I am interested in picking up a joystick to really enjoy jet and heli flying, keyboard and mouse just aren't cutting it anymore. Anyone have any recommendations?
Posted Nov 23, 2013, 7:03 PM UTC
First I will tell you that any joystick throttle will not work as you expect in Battlefield 4, so put that out of your mind right now. Instead of directly setting the throttle with it as you'd expect (as in BF2), what it does instead is increases the throttle when the joystick throttle is forward, and decreases it when the throttle is back. That means to get to 300 airspeed you'll have to push the throttle forward until it's there, then bring the throttle back to the middle point to stop it from accelerating further, which is a huge pain, and you're far better off using the W/S keys for that.
Otherwise, it all depends on feel and what you're willing to spend. I myself am using an old Logitech Wingman Extreme and it works just fine (besides the throttle issues mentioned above, but that will happen to ANY throttle). It's probably a good 5-10 years old and the only thing I'd had to fix was putting vaseline in the pots because it got squeaky after a few years.
I know that Thrustmaster also makes solid joysticks, and their more expensive ones are replicas of real jet joysticks.
My brother has a Saitek X-52. He likes it, but I find it a bit too loose and the throw very big. But this is all subjective. The most important thing for joysticks is how it feels to you.
Also, for jets/helis I map the rolling to the stick's rudder instead of the yaw, and the yaw on the stick's X axis. I know this is NOT how it's set up in real life, but it seems a lot more intuitive for precise aiming.
If you don't want to use the keyboard or get footpedals for the rudder, make sure you get a stick with rudder twist.
A final note: You will not really be better off than mouse users, since they'll be able to fine tune aiming much better than you can. But you'll have more fun! And there's plenty of other games you can play with your new stick, like Freespace 2 or Warthunder or World of Warplanes.
Instead of directly setting the throttle with it as you'd expect (as in BF2), what it does instead is increases the throttle when the joystick throttle is forward, and decreases it when the throttle is back.
Works for me. Linear throttle is a matter of setup unless your stick is really funky. Took some fiddling in BF3Settingseditor (and later import in BF4), but it works.
Oh, and to add to the list of games: Apache Air Assault (go with the realistic flight model right away). You will painfully realize how arcadey the chopper controls in BF3/4 really are.
Wait, really? Jets too? I heard it only works in choppers?
What do you have set to what?
Oh, did not read about the jet stuff, sorry. No idea about that, I do not fly jets. I just tried it quickly and it indeed seems broken :(
I can give you one recommendation: NOT a Saitek Cyborg series one. Bad quality. Buttons breaking off, potis for the axis acting up, too strong spring.
Wait until DICE fixes joysticks in the first place. I don't think I've read a single thing on any working at the moment... Mine, the throttle up registers as button 1 right now... (Logitech Extreme 3D)
Search the subreddit for "Logitech" or such some. There are many postings explaining what you have to change in the config file to make it work.
I haven't used it in BF4 yet, but I used to in BF3. If you're looking for a quality joystick for a cheap price, check out the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. I believe it's about $30 on Amazon. Has always worked well for me.
I use this one. It works well for choppers and jets.