Overview
How to configure HOTAS, pedals and joysticks in House of the Dying Sun
Imperial Operating System Interface
Centuries of harshly directed software development have resulted in this, the final iteration of the Imperial Operating System (hereafter ‘IOS’), and pilots are expected to be familiar with its basic functions. Due to operational exigencies however, the Emperor may require you to use whatever input devices are to hand, and this guide is here to assist you in configuring those so that you may most immediately chastise the Emperor’s enemies.
The aim is not to tell you exactly which control to assign to which action, since you almost certainly have preferences and muscle memory from previous deployments, but to tell you which controls are most important so that you don’t have to spend time figuring it out yourself. The Emperor’s industrious engineers on Tipul I have created a vast range of distinct command actions, but for human-basic/non-grafted pilots with the standard number of limbs, many of them can and should be assigned to the same inputs, so the overall interface remains intuitive.
The Imperial Fleet Command Interface allows you to wreak destruction on the Emperor’s foes either directly from the cockpit of an Executor interceptor, or in command of an entire fleet. You can play the game on the easiest difficulty levels without using the Tactical interface, and can learn the basic flight controls without configuring bindings for it, but there are some user interface controls you should set up in any case.
Open Settings->Controls and look at the UI. There are 3 columns of actions, covering keyboard, mouse and controller (Joystick, Gamepad, HOTAS and anything else you may have). The third column will be where you will spend most time.
The actions are separated into 3 sections, Cockpit, Tactical and System.
Controller axes should be assigned to the general control axes, eg Pitch and not independently to Pitch Up/Down, or you will get an imprecise ‘digital’ control response. Notice the ‘circling arrows’ icon next to each axis action. This toggle button inverts that axis.
You need to be able to control the menus without reaching for a mouse or keyboard. Scroll to the third, System, section of the Actions and configure Menu Up/Down/Left/Right, Confirm and Cancel. If you are familiar with gamepad UDLR and A/B menu controls, the usefulness of these actions will be immediately apparent.
Radial Menus are used in the cockpit where snap decisions are necessary. Time slows to a crawl when a radial is shown and flight controls are inhibited, so you can assign your main joystick’s axes to Radial Horizontal/Vertical, also in the System section. When you release the control that activated a radial menu, the highlighted choice is activated.
‘Flick Select’ is used to select missions and select targets in Tactical mode. A throttle hat or mini stick is ideal for making Flick selections, and these is also configured in the System section.
‘Switch Combat Mode’ cycles you between the cockpit of an Executor interceptor, and the Tactical interface. It is suggested that you bind this to the same control as ‘Menu Cancel’ as these do not conflict.
You should definitely assign the Pause button somewhere on your controller, because when you start using the Tactical interface, the action will pause if there are enemy contacts as soon as you enter Tactical, and you will need to unpause.
NOTE: If you are playing in VR, you should also assign the ‘Reset VR Sensor’ action to a control you can find but won’t hit by mistake during a dogfight. It should go without saying that you should probably set up bindings using a flat screen or holographic (if available) display unit, as it is easier to refer to reference material such as this guide.
Basic Flight Controls
We’ll start by configuring the cockpit controls, because you can play the earlier missions on Invader (Easy) mode without commanding your wingmen (later, fleet) around.
House is mainly played with pitch and yaw controls. Roll is slower than in other games. With this in mind, assign these to your preferred axes. Since you can assign axes to multiple controls, if you want an X-Wing type feel, you can assign one axis (eg joystick X) to both roll and yaw.
Speed control can be a little confusing. Unlike in other space shooters you may have played, there are not separate ‘throttle’ and ‘boost’ actions. Instead, you have a ‘Boost (Digital Throttle Up)’ action that is like flooring the gas pedal. Conversely, ‘Brake (Digital Throttle Down)’ works like standing on the brake pedal. Your Executor’s speed ranges between 0 and around 400, depending which field upgrades you have installed. Cruise speed ranges from 0 to about 150. In cruise, the speed indicator is coloured red, and this speed is constant. Above 150 you are in the afterburner or ‘WEP’ speed zone, and the indicator turns orange. From here, unless you keep boosting, speed will bleed off back down to around 150.
The Controls UI shows both both a throttle control, and ‘Boost (Digital Throttle Up)’ and ‘Brake (Digital Throttle Down)’ controls. You can set a throttle setting with your HOTAS throttle axis and ignore Boost/Brake, or you can put Boost/Brake on buttons (or pedal/toe brake axes) and ignore the throttle axis.
Drifting allows you to control your Executor’s attitude in 3 axes independently of its direction of travel. Think of Battlestar Galactica! You can pivot to fire on a target whilst maintaining a course. When drifting, your attitude controls are damped, so you won’t tumble out of control. Assign this to a button and learn to use it!
You should assign Target Under Crosshair and Target Nearest Attacker. Additionally, there are Target Next/Prev Unit controls you can use, but keep in mind these will also cycle through friendlies.
Capital ships have independently targettable subsystems – you can assign buttons to select these quickly, or point the ship at them and Target Under Crosshair.
Weapon controls are quite simple. You have 3 weapon slots: Primary, Secondary and Special (Heavy). The active weapon is fired using the Fire control, bound to one trigger. You can cycle between weapon types (Cycle Weapon) or you can use Arm Primary, Arm Secondary, Arm Special to select a weapon type directly. In the cockpit, a rotating reticle shows which weapon is active. Reloading a weapon happens automatically when you expend its entire clip, but can be performed manually so you are ready for the next engagement. Controlled fire and switching to alternate weapons is crucial to maximising the damage done on a pass. There is no lead indicator on the HUD, but you will hear a ‘fire’ tone when you are correctly leading a target. Pay attention to the ranges of your weapons when selecting a loadout and the range to target on the target display. If a weapon is out of range, a large label indicating this appears in the HUD next to the target!
After completing a mission, you need to warp out to escape the vengeful Enemy Flagship that will arrive. This is done with the Movement Ability/Warp control, so make sure that is assigned.
That’s enough to get started playing the game. Show no mercy!
Targetting, Weapons and Navigation
You should assign Target Under Crosshair and Target Nearest Attacker. Additionally, there are Target Next/Prev Unit controls you can use, but keep in mind these will also cycle through friendlies.
If you hold the Target Under Crosshair control, a targetting radial will appear that you can select a target using the Radial inputs (recommended to be the same as your primary flight control axes).
Capital ships have independently targettable subsystems – you can assign buttons to select these quickly, or point the ship at them and Target Under Crosshair.
Weapon controls are quite simple. You have 3 weapon slots: Primary, Secondary and Special (Heavy). The active weapon is fired using the Fire control, bound to one trigger. You can cycle between weapon types (Cycle Weapon) or you can use Arm Primary, Arm Secondary, Arm Special to select a weapon type directly. In the cockpit, a rotating reticle shows which weapon is active.
If you hold down the Cycle Weapon control, a weapon selector radial will appear. No habitual user of this interface has ever been promoted beyond 2nd Lieutenant.
Primary and Secondary weapons have infinite ammunition, but limited size clips. Due to past instances of runaway ammunition fabricators transforming entire destroyers into clouds of tumbling heavy AC shells, field clip size modifications are strictly forbidden.
Reloading a weapon happens automatically when you expend its entire clip, but can be performed manually by the Reload Weapon action, so you are ready for the next engagement. Controlled fire and switching to alternate weapons is crucial to maximising the damage done on a pass. There is no target lead indicator on the HUD, but you will hear a ‘fire’ tone when you are correctly leading a target. Pay attention to the ranges of your weapons when selecting a loadout and the range to target on the target display. If a weapon is out of range, a large label indicating this appears in the HUD next to the target!
After completing a mission, you need to warp out to escape the vengeful Enemy Flagship that will arrive. This is done with the Movement Ability/Warp control, so make sure that is assigned.
The game has two play modes, Cockpit and Tactical. At the beginning of a mission, you start in Tactical Mode, so assign the Switch Combat Mode control to be able to jump into the cockpit. Tactical Mode is used to switch between interceptors that you can directly control and to command larger ships and wingmen. We’ll discuss how to configure your controller for it in a later section.
Tactical Mode
Many of the Tactical Mode actions are shortcuts for use by experienced pilots. These actions are also accessible by the Tactical Diamond (which is distinct from the Order Radial used in the cockpit :)) If you try to set up the Tactical controls without any experience of the game, you’ll probably assign about 20 different actions and your HOTAS muscle memory will flip out every time you enter Tactical Mode.
Tactical Mode is designed to be usable with a gamepad, so this guide uses that to suggest an initial HOTAS mapping. You can add shortcut commands once you become a master tactician.
Currently, Tactical Mode displays an overlay showing the gamepad bindings, which is only partially useful as an aide-memoire to users of other controllers.
You should assign this to an easily-reached button, if you haven’t done so already.
Assign these to your main stick axes and a wheel control or slider, to enable you to change your point of view depending on the action.
Flick Select is used heavily in Tactical Mode. Ensure it is assigned to an easily reached hat or pair of axes.
The Tactical Diamond is a set of up to four commands appropriate to the order being given. As these do not conflict with Menu actions, you can assign the same hat used for the Menu to the Tactical Diamond UDLR actions.
The Move sub-mode is a way to give units move orders in three dimensional space. As it is modal, you can reuse the same axis or hat used for Flick Select commands, for Move actions. When Move sub-mode is active, the up action on the Tactical Diamond toggles the ‘Vertical’ move axis between moving the move target away from the viewpoint in the system horizontal plane and up and down relative to that plane.
To enter Move mode when no other sub-mode is active, press Up on the Tactical Diamond input.
Order sub-mode covers various attack and defense orders applied to a given target. To enter Order sub-mode, select a unit to order with Flick Select, enter Issue Order sub-mode with Left on the Tactical Diamond input, and select a target with Flick Select. The Tactical Diamond options change depending on the type of unit being ordered and the type of target. Defend orders are available for friendly targets.
In both sub-modes, Tactical Diamond Right cancels and returns to main mode.
Orders can be simply queued by holding down the control assigned to ‘Queue Order Modifier’. An order issued whilst Queue Order is held down is carried out after any previously defined orders. Lines on the Tactical interface indicate successive move and attack/defend targets.
Assign a button to Select Next Objective to be able to quickly target mission objectives.
To see unit stats and weapon loadouts in VR, select the unit with Flick Select, and zoom in all the way on that unit.
To see mission objectives in VR, look up.
Using Multiple Controllers
If your HOTAS and pedals (if you are using them) appear to Windows as a single device (Saitek X52, for example), you can stop reading now.
If you are using throttle, joystick and/or pedals from different manufacturers, or if your devices appear as separate devices to Windows (CH Products, or Saitek X55, Thrustmaster Warthog, etc), you should take time to understand how House’ Settings UI configures multiple devices.
The initial release only supported a single device, but as of 2016/6/10, House has been updated to support multiple controllers at the same time. In the settings UI, you will notice that in the second row of buttons, right of ‘Assign Controller’, all of your connected devices (to a maximum of 3) are shown. These are radio buttons – only one can be selected. When a controller is selected, the game actions assigned to that controller are shown in the list of bindings. Actions assigned to other controllers are not shown. When you select a different controller, the Controls UI scrolls the list of bindings back to the top of the list. A game action can be bound to multiple buttons/axes on different controllers, but you’ll need to switch controllers and scroll back to the action to see this.
You can only assign actions to the selected controller at any given time. Because of this, it’s easiest to assign all the inputs on one controller working down the list of bindings, then change controllers and do the next one, instead of working down the list of bindings and assigning inputs to each one from all controllers at the same time.
Troubleshooting
- If you haven’t already, go back to the first section of this guide and make sure the basic UI controls for the game are bound, including Flick Select and Radial Commands
- Make sure Menu Confirm, Cancel and Switch Combat Mode are correctly bound
- The game allows controls to be bound to multiple actions, and does not warn you about double bindings. If unpredictable things are happening, check that one button press is not activating two different actions.