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Mastering
the art or aerial combat requires practice and
precision. If you want to have any hope in hell of coming back from
your next
sortie alive, you’re going to need to choose the control form
that suits you
and your needs best. To that end, I’ve taken the liberty of
presenting your
options with some additional notes to help you make an informed
decision.

 

All
in all, there are four different control systems you
can use to pilot your aircraft – keyboard, keyboard/mouse
combo, joystick, and
gamepad. Each has their advantages and disadvantages, so
let’s go over them,
shall we?

 

First
up? The keyboard by itself. I know I just got done
saying each choice has some advantages over the other, but in the case
of using
only the keyboard, that’s pretty much a lie. It’s
nothing short of a last
resort. With enough practice, it is possible to become proficient and
perhaps
even skilled using the keyboard to fly with, but the only way I could
ever
suggest going this route in good conscious would be if you told me
it’s the
only option you have. Personally, I find it hard to believe that
there’s any PC
gamer in the world that doesn’t have a mouse, but if
that’s the case, then so be
it.

 

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The
logical first step for any gamer coming to the world
of aerial combat for the first time (or perhaps they grew up playing
Freelancer
with its lack of joystick compatibility) would be to choose the mouse
and
keyboard combination. I would still rank this option as my third choice
out of
the four possible controllers, but at the end of the day, there
aren’t too many
disadvantages with this system. It’s reasonable to assume
that all gamers are
comfortable using their mouse and keyboard in sync while playing a game
and the
keyboard/mouse combo control scheme setup in World of Warplanes is not
a bad
set. Players should be at only a slight disadvantage in using yaw
(rotating the
aircraft left or right on an invisible vertical axis) to full use.
Precise
movements may be easier for many with this control scheme though.

 


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My
top choice is next and that is, of course, the
joystick. There is one caveat to this though. If it’s not a
6-axis joystick
(left, right, front, back, twist left, twist right), then it stands in
the same
category as the mouse and keyboard combination. It’s the
intuitive ability to
control the yaw of your plane with the twisting motion of the joystick
that
gives it such a big advantage over the other control schemes. This
allows you
to remain on an enemy’s tail much more effectively with less
effort. The
disadvantage of using a joystick for many will be precision firing and
a
general unfamiliarity with the feel of one, especially if a person has
never
used a joystick before.

 

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Finally,
the gamepad. For my personal choice, I think the
joystick is a better choice, but just barely and only because
I’ve been using
them for years. Anyone that has mastered the general dynamics of a
modern
gamepad controller, such as that with the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3,
will find
little trouble with this system. For myself, I find precision firing
difficult
with the thumb controls, but I am an admitted old timer, and regularly
get my
ass handed to me by younger relatives in Halo, so if you’re
more comfortable
with this system, you’ll be fine. In fact, you may even
prefer this over the
joystick option.

 

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And
there you have it. You have four options, and with
the exception of the keyboard-only option, they each have advantages
and
disadvantages over the others. If ranking them from top to bottom, my
order
would go like this:

  1. Joystick
  2. Gamepad
  3. Keyboard and Mouse Combo
  4. Keyboard Only

     

At
the end of the day, the biggest thing that should
influence your decision is which one are you most comfortable using?
I’d
suggest starting with that control scheme and then working your way to
the next
controller as your time and resources permit. That’s it from
me. If you see
Dalmarus on the U.S. servers, say hi if you’re on my team,
and try to take me
down if you’re not. Either way, I’ll see you in the
skies!

 


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warplanes Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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