Well, despite all the encouragement here (thanks everyone), I've decided to save Tie Fighter for a rainier day. After a bit of research, it's apparent that getting this old game to run properly (without glitches) in DOSBox ON any particular modern joystick is not guaranteed. I'd hate to buy a joystick and then not be able to get Tie Fighter right. I'd rather not set myself up for that kind of disappointment. More research required. So if anyone is running Tie Fighter on DOSBOX using Windows XP and joystick, and it works without issues, please let me know your config, and I may copy it (including buying the exact same joystick model)… Seems like a lot of time just to get one game to run.
So I took the "easy" route and installed X3: Terran Conflict. It is quite pretty and has very nice background music. But the soothing aspects stop there.
It REALLY needs a hefty manual. Too bad that the thick one it comes with is poorly written / translated. Well, I am starting to figure it out. First rule, use automatic pilot as much as possible, since I am a lousy pilot. Second, set the SETA factor up to 10x and turn it on whenever possible to speed up the poderously slow travel times. Those are tricks I've found so far.
Though I still can't figure out why when I turn right in the main screen my ship icon turns left in the sector map. Annoying.
I started with a Humble Argon (oddly close to Argonian) Trader, and after a false start by following some bad suggested beginning trading routes in the manual, I restarted and paid more attention to buy prices to ignore the manual where appropriate (duh!), and have done well enough for a few upgrades. But sheesh this seems grindy. I may lose interest soon. I have found a few lucrative power cell and ore "milk" runs, but other trading has little profit. I've explored down to the Paranid border (they won't let me trade at their stations though), and a couple sectors north, east and west or Argon Prime.
So any suggestions to a "entrepreneur" level trader, to make things less grindy and faster? All I have is an upgraded Mercury TS transport. I just spent most of my credits on upgrades and have about 150K now. I have yet to engage in any real combat. I figure once I get about 2 million credits I'll get a fighter, and try the combat side of the game. Maybe try out factories later. I have to say the ship controls are difficult and 3-d space a bit disorienting, so not sure how combat will go (will need plenty of save/reloads until I get the hang of it, I suppose). BTW, most of the random offered missions are impossible at this level, I've only been able to do a few. :/