Flying only with the keyboard in Starlancer

[Cassidy]

I recently got and am playing a space sim called Starlancer with keyboard only and I already managed to surpass most of the difficulties of not having a joystick. Also, as I did play Freelancer before, it seemed like a walk in the park compared with its much better predecessor, as I only died/mission failed in Freelancer 3 times and most combats were a breeze due to the mouse controls and relatively simplified interface.

On the other hand, I like the challenge of this game(Starlancer), though the fact you can't save the game in the middle of a mission sometimes is frustrating, there are too many cutscenes and besting escort missions(AKA: Not allowing any of the allied ships to be destroyed) is really hard in some missions. Also one of its starting ships has a limited auto aim but I prefer the one which doesn't have it but with more firepower. It's completely linear, but unlike Freelancer it doesn't promise what it can't deliver(nonlinear gameplay, "become a pirate, trader or bounty hunter" and so on) and it is more straight to the point with less waste of time traveling through waypoints. As I have very little experience with space sim games, I won't say it's one of the best relatively modern space flight games, but it's surely much superior to Freelancer as you won't fight "technologically superior" alien ships that are a breeze to beat. I'm thinking about Freespace 2 too if it's controls aren't too clunky to the point of blocking any possibility of having a chance with the keyboard.

Did anyone else ever play other space games without a joystick and without a mouse? It's quite a challenge but after some time you get the hang of it. Still I'm going to get a joystick for it, as I don't think it's possible to perform as good with a keyboard in a space/flight sim as with a joystick+keyboard.

 

[kingcomrade]

I got Starlancer when it came out. Man that game was so terrible. Horrible AI, missions that were either ridiculously easy or retardedly hard and which required you to basically memorize where you needed to be at each event trigger. (protip: the Reaper is the best ship besides the obvious Pheonix, and it can reverse-thrust (doesn't say this in the manual or anything))

I play Freespace 2 without a joystick, since I don't have one. Using the mouse for fine aiming and the arrow keys for max-speed turning actually works fairly well.

 

[DraQ]

Did anyone else ever play other space games without a joystick and without a mouse?

No, but the only space sims I currently play are old FE2 and FFE. I've found these games relatively recently - one or two years ago and I'm still awed by their scale, freedom and amount detail their several-generations-before-some hopeless-retard-coined-the-term-nextgen engines feed my bloodshot eyes with. Plus I'm a sucker for newtonian flight mechanics.

 

[EliotW]

I beat FS2 with a keyboard. It required a total reliance on guided missiles.

 

[abstract]

Yeah, Starlancer was pretty poor. Ridiculously scripted missions (like when three russian bombers jump out of hyperspace and immediately launch torpedoes, even though it takes you several seconds to acquire a lock-on), broken wingers (they don't even fight the enemy ships, just kind of... fly around, which means that you pretty much have to do everything yourself), the stupid co-pilot (after I heard "all the way man, all the way" for the 100th time I wanted to just turn around and punch him in the face) and the crappy good NATO vs. evil Warsaw Pact plot.

More on topic, I don't own a joystick and play space sims using a mouse only. Beating TIE Fighter and X-Wing cost me three mice (one after I threw against the desk in frustration).

 

[YourConscience]

Perhaps this is a good moment to bring Ad Astra to your attention:

http://a-astra.com/

It appears to go very much in the steps of FE2. I haven't had the time to try it out yet, found out about it a week ago. So, comments on it's qualities are very welcome.

I, too, think that FE2 is by far more next-gen than anything that appeared in the last ten or fifteen years.

 

[The Rambling Sage]

besting escort missions(AKA: Not allowing any of the allied ships to be destroyed) is really hard in some missions.

Later it becomes less so, and many of the missions allow for being turned into a big mess as long you complete some of the main objectives or survive the flight. Up until i clawed my way to the top of the "ace list" i never completed an objective while there was still dogfighting to do or wich was not standing in the way, and still managed to get through the campaign - Even if they kicked me out of the fleet every other day or so.

Also one of its starting ships has a limited auto aim but I prefer the one which doesn't have it but with more firepower.

If you are playing Starlancer with a keyboard then the ships with tracking are a must, and more so towards the end of the campaign. Also, the most advanced of those is, i believe, the only ship with cloacking - A life saver in the last couple of fights, where you are going to need it for breaking chases since mobility and reaction time with just the keyboard sucks big time.

As far as i remember those small "tracking" ships were the very best.

Did anyone else ever play other space games without a joystick and without a mouse? It's quite a challenge but after some time you get the hang of it.

I always forget about getting a new joystick, and not every space sim likes the mouse - So i have been playing those with a keyboard or mouse since Tie Fighter, give and take those times i manage to remember to get a joystick from a friend or so to replay every space sim i own, one after the other - and later try telling them i wasn't the one they gave it to.

And yes - with time one develops a very particular mindset, since most of the time you flight like a drunk pig.

broken wingers (they don't even fight the enemy ships, just kind of... fly around, which means that you pretty much have to do everything yourself)

They do dogfight, but they do not ever complete mission objetives other than "scort this" or "destroy that." And in the last couple of missions they provide a nice speed bump, and allow you face hard enemies one or two at the time. Mostly, is the same thing they do in every other space sim i ever played.

Then, I managed to fight my way through freespace in hard or something without ever getting shot down, and all of a sudden i need more than twenty tries in the last one just because the idiotic fucks in bombers didn't want to just go and blow the fucking generators.

So i guess i like it better the starlancer way, as the game never tried to make wingmen instrumental to complete critical objectives and so never made my game dependant on them, at least as far i remember.

Beating TIE Fighter and X-Wing cost me three mice (one after I threw against the desk in frustration).

Up until now i believed i was the only one sick enought to try and do that in Tie Fighter.

I salute your bravery.

 

[DraQ]

I, too, think that FE2 is by far more next-gen than anything that appeared in the last ten or fifteen years.

Which is quite appropriate for a game featuring whole galaxy with engine that can simultaneously draw a red giant several AU away and fine letters saying "rubbish" on a cargo container (using curvilinear polys).

We definitely need official Codex Frontier/FFE appreciation thread.

 

[Cassidy]

Just another one I remember playing(without a joystick) and it was overall a much better experience than Starlancer, plus it's freeware:

http://ifh.firstones.com/

And it has(or at least seems to) newtonian physics!Though it's final mission in the current version has a really hard "boss" type of pilot that is very tough to beat.

On the other hand, maybe the open-source developers improved VegaStrike controls in the 0.5 beta too.

I'm also going to try the Open-source Freespace2 project, I wonder whether it's different from the original game or not.