The Thrustmaster TQS the replacement for the old Weapons Control System, and is simply the most flexible unit on the market, if you can pay the price! Designed as a companion for the FLCS or F22 Pro, its a nice unit to work with, though the learning curve for TM programming remains high.

When you purchase your TQS you will get the standard assortment of stuff: the stick itself, some shiny brochures, a floppy disk and a manual. TM used to supply a PS2 adapter, but this seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur. So you may find yourself out shopping .. a bit of a pain.

As for the progamming issue, if you aren't in a hurry to customize game files, you can use the ones provided with your TM gear or the ones that come with your favorite sim, and download them and away you go! Every sim worth its salt comes with TM files ready to go, but they tend to be very basic. This will be fine to get you started; most serious simmers find themselves loading up their own preferred command set before very long. For example, when I first downloaded the command set for Flying Corps I found I had about a dozen commands to work with. After a few hours labor, I had closer to 25 commands, and they were laid out more intuitively. Take into consideration that I have been using the TQS for almost two years and have developed my own way of using it; the advantage of flexible equipment!

Well, not to fear. The TQS does come with a fairly good manual. And if you take it one step at a time, you should do fine. Realize its going to take some time, and enjoy getting there!

The stick itself has two turning knobs, a four way switch (Radio), a two position switch, a cursor control, and a three position switch (Dogfight) that acts somewhat like button S3 on the FLCS (changing the position of this switch changes the action of every other switch, thus multiplying the number of commands you can program to EACH switch on your TQS and FLCS or F22).

Click to continue . . .

Thats a lot of control power, and if you fly an advanced simulation, you will need it! It is really a gas not having to reach for the keyboard, and if you fly regularly, you will be surprised how many positions you can remember! I usually import my completed file into a word processor, divide it into three columns (for each position of the Dogfight switch) then print it out, with button designations on the left side. Makes a nice reference chart til I memorize the command set.

If you choose not to use the cursor control as I have done up til now (since I have a very nice trackball that takes up very little room), then you can also program the cursor control for four more switch positions, or, multiplying by three by use of the Dogfight switch, up to TWELVE more functions. However, it doesn't work all that easily for control functions, since it can be tough to hit exactly the function you want with this tiny rocker switch.

The antenna knob, the downward facing knob you can see to the right of the gif above, can be nicely used to program HUD brightness, or radar range, or even views.

Thats the story in a nutshell. The stick feels very solid and is nice to use. My only complaint is that it doesn't have enough weight and sometimes shifts a bit on my desk. Perhaps TM will come out with a nice heavy version before much longer.

The other possibility is that TM might come out with a dual throttle arrangement for those sims that could use such a rig, especially for the WWII crowd who like to fly huge lumbering aircraft that use multiple engines. Would sure be nice to fly a P38 Lightning with a realistic rig like that! Meantime, this is a very nice unit which can be picked up through Flight Sim Central for around $110 US. And if the programming proves too challenging for you, check out CS Commanders software. Onward and upward!!