Heli's with TM Hotas X?

[Vincent90]

Hey guys,

 

For quite some time, I'm looking at the UH-1 and Mi-8 modules but i'm really concerned my gear isn't up to snuff.

 

I own a TM Hotas X, which is fine for flying but horrible for precise inputs (forget about dogfighting with guns or taking off with a Kurfurst with it). It has a twist stick and the throttle is excellent value, but reading the horrors of trying to master the Huey makes me worried.

 

Do you guys have any experience with the Hotas X and using it for the UH-1/Mi-8?

[flying rabbit]

My first joystick was the TM flightstick X (its the same stick without the throttle). I used it alot with the huey, but its very imprecise (just 256 per axis). You can fly with it, but hovering, landing and especially cargo is not much fun.

Ive picked a TM 16.000M which has a resolution of 16000 per axis and its just great (you can get it for the same price as the flightstick...).

[BFBunny]

Interesting...

 

I own a hotas x

 

While it is not the best stick by a country mile you can easily take off and land with the 109. Easily, when is the 109 ever 'easy' to land and with some practice you can dogfight with the best of them. The trick is to use 50% throttle and use the rudder on the throttle rather than the twist stick t get into the air.

 

I often fly the huey and while I can't fully hover straight up into the vertical like some can I have landed on some pretty small buildings and have recently learnt how to combat land the thing without bricking it into the ground. I'm certainly not quite as precise (especially as I lack the funds for the track IR) I can dance the huey around like a feather.

 

Similar story to the hip. While I've had this less time and do occasionally meet the ground with an explosion I've found the helo easy enough to get to grips with my stick.

 

I only find the stick sucks in IL2 bos. DCS can cover the lack of precision input pretty well, but in bos you get a kind of elastic band effect on precision end of things.

 

Overall if you have this stick and can afford something better now then I would buy something better, otherwise it works 'good enough' to learn all the current aircraft and helicopters to a reasonable standard. When I flew the 109 every day I could land it like it was the easiest thing in the world (with this stick). Coming back to it a year off and I could get it down after a few tries, but not always pretty.

 

I can mix with the players on the ww2 server, but I am rubbish at target leading and spotting.

 

Yet by the time you are as good as the stick will let you be you'll be needing track IR (if not have it now) and a better stick to roll with the best of them. I don't think the joystick maketh the pilot. I helps to have a good one, but I wouldn't blame a lack of skill just to a poor joystick.

 

The only module I could not master with it was the black shark. Yet I put that down more to my dislike of the helicopter and lack of time using it. I'd end up in these annoying left or right circles as I fired the missiles. It was not impossible, just irritating. I expect had I liked the module enough to learn it fully I would have worked out how to stop this.

 

Overall I find my lack of track IR (due to limited funds) limits my performance far more than the poor stick as I have the lock cockpit view mapped to a button on the stick so I can move around the view with the mouse. In a dogfight I have to use the hat which is not as precise and makes it hard to keep track of my enemy as I use both hands to use rudder throttle and ailerons.

 

My overall piece of advice is seat time. The more time you spend on a few modules the better you will get depending on your own personal skill limitations. Will you be rubbish in the huey the first few flights? Probably? Will buying a $300 joystick make the fourth flight expert level. Probably not. There were times when I hated the 109. I would load up full of excitement only to blow up taking off, crash on the runway or dive too fast, have the controls lock and watch my virtual pilot meet his end and swear never to fly the thing again, so I'd give up for few days and use something else, do something else and the next time I take off ok, fly around and crash land. But that would be cool, so I'd load the editor, put in some bombers and tackle these a few times, next day I'd try and land, the first time I might actually do it with wing scrape, load the editor line up some smaller targets. Try again next few days, load up some mustangs with guns vs ai or go online. Get wrecked, practice taking off and landing, manage to land the thing without wing scrape, but maybe not quite end up straight down the runway. Few weeks later finally manage to down some enemy fighter planes, start to learn to lead, play more online, start to shoot at least one player down in a session. Maybe now the stick is limiting performance, maybe now I should get track IR. Maybe in the future I'll be that one guy who everyone thinks is 'the best' and dreads going up against.

I however, am not that guy. But you might be with enough practice.

Edited April 17, 2016 by BFBunny

[1.JaVA_Platypus]

You don't need expensive sh!t to fly effectivly. There are even one or two guys out there, flying the HUEY with a gamepad! However, the cheaper joysticks tend to break sooner, or show other defects. But then again, you can buy another one more easily because of the price. And there are plenty of guys who can't fly, even if they have the Thrustmaster Warthog or the rediculously priced Komodo controllers.

 

However, I should advice you to get some kind of head-tracking device. Maybe a second hand Track-IR. It helps with immersion and better situational awareness.

 

And IF you decide to buy a Thrustmaster Warthog, please do a price comparison check. Some sites want you to pay more then 50% more then others. I got mine for 300 Euros. (Around 350 dollars I guess) That is about as cheap as you can get for a new stick and throttle.

Edited April 17, 2016 by 1.JaVA_Platypus