You seem to appreciate a game on its merits and are not afraid of old graphics which is commendable, you might want give Wing Commander Privateer a try, which is basically an Elite clone, albeit a very good one.

If you don't mind a brutal learning curve, I-War 2 is the game to try, this game has the deepest ship customization I have seen in a game and these are not the usual stat upgrades which most games use, different systems really make an impact on how combat is played. If you want a medium to close range combat craft, just fill every hardpoint with lowly but common PBC's and a good reactor and the Advanced Patcom almost becomes unstoppeble, but you can also make a stealth craft with longrange sniper capabilitys, or if you fancy missiles you can turn it into a missileboat.
Trade in this game is for the most part replaced with piracy which it handles very clever if I might say and scanning cargopods is like it's always christmas.
All this is coupled with a go where you want universe with a good traveling system for interplanetary travel and wormholelike jumps, you can visit planets and stars but sadly there are no planetary landings in this game.

Then there are the X games, a lot of people seem to like them though I'm not one of them as the whole game is like a boring grind to me.
I can appreciate the economics/logistics in this game but shipcombat is meh as is the whole clustered universe in which it takes place doesn't really make you feel like you are a spacetraveler, it more feels like you enter another room each time you use a jumpgate.