303
671
126
Look at the keybindings in game options.
I have. Some of the terminology I'm a little unclear of but reading through this thread and other forums has enlightened me. I apologize for any dumb questions as I'm trying to get my feet wet especially after building a decent rig that seems to have fixed the annoying skipping/freezing issues.
 

Seba

Golden Member
Sep 17, 2000
1,480
134
106
But you said that you bought a pair of T.16000M. Why are you still using the keyboard for flying?
 

Linux23

Lifer
Apr 9, 2000
11,303
671
126
But you said that you bought a pair of T.16000M. Why are you still using the keyboard for flying?
Because I'm not sure what I should or need to bind to the joystick. When I plug the two controllers in they have no functionality at all. Before I bought the duo I was using an Xbox One controller. I could walk and explore via foot but once I get inside my ship none of the controllers map to any function.
 

Stringjam

Golden Member
Jun 30, 2011
1,871
33
91
No. But from what I've been reading about them it seems to be a valuable asset for this game and most flight based games.

Any pedal recommendations that won't break the bank? Lol.

I find them extremely helpful when using dual-sticks (I also used them when I was flying with HOTAS). Right now I'm using CH Pro-Pedals, but they're a bit pricey ($120). I only use the toe-brake axis (pressing the pedals), not the slide axis, so really almost any pedals, regardless of price, should work fine for that. My mapping is similar to Seba, but there are a few differences.

Here are my flight mappings (italicized to note difference from Seba):

Right hand joystick
- X-axis: yaw
- Y-axis: pitch

Left hand joystick
- X-axis: strafe left/right
- Y-axis: strafe up/down
- rotZ-axis (stick twist): roll

Pedals
strafe forward/back


You'll find that in time you find the mapping that makes the most sense to you and feels the best. I like the above because it is intuitive to how my brain works.

It helps to keep in mind you are flying with thrusters - - all of your movements are based on strafe. So you mentioned "taking off." That is just strafing up. In the mapping above, you pull back on your "strafe stick" and the ship will rise. Push forward and your ship will drop.

You also asked about "thrust forward and back" - - that's just strafe forward / back. In my mapping, I depress my right foot to strafe forward, or depress my left foot to go backward.

You can strafe forward with the same acceleration and top speed as using "throttle." The only reason to map throttle (I map it to the base slider on the T16000M) is if you just want to set the ship speed and cruise without having to hold the pedal down (my map) or the stick forward (Seba's map).


BTW......don't worry about "dumb" questions. This game is complicated and it takes everybody time when they first jump in to figure things out. So ask away all you need - I sure had to!
 

Red Storm

Lifer
Oct 2, 2005
14,233
234
106
Do you have the sticks and the xbox controller plugged in at the same time?

I ask because I have an Xbox 360 controller as well as a T16000M, and for some reason when both are plugged in only the Xbox controller actually works. As soon as I disconnect the Xbox controller the flight stick then works. Not sure why this is the case and I haven't had the time to properly investigate it, but what I've done for now is just unplug the Xbox controller when I want to play SC or Elite.
 

Stringjam

Golden Member
Jun 30, 2011
1,871
33
91
I have. Some of the terminology I'm a little unclear of but reading through this thread and other forums has enlightened me.

Also, forgot to mention, but VERY IMPORTANT - - the default flight mode when using joysticks is called Look-Ahead-Mode (LAM). You can tell this is active when you move your pitch / yaw stick and a circle in the middle of the screen jumps around (along with your head) and your ship then follows it. This sucks - - you do NOT want it on. Press Right Alt + M to disable it. After doing so you'll notice your view and your ship's weapons are locked to center.

I recommend mapping the LAM toggle to one of the buttons on your sticks so it's quicker / easier to disable.

I have no idea why CIG made that the default flight mode, as a lot of beginners aren't aware and they end up wondering what the heck is wrong with the flight controls.
 

Seba

Golden Member
Sep 17, 2000
1,480
134
106
Because I'm not sure what I should or need to bind to the joystick. When I plug the two controllers in they have no functionality at all. Before I bought the duo I was using an Xbox One controller. I could walk and explore via foot but once I get inside my ship none of the controllers map to any function.
In the Menu, go to Options-Keybinding, select Joystick on the second line and then Advanced Control Customization.

Start by binding only the main functions (strafe X/Y/Z, rotation - yaw/pitch/roll and weapon triggers). Make sure you bind for instance "Roll" to a certain joystick axis and not "Roll Left" and "Roll Right". Or "Strafe Left/Right" and not "Strafe Left" and "Strafe Right" (my steering wheel pedals are an exception from this rule because each pedal is seen as one axis).

Very important: make sure to also bind the Decoupled mode axis (use the same as for Coupled). Even if you do not use Decoupled at the moment, those Decoupled Mode bindings are used during Landing Mode. I struggled with this problem until I found out the cause.

Make note which is the first and which is the second joystick (as ordered by Star Citizen). This is important in the next step.

Then, in Control Options you have settings such as inverting axis, dead-zone and so on. First you have to select the correct device (in the second line).

Here I gave more details about my dual stick setup, but I changed a few things since then.


I wish that Look Ahead Mode was off by default. I tried to bind that LAM toggle to a button on the base of one of my joysticks (buttons on the sticks themselves are too precious for that), but it was very picky on the button hold duration, so I now use the keyboard for toggling that (the same for locking gimbals).
 
Last edited:

Linux23

Lifer
Apr 9, 2000
11,303
671
126
Do you have the sticks and the xbox controller plugged in at the same time?

I ask because I have an Xbox 360 controller as well as a T16000M, and for some reason when both are plugged in only the Xbox controller actually works. As soon as I disconnect the Xbox controller the flight stick then works. Not sure why this is the case and I haven't had the time to properly investigate it, but what I've done for now is just unplug the Xbox controller when I want to play SC or Elite.
Yes I do actually. Maybe that's was my problem. When I get home tonight I'm going to try that. I honestly thought I tried unplugging the Xbox controller but try again. Thanks for the suggestion.
 

Sabrewings

Golden Member
Jun 27, 2015
1,942
35
51
Yes I do actually. Maybe that's was my problem. When I get home tonight I'm going to try that. I honestly thought I tried unplugging the Xbox controller but try again. Thanks for the suggestion.

One of SC's biggest input faults is that it recognizes different devices by the order number Windows assigns them and not their unique device ID. So, this can change depending on the order things are plugged in. By default, SC is looking for signals from the first device (input 1). You'll notice that your sticks will be either 1, 2, or maybe even 3 depending on the things you have plugged in.

They're supposed to be improving this in the future.
 

TechBoyJK

Lifer
Oct 17, 2002
16,701
60
91
One of SC's biggest input faults is that it recognizes different devices by the order number Windows assigns them and not their unique device ID. So, this can change depending on the order things are plugged in. By default, SC is looking for signals from the first device (input 1). You'll notice that your sticks will be either 1, 2, or maybe even 3 depending on the things you have plugged in.

They're supposed to be improving this in the future.

With the T16000M's, if you unplug one, you basically have to reboot. Otherwise, when you plug it back in, it just becomes "stick 3" and won't work. This caused me a lot of headaches.

Cliffs: If T16000M (and likely other sticks) gets unplugged during gameplay, you have to exit game and reboot computer to get it to work again.