Well, the cruel mistress GOG has laden me with a few space sims over the last year. Unfortunately I find a lot of them rather hard to play with keyboard and/or mouse options.
So I'd like to kindly get some expert suggestions.
What sort of joystick can I get these days that works with new and old games?
Where do I even buy them? (I never see them in stores anymore)
My primary culprits for this are:
X-Wing+TIE-Fighter series
Independence War I+II
Starshatter
But anything else that having a joystick would open up would be great too.
I use a logitech attack 3...it's tough and has enough buttons but it doesn't have a hat switch...anyway for me the hat switch doesn't really matter!
Joystick novice here, hat switch?
Usually a round button that you can toggle in 8 different directions.
Check these two:
Thustmaster T-16000 Flight Stick http://www.amazon.com/Hercules-2960706-Thrustmaster-T-16000M-Flight/dp/B001S0RTU0/ref=sr_1_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1457960128&sr=1-2&keywords=logitech+joystick
And Logitech Freedom 2.4 GHz Cordless Joystick http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Freedom-2-4-Cordless-Joystick/dp/B00006OP9C/ref=sr_1_4?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1457960128&sr=1-4&keywords=logitech+joystick
I own a higher priced model from Thrustmaster, and the second one.
You'll find many good joysticks from Thrustmaster, CH Products and Saitek at Amazon.com to meet your needs and budget. I have used a Saitek 52 for my flight and space sims for many years now and never had a problem. Its a really good programmable HOTAS joystick controller.
I'm seeing alot of Logitech Extreme 3D Pro's for sale locally. Are these any good? or bad idea to buy second hand?
I use a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro - have done for three years or more.
It's a good budget 'stick, but I'd not recommend buying second hand.
I did just recently add a link to the menu bar up top: http://spacesimcentral.com/ssc/page/gaming_accessories.html might help a little and I will try to find a few of the ones mentioned here and add them as well.
I like everyone's responses to this, but I just wanted to add something. As you are probably seeing, there aren't a huge number of good choices out there, certainly nowhere near as many as there are for keyboard and mouse. Many of these will be just fine for something in the X-Wing franchise (I had a CH F-16 flight stick for many years, which was wonderful except for the huge disadvantage of not having a twist axis). When playing the (absolutely wonderful, probably best space sim ever made) Independence War 2, however, if you are like me you will be far from satisfied with ANY of the choices out there. The problem is, these things really aren't designed for 6DOF. One thing you should be absolutely certain to do if buying a HOTAS is to make sure that there is at least one 4-directional hat on the throttle. You will need this for lateral movement. Sadly, none of the "cheaper" HOTAS options are particularly nice. The X52 is ok, but they have some pretty serious quality issues (I have disassembled mine to clean the pots more than once).
On more modern games, I have found that the combination of this http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G13-Programmable-Gameboard-Display/dp/B001NEK2GE with the mouse and keyboard is slightly better than any joystick set up, but it wouldn't be worth the struggle to get that working for these older games, if it's even possible.
I know the X-52 can get some flak but i'd like to say that i have had mine now for a couple of years and it is still going strong and i'd recommend it, i did have to do the magnet modification to it but that's all.
I know that if/when it does fail i'd get another or upgrade to the RHINO X-55.
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