Strategy Commander goes wild!

[old.Johnny Jackal]

The Strat Comm seems fine for fps but on EF last night it went crazy on me. I started spinning like the Tazmanian Devil and couldn't stop. I had to quit the game and re-enter to stop it.

Later it jammed into strafe right so all I could do was angle my movement with the mouse.

It's probably a driver issue but post here if you have similar problems. Hopefully someone will know how to correct it during a game.

 

[Starman]

Strategy Commander?

Nope, and btw what is 'Strategy Commander'?

[Ds9]Starman

 

[old.Johnny Jackal]

The Microsoft Strategy Commander - it's like a big hand sized mouse but for the left hand and is designed to be used instead of the keyboard.

You can program the buttons with any key command or sequence of keys. Obviously it's very useful for rts where hotkey combos can give a big advantage. It can be used fine for fps (apart from the odd hitch as I mentioned above) but doesn't give much over the keyboard for games using a few keys close together. If you change weapons manually rather than letting the autoselect do the work then you could easily add that in.

One other function is that the top can move directionally and rotate which is great for map navigation and camera movement in the rts but it is better to program the buttons for movement control in fps's.

IMO it's very good but takes a little while to get used to especially for games you've already played using the keys. No doubt there will be a dozen clones of it from other companies by christmas.

 

[old.Johnny Jackal]

Good example: have a look at the Gunlock Demo. A nice looker but very tedious with the masses of commands. In fact it's hardly playable using the keyboard or mouse - it's just too much effort. Using the strat commander though, it's a breeze. All camera, movement, actions, orders and inventory under one palm.

The only down side, as I mentioned above is that occasionally it goes mental (and I mean absolutely Mad Jack McMad winner of last years Scottish Madman competion mental)

 

[old.[S9]Wrath]

Cool, i did'nt think you could use it for FPS but now you can i might give it a go!! I was looking at it the other day in the shops but in the end it was a toss up between that and the Game Voice and that won (which rocks BTW) Does it use the MS sidewinder software to drive it? i'm sure it will bejust a driver problem (what OS are you using?)

 

[old.Johnny Jackal]

Windows 98, and it has it's own driver.

BTW yes you can use it for fps but as I mentioned above it won't give you any advantage unless it's a game with a lot of hot keys.