Basics of the Controller Issue The issue with IM (Interactive Mode; the default mouse mode that points gimbaled guns with pixel precision) can be best illustrated with a small analogy. IM is like playing a marble puzzle by always picking up the ball with your fingers at the starting point, lifting it bypass the trap holes and dropping it in the finish ( => position-control = zero-order input), instead of moving the ball by tilting the plane with the turning knobs ( => velocity control = 1st-order input) , carefully guiding it around the trap holes into the finish. Picking up the ball with your finger doesn't train you at that. Our equivalent in the game to tilting the plane in order to control the ball is "flight/ship control". "We change the orientation of our ship through flight maneuvers in order to guide our weapons to point at our target". Shooting at your target with IM-gimbals is equivalent to playing the marble puzzle by picking up the ball with your fingers. Not only does picking up the ball with your fingers not train you at controlling the ball by tilling the plane, but if the purpose of the pilot gameplay is flight, IM defeats that purpose! Q: What is IM anyway? A: IM is the default mouse control method; a hybrid mouse flight mode that allows for two separate axis pairs, one for the flight layer and one for the aim layer, to be controlled by a single physical axis pair. This is something that no other controller is allowed to do with the same aiming precision and responsiveness (remember the marble example). The flight portion of IM is okay (1st-order)…but not the aim portion (0-order). This creates 2 fundamental problems: 1) Widespread balance issues 2) A shallow default experience NOTE: Flight games generally have 1 of 4 styles of flight control: V-JOY: IM’s flight layer: Mouse up = Pitch up etc. Only difference in SC is that it's YAW instead of ROLL by default. (1st order) Joystick: Same as V-JOY (1st order) Relative Mode: There is no pointing, you just push the mouse constantly in the direction you want to go. You stop moving, the ship stops moving (as fast as it can). (non-linear 0-order) Mouse Aim: You point on the screen where you want to go and the AI attempts to get there. You’re not controlling the flight (this is War Thunder Arcade). (4th order) Q: How else would we control gimbaled weapons? A: All the below solutions equalize gimbal control, and everyone will be in the exact same situation – your primary device focuses on flight control. This is the essence of controller parity – equal access to ship flight and aim mechanics for all controllers. NONE of these solutions remove gimbals entirely from the game. Detailed community proposals for managing gimbals: Goloith’s Aim-Assist proposal: https://goo.gl/cbdT7i Jarus’ locking gimbal suggestion: https://goo.gl/rXgH4V Jarus’ tucker gimbal suggestion: https://goo.gl/dAwfBM Alienwar’s sensitivity ratio gimbal suggestion: https://goo.gl/W1kIgG Lex-Talionis’ aim-assist suggestion: https://goo.gl/kYUbSE Goloith’s last-inch aim assist, i.e. larger pips w/ slight aim assist: https://goo.gl/5ydwUI RadiantFlux's size-based gimbal slew rate suggestion: https://goo.gl/ER1IyI Basic proposals, that could be combined with the above: Restricting gimbal control to a dedicated gunner seat/ships with more than one seat Restricting gimbal movement rate (“slew rate”) Restricting gimbal control to secondary input devices (TrackIR, VR, Tobii, mouse+stick, HATs) Removing gimbals from small ships Remove flight-exclusive deadzone + reduce gimbal cone of fire Make gimbal control a separate toggle mode (without simultaneous flight control) Create baseline inaccuracy for gimbals through spread (accuracy ceiling) Make IM ‘cost’ ship resources, and give aim-assist for other gimbal controls Making IM a ‘new player’ mode Q: Have more questions? A: See this post for a detailed FAQ: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/3/thread/subscriber-s-town-hall-let-s-get-the-issue-right/26559 EDIT As the discussion continues, I ask that everyone read this post below on civility and what I will consider as off-topic for this thread: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/3/thread/interactive-mode-gimbal-control-issue/9253