RuffneX Keybindings

RazoRbacK · 2013-09-21 08:08:19

I use the following key bindings that has now given me an edge in battles. I was getting slammed by the bots until I switched it up like this:

Move Forward [ W ]
Move Backward [ S ]
Move Left [ A ]
Move Right [ D ]
Move Up [ Left SHIFT ]
Move Down [ SPACE ]
Roll Left [ Q ]
Roll Right [ E ]

I seldom use the Move Up and Move Down keys as I am constantly on the move and so I use the mouse Pitch to move up and down while in forward motion.

8-}

Scott · 2013-09-21 08:23:32

I'm glad you brought this up. Interestingly, that is exactly the alternate key binding pattern that I was considering. It's good, because it mimics the familiar WASD of FPS games.

I would like more feedback on this. What does everyone think? Do you find the WASD config workable? Should this be the default Talon key config?

Blarget2 · 2013-09-21 09:37:22

Especially for newcomers into the genre, I think it is a very smart move to make the default controls wasd to make it familiar to fps players.

Enzo03 · 2013-09-22 00:36:48

For the longest time when I was playing keyboard only in Descent, I had the most messed up config: A and Z were forward and back, home + del + end + pgdn (above the arrows) were sliding, the arrow keys were pitch and yaw, etc.

Took me ages to adopt WADS. For a while I was even playing Quake 3 Arena and Halo PC with arrow keys as my movement keys. I shortly adopted a similar setup to the OP, except CTRL is my slide down key, similar to how I use CTRL for crouch in other games.

That said, I long wish that I had used it before. Honestly, I think it should be default. There are some who do use different controls, with some just doing ESDF or even further to the right to make more keys accessible to the hand, but they follow the same basic layout.

I definitely understand the logic behind the current controls (actually almost surprised I never tried something like that myself) but WASD with Q and E for banking and with shift+control for slide up/down is much more accessible to me.

In Descent 2 and 3, I use Spacebar for afterburner, but I really don't have a need to use the afterburner key here. as far as I can tell.

Last edited by Enzo03 (2013-09-22 02:13:00)

Scott · 2013-09-22 02:51:36

Enzo03 wrote:

but I really don't have a need to use the afterburner key here. as far as I can tell.

You really don't. You can, but you don't need to. The default behavior of the afterburner key is to suppress the afterburner. This is only really useful for being stealthy, because it's quieter; and while that can be a useful tactic, it's rarely an essential tactic.

Although if you prefer, there is an option to reverse that behavior so that the AB is off normally and must be activated with the button. Your choice.

sigma · 2013-09-22 08:22:19

in the last century, I went through all the games the Descent 1, 2, 3 only on the keypad on a standard keyboard shortcut S + X + Alt + Ctrl)))
Since then I have been playing for a long time on a mouse or joystick. I can say that the combination of the keys WASD + Shift + Space well-proven as the optimal configuration of the keys that I have is equally convenient for more than 7 games in 15 years of network battles.
By the way, my afterburner it - Ctrl

Enzo03 · 2013-09-24 19:36:39

I find that not so optimal in Descent:

As you have it, unless you normally use only two fingers on WASD and have each a finger on Shift and Ctrl, it can be cumbersome to use afterburner in the case you need to use it while holding shift.

I use Space for Afterburner and Shift/Ctrl for sliding up and down because pressing both slide up and slide down at the same time is useless, and I can easily have my thumb on the space bar to comfortably use afterburner. This is especially useful in D3 because of how its afterburner works.

---

In Talon, however, that configuration may actually be better since, again, the afterburner key in Talon is not so useful unless you're being stealthy, and you can quickly go from sliding up to sliding down, or sliding down to sliding up.

tekmik · 2013-10-20 15:16:38

I use WASD in Quake, UT etc. But for Descent / Talon... nothing beats a good joystick setup IMO (though your milage may very of course!).

Did try Talon using WASD + mouse but I still fly quicker and more precise using a joystick - but you do need to be able to bank left/right while fraggin' along

In the good old Descent days I spent time trying to figure out what the optimal controller setup would be - and ended up with my current setup where the task of controlling the ship is divided equally between left/right hands.

I figured each brain halves would then be presented with somewhat equal amount of work. No I'm not kidding you - and it did improve my flying skills at D3 - quite a bit actually.

Some details:

Left hand (keyboard): Little finger on 'L' (up) and thumb on R-Ctrl (down), index finger on Right-Shift (pitch down), ring finger on 'Æ' (just right of 'L' = AB), 'Ø' (just right of 'Æ', pitch up). And then I use a few of the nearby keys for bank left/right etc.

Right hand (joystick): R-axis (left/right slide), X-axis (throttle), Y-axsis (left/right turn).

The nice thing about this setup is that my right hand thumb is 'free' during dog fighting - no matter how I throw the ship around in 6D I can switch weapon or fire both missiles and guns, cloak, power On/Off etc. I use the 4 switches around the POV/HAT (which I'm currently not using at all btw).

I'm so used to this setup now that I really enjoy being able to use the same setup with Talon (thanks Scott!). It allow both hands to be positioned straight in front so I get problem playing for many hours straight if need be = easy on joints, wrists and fingers!

Last edited by tekmik (2013-10-20 15:17:27)

Announcement

#1 2013-09-21 08:08:19

RuffneX Keybindings

#2 2013-09-21 08:23:32

Re: RuffneX Keybindings

#3 2013-09-21 09:37:22

Re: RuffneX Keybindings

#4 2013-09-22 00:36:48

Re: RuffneX Keybindings

#5 2013-09-22 02:51:36

Re: RuffneX Keybindings

#6 2013-09-22 08:22:19

Re: RuffneX Keybindings

#7 2013-09-24 19:36:39

Re: RuffneX Keybindings

#8 2013-10-20 15:16:38

Re: RuffneX Keybindings

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