mark@masscomp.westford.ccur.com (Mark Thompson) (03/23/91)
Well I just broke the last $10 joystick I every intend to buy. I would
like to replace it with something that might last over a year. What
I would like is a joystick that has variable rate auto fire that is easily
disableable and two separate fire buttons (not two buttons that do the same
thing). I prefer the tabletop joysticks over the hand held. Any body know
if there is a joystick that meets these criteria? What about the Gravis
Mousestick? Any ideas or input?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~opus@cbnewsc.att.com (robin.g.kim) (03/25/91)
In article <61847@masscomp.westford.ccur.com>, mark@masscomp.westford.ccur.com (Mark Thompson) writes: > Well I just broke the last $10 joystick I every intend to buy. I would > like to replace it with something that might last over a year. What > I would like is a joystick that has variable rate auto fire that is easily > disableable and two separate fire buttons (not two buttons that do the same > thing). I prefer the tabletop joysticks over the hand held. Any body know > if there is a joystick that meets these criteria? What about the Gravis > Mousestick? Any ideas or input? I posted a while ago asking people what they thought of the Gravis Mousestick. The responses were generally favorable, so I went ahead and bought it. Since Marks asks about it, I thought I'd post a not-so-short description of it. Modes: digital joystick (standard Amiga joystick mode; I don't believe two different buttons are supported, but I'm not sure) mouse - autocentering (absolute position of handle corresponds to absolute position of mouse pointer on screen) mouse - vectoring (position of handle determines speed and direction of pointer MOVEMENT, not position) mouse - combined (autocentering for a small area of handle movement, vectoring if moved beyond that area) Features: wide base (don't have to hold onto the base) attached box with LCD display (for programming the mousestick) adjustable spring tension (from no centering to strong centering, but feels funny when in joystick mode because there is so much free play) three buttons (one on top of handle, two on left side of base; button functions can be assigned using hardware switches or can be programmed) rapid-fire buttons (any button, adjustable from 0.1-5.0 seconds) parameters (there are many parameters that can be set to tune the operation of the mousestick, from adjusting sensitivity to configuring for different screen sizes) 3 or 4 saved settings (modes and parameters can be saved even when powered down without using batteries) Games: Falcon (autocentering mode works great; although some older versions don't work correctly, upgrades are available) Battle Squadron (vectoring mode works very well, and allows reliable activation of Nova bombs with second button; rapid-fire is nice!) Their Finest Hour (vectoring mode works pretty well, but it takes some getting used to, because the response is non-linear/exponential; mouse is better, though not as realistic feeling) Ferrari Formula One (autocentering mode works only if you restrict the horizontal screen size, otherwise it screws up) Starglider II (vectoring mode is difficult to use; mouse is much better) Overall: It's a good joystick. I bought it mostly because I love playing Falcon and I wanted to get a rapid-fire joystick. For games requiring a digital joystick that do not benefit from rapid-fire buttons, I prefer a normal joystick, such as a Wico bat-handle, because its tactile response is better; the Mousestick feels a little sloppy, but perhaps I'll get used to it. The Mousestick is very expensive. I got mine for $65 from Computability. The Amiga dealer I normally go to who has pretty good prices had them for $90. Quite a difference.