Omni Sticks or Standard Sticks

[Southern_Cross_07]

Hey all, I heard that Omnis are great for comfort and bad for accuracy. Now I'm not a Dog-fighting, sweaty brow combat fighter, but .. but .. what would you choose?
2 Omnis or 2 Straights or Straight and Omni (for throttle)

With my Aussie ping, I don't expect to hit anything with guns effectively (welcome to down under) ~ Npc ships excluded.

 

[KuruptU4Fun]

I would think yawing with the Omni handles would be odd feeling.

 

[Southern_Cross_07]

I would think yawing with the Omni handles would be odd feeling.

I don't think it would be an issue for me, honestly.

 

[KuruptU4Fun]

I don't think it would be an issue for me, honestly.

Well then I'd say go for the omni's. I tried HOSAS but couldn't get the feel for it, so I went back to a throttle.

 

[Southern_Cross_07]

Well then I'd say go for the omni's. I tried HOSAS but couldn't get the feel for it, so I went back to a throttle.

What do you normally fly in game?

 

[KuruptU4Fun]

What do you normally fly in game?

Virpil HOTAS setup with Pedals.

 

[Southern_Cross_07]

Virpil HOTAS setup with Pedals.

Oh sorry, what types of ships do you fly in game?

 

[Dirtbag_Leader]

Ok, @Southern_Cross_07 here is your DEFINITIVE answer, based on ONE question you need to ask yourself, which is: Do you want roll on the twist-axis of the dominant hand or your off-hand stick?
No matter what straight stick for dominant hand
Roll on dominant stick => Omnithrottle (or HOTAS throttle) on off hand
Roll on left stick => 'Regular' straight HOSAS on off hand
Pretty much any set of axes EXCEPT roll can be made to work on a throttle/omnithrottle

 

[KuruptU4Fun]

Oh sorry, what types of ships do you fly in game?

Some combat (Gladius/SH) most everything else is cargo running/ puddle jumpers.

 

[Talonsbane]

All of those seem interesting, I've got a pair of Thrustmaster T16000Ms.

 

[Blind Owl]

I run duel Gladiator EVO omni's and love them. I haven't noticed any issues with aiming. I typically run pitch/yaw/roll on my right stick (I have a hot key to swap yaw/roll between X and Z (twist) because I haven't decided what I like better). I do my strafe up-down/forward-back/side-to-side on my left stick. I believe I typically have my strafe forward and back on my y-axis, and up-down on my z (twist) axis, although I've been known to swap these too. I also use my left trigger for my weapons, that way I'm not inadvertently ever jerking my right stick off target while firing.

 

[Southern_Cross_07]

All of those seem interesting, I've got a pair of Thrustmaster T16000Ms.

I had a Pair to T16ks - too hard of a spring for me. I preferred the softer X52's - but their quality isn't that great at fine detail.

 

[Southern_Cross_07]

I run duel Gladiator EVO omni's and love them. I haven't noticed any issues with aiming. I typically run pitch/yaw/roll on my right stick (I have a hot key to swap yaw/roll between X and Z (twist) because I haven't decided what I like better). I do my strafe up-down/forward-back/side-to-side on my left stick. I believe I typically have my strafe forward and back on my y-axis, and up-down on my z (twist) axis, although I've been known to swap these too. I also use my left trigger for my weapons, that way I'm not inadvertently ever jerking my right stick off target while firing.

Oh Brilliant. The person who told me that they lose accuracy is a low flyer, so it may only be their situation. I have seen that Noobifier loves the Offset sticks too.

 

[Blind Owl]

Oh Brilliant. The person who told me that they lose accuracy is a low flyer, so it may only be their situation. I have seen that Noobifier loves the Offset sticks too.

Big ol' fan of Noobs. He's a fellow Canadian from just up the highway, lol.
Anyways, yeah dude, I haven't had any serious issues with the Omni sticks. I think they feel hella natural to fly with

 

[Mio Fujii]

I currently use the Logitech x56 HOTAS, thinking up upgrading to a Virpil setup, but still a HOTAS. I am more industrial that "fighter pilot", though I do enjoy doing bounty hunter type missions.

HOTAS is better for play where you are not making many 'off axis" (outside of main stick X/Y/Z) fine adjustments while flying and/or won't be doing frequent throttle adjustments.
HOSAS is better for "twitch flying", where you are making frequent adjustments to speed and direction while flying. You can do fighter flying with a HOTAS, though you are loosing some maneuverability. I would think flying industrial type ships might be annoying with a HOSAS since you may need to try to figure out how to have the left joystick stay in position if you remove your hand.

I have seen images of people running a HOSAS/HOTAS setup, with a throttle alongside the left stick so you can switch back and forth, though I don't know what kind of headaches this might cause with key bindings.

 

[Mudhawk]

Okay, so to actually answer a question for once.
A) Your'e a twiddly Spacefighter type: Go with two stick (Omni or not). You can do that twirling around your enemy much easier and more precisely.
B) You're a Spacetrucker , Explorer or other kind of industrial pilot. Go with a stick and a throttle. Much easier on the hand to keep fixed speeds and probably more buttons too.
C) You want a bit of everything. Omnistick on your off-hand and joystick in the dominant one. The VKB Omnistick works like your regular throttle with the springs removed on the Y-axis and the clutches tightened. So stick forward stays stick forward. (You can even only add one spring so forward sticks but reverse returns to center)
Also you keep the X-axis or you lock it. That's a choice you have.
If you use the X-Axis and Z-Axis for strafing that's still more precise than using a thumbstick on your throttle.
This being said the Omnithrottles are out of stock, in Europe at least. And you can't preorder. So by the time they come back (4th of December estimated) the BlackFriday discount is gone.
I'm just mentioned that because I do have my eyes on one and tried to buy it on this occasion.

 

[NomadicHavoc]

I'll be building my pc next year but recently received my Virpil flightsticks, MongoosT-50CM3 Base, and "z extension". You really need too payr the Mongoos base and the z extension, but in doing so you get the best of both worlds.This might be of interest...but they are pricey. I can certainly say that the build quality are excellent. But again, I haven't used them yet as I don't yet have a gaming pc.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLUfLFLAo60

 

[ColdRain_SnowStorm]

I run right and left VKB Gladiator Evo and VKB T-Rudder pedals. I did not like the feel of the Omni's but that is personal preference. Personally, I would buy my setup over and over again all but the T-Rudder Pedals. I would buy something cheap since accuracy for forward and reverse is not needed that much. Could have save myself a bit of money going cheap on peddles. In event you become good enough you want to do PvP type stuff. It might be good to set yourself up for it. Things like Pitch and yaw on dominant hand. Strafes and roll on non-dominant hand for better accuracy. Throttle with your feet since most of the time you're only bumping forward and reverse and maneuvering with strafe. By putting roll on your dominant hand, you're sacrificing some of your accuracy of aiming. It will take more to overcome that with practice. All personal preference in the end though and you will need to make that decision for yourself. :)

 

[Raven_King]

I love my HOSAS setup, Virpil Alphas on WarBRD bases with the Z-extensions on both sticks. Feels very natural to me now, using BuzZzKiller's bindings. Here's how he has them set up:

Right stick:​

• forward/backward = pitch​
• left/right=yaw​
  • I tried two types of pedals, and gave up because the chair I use for both work and gaming has castors on a hard floor, and it moves around if I'm using pedals, even when they have a strap that goes over your feet. No pedals for me - and my chair stays where I want it :) In a simpit or with a chair that doesn't roll around, pedals would be great for yaw (or maybe roll).​
• Z-axis/twist (with the stick near horizontal like in the video thumbnail above)=roll​

Left stick:​

​

• forward/backward = throttle forward and back
  • This binding feels natural for e.g. landing or negotiating tight spaces, and for combat/precision flying but you wouldn't want to hold the stick forward during a longer steady flight. It's easy to switch from holding the stick forward to cruise control and adjusting speed with the speed limiter once you're doing that. I see the appeal of a throttle for this axis, and I even have one, but they take up such a lot of desk space.
• left/right=strafe left/right
• Z-axis/twist (with the stick near horizontal like in the video thumbnail above)=strafe up/down

I treated the left-stick Z-extension as an experiment, because it initially made strafe up/down feel a bit strange to me - it's more intuitive if you haven't learnt any bindings yet, but I previously had strafing up/down on that twist axis when the stick was vertical, and re-orienting the stick to be near horizontal required unlearning that. I'm getting used to it now. I find the z-extension MUCH more comfortable for my right hand, but (I can't explain why) I find the stick equally comfortable with or without the z-extension for my left hand. I guess my right (dominant) hand is doing more work in combat flight than my left.

Starting out years ago, I tried my own bindings for fight control axes and buttons, based on I dunno what, just instinct. I spent hours fiddling and revising them when I would rather have just been playing the game. Playing with bindings became a MASSIVE time-suck. It's VASTLY easier, if you're just getting used to HOSAS, to accept someone else's well thought-out and well maintained set of bindings, and spend your time in-game, re-learning which axis you use for what. If you've been using HOSAS for a long time and have gotten used to the axes being configured some other way, that's different. But you could still change something like BuzZzKiller's bindings to suit what axes you're used to for flight control, and keep their button bindings for everything else. Not knocking folks who prefer to maintain their own - it's just an investment of one-time and ongoing effort and frustration to do that.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Omnis are less accurate because they’re flown with the whole arm, whereas straight sticks if positioned properly are flown with the wrist. The fewer joints you use the more accurate you’ll be, same as darts.