New Joystick for Star Citizen

Absorbentsolid

Absorbentsolid

Absorbentsolid

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Hey guys i'm wanting to buy a new Joystick for Star Citizen, I was looking at the X52 and X55 Joysticks.

Any suggestions on any better joysticks for around the same money.

Thanks
 
i would suggest waiting with star citizen. they have horrendous stick control infact horrendous controls in general. It will probably be wise to hold out and wait for a controller update of sorts to arrive and then see what is highly regarded between players. as it stands your better off with a 360 pad :D IMHO
 
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hotas X is a fairly decent starting stick. Bit limited on hat controls but at least you'll get a good feel for what you need before throwing money at it :)
I ended up just building/adding controls myself to plug it's weak spots. Honestly not a bad stick though.
 
Depends how fancy you want your kit.

As a basic joystick, the FLY 5 is a reasonable one, but it can get a bit loose.

The X52/X52 Pro is OK, but still cheaply made plasticky kit.

The X55 is slightly better, but I've heard about so many having faults, breaking, giving up and just outright karking it that I was strongly dissuaded in the end.
Saitek have some pretty good customer support for the X55, but that still isn't very good when so many people have had to contact them in the first place.

Obviously top-end would be the Thrustmaster Warthog and you definitely get your money's worth. However it is a copy of the A10 Warthog controls and great if you play such a flightsim, but it didn't feel appropriate for flying a spaceship. I also found a few personal niggles with regard to switch/button placement and felt the throttle split was quite uncomfortable after more than about 20 minutes.

Personally, I went for the CH Fighterstick and Pro Throttle.
The pair can be had for around £200 new and, while they are of very old design, the fact that so many people are still using their original 80s-made ones is testament enough to their build quality.
Function-wise, the setup is comparable to the Warthog. The feel is very light, but some people prefer this as it makes fine corrections a lot easier.
 
I have the X - 55 for star citizen. I only have a small amount of hours with it so far but found it to be very good for control. I have not set it up properly so there are a couple of niggles i need to sort out.

1 big negative I do have with it is that the stick hand rest is nonadjustable. I either have small hands (7 -8 glove size) or its built for people with shovels for hands.
When I hold it properly I can reach every button and trigger comfortably however my lower palm sits about 1.50cm above the rest so flying for a long time will become fatiguing. If I place my palm on the rest i cannot reach the 2 top thumb buttons and have poor use of the left one too.
To solve this i think I will have to make some something to stick on however i am worried then about effecting the center of mass and weight distribution of the stick top.
 
helpmeout said:
I either have small hands (7 -8 glove size) or its built for people with shovels for hands.
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It's built for people with shovel hands...

Well, sort of, anyway...
It is overly large, even for me. But you'll likely find this issue with the X55, the CH Fighter and Combat sticks, the Warthog and anything else modelled on a real stick.
The real thing is designed for a hand that sits in a cockpit to the right of and slightly above the right knee. By putting it atop a desk, you're effectively raising it forward and up by, what, 10" or more .
As a result, the angles are all wrong for the design, which is why these work so much better in SimPits.

helpmeout said:
To solve this i think I will have to make some something to stick on however i am worried then about effecting the center of mass and weight distribution of the stick top.
Click to expand...
Even the lightest X55 spring isn't weak enough for that to be affected. I stuck a load of Sugru on the front of my CH Fighterstick and even though that is much lighter than the X55 springs, it wasn't affected in the slightest.

Alternatively, I'd suggest trying to lower the platform your controls sit on, or raise your seat up. You can actually buy (or make) small platforms for stick and throttle that attach to your swivel chair.
 
ttaskmaster said:
Alternatively, I'd suggest trying to lower the platform your controls sit on, or raise your seat up. You can actually buy (or make) small platforms for stick and throttle that attach to your swivel chair.
Click to expand...

Got any links to some ideas for building platforms? I could do with attaching it to my chair tbh. Wouldn't know where to start for materials. But the feel of the stick would have been fine if I could just raise the palm rest up 1.50cm.

But you are right it does sit too high on my desk even with chair at maximum height. Seen a stand for throttle someone made out of two breeze blocks but that's a little extreme me thinks. I don't quite need a full on cockpit sim.
 
helpmeout said:
Got any links to some ideas for building platforms? I could do with attaching it to my chair tbh. Wouldn't know where to start for materials.
Click to expand...
Google-Images for "hotas chair mount". Thousands of examples of vaying kinds, costs and complexity... I'd suggest starting with either extensions to your chair arms, or adding some outriggers with plates on.

helpmeout said:
But the feel of the stick would have been fine if I could just raise the palm rest up 1.50cm.
Click to expand...
As mentioned, you could try building it up with Sugru... Others have simply wrapped something around the base, or cut material to build it up.
I personally found that raising the rest height interferred with the 'pinkie' controls, which are one of the main reasons I went HOTAS in the end.
 
I'd advise to steer clear of the X52/X52 Pro they are very old tech. Go for an X55 or CH Pro throttle + stick of your choice.

I used an X52 for years, didn't realise just how poor the stick was until I tried my friend cheap T16000M which is only about £30. I now use a CH pro throttle, saitek cessna pro pedals and T16000M, may swap the stick for a CH Combatstick eventually as the CH software is fantastic.

However word of advice - the flight model in Arena Commander is likely going to be slightly different when in-game, which is why I suggest getting a newer stick as you're more likely to be able to customise the curves etc using software to tweak the stick to your liking if the Star Citizen client doesn't permit it.
 
I've got a warthog and it's awesome, as mentioned above the stick needs to be well below normal desk height to make it comfortable. I removed the square plate from mine and made a bracket/plate/peg arrangement that is bolted to the front of my chair, the joystick plugs into the bracket and sits perfectly between my thighs; it is comfortable for hours of flying if required and I've also got small hands.

I also made an extension tube for it to increase the length of the stick by about 3", this helps a great deal with fine control around the centre point (more critical for helicopters). Without the extension it is still excellent, you just need to put a bit more effort into the small movements so is more tiring.

Be aware that the warthog doesn't have a rudder functionality built in, there is a slider on the throttle that can be bound but it's not self centering. I converted my old serial port thrustmaster rcs pedals to usb by cannibalising a ffb Logitech wheel and they work perfectly :)
 
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