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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

Author Topic: Controls suggestion: "Rotate to cursor" button  (Read 2894 times)

Agouti

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Controls suggestion: "Rotate to cursor" button
« on: February 03, 2013, 06:22:28 PM »

Greetings and salutations,

Just picked up Starsector, cutesy of the review from TotalHalibut, and am loving it so far. I haven't gotten very far in yet, so this is more of a first impressions post (which is pretty important, I think)

I came to Starsector from playing a great deal of a game called S.P.A.Z., which is in the same genre but a far more action/arcade game, in fact very much let down by the rather poor A.I. for the uncontrolled ships in your squadron.

In comparison, I have been finding the controls in Starsector when controlling a ship a little awkward/unintuitive. While the command interface is great - certainly a vast improvement since TB reviewed it - I think improvements can still be made to the ship controls.

I might be trying to play the game wrong, having come from a game like S.P.A.Z., but I keep wanting a button - preferably a modifier key like Shift or Alt - which I can hold to point the ship at my cursor. I find myself tapping Shift A/D at various instances just to get the ship to point where I want it to while managing weapon systems rather than using A/D, particularly for the large ships.

Another thought is perhaps a hybrid ship control system could be available, where you can order your ship towards a particular waypoint on screen (not inside the command window/map) while retaining control of the weapons. I would not expect this to consume a command point (but of course you could not order it any real distance).
« Last Edit: February 03, 2013, 06:37:22 PM by Agouti »
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PCCL

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Re: Controls suggestion: "Rotate to cursor" button
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2013, 06:43:24 PM »

1st idea is already in place, holding shift makes your ship point towards the cursor


2nd idea endorsed, would give a very nice "commander" feeling, especially in larger ships.
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BillyRueben

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Re: Controls suggestion: "Rotate to cursor" button
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2013, 06:48:47 PM »

To expand on that, if you hold shift and then press the 'A' or 'D' key, it will turn your ship to the cursor. Then 'A' and 'D' become strafe keys (as long as you are still holding shift). AND you can rebind the keys so that turning to the cursor is the default.
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PCCL

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Re: Controls suggestion: "Rotate to cursor" button
« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2013, 06:52:16 PM »

^what he said. I don't know much about that system since I never use it
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BillyRueben

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Re: Controls suggestion: "Rotate to cursor" button
« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2013, 06:58:20 PM »

I know more about the game because I have a higher post count. It's a forum thing.
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Sproginator

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Re: Controls suggestion: "Rotate to cursor" button
« Reply #5 on: February 04, 2013, 04:42:52 AM »

I know more about the game because I have a higher post count. It's a forum thing.
New quote for my sig, lol

Edit: or not, dammit

Anyway, I must be a genius then....
« Last Edit: February 04, 2013, 04:45:30 AM by sproginator »
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Gothars

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Re: Controls suggestion: "Rotate to cursor" button
« Reply #6 on: February 04, 2013, 06:34:48 AM »

You can also rebind cursor-turning from shift+A/D to A/D.

There is even a autoturn mode:

There is a “autoturnMode:false” setting in Starsector/Starsector-core/data/config/settings.json. If you bind turn left/turn right to shift-A/D, and set "autoturnMode":true, you'll always turn to follow the mouse unless you're actively turning or holding down shift. So it's the opposite of the current behavior.
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Upgradecap

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Re: Controls suggestion: "Rotate to cursor" button
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2013, 01:33:54 PM »

I know more about the game because I have a higher post count. It's a forum thing.


By that logic then i must know more of this game than alex himself. ;)
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