I just quit Wing Commander 1 after getting blown up about 10 seconds into a fight, 10 times in a row. I want to get into the genre but I'm just not good enough. I'm afraid I am diving into the deep end of the pool before knowing how to swim, so I'd like to play some easier ones first and slowly make my way up, the problem is whenever I hear about a Space Sim it's usually followed by people recounting how hard a time they had with them. What would you recommend for me?

P.S.: I don't have a joystick and don't plan to make that investment when I don't even know if I'll find a game to stick with.

If you can find a copy of Freelancer, go for it... perfect for only keyboard and mouse.

Right now I'm trying to solve some problems I'm having with I-War 2, but it looks pretty good...

I didn't find Freespace 1 or 2 terribly difficult. Most of the difficulty came from my tendency to spent a lot of time replaying missions to succeed at a semi-arbitrary goal I set for myself on the off-chance that I would get a medal for completing that goal.

Also, I used mouse and keyboard.

X-Wing
Tie Fighter

nuff said :D

If you can ever manage to find one - Frontier: Elite II is for me the best ever space sim made. It is also not so difficult to get into.

Freespace 1/2 is a great suggestion. I found it fairly mild, though a few levels required a number of reloads to protect some specific ship. It's also a neat story, and told well. Mission pacing is balanced.

edit: you can also make it pretty with mods and conversions, to increase accessibility for some folks.

Wing Commander 3/4 are a lot more forgiving to begin with, but then you'll be starting mid-series - The games are stand alone stories, but with a vague interconnecting plot...

Not available here, Tachyon: The Fringe Starlancer & Freelancer eased you into the game, though I vaguely recall Tachyon getting very tricky towards the end, but your character is voiced by Bruce Campbell, so hey! Nothing you can't handle.

Other than that, I can't think of any good first games... Freespace 1 & 2 I vaguely remember being tricky - Though the first one more I think (Its been too many years since I last played mind, so I could be wrong, Independence War 1 is definitely a right royal pain, and it quickly ramps up in Independence War 2.

My own personal favourite - The 'X' series (A series of Space Trade/Combat Sims) drops you in the deep end to start, and you're left floundering into even deeper waters. Hugely satisfying when you figure out what your doing, but that takes hours.

Yeah, Independence Wars are very, very cool, and potentially very, very inaccessible.

Without a joystick and only using keyboard and mouse (or only keyboard), I think Wing Commander is a good start.

But if you are having too much trouble, maybe you should play Privateer.

Then again, I don't know why you are getting blown but you could also use the simulator to gain a little experience.

Remember that this game follow physics, which means you MUST anticipate where the enemy is going to be, so you must shoot at the place where he is going to be and not where he is.

You start with a good wingman (Spirit) so make sure to give her the command to attack so she also starts attacking.

Other than that, I don't know what other advice I can give you.

Freelancer would be your best choice. That being said, if you can't find it, the first 2 X games are both on GG, really cheap and DRM-free too.

X-Wing and TIE Fighter are really bad with mouse and keyboard. A joystick is required (then again, I beat X-Wing with mouse and keyboard but I wish I had a mousepad the size of the floor of the house and be able to turn off fatigue in my right hand.

Really? I thought I remembered people complaining about it being unfair. Could be mistaken though. Since I already have the games anyway I could give them a try. It was my first mission with the second ship. I could never get the hang of missiles on that game, I understand how to fire them but not how to lock on, sometimes I see a red crosshair closing in on the enemy but I never know what I did to make it happen. I don't think it's just aiming at them since I did that all the time without the crosshair showing up.

I would not even attempt Wing Commander without at least a gamepad and preferably a flight stick. I cannot even imagine playing that with a keyboard. It is challenging even with the right gear but I will say it is also very doable although deaths go with the territory. Honestly, if I can do it I am pretty sure anybody else can who is willing to persevere and has the gear. hey! I'm a poet!

Shit, you are TOTALLY right; forgive my misinformation. The only other one I can think of is the ID War series but as much as I love those games I actually found them really hard.

In ID War, cutting your thrust, spinning your nose, sliding past the belly of an enemy to launch an attack, then re-engaging thrust and corkscrew away!