1y ago

Flick stick vs trackpad

Hey everyone! What’s your preferred input method for fps games on the deck? I find myself going back and forth between flick stick and trackpad. For me trackpad feels more natural but flick stick feels more worth the time investment? If I spend time with flick stick on the deck then I could also use it when streaming moonlight to my tv or at my pc.

Which do you guys prefer?

13 comments

I'm not kidding you, I play CS:Go on my Steam Deck using Trackpad + Gyro + Back Buttons and crush matches with it. It had a learning curve but after a day or two of adjustments, I was getting the same ranks and scores I used to with a mouse and a keyboard. So my suggestion would be trackpads over flick stick. I've tried flick stick for CS:Go but it just didn't feel natural.
- The real game changer is the gyro.
  I prefer trackpad+gyro, but I'd take joystick+gyro over trackpad alone.
  
  Yeah trackpad alone doesn't do much. Not even 10% of what Trackpad + Gyro can. And don't forget the back buttons, they're extremely important as well. Because you can map actions like jump and crouch to them making sure that both your thumbs are over the trackpad/stick all the time. At least in competitive game, moving your thumb away from the trackpad even for a second can be catastrophic.
  
  How sensitive do you set the gyro? Are you primarily aiming/looking around with gyro and only using trackpad to sweep or move to a general location like with flick stick? Or is it more like 80% moving around with trackpad and fine aiming with gyro?
- How does one fps with them I can't figure it out lol
  
  It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but it's entirely possible. That is why Valve put those trackpads in even though it would have been cheaper to just leave them out. Two giant trackpads take precious real estate in such a small form factor after all.
  
  My approach is to have the sensitivity high enough that I aim entirely with the gyro and use the touchpad for twitchy fast turns. I have a hard time aiming if I have to move too much. Don't really play gyro games on the Deck, but with a standalone controller I go with 180 sensitivity on a full edge to edge swipe of the touchpad, and have the gyro set so a 90 degree rotation of the controller results in an in game rotation of 675 degrees for first person or 450 degrees for third person. This video might make it make more sense visually. This makes it so I get a consistent gyro experience I like across different games.

I use joystick and gyro. Flick stick is probably the best, but it's not very intuitive for me. I can't stand the trackpad for fps

Gyro +flick stick feels like the next best thing if you can't use a mouse and keyboard.

Coming from keyboard and mouse, for me the trackpad is essential. I can't get used to the stick, but the trackpads always seemed natural.
That's the main reason why I won't ever consider a device like the ally without trackpads.

Am I weird for assigning flick stick to my trackpad? This was the sweet spot for me.

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