I've been flying with keyboard + mouse for almost two years in SC. I used to be using Saitek X52 Pro HOTAS in conventional configuration /throttle on the left, stick on the right/, but I had serious problems with aiming -- that's why I switched to kb+m.
I'm mainly flying in decoupled mode and I found that mouse and WASD, QEAD & LShift, LControl, Space and Capslock (yep, that's a lot of fingers) are the best for me for both combat and dynamic flying in atmosphere and space. With one exception: Q and E keys were not allowing me to control roll precisely; in smaller ships it was almost like an immediate 90 degree rotation with the single hit of each key. I didn't like that at all, as I was always trying to fly spaceships like... planes. It means instead of yawing to turn -- the technique used by many fellow players -- I was always performing banking turns, like in conventional aircraft.
Long story short, thanks to @O-Lefty I finally found a better configuration: HOSAM, stick on the left plus mouse. I'm using my old X52 Pro for the throttle and roll, plus some other key controls (details below, in case anyone's interested), and mouse on the right for pitch and yaw, strafe up and down, and firing guns and missiles. Results are very good -- below video was taken during my first session with HOSAM (Hands on Stick and Mouse.
Note that I locked stick z-axis with the built-in twist lock.
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Joystick:
Throttle -- axis-y
Roll -- axis-x
Strafe up/down/left/right -- POW1
Spacebreak - Fire B
Afterburner - Pinkie switch
Decoupled toggle - Trigger 1st level
Cruise Control - T3
Landing Gear - T2
VTOL Mode - T1
Camera Control - POV2
Mouse:
Pitch, Yaw (mouse axis-x & axis-y), Strafe Up & Down (side buttons), Fire, Speed limiter.
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I'm mainly flying in decoupled mode and I found that mouse and WASD, QEAD & LShift, LControl, Space and Capslock (yep, that's a lot of fingers) are the best for me for both combat and dynamic flying in atmosphere and space. With one exception: Q and E keys were not allowing me to control roll precisely; in smaller ships it was almost like an immediate 90 degree rotation with the single hit of each key. I didn't like that at all, as I was always trying to fly spaceships like... planes. It means instead of yawing to turn -- the technique used by many fellow players -- I was always performing banking turns, like in conventional aircraft.
Long story short, thanks to @O-Lefty I finally found a better configuration: HOSAM, stick on the left plus mouse. I'm using my old X52 Pro for the throttle and roll, plus some other key controls (details below, in case anyone's interested), and mouse on the right for pitch and yaw, strafe up and down, and firing guns and missiles. Results are very good -- below video was taken during my first session with HOSAM (Hands on Stick and Mouse.
Note that I locked stick z-axis with the built-in twist lock.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joystick:
Throttle -- axis-y
Roll -- axis-x
Strafe up/down/left/right -- POW1
Spacebreak - Fire B
Afterburner - Pinkie switch
Decoupled toggle - Trigger 1st level
Cruise Control - T3
Landing Gear - T2
VTOL Mode - T1
Camera Control - POV2
Mouse:
Pitch, Yaw (mouse axis-x & axis-y), Strafe Up & Down (side buttons), Fire, Speed limiter.
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