Best Controllers for Star Wars Squadrons!

JS_MC

A long time ago in a galaxy far away…

Except it’s right here and now!

Star Wars: Squadrons

Is a space combat game

set in the Star Wars universe developed by

Motive Studios and published by Electronic Arts.

It promises immersive combat set amongst the stars.

You’ll have your option of eight different spacecraft. Two of each class:

Fighter, Bomber, Support, and Interceptor. They are each unique in their strengths and

weaknesses consistent in their main control systems. Each ship has three power management systems that

you’ll need to balance to be successful in combat. Your Weapons, Engines, and Shields. You can adjust the power that you give to these systems individually for boosts to the respective system or you can play with each system balanced. That being said, you’ll have the option of very intense combat experience with a very busy cockpit tweaking each system to have the greatest effectiveness in your battles. Yet, it isn’t a requirement, the other option is more balanced or relaxed combat. You choose your experience! For more information about the in-game piloting experience, check here.

Motive has confirmed support of HOTAS and VR day one from launch, which is great because as we mentioned above there is a lot of opportunity for granular control.

Gearing up for Star Wars: Squadrons?

Motive, the developers of Squadrons, suggests that we use a controller or gamepad instead of a keyboard to better experience the game as they intended. Here are a few varied recommendations for you.

 Gamepads

Logitech Gamepad F310

  Thrustmaster GP XID Pro Gamepad

Bionik Vulkan Advanced Multi-Platform Wireless Controller

Microsoft Xbox Controller

Is a game controller not for you? We've got you covered, check out our Flight Sim Buying Guide where you can find our recommendations for Joysticks and HOTAS

Now for the big questions…       

 Which side do you sit with?

What starship will you pilot?

Are you playing any other space sims?

Will you be flying in VR?

What's your favorite map?

Fleet Battle or Deathmatch?

Images from ea.com

Err0h

PRE-LOADING NOWWWW ^_^ 

JS_MC

The prologue was pretty great as a tutorial for the game. I thought it did a great job introducing the plot and I can't wait to continue!

Ian

I'm not into Star Wars but a game with HOTAS support and VR support pegs my interest, I'll be seeing what others think about it before possibly purchasing it

AlexS

Which side do you sit with?

• I'm sure this game will swap sides between matches from Rebels to Imperial but REBEL ALLIANCE ALL THE WAY!

What starship will you pilot?

• Looking forward to some classic T-65 X-Wing Starfighter action.

Are you playing any other space sims?

• I've been currently playing Elite: Dangerous for the last couple months, but it'll be nice to play a game that's pure dog fighting with some objective based gameplay.

Will you be flying in VR?

• I'm definitely goin to check out the VR mode in this with the Oculus Rift S but I also have a 21:9 monitor I want to check this game out with.

What's your favorite map?

• ?? :l idk 

Fleet Battle or Deathmatch?

• Fleet Battle has my eye so far, can't wait to play it after work lol

Err0h

So I picked up one of the Bionik Vulcan controllers on Squadrons launch day and I'll have to say, I'm extremely impressed with the build quality of it.  This coming from someone who hasn't used a controller in years.  The mapping about identical to the Xbox Elite controller.  I'm not sure if the XBE controller's inner handle buttons are separate functioning, but the Bionik Vulcan offers quick button mapping for in the inner handles to be mapped to A,B,X,Y or the L1, L2, L3/R1, R2, R3 buttons.  This has been extremely helpful as I am able to map those buttons to commonly used controls like "Cycle Targets" or "Countermeasures" without having to remove my thumbs from the flight controls.  

On day 2 of Squadrons, I focused more towards using the Logitech Saitek X56 HOTAS.  Combat with a HOTAS feels super advantageous because of three things. Throttle control, smoother aiming, and the flight stick.  The flight stick can manage to have all axes programmed into it (pitch, roll, yaw) and lead to smoother aiming.  With a controller, you have to use the up/down on the left thumb stick to control your throttle and in the midst of chaos, this can be tricky to track your target while making sure your throttle is in the correct position (50% provides the best balance between speed and turning).  With the HOTAS throttle, there is almost no worry of managing this as the position of your throttle matches the in-game throttle.  

Mapping a HOTAS with this game is like any other.  It takes time to figure out the best way to figure your controls.  However, I did learn that some of the controls like DRIFTING have been finicky with a HOTAS as there was a part in the singleplayer mission that I could not complete since I was unable to drift properly.  I swapped to a controller and there was no issue.  

I have since been playing with the Bionik controller for Day 3 and getting accustomed to Squadrons' power management system and it's all starting to become easier and easier.  I'll probably try the HOTAS again at some time but I think I'll keep it stowed for Elite: Dangerous on a rainy day.

JS_MC

Hmm. Very interesting, good to hear that you found the additional keybinds on the back of the controller to be beneficial. It's one of the defining reasons that we included the Vulkan in our recommendations. Have you felt that it's given you an edge over the competition? 😁

TSTonyV

Friendly reminder that Xbox One controllers are natively supported on Windows 10! If you have the bluetooth model you can connect them that way, or just plug them in directly with a USB cable with no issues. 

Err0h

LandShark said:

Hmm. Very interesting, good to hear that you found the additional keybinds on the back of the controller to be beneficial. It's one of the defining reasons that we included the Vulkan in our recommendations. Have you felt that it's given you an edge over the competition? 😁

So update, I've taken extra time to mapping my binds to the Logitech X56 and the HOTAS is 100% superior over a controller, especially with the recent update to address global deadzones which benefits HOTAS users.  I had a high score of 16 kills in a dogfight match. 

Also, ION missiles = OP.

JS_MC

Playing this with my new Quest 2 was amazing. I could only play for about 15 minutes... Definitely going to have to reacquire my "VR Legs" again. 😂

Waffler

Hope my old Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 joystick works!

Trying to get back into Freespace 2 (SCP) at the moment! 

JS_MC

I haven't heard anything about Freespace 2 since... Probably 2010? Amazing to hear that it's still alive!

AlexS

I hope Micro Center gets the T-16000M FCS Combo back in stock soon.

Ian

AlexS said:

I hope Micro Center gets the T-16000M FCS Combo back in stock soon.

Flight stuff going through the same demand racing stuff went through...

AlexS

Ian said:

AlexS said:

I hope Micro Center gets the T-16000M FCS Combo back in stock soon.

Flight stuff going through the same demand racing stuff went through...

Right. And now there's a ton of racing wheels everywhere, including the G29. 

Ian

AlexS said:

Ian said:

AlexS said:

I hope Micro Center gets the T-16000M FCS Combo back in stock soon.

Flight stuff going through the same demand racing stuff went through...

Right. And now there's a ton of racing wheels everywhere, including the G29. 

Ebbs and flows...

Ian

Old thread reviving here but I can't help but notice this game is free with Twitch Prime this month for any holdouts (like me!)

AlexS

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/36456#Comment_36456

you're an admin! How dare you necropost?!

But honestly, this game is excellent with a HOTAS and even more so if you have VR. So much fun :)

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/36457#Comment_36457

I am intrigued to try it out!