Star Wars Squadrons — which released on October 2, 2020 — supports not only HOTAS Joysticks but also flight sticks while playing on PC. If you are not new to flight sticks, you probably know how to use it to play Star Wars Squadrons.
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However, there are tons of people who still don’t know who to use flight sticks to play Star Wars Squadrons. It is likely that they might be using it for the first time. In this guide, we will show you the simplest possible way to good starting Star Wars Squadrons HOTAS joystick mapping scheme.
Flight stick controls in Star Wars Squadrons
If you are using a flight stick for the first time, you should know that you will have to customize the control scheme a little bit. Here’s the HOTAS mapping suggested by developers:
| Button | Command |
|---|---|
| Joystick Y-Axis | Pitch control |
| Joystick X-Axis | Yaw control |
| Joystick Z-Axis | Roll |
| JOY 1 | Fire primary weapon |
| JOY 3 | Fire auxiliary weapon 1 |
| JOY 4 | Fire auxiliary weapon 2 |
| JOY 6 | Countermeasure |
| Throttle Input | Throttle control |
| JOY 9 | Boost/drift |
| JOY 5 | Cycle targets/target highest threat |
| JOY 2 | Select target ahead |
| JOY 10 | Targeting menu |
| JOY 8 | Ping/acknowledge ping/comm menu |
| JOY 1 | Contextual interaction |
| POV West | Increase engines power |
| POV North | Increase weapons power |
| POV East | Increase shields power |
| POV South | Balance power |
| JOY 11 | Menu |
| JOY 7 | Radial menu for shield focus/emergency power converter |
HOTAS shutting off on Xbox
There are thousands of people who have been complaining about their flight stick turning off while running the game. Everything works excellent when the gamepad is on. As soon as the gamepad goes into the sleep mode, the stick stops responding well.
The best and easiest solution is to plug the gamepad into the console using the charging cable. It could create a problem if you are relying on it for voice chat, but if you are not, you can just plug it in and leave it by the console.
How to Use a Controller to Play Star Wars Squadrons
Connecting a controller is very simple if you are playing Star Wars Squadrons on PC. Steam can easily recognise controllers such as Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Using the USB cable is the best and easiest way to connect a controller to steam.
Once Steam is in Big Picture Mode, Steam will be able to recognise the controller. You will also have the option to remap buttons if you’re not sold on the layout for your personal controller. The latest space combat game has allowed players to use both flight sticks and joysticks.
How to Use a Joystick or Flight Stick to play Star War Squadrons
In order to use joysticks or HOTAS (Hands-On Throttle And Stick) flight stick to play Star Wars Squadrons, you merely need to plug in the device through a USB port on your console or PC. After plugging a USB port on your Console or PC, go into the game’s main menu and select your control scheme.
For a joystick, you need to set Joystick One as your joystick. For a HOTAS set-up, make sure to set Joystick One as your joystick, Joystick Two as your throttle, and Joystick Three as your pedals.
Star Wars Squadrons will recognise most big brand joysticks and flight sticks as viable controllers. The developer of the game has specified that the following peripherals have been tested and are fully compatible:
- Saitek X52
- Saitek X-55 Rhino
- Thrustmaster T16000M
- Logitech Extreme 3D Pro
- Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas One (Xbox One)
- Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas 4 (PS4)
Apart from this, other joysticks and controllers are also compatible with Star Wars Squadrons, but they have not been thoroughly tested on all PC and console combinations