I like Evochron Mercenary quite a bit.  Although ironically for a space-sim, you might find it too realistic.

Ignore this reply.  Forum glitch...

You could try out the x-series (I know X / X2 / X3 will support joysticks and it is a space sim) Mouse and Keyboard are perfectly reasonable to use in these games. In fact, I think you cannot get away from the keyboards in these games.

I support X-universe, very deep, and, uh, captivating series (I don't even want to know how many hours I sink there). Just steer clear from X-Rebirth, it's far from being reborn, and, I guess, that is the reason "Why no discount yet". I can't say X-R is utter garbage, I've played worse, and I even managed to complete the campaign within 3 days after release with just 2 adjustment of savegame (for Egosoft's games is basically "flawless"), but it's clearly far from being polished. Consider it to be "Very early alpha access, not Amplitude's way" (since Amplitude's games I've played were quite stable in Alphas). Tried use joystick, returned back to mouse and keyboard as more "convenient" way.

What else... Not much, really, for many years X-series was nearly one and only space "sim" game (more like "simulation of life in space"), so only older games are there: Descent, Freespace, Freelancer, Wing commander... You can find most of them on GoG.

Flight-sims weren't in their gold age either, outside of microsoft stuff, I can barely remember something since Il-2, and it's been like a decade. Bird of Prey from Gaijin are... not for my liking, it's like Call of Duty in world of "fly-games".

Helicopters are nearly died, Janes Longbow series is as old as Comanche, Havoc VS Apache, Hokum VS Commanche aren't new as well. Gunship neither. DCS's games turned into "free to pay" (no misprint, that's intentional), they have "DLCs" with helicopters, but I'm not going to buy them. Their "Black Shark" (when it was standalone game) was good for simulator, but in no way arcadey, so prepare for pain and suffering.

Choplifter is funny game, but it's not sim, it's sidescroller. Still, like it.

Take On Helicopters, from Bohemia (authors of true Operation Flashpoint, later turned ArmA) is not precisely a "sim", but offers nice experience, if you don't mind ugly land textures from up close. Can't vouch for them, since I'm biased - I like their games, and I like TOH too. Flight model changed there (in comparison with ArmA), so it's more "simulatey", but not true sim. Since we don't have anything better, there is simply no choice. Besides - Hinds (yes, I like them, even if DLC, which I usually don't like).

I know you don't like planes, but there is Il-2 on GoG, and, of course, B-17. I highly recommend it to anyone, as I find it quite amusing, with all flaws present.

Sorry, that's all I could remember from top of my head.

You're welcome.

X-universe was a huge time-sink, and one I've never been sorry about (not even with X-Rebirth). X3 even have "forget about sleep and/or social life" warning - you rarely see honest people these days:). Probably only Space Rangers were similar time-sink (as much as I like Fallout or Jagged Alliance, I'm not sure I've played them that long). Just one notice - beware of "HD" version of Space Rangers, I tried it back when it was released, and I was quite disappointed with additions you can't turn off (I've seen better mods for SR1/2(. Original content still superb, though. It's not sim, but perfect example of "one more *yawning sound* turn *head falls on the table*" kind of games.

Back to X, I think my favorite is X2 - it have most of abilities, comparing it to other games, graphic is not as scary as in X-beyond the frontier:D, and, unlike X3, many features still there - cockpits, docking... X3 from original "sextet" has better graphics and overall size, but those things we lost outweigh those things we gained for me. In no way bad game, I just like X2 more. But I'm known retrograde, so you may pay little attention to my rumblings. I think they have demo, so you can try them first. Though I never seen those demos.

Anyway, happy gaming.

Would you recommend trying the first X game?  It is pretty old but I do not mind.

Descent: Freespace is old and is still pretty enjoyable, if you can stand dated graphics. It has that arcade feel I like.  Plenty of commands and settings but the missions are still fast and combat oriented.

X is a different type of game but I am also drawn to this concept. Seems to be in the same category as upcoming games Star Citizen and Limit theory.

What turned me off to x-rebirth was the fact that they reverted to being stuck in a single ship. Along with its list of other major flaws. I gave it a chance, but i just could not get into it.

IMO the prior X series games are far superior. Even XBTF despite it being dated, and you are stuck in a single ship. However i loved the freedom to chose what ship you could fly in the later series. Which was supposed to be the whole point of X. Freedom to do what ever you want in a sandbox universe. The best of the series is x2 up until albion prelude. with the absolute best being terran conflict IMO.

Woah, thanks for the heads up buddy.  I went humble on the bundle and snatched that booty.

As far as the first X being dated, I do not mind. I am playing Freespace and it is even older. And I am also a regular of GOG btw. I still have my old 486 kicking around to play me some retro DOS goodness. I can also be found lurking on the Vogons forum on occasion.

Freespace 1 is what I am playing atm.

I have several flight sticks and what is annoying is that the one I like the most for the feeling of the stick  has the least buttons.  More buttons is better, there are tons of commands in the game and the least I have to reach the keyboard the better.

I have one that has a lot of buttons and is overall very good but I find the stick a bit too stiff. It is a logitech extreme 3d pro.

Also, is it me of flight sticks with force feedback suck? They feel weird.

I wholeheartedly recommend FreeSpace 2. Not only is it a great game, but the "FreeSpace Source Code Project" and "FreeSpace Upgrade Project" have improved the engine and graphics a huge amount from its original release.

Also, there are a large number of user-made campaigns available, and some of these are outstanding (War in Heaven for instance). There's even an upgraded FreeSpace 1 campaign.

It's probably easiest to use the FSOInstaller to install all the new stuff.

Don't forget to use your seta drive, speeds up space travel when you are doing menial travelling. As you get more ships to your fleet, you can set them to trade and travel while you go shooting pirates and starting wars.

The early game is rather slow, but as you explore and upgrade your stuff it gets better. If you are looking for the most dog fighting capability and ship flying you want to put yourself in a fully upgraded M5. That will travel quick and get you to place to place, but it classifies as a scout ship and doesn't have much firepower. An M3 is a heavy fighter, but you pay for it in speed. M4 is somewhere in the middle, but it is still slow.

Also, if you think that is painful, fly a trader ship from place to place...

He-he. Egosoft need tutorials for their tutorials (yodawg and stuff), because their tutorials aren't tutoring enough.

Boring? You don't even know what boring is:) (I'll explain a bit later). In older X-games flying without SETA is slow process, but I like it for contemplation purposes. If you don't like that, then use SETA, and/or find jumpdrive ugrade and, to save batteries, if you don't like docking to stations much, use quickjump to needed gate within the sector you're currently in. In the meanwhile you can sing "I cut down Haak, I skip and jump, I like to kill wild Xenons, on Stations I go shopping, and hang around in baaaaars!"

Okay, bars part is about X-Rebirth which got "2.0" update, which is, actually, more like 1.5. They improved some things, but most boring part (and I like Euro Truck Simulator) - highways are still there, even if in improved form (improved boredom). And to think you had to spend around 30% of time there, just because there is no SETA anymore, nor there are jumpdrives (because there are just 4 gates). Of 24 hours I needed to complete campaign I sent 8 flying through those things. I remember my days of prowling on slowest older X ships as glorious journey.

You can perform wonderful barrel rolls and Frolov's chakras in different planes, while spiralling like crazy, all in same time, so don't say about straight line.

But yeah, sure, I won't argue, best speedy game was XbtF, where you could upgrade your X-craft to a degree where you can outrun enemy missiles.

An interesting space sim I tried somewhat recently was Babylon 5 - I've Found her.

http://ifhgame.ru/

Interesting in the fact that it uses Newtonian movement in space, as it should be!!!  Almost all space sims I've played use the more 'conventional/cinematic' aero-dogfighting model.  It took a bit to get a hang of tracking enemy targets while my Star Fury was travelling in a different direction than the direction the nose is pointing.  This is one game where you use the HUD A LOT to keep track of things!

It's not perfect, and has a bit of a learning curve, but I think that it manages to faithfully simulate B5 starfighter combat. 

Travelling between warp gates in 'jump space' can be somewhat unforgiving if you get off course, but is otherwise a bit of a snooze fest (a fast forward would have been nice). 

Getting the 'drop/perfect shot' while dogfighting ends up being rather satisfying, as it takes a bit of skill to work out the vectoring...

Managing your velocity (so you don't overshoot that convoy across the system that you are supposed to be escorting, timing your accel/decel appropriately) is another element I found to be refreshing.

You WILL need a 10 key for this game along with a full keyboard, for thruster control.  I'm mentioning this in case you may be using a laptop that doesn't have a ten key - you can always get a USB 10-key if you need one.  I use my mouse left handed, so having the 10 key on the right seemed to work well in this game.

Thankfully, the game DOES come with a tutorial!