Wow, that's some serious scout work you have done here

I thought I was better prepared than most since I actually watched and googled reviews for a few days to determine if the game was "worth it".
Boy was it.
I started off with my kb+mouse but had to get my first hotas since the 90's pretty soon.
Instead of going with saitek or thrustmaster I decided to go with (the all US made I believe) CH kit including rudder pedals.
Completely loving it, they are fast and precise in the fighters, and feels just as rugged and correct for flying freighters.
And even though the pedals might seem over the top, they really tie things together, and having fully analog rudder control away from the others almost transforms the experience, can't recommend them too much.
Currently approaching 340 or so hours in game, doing almost anything(always mixing it up keeps me interested).
Don't mind winging up and helping for any reason, I'm not beyond traveling a few hundred lightyears if need be.
For the moment I'm not to far from starting system (which has some nice ship discounts atm)