Yeah but you already have a good foundation to build off so why over complicate things to early little steps, just checked and i have one in boxed condition 0 modding done just light use, one i use on and off joystick mod only, a bare bones stripped to just all pcb's, and a razor one collecting dust.
Hotas is the key all buttons in positions easily reachable without having to re-position hand, you can load up a keyboard with as many cherries as you want but in the heat you will use only a very small percentage due to them being a little out of reach, so you keep your primary functions close, you really only need 3 rows of 4 to be in quick easy reach outside of that and its no longer Hotas as you have had to introduce another move its just human ergonomics.
I know Roads is going to cringe at this but i have often thought of using expensive pov hat switches not as joystick replacement but keys as with a 4 way hat switch placed at each finger would instantly give you 16 functions with one movement.
