moyer@brahms.udel.edu (Eric Moyer) (01/30/91)
FALCON CONTROLS:
JOYSTICK:
Personally, I bought a quick stick just to play Falcon, and I love it.
The ADB version of the quick stick isn't good for almost any other game, but
for falcon it works great. (The ADB verson controls the SPEED of the mouse,
not its absolute position. Mnay games really need a Self-Centering type
of joystick control. THe quick stick DOES PHYSICALLY self center, but it
doesn't LOGICALLY self center. The old mac Plus version of the quick stick
does have a switch to move from mouse SPEED control to mouse position (self
centered) colrol. Seems like an init could fix this, but nobody's got one yet)
KEYBOARD:
Of course, you use the keyboard for lots of stuff, but you can also
fly the plane with it. I don't tend to like keyboard flight simulator
control, but I have a friend who used it (until he got HIS quickstick) and
did quite well. I'd say its as good as any keyboard flight simulator control.
MOUSE:
Yuck. I can't stand their mouse control. Haven't tried it since the
move to 2.2, but it USED to be that the SPEED of your mouse movement
controlled the ANGLE of the "stick", and I though that was disgustingly
stupid. I wanted something more like YEAGERS A.F.T. where the absolute pos.
of the mouse "cursor" was the absolute deflection of the stick. Perhaps
its better now.
CONCLUSION : If you're serious, buy a stick (You'll LOVE it), but if you
can't justify the money yet, kbd control is just fine.
LANDING: Well, I always kept the plane pitched a bit above horizontal, and
that seemed to work for me. I maily watch the two HUD indicators
showing pitch and flight path, trying to keep them on opposite sides
of the zero line of the climb ladder. Of course, you've gotta watch
the speed too....
My friend used to use the pitching that you normally use for
strafing runs to adjust his pitch during a landing.
Ethically, I think any use of the auto-level key is cheating!
I also find that coming in low (completely disregarding the vertical
ILS component) can make for an easier landing. Just float the bird up
the runway and drop it down.
NOTE: it can be VERY hard to shift your position if you're not centered
for the landing. Having a RUDDER would help IMMENSLY. But you dont. snif.
ODDS AND ENDS:
If you don't have it, buy it, NOW! There is no mac game with more
staying power for me than FALCON.
I wanted to draw a picture of my fiance' hanging in the cockpit, but the
cockpit photo is scrambled. (you can change the TYPE and CREATOR to that of
a macpaint file and load it in, but it will be scrambled junk)
On my IIsi, the game window appeard in the upper left. I tried moving
the WIND resource in f16.rsrc, but almost ALL of the graphics messed up.
Are you listening Sp.Holobyte? Having the window in the upper left
isn't SO bad, but I cant see the heading to base in ILS mode, and one
of these days that's gonna sink me bad.
/-------------------------/----- You are a fluke of the universe. ---------/
/ Eric P. Moyer ;-o / You have no right to be here. /
/ moyer@brahms.udel.edu / Whether you can hear it or not, /
/-------------------------/--- The universe is laughing behind your back. -/kwinkler@pbs.org (Ken Winkler) (01/30/91)
In article <18192@brahms.udel.edu>, moyer@brahms.udel.edu (Eric Moyer) writes: > > FALCON CONTROLS: > > JOYSTICK: > Personally, I bought a quick stick just to play Falcon, and I love it. > The ADB version of the quick stick isn't good for almost any other game, but > for falcon it works great. (The ADB verson controls the SPEED of the mouse, > not its absolute position. Mnay games really need a Self-Centering type > of joystick control. THe quick stick DOES PHYSICALLY self center, but it > doesn't LOGICALLY self center. The old mac Plus version of the quick stick > does have a switch to move from mouse SPEED control to mouse position (self > centered) colrol. Seems like an init could fix this, but nobody's got one yet) > KEYBOARD: > Of course, you use the keyboard for lots of stuff, but you can also > fly the plane with it. I don't tend to like keyboard flight simulator > control, but I have a friend who used it (until he got HIS quickstick) and > did quite well. I'd say its as good as any keyboard flight simulator control. > MOUSE: > Yuck. I can't stand their mouse control. Haven't tried it since the > move to 2.2, but it USED to be that the SPEED of your mouse movement > controlled the ANGLE of the "stick", and I though that was disgustingly > stupid. I wanted something more like YEAGERS A.F.T. where the absolute pos. > of the mouse "cursor" was the absolute deflection of the stick. Perhaps > its better now. > Myself, I use both mouse and keypad. I think the mouse works great, once you get used to it, especially using the button to prevent the `stick' from centering. I use the mouse for dogfighting, but when I need precision control adjustments (like in bombing and landing) I switch to keypad. I must confess, though, if it wasn't for that auto-leveler key, I would die ALOT. :-) ----Ken ***************************************************************************** * "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!" ---FR * Television * * "Get away from me with that spatula, Fred!" ---Mrs. FR * worth watching * *****************************************************************************