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Need help regarding joystick controls


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I need some help regarding setting up a joystick. I've set up all the inputs and everything, but I've noticed that when pitching up and down, my planes will pitch up/down for a bit, then stop, even if I'm still pulling the stick back. I've never used a joystick before, so I don't know if this is supposed to happen or not.

Edited by KerbalSaver
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3 hours ago, KerbalSaver said:

I need some help regarding setting up a joystick. I've set up all the inputs and everything, but I've noticed that when pitching up and down, my planes will pitch up/down for a bit, then stop, even if I'm still pulling the stick back. I've never used a joystick before, so I don't know if this is supposed to happen or not.

Hello KerbalSaver!  I use a joystick for both airplanes and spacecraft in KSP. The behavior you describe may be entirely normal depending on the craft and its situation. Above the atmosphere, control inputs use either RCS or control gyros to change the attitude of the craft and your inputs should allow you to point in any direction. In the atmosphere, however, control inputs probably use control surfaces (elevator, rudder, aileron, etc.).  Depending on the size, placement, and deflection of the control surfaces, your craft may be more or less responsive to inputs. Remember that the craft is (hopefully) designed to remain pointed in its direction of travel with no control inputs applied.  This is the quality of aerodynamic stability.  Usually, control surface deflections will allow your craft to point away from the direction of travel a few (5 - 20) degrees. Rudder will allow you to point left or right while elevator will allow up and down pointing.  In the atmosphere, this attitude change should allow you to climb, descend, or turn.  If a design is very stable, it won't be very maneuverable and vice versa.  If you want to increase maneuverability, you might try increasing the size or deflection of your control surfaces or moving the center of mass closer to the center of lift. Using SAS can affect maneuverability, so I usually refine my aircraft design without using SAS.

I hope this has been helpful. I'm sure other members can add to the discussion.  Happy landings!

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This sounds normal if your control is coming from control surfaces. It's not necessarily about what direction you're pointing, but what your angle of attack or sideslip angle is (fancy way of saying "how far your nose is from the prograde marker").

Depending on the design of your plane, as you increase AoA, one of two things will happen:

  1. The self-stabilizing moment will increase and your control surfaces will become less effective, until they cancel out and you can no longer increase AoA. This sounds like what is happening.
  2. Your plane will flip out. If you're not sure what I mean by this, then it isn't happening. You will know if it does.

In the real world, a third thing happens - stall, and it's bad. Airfoils in real life can't handle more than 15° of AoA.

The AoA you can handle will also depend on speed and altitude. Ain't aerodynamics fun?

Now that I've said that, though, you specify a joystick - does the same behavior occur when using keys? It should.

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Thank you both for helping out.

 

I'm not 100% sure, but in previous flights with the aircraft I was using, I was able to pitch up much more sharply with keyboard controls then with a joystick. Both flights were around the same altitude. I haven't tried pitching down yet (I want room to glide when I run out of fuel). As I said, I'm not 100% sure, so I'll check again as soon as possible to see if there are differences between controls.

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