I refer to mine as my Freespace 2 stick.
Splendid, best use for it.
Thanks for the report! If I ever decide to go for a serious hardcore combat stick, I’ll definitely have to consider the Virpil. They’re compatible with the TM handles, too, right?
Correct. And because they are, so are their extension kits. I contemplated building my own, but parts and tools would have come to about the same cost, so I bought them from virpil.
Enlarging your stick and mounting it between your legs as God intended will make flying more fun. Especially those parts where you need Fingerspitzengefuhl such as aerial refuelling, gunnery and deck landings. This is a relatively cheap way to make your stick a whole lot better.
Theres people who have built extensions for t1600m sticks as well, and even msffb2’s, sacrilegious as it may be to hack up such holy artifacts of the golden age.
Heheheheheheheheheehhehe
Ever since I brought home my first flight stick at the tender age of 11 and having received a tremendous ribbing from sister and mother about its kinky nature while dad smirked and pretended not to have noticed, I have decided to not shy away, but embrace this aspect of my hobby.
My stick is long and hard and while it may not throb like a msffb2, it’s the most satisfying one I ever owned.
There. And fuck insecure children who can’t take this kind of innuendo.
XD
Thanks for the write-up. As a casual simmer is the throttle built into the T16000M good enough or should I spring for the separate throttle? Don’t really want to give up more desk space but interested in opinions.
That throttle is said to be excellent, as good as the warthog one. It does need lube, as the friction on the tracks can make it less precise than you want when flying close formation. As its plastic, you will need lube that can do that while not fucking up the plastic. Nyogel for example.
Oh. I misread your post. You mean the throttle slider on the base of a t1600m. Yeah mate for puttering around in a Cessna it’s fine. Only when you want to do stuff like choppers, dogfights, formations etc do you really need a seperate throttle unit.
I think I need to trade in my Thrustmaster Hotas X for one of the single sticks. We’re still in our starter home, and space is increasingly at a premium. The fully operational gaming station will need to wait until we move or come into a bunch of money. I love the X, but it’s chonky. Just moving it from under the desk is an exercise in frustration.
I love my HOTAS X. It’s affordable and it basically provides all the flight input you need.
It is a little sloppy as Denny mentions above, but that teaches you how not to hamfist your bird all over the sky.
I had a T.16000 stick and some time, but I think it got jettisoned in one tech purge or another. No idea why I ditched it.
I bought a VKB Gunfighter for the same reason. I’ve owned a couple of Saitek setups, and have been disappointed by the cheap plastic construction and annoyed by the cheap pots that start to spike after a few months.
I wanted something that works perfectly and is built to last, and that’s exactly what I got. I couldn’t be happier with it.
Hey, so with the upcoming consoles I’m finding myself wondering what to do for gaming, PS5 / XbX, PC, or some ungodly expensive combo of 2 of the 3 (not preferred). Add to this my wife will soon have her way and move all workstations to the new office when it’s ready, meaning if I go PC, I’ll have to be comfortable gaming on a 4K Tv (I want to game where the family is, not locked away.)
Which leads me to wonder… it seems a lot of console games make the port to PC reliably and well these days (that’s a question too I suppose)… and if so, how well do they game on a gamepad vs M+K ? For the first time in my life I want the pad, since I’ll be on the couch. I guess I can get a sofa tray for wireless M+K if need be, but I’m guessing I’d rather not. And how about multiplayer gaming? The kids are getting into now, is the support for multiple gamepads all good on PC ports?
I’m almost assuming unless a game is a platformer that non-PC ports dont’ use gamepads at all (much).
Depends on the game, really. No RTS is going to play well on a gamepad, but basically anything that has a console version plays exactly the same with gamepad (read Xbox gamepad, though you can use Playstation with a bit more faff) on PC. Most non-strategy/sim PC games are gamepad first these days anyway. Can’t say I’ve done much couch co-op on PC, so can’t really answer that one.
yeah, I know it’s not the usual to multiplay on a PC in general. To be fair, I anticipate my kids keep playing the wii U for quite a while, the new game solution will mostly be for me.
The “Why am I playing old games?” thread reminded me of my increasing desire to play the original TIE Fighter again (from what I know, the GOG version includes the 1995 redo, which went to 640x480 and retained the iMUSE system, which was cut from the 1998 version), as well as start creeping back into flight sims. The advice a couple of years ago was to buy one of the Russian-made sticks/HOTAS, but I’m guessing those will be unavailable for the foreseeable future.
So, what’s the best available HOTAS in 2022? I don’t have room for pedals, but I could squeeze in a HOTAS set. My birthday is a ways off, but that gives me time to save up.
I’ve had this on my Amazon list like forever.
If you want a full HOTAS fine, you can go with that Thurstmaster.
Or you can buy the best joystick ever made that’ll run with anything from TIE Fighter to Star Citizen.
VKB and Virpil are still available. You’re probably looking for VKB’s gladiator series. Their gunfighter series (and all of Virpil’s sticks) are much more expensive.
edit: FWIW though, my gunfighter is still working flawlessly, and the build quality compared to my old Saitek sticks is like night and day. No regrets spending the extra money.
VKB started in Russia, has a HQ in China now, probably why we can still get them. Virpil is based in Belarus IIRC, guess that’s not a problem for now.
There’s no way that a Remastered version of Freespace 2 could cost more than 1/10th the money it would bring in, especially with VR support. Just sayin’. Squadrons was glorious but I need a lot, lot more of that action.
What would be the point of VR support in Freespace 2? It doesn’t have cockpits.