Nope, breaks line of sight with the scanner, and they never seem to follow you in, thankfully.
Can’t really agree about wretched documentation either. Wretched tooltips and other in-game discoverability, sure. But between the manual and the semi-official pilot’s guide there’s a lot of documentation. It’s a sim game! You’re supposed to spend ages reading the manual.
I feel like someone played a different game than I did…
If I’m not mistaken, the manual wasn’t made available until after the game was released for review. At least, that was my experience. Perhaps I wasn’t looking in the right places when I reviewed it for Yahoo. But I shouldn’t have had to, really. After the review was already written I got a follow up from PR linking to a fan-made pilot’s guide, and then I think there was a manual release around that time.
My impression is that the documentation side was heavily colored by a) its being a game designed for a passionate Kickstarter-cored fan community, and b) heavy reliance on crowdsourcing and social media. There is of course scads of information out there, but acquiring it can feel like a game in itself, and not always a fun one.
I think Tom’s point stands, in that case, at least as of the time when the game was first made ‘officially’ available for review. That said, the official manual is pretty good, if a little bare bones.
Kelan
3465
On my way!
It seems the Ross 780 conflict stopped for a while the next day after we were there and Kappa Fornacis was on my list for a while to go check out. I will try to head over tonight just in case.
Not sure what happened in Sanna. I was there for 10 days and never did see a conflict zone although for about a week I didn’t really know how to properly look for them.
Kappa Fornacis is definitely active. I’m teaching these god damn onionhead-loving hippies a lesson they won’t forget.
The tutorials ARE pretty basic, and almost everything I’ve learned about the game aside from very basic maneuvering, including the intricacies of the law enforcement system, weird mission quirks, and other things that really help you out getting your feet has come from here, youtube, or watching twitch streams. They really did drop the ball when it comes to tutorials – even those they have, if you get screwed up, you can either restart or fumble your way through, because there’s no way to look at what you’re supposed to be doing or recall hints and tips.
This is a game that really cries out for the hints and tips stuff on the loading screen.
What sort of control scheme is everyone using, now that the game has been out for some time? Is a Mouse/KYBD working just fine? How about a 360 controller? If I were to invest in a flight stick of some kind, what would be a good one (that isn’t prohibitively expensive) in the case of the Keyboard/Mouse and/or 360 being a poor choice?
I use a joystick and keyboard, mostly. Occasionally use the mouse in the station interface.
I’m using the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick. It’s about $30, has twist for yaw, and a hat. It works fine for me. I’m not a joystick guy, though.
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Extreme-Joystick-Silver-Black/dp/B00009OY9U/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1421185162&sr=1-1
Kelan
3470
I caught up with krayzkrok for a bit after dinner at one of the capital ship conflict zones and that was quite an experience. I did start to get the sound stuttering that can happen in high activity zones, but hopefully that will get improved over time. I still had quite a good time. Here are a few pics:
geewhiz
3471
I think a joystick makes the game more fun than a keyboard/mouse (so never even tried it that way). I own both the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro ($30 as stated as above) and the Saitek Rhino 55 HOTAS ($200). I think the Logitech Extreme is fine I played with it at first; but do enjoy the more expensive Saitek HOTAS. Plus the Hotas will be used for Star Citizen eventually (is what I tell myself).
Did you play Wing Commander or Freespace? Would you enjoy playing those with a mouse/keyboard or a joystick more is what I would ask myself.
geewhiz
3472
I took that to mean that the New User experience is no documentation, kinda do it yourself figuring things out, and so on.
I do think the game has elements that do not have to be that hard (such as a better trading system for knowing prices). At least let me print out the prices somehow. :)
Personally, I hate the 3d map - I think a 2d map is easier to navigate (at least I would like a choice).
Mouse/Keyboard for me. Works fine. I am a laptop gamer so balancing joysticks & whatnot while I game in bed aint gonna happen.
KevinC
3474
Oh, thanks! I thought being thrown into the fire and having to figure everything out on your was was the Old User Experience. :D
How would you do a 2D map of the Milky Way?
Just be grateful we live in a fairly flat spiral galaxy rather than one of those thick elliptical jobbies :)
This is how I feel. Particularly about the ingame map. But it is the one game I can’t resist going back to and it is my choice for #1 game of 2014. And probably 2015.
I used the 360 controller for a while and it works well, though perhaps a little too sensitive for my level of dexterity. There are not quite enough axes to have all analogue, so you need at least one digital, which is not really a big deal.
Eventually I overcame my laziness and set up the G940 HOTAS, and the experience is a lot richer using it.
A lot of people recommend the Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS X as a great value solution. It does lack buttons though, but Elite lets you use shifts to mitigate that.
Spock
3478
I agree with most of Tom’s points too, and yet I still really enjoy this game. <shrug>
a half-baked attempt at the new-user experience…I’m not being snarky, but I honestly have no idea what this means.
Perhaps he’s referring to the Combat tutorial and then the Tutorial inside the main game? I personally thought the combat tutorial was a great way to introduce the game to players. Let them get a taste of the core gameplay right off the bat, since when you first get in the main game proper, you’ll want to avoid combat for a while. I haven’t tried the Tutorial inside the main game yet though. Maybe that’s the new-user experience he’s talking about. I’ve heard there’s a docking tutorial in there, for example. Maybe it’s not well made?
mok
3480
From what I understand, a stick that can do the Yaw is important. Some don’t and I can’t see that as being a good experience.
