Particularly for flight and combat, is it comfortable/easy to use only a mouse for this game?

I would like to also know the answer to this, as my flight stick is currently broken :(

It's pretty good. The issue is mastering using the keyboard at the same time. Mousing in combination with hitting the hot keys (launching missiles, autopilot, switching weapons, etc.) takes some getting used to.

FYI, you can finish the game using only the keyboard. I finished Privateer a few months ago using only the keyboard. You need to kill most of your opponents with missiles though. Bring down their shields to one or two bars before shooting them with IR missiles.

I wish I could have gotten to use my flight stick for this one but I never quite figured how to use my Thrustmaster with this game.

I think this is really hard to control the ship with mouse, i prefer the keyboard.

Controlling the ship with the mouse feels like your sliding across glass. The lower mouse sensitivity option in the configure program does nothing. And if you go to the in-game options to select mouse movement before starting a new game, DOSbox crashes. So, to answer your question, the mouse support is terrible. Use a keyboard.

My ship is not firing lasers with the 1st mouse button. Further, my keyboard - / + keys aren't controlling ship speed. I think this is because this is a laptop. But man... It's crippling. Probably a fix is available, but where and what?

The reference card has a breakdown of the mouse controls. Speed changes are done by holding right-button and moving the mouse forward or backward.

Just in case anyone else is interested...Using a gamepay with analog sticks is surprisingly effective. Either the X-Box 360 controller or the PS3 controller are ideal. I'm using the PS3 controller and it works like a charm. Certainly beats trying to play with a mouse.

Ahh, okay, that will work to change speeds. But what of the inability to fire lasers/mass canon (my current setup) with the mouse? Sooo aggravating.

Thanks. Hmm, good tip! I have 10dollar eBay "Nyko AirFlo" that I love, but it doesn't get much use. I'll check it out, though!

Turn those guns on with the 1-8 button. left button will then fire fine.