| I got better
instantly after using this stick because I was so confident that the stick was going to do
what I wanted it to do. With my stock Panther, I was always ready at any moment for my
springs to break, pots to give out or some other part to break. Only time will tell how
this thing holds up but I can tell that it feels like it is going to last a very long
time. I played Instagib plus with the grapple hook all weekend the first
weekend I had it up and running. I could not believe it was me operating that rail gun. I
fragged better than I had ever done before with a rail gun. I got quite a few favorable
skills comments from other players all weekend. It has to be the nature of the panther
joystick, it lets you perform very smooth backward/sideways type movements and all kinds
of other crazy crap to boot. Having a stick this precise is only icing on the cake. This stick is so buttery smooth and free from and
sort of play or slop because the stainless steel swivel shafts and oilite bushings fit
together perfectly. I thought about using ball or roller bearings but you can solder an
oilite bushing. The shafts do not spin in circles at a high speed like a motor shaft so
ball bearings are really not necessary.
The springs are set with just enough tension to give me the feedback that I like. I like
the stick to have a stronger spring feel than the stock Panther. I can vary the spring
tension by making the springs longer or shorter. I thought about making some sort of screw
that I could vary each springs length with, but it turned out that the springs are very
easy to make the same length and keep each side pulling with the same amount of tension.
The handle fits my hand perfectly since it is a casting of my right hand and the switches
are all placed right where my fingers or thumb needs them. The switches are all
replaceable with a common .20 cent switch from Mouser electronics.
The switches around the trackball are going to take some time to learn. I have a paper
template taped next to the switches to help me learn them. Believe it or not, they are all
bound to something and I use them all. Here is my current list of what the switches do in
Quake 3.
Buttons surrounding the trackball
------------------------------
1 - Show score
2 - Use item
3 - Gesture
4 - change zoom angle to 18,36,54,72,90 degrees of zoom (script)
5 - Change field of view to 90,100,110,120,130 degrees of vision (script)
6 - change character/model (script) I have 10 different characters I use
7 - shotgun
8 - Plasma gun
9 - lightning gun
10 - grenade launcher
11 - crouch down
12 - Rocket jump (script)
Finger buttons on stick
----------------------
Index finger - Fire weapon
Middle finger - next weapon
Pinky - Jump
Thumb buttons on upper stick
----------------------------
Grapple hook
Zoom
Walk/run
Rocket launcher
Rail gun
Gauntlet
Machine gun |