Just to add a few thoughts here....
I started off with a simple Thrustmaster T16000m playing both Star Citizen and ED. It's cheap (€40/$50) and VERY accurate. The Hall sensors are basically the exact same module as a X55 or Warthog stick, both of which cost way more. And the T16000m has twist, which is very handy for yaw. The disadvantage of the T16000m is that it's plastic, buttons are not great, and ergonomics is compromised because it is intended for both left-handers and right-handers. But it makes up for that with the accuracy, zero drift, zero deadzone.
In my opinion ED is absolutely made for a stick, and I'd recommend keyboard and T16000m as the minimum to really enjoy the game. However, the keyboard does have disadvantages if you want to map UI, power, strafe, throttle, targeting to your secondary hand while just holding the stick (which means 4 buttons and 1 hat on top of the stick). Tips there include:
- Map strafe up/down/left/right to the POV hat for landing.
- Map keys on the keyboard for 0%, 50% (best manoeverability), 75% (perfect supercruise speed to ensure you don't overshoot a destination) and 100% throttle forwards, 50% and 100% back. This is more efficient than trying to juggle throttle speed in an analogue manner with a keyboard.
That said, I recently augmented my T16000m with a CH pro throttle. I didn't want to move "down" from the T16000m hall sensors to potentiometers in the X52/X52-pro, so I had to choose between the X55 HOTAS or just keeping the T16000m and adding a separate throttle. Given the reviews of the CH particularly for the quality of the mini-thumbstick, I went CH.
The CH has enough hats for power, UI, strafe forwards/backwards and a whole bunch of handy utility functions, and I use strafe up/down/left/right on the thumbstick. I never need to touch the keyboard, just the throttle, stick and mouse for galaxy map. It adds to immersion, avoids the need to look away from the screen to reach a key which isn't close to hand, and the analogue throttle and strafe axes are very nice (once you get used to them).
Despite this, I'd rate a stick as "essential to enjoy ED" and a throttle as "optional to make life easier". You can get by fine with the keyboard and buttons on the base of the T16000m.