The_Director

@Lumpy thats what Ive been learning as well. (Note today I was able to get 1:20 per lap. progress!) @Wolfwood I did finish the buttons section, see quote: As for immersion, I agree! However I have to create a case that would change Tac's mind, and since he is planning on doing next to no dog-fighting there was not much point. Right now I am trying to figure out how to change my button layout for racing. The button I should be pushing for afterburner is also the same toggle for cruse control and they are conflicting.

Joysticks. Is there a place for handling a spaceship sim outside of using the traditional keyboard & mouse? Or is it just a fancy way of d**k sizing? Often times I look into players gaming rigs and I find a bejeweled PC, where the RAM has RGB lighting, wireless mice with removable weights, or PC cases so large they use the case as their desk. So when I informed Tac that I had just purchased and received a set of Joysticks, he scoffed! (rough quote) I flared my nostrils, increased my heart rate! How could he offend me in such a manner!?!? The very idea that anything I bought could have the very slight chance of being a total waste of my good american cash offended my ears! So I hotly replied: (a perfect quote( (no really!) So began my quest, a perfect review of a system I still haven't used for a week. Lets go. So firstly, why did I want a Joystick? Every once in a while ill look around on youtube and check out videos on joysticks. So this week I finally thought, "hmmm that looks cool". So I went out to amazon and bought two Thrustmaster 16000M joysticks. So the case: 1. More buttons This is the most common and I believe weakest argument. You have (or you should) a full sized keyboard. On the typical keyboard there is 104 buttons. With modifiers such as ALT and CTRL, you can double or triple the number of buttons on a keyboard with the push of a keystroke. Also, if you have a typical mouse, you have 2 buttons, and a scroll wheel. More on this later. For joysticks, you can have 10-40 buttons depending on make & model. Clearly, at this stage the keyboard and mouse have a advantage. So what can we do to balance the fact? 2. How many keystrokes you can push. Old models used to limit you to 3-4 keystrokes before you would max out the bandwidth. ( I only just upgraded from one of these a few months ago!) Now adays you can push many keys at once, allowing for a smoother experience flying in the universe. Joysticks operate differently, instead of seeing moment as keystrokes the joystick is streaming a set of coordinates of how far the stick is being pushed, and in which direction. 3. Now I don't really know how to write a review, so please bear with me. Lets talk about what is better and worst about the two sets of controls. Lets say you need the ship to turn right, point the nose of the spacecraft up, drift north-west, rise vertically, and do a right barrel roll all at the same time. Not too hard right? Just push the mouse to the right and up, hold W and A to drift, hold E to barrel roll and hold R as well to rise vertically. Never mind the fact that doing this all at the same time is pointless, but how are you going to use a mouse to operate 2 axes, and then use your left hand to operate the remaining 4 axes? Plus, how many fingers do you have to do this command? With a duel joystick set up I can, and easily. Push the right joystick to the North-East, twist the stick to barrel roll, and then use the left joystick to drift, and twist to rise up. Easy right? and we can still shoot with the triggers. So thats the "technical" case for joysticks. With just one joystick all you are doing is replacing a mouse for another bigger mouse with a few more buttons. With duel sticks I am simplifying a 104 key keyboard for a cleaner 10-40 button stick. By dividing the number of buttons that need to be pressed equally between two hands, there is a better balance and agility then what there was before. -------------------------- That all being said, thats just the technical case. Practicality is the real test. (To make this part of the review clear, I am right handed, and thrust movement is made with the left hand/stick and rotation is made with the right hand/stick) The first issue is that I am only used to giving a few commands to my right hand, while my left hand is off happy doing 30 things at once. Which leads to funny issues where I am "rubber banding" my focus from my left hand to my right. At the time of this writing, I improved from 2:30 per lap on racing in SC down to 1:35. Note that the top score is 50-52 seconds per lap, and I don't know how fast I was with keyboard\mouse layout. While racing my hands do get tired, but I was able to handle 10+ laps (single player) and with a minutes rest I would be good to go for another 10 rounds. Dog fighting is harder for me to measure, I am better at drifting away from incoming fire, and hitting targets isn't hard. However it would take 8-10 minutes per kill attacking a size 1 ship. I only played up to round 3 before I quit from boredom as my landed shots seemed to do next to zero damage. Also while dog fighting I never had the sense that I was "on their back". It could just be the nature of space, I never used match speed and its hard to say if this is the design intention of the SC devs or if I was just using under powered weapons. I also had this issue with a keyboard/mouse layout. -------------------------- To sum up this 48-72 hour rating: The joysticks are fun! Its too early to say that they are truly useful, and its novelty could wear off, but we will know that better in a week or two. I will provide another review of the Thrustmaster 16000M's that I am using, but for now I just want the review to be about joysticks and SC more than the sticks themselves. Now I am off to go race! I would like to see 1:10 laps today, wish me luck! T_D

I have two NZXT X62 water coolers for my CPU and GPU. With Blender testing I cannot break 46c, though I dont have a way to measure sound. Now to be fair I am living inside a 95% underground basement, and I dont think the room will get much warmer than 60f over the summer.

How much is it in USD?

fun video but not really any substance we "hardcore fans" dont know about.

Hello all, I am looking at upgrading my PC for its next round of hardware, last year was adding 2 new water coolers for my CPU + GPU, and this year is when I ditch DDR3 and upgrade to a new CPU + motherboard. That being said, I would love some advice on the best combo at the best price. Right now I am looking at the I7-9700, however I am wondering if the i7-8700 would work just as well... I currently have an i7-4760k @ 4.0 GHZ, so any upgrade will be a huge boost in performance. I also need a new motherboard, and would love to hear your suggestions on what you like! My workload is ofc games, but I also do large amounts of 3d rendering, which is mostly GPU based nowadays. I am not against going team red, but I would like to hear about anyone's thoughts first. Ty T_D

Merry CHRIS-tmas!

I have the Logitech G930, which is a wireless headset. One of the rods connecting to the speaker snapped about 6 months ago but the second rod is still holding out just fine. I think I've owned if for two years now. The battery is ok, lasts about 5 hours before it needs recharging. Not the best at sound and the "bass boost" is pathetic. If your the guy with a load of cash and appreciate high quality sound, go Bose. Otherwise TA's advise is good too :D

The Issue I have with most ships is that their play-sets are not fully developed, or the ships themselves are not fully baked. (Begin rant) Such as: Connie - Great if you have a friend to do...? low storage, too slow & weak for a real dogfight, and there are better explorer ships out or make a fleet with the same cost as a connie. Mercury Star-runner - (My ship) Does a little of everything, but the only ship to have a dedicated "hidden cargo compartment". This actually boils my blood a good bit, why make a "feature" that only ONE ship in the entire game has? Isn't there a ship line called pirates... err Drake? Its like if you were an customs inspector you would let everyone in except the mercury in because OF COURSE everyone would have that closet filled with something! (sarcasm in full effect) Its nice that they are adding this feature, but If your telling me that they will now go and fix every other ship to have hidden spots... I don't know. Maybe if development takes another 5 years... But I do like the Mercury since its better than... The Terrapin! (my last ship) a small ship that costs $100 more than its worth. 1. Its a small ship that costs $220. You can get a level 2 Connie for $5 more! or 2 cutlass with some change to spare! and don't tell me that it can out fight or out smart more than 1 ship at a time lol 2. No cargo space other than carry-on. Again you payed how much? 3. One bed FOR A CREW OF TWO! (I don't think there are any other ships that break this rule!) how much $$$? 4. While the radar feature is not finished ofc. this is not an exploring ship. Its an fleet scout ship and I think there was some degree of bad advertising which lead me to believe it was. Sure the terrapin might just wow us when the features go live. But I doubt it. The Freelancer has a larger radar btw. And beds. And storage to hold an extra radar or two for you. The Hawk. Its a cool looking ship, but I don't think its very good for actual bounty workers. Get an Avenger instead, thats a real bounty vessel. (Features pending ofc) Any ship with a cargo ramp that cannot carry a ground vehicle. To me its real simple. If you need a CARGO ramp to move supplies then it should be able to carry a car. And the ground vehicles so far are not that large. (End of rant) That all being said! SQ42!!!!! It just might happen in our lifetimes!

As always, I’ll take any 600i or 890 jump donations to the poor mans T_D fund any day :D

I am actually thinking about the carrack. It’s such a large ship and if I trade everything for it it will only cost me $75

Good point. I wonder if RSI ever deletes inactive accounts?

No the average should be $100+- 200M / 2M players = 100.00

Its all good with large ships unless you need to travel through a star system to get to the next jump. Then I would say go ahead and make the trip as long as possible in warp, and give me the maneuvering speed to deal with pirates, obstacles or needed pit-stops. I guess its wormholes that have the fancy maneuvering inside the hole? Then you could really use a smaller ship. And I am assuming the warps done in that spreadsheet started and ended in the same place.