I have been playing the PS4 version for around 5 hours. A couple of things i am wondering about. How do you target enemy torpedoes? On the PC this is the tab key, on console do you have to move the stick right or left? didn't get chance to test this, as I got destroyed by the Undine ships powerful torpedoes. Perhaps i was not paying attention during the briefing. Also, the power presets with the Dpad, i figured the first two are weapons and Shields. What are the last two?
Targeting on the PS4 is currently a little clunky... You have to sight the intended target, and press R3 (click the right-stick) to target it, and then 'flick' to toggle targets. Like I said...kinda clunky. Made the Doomsday Device episode a pain in the butt.
Engines is the third one, I'd have to go play to remember what the fourth one is. I'm guessing Auxiliary...
I think the UI during ground combat needs to be modified so you cannot target your own away team, as from what I've noticed on PS4, you will never retarget an enemy once you do, you'll just bounce between your comrades. Then you have to unsight, find the target, resight, and hope a team mate doesn't run out in front of you.
If one does not want to set abilities to auto use, or if the selections (there are usually 3 selections per ability) don't fit (and there's a fair few where "use asap, use 10 seconds into combat, use 20 seconds into combat on some), you can hold the ability type's button to bring up the wheel and manually select the ability. I find I have to do this quite a bit with my Hazard Emitters. If I set them to auto use at x% HP, they won't go off when I'm dealing with plasma fire. If I set them to use during hazards, they will never go off as a hull recovery tool. A few more options would be useful for multi-purpose abilities like that.
The abilities will occasionally shift positions on the wheel, so you get used to where an ability is, go to use it after zoning in to a new area, and you end up using something completely different. Happened to me in PvE, went to use the cruiser shield buff, ended up calling my Delta Squad instead because the abilities shifted around.
Other than those minor issues, the console UI works really well, even if trying to find the ability you want to use on the wheel during combat sometimes gets you killed. Ship and ground movement feels much easier to fine tune than using the arrow keys on pc, there aren't 34952 trays clogging up your screen. In ship combat, power levels (even though I rarely change them around) and speed are super easy to adjust on the fly (heh). Targeting in space is pretty easy, only requiring a click of the stick to unfocus and refocus on a new target, a lifesaver on narrow firing solution ships like cannon escorts. The auto use of things like hyposprays is a literal lifesaver, as I don't think I could bring up the wheel and find the one I need quick enough, and there are better things to slot in the manual use slot.
Reactive abilities (in combat defensive buffs/debuffs) are easier to use on the PC, direct damage (grenades and the like) are easier to use on the console. If given the choice, I'd probably play hybrid, using keybinds on a keyboard for abilities that don't really fit into the auto use selections available thus far, and using the controller for everything else.
Figured I toss in my 2 zen here, and I apologize for the bit of rambling.
The one change I would make for the console UI would be to add the option to invert the left thumbstick on the space scheme. I want my ship to go up when I push up on my controller. On the PC, I simply reversed the keybindings for up and down on the space scheme, but I can't do that with the console.
Would like more autocast options or uniform options across all abilities. IE, I want to start with EPTS autocast not just at 70%. Some abilities you think should be autocast can't be at all etc. Combined with the random shifting of abilities on the wheel it is extremely frustrating to keep everything straight.
If it can be autocast - give us all the options for it.
Has anyone published either a printable layout or a tutorial video the controls?
I just started playing this a couple days ago. Unfortunately it took some time to find this article on how to use the controls. I find myself playing the game and then returning to this article just to remember how to do something.
Comments
Engines is the third one, I'd have to go play to remember what the fourth one is. I'm guessing Auxiliary...
If one does not want to set abilities to auto use, or if the selections (there are usually 3 selections per ability) don't fit (and there's a fair few where "use asap, use 10 seconds into combat, use 20 seconds into combat on some), you can hold the ability type's button to bring up the wheel and manually select the ability. I find I have to do this quite a bit with my Hazard Emitters. If I set them to auto use at x% HP, they won't go off when I'm dealing with plasma fire. If I set them to use during hazards, they will never go off as a hull recovery tool. A few more options would be useful for multi-purpose abilities like that.
The abilities will occasionally shift positions on the wheel, so you get used to where an ability is, go to use it after zoning in to a new area, and you end up using something completely different. Happened to me in PvE, went to use the cruiser shield buff, ended up calling my Delta Squad instead because the abilities shifted around.
Other than those minor issues, the console UI works really well, even if trying to find the ability you want to use on the wheel during combat sometimes gets you killed. Ship and ground movement feels much easier to fine tune than using the arrow keys on pc, there aren't 34952 trays clogging up your screen. In ship combat, power levels (even though I rarely change them around) and speed are super easy to adjust on the fly (heh). Targeting in space is pretty easy, only requiring a click of the stick to unfocus and refocus on a new target, a lifesaver on narrow firing solution ships like cannon escorts. The auto use of things like hyposprays is a literal lifesaver, as I don't think I could bring up the wheel and find the one I need quick enough, and there are better things to slot in the manual use slot.
Reactive abilities (in combat defensive buffs/debuffs) are easier to use on the PC, direct damage (grenades and the like) are easier to use on the console. If given the choice, I'd probably play hybrid, using keybinds on a keyboard for abilities that don't really fit into the auto use selections available thus far, and using the controller for everything else.
Figured I toss in my 2 zen here, and I apologize for the bit of rambling.
If it can be autocast - give us all the options for it.
I just started playing this a couple days ago. Unfortunately it took some time to find this article on how to use the controls. I find myself playing the game and then returning to this article just to remember how to do something.