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Comment by jugg1es | Hacker News Reader

Some of the input interactions in Factorio are hard enough even with a mouse, particularly if you are trying to find an item to build that you haven't built since early-game. It's hard to imagine any sort of controller-based input working without significant changes to the UI.

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It isn't just the input controls. I cannot imagine playing on a such a small screen. I play facotrio on a single 4k and regularly want more real estate. If there ever was a game with a legit need for 8/12k it is factorio.

The steam deck has a touchscreen thought. So I wouldn't be surprised if those menus were easier to navigate than with a mouse alone ?

Touch screens are comically inaccurate compared to a mouse unless you have a conical fingertip (dunno, from a freak pencil sharpener accident?)

Did you see him try to close the research window near the start of the video? It only took him 4 or 5 attempts.

Touchscreen interfaces have some advantages, but precision is not one of them. They need to be explictly designed for.

That is where the trackpads come in, with a bit of practice they can replace the need for a mouse in any game, be it strategy or fps.

Replacing the keyboard isn't as easy though.

I was hopeful the track pad on the steam controller could replace a mouse for anything requiring fast and precise aim/controlling (FPS/RTS), but I was sadly disappointed. For a casual or non-real-time gaming, sure. But if you are trying to perform, nothing yet compares to a mouse. I would love some new controller you could use from the couch that competes with the mouse. Maybe some future motion controllers will get there.

I played a fair amount of Overwatch on the old Steam Controller with a combination of touchpad and gyroscope controls. Touchpad for wide sweeping movements and gyro for fine tuning the aim. It's not quite as accurate as a mouse, and it does take some getting used to, but I found I was much more competitive with it than I was with a regular gamepad, especially when playing games like Overwatch that don't support aim-assist on controllers.

For slower strategy games, using the left touchpad for fast/imprecise mouse movement (or map movement) and the right touchpad for slow/fine tuned mouse movement is also decent. I don't know that I'd want to play an RTS that way, though.

It definitely takes time to learn, but a few months of regular use and I believe I could get just as good with my steam controller/Steam Deck as with a mouse.

However, I am certainly not a great fps player so the needed skill to catch up isn't as much as it might be for you.

But I do believe that if you properly learn flick stick then you could probably get quite far, with less effort.

There are lots of games with basically the same interface requirements (eg, Minecraft), and they work with a gamepad, it's just very clunky.

Factorio has a sort of almost RTS aspect to it as well. You sometimes need to build fast when the zer... uh, biters are gnawing at your base.

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