Hi Daniel, great to hear you are a returning pilot! Always nice that the passions of flying comes back again.
For hardware, i actually know two options.
- as you mentioned before… autorudder it has its pro’s and cons and i get the idea you figured them out yourself allrady
- A joystick with rudder axis. I use the VKB Gladiator (pro), and its a dream to fly with. At home i had a complete setup with rudder pedals, yoke throttle quadrant. Because of space issues etc. i had to scale down to a laptop and a joystick. Ok… I have to admit it is not as immersive as a complete rig, but it does an exellent job with flying. Because of the rudder axis, crosswind landings are fun to fly and easy to maintain, without loss of control (autorudder mode) and even sideslips are no problems. I made actually even a small comparisson between 3 joysticks (with buildin throttle and rudder axis) Joystick recommendations - Self-Service / Peripherals - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums
The nice part is that you can combine it with a seperate throttle quadrant etc, but the flying itself you will just do with your (left or right) hand.
Anyway, if you are looking for more detailed info or presets, dont hesitate to sent me a DM.
Maybe we will see eachother sometime in the skies of MSFS, until than blue skies and a lot of fun!