I'm using a Saitek X52 standard, and was using an ST290 Pro... And for the life of me, I can't get analog throttle control. I was never really able to play the old ones (being only around 4 years old when the '98 ones were released) so I don't know if analog throttle was ever part of the game's engine. Anyone know?

I dont think analog throttle has any chance of working.

What you can do tho, is to create a profile for the game using the Saitek software, and assign 'bands' to the throttle axis. You can then assign a keypress to each band. I have done this with my X55 throttle and it works pretty well, assigning 0, 1/3, 2/3 and full throttle.

No, analog thrust was not part of the engine... throttle control was always limited to the 4 fixed settings (0-33-66-100%)

I'd say you dont need it. You'll be hitting backspace/enter (Full throtlte/match speed to target)all the time in dogfight anyway.

I use a Saitek X52 myself and I have to say, you really don't -need- that precise level of control. The throttle on the X52 still works to get you between 0, 33, 66, and 100. For this particular game, that's all you really need. Don't worry too much about it, I don't.

I did the four-bands thing, and set a button for "match speed' but I also made it so my scrollwheel on my throttle was the + and - keys, so I could fine-tune the throttle if necessary. Between the three options, I've got some pretty precise control of my speed, and it becomes surprisingly natural.

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. Guess I'm too used to stuff like Wing Commander, Freespace, and the like; used to having a fully analog throttle. But I have played a bit of this, and the 4-band method is fairly easy to get used to. Thanks!

But there are keystrokes that increase/decrease the throttle by some small percentage (I forget exactly what it is, 2 or 3 percent maybe?)

I have my X55 throttle axis mapped to whatever those keys are, which approximates the effect of analogue throttle. It does create an issue when you're matching speed though, because if you're at like 75% max throttle and then do a match speed to a ship thats going really slow, and then accelerate again from there, you can only get up to like 50% of max even though your throttle is now pegged forward all the way. Anyone have this unit and thought of a way around it?

Sorry for the necro. Back in the day i had the collectors edition and definitely had full throttle control for both a logitech joystick and also some cheap generic one. The game engine supported it and using the throttle was a big part of dogfighting and missile evasion for me.

I just bought the GOG version and am using a logitech extreme 3d pro and throttle is not recognised in the game. I am just wondering what options there might be. Using Joy2key i can only see single key assignments for when axis value is greater than zero and less than zero. 2 bands is not practical. Any other avenues? Thanks

Are you sure the throttle wasn't in 1/3 steps?
because even the windows version recognizes the throttle in that way.

X-wing vs Tie Fighter had the throttle in 3% increments, the Windows version of Tie Fighter was still in 33% increments for some reason last I tried it, same thing of the windows version of X-wing (I have it installed so I gave it a quick try).
The thing is you probably are confusing XvT and TieWin since the latter is indeed very similar in-game, the windows remakes of TF and XW were very rough ports that had missing engine features compared to XvT, the analog throttle was always one of them in my experience.

I guess its hard to know if my memory is off or not, its just how i remember it. Right now the game doesnt even seem to recognise throttle so i would be delighted to have 33% increments. Could anyone help me?

Uhm, it should work with a Logitech 3D pro.
Instead of joy2key use the logitech software:
http://support.logitech.com/en_us/product/extreme-3d-pro/downloads#
If you are playing the windows version the buttons can be configured in-game however (press ESC and click on "joystick"), try disabling joy2key.
If not, try to use the logitech software to disable the twist axis.

Actually a new joystick utility that is great is available here

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/50174/thread/joystick-gremlin-joystick-configuration-tool