I keep seeing these on GOG and I'd love to dive in and grab them but I notice that you need a joystick to play them. As I've not bought a joystick since my Amiga finally gave up the ghost some time in the mid-nineties I was wondering if anyone on here plays 'em and what joysticks they'd recommend?

I got the cheapest $20 USB thrustmaster from Amazon to play Alliance and I haven't had any problems yet. If you want to use the multiplayer for any of these games most people use gameranger.

I like the logitech extreme 3D pro. It will do everything you want. If you play sims hardcore, 3+ hours a day, you'll have to replace it every 9-12 months. If not, should last several years. You can buy them at best buy. Very simple plug and play, with twist rudder capability, though I'd recommend pedals. Also, for XWA, which allows you to use rudder, I would get a joystick emulator and use that to map the rudder axis to yaw and the x-axis to roll. It makes no sense the way XWA forces you to roll with rudder and yaw with stick. Makes me crazy.

I'm very partial to Logitech. Trust me, if you could see my desktop right now...

I bought a cheap Thrustmaster for the game. No need to go top of the line straight away.

Gamepad with analog stick. I just cannot play these games with a full joystick. I don't see the point on wasting so many fingers holding a stick, when you can do that with your thumb.

And your gamepad floats in the sky? .

A gamepad usually requires two hands, and you really, really, need a hand on the keyboard at all times. Even with a whole bunch of buttons on the joystick.

Plus, your hand controls the stick, and your fingers are then free to control lots of buttons, and then your other hand is free for the throttle with more buttons, and then your feet are on your rudder pedals. So, you can control everything without ever taking hands or feet off the controls. If gamepads worked better, fighters would have them.

I bought a GBP £10 xbox type usb controller from 'Game' and it works brilliantly, its actually better than a joystick for these games.

You can reconfigure the keys to a lot of the buttons but many 'duplicate' but you stil get about 10 controls on the joypad itself which is well handy when things like controlling your speed, target cycling , weapon select, fire pattern select, match speed etc are all in your hands and you dont have to touch the keyboard.

More so for me as i connect my laptop to my big TV to play it on so the keyboard isnt right in front of me

Any will do really as long as it has a throttle control and a trigger.

Gamepad with analog stick. I just cannot play these games with a full joystick. I don't see the point on wasting so many fingers holding a stick, when you can do that with your thumb.

I'm currently using an XB1 controller for XWA and it's just not the same as the joystick I had as a kid. Once you use a joystick, nothing else is ever as good.

Anything would be fine. However I have a joystick called a Cyborg. It has 10 programmable buttons and throttle. Just picked it up from the tech store and it wouldn't have been pricy.

Like Gadge, plugging your laptop into your TV is a must.

Magic game. Check out the Darksaber patch to enhance graphics! This is also a must.

Oh there's a mod for graphics, gonna check that out.

Anything would be fine. However I have a joystick called a Cyborg. It has 10 programmable buttons and throttle. Just picked it up from the tech store and it wouldn't have been pricy.

Like Gadge, plugging your laptop into your TV is a must.

Magic game. Check out the Darksaber patch to enhance graphics! This is also a must.

You've got an old Saitek cyborg? I thought they stopped making those. I always wanted one because I could make it left-handed.

Sadly there are no up to date drivers for the cyborg I could find when I looked for some.

Anything would be fine. However I have a joystick called a Cyborg. It has 10 programmable buttons and throttle. Just picked it up from the tech store and it wouldn't have been pricy.

Like Gadge, plugging your laptop into your TV is a must.

Magic game. Check out the Darksaber patch to enhance graphics! This is also a must.

You've got an old Saitek cyborg? I thought they stopped making those. I always wanted one because I could make it left-handed.

Nay, Cyborg is the company. This stick is built for righties.

No, Saitek is the company. They have several different models of Cyborg. The one I'm referring to is the Saitek Cyborg Evo. The one you've pictured is the Saitek Cyborg Fly. You can always tell Saitek by that big visible spring at the base of the stick. Generally, I'm not a big fan of Saitek as their sticks are too loose and floppy. I like stiffer sticks that have a little more resistance to them.

No, Saitek is the company. They have several different models of Cyborg. The one I'm referring to is the Saitek Cyborg Evo. The one you've pictured is the Saitek Cyborg Fly. You can always tell Saitek by that big visible spring at the base of the stick. Generally, I'm not a big fan of Saitek as their sticks are too loose and floppy. I like stiffer sticks that have a little more resistance to them.

Somewhere there's a naughty joke in there.