Which version? The daisy wheel or the dual thumb keyboard?

I kinda miss the older circular mode, it was hard to get used to, but it was really quick and precise

No they weren’t. I used to play Elite Dangerous and the paddles were used as modifiers, so for example the left paddle held down would change all the face button inputs to distributing energy while the right pad would swap them to common cockpit functions (landing gear, fsd, lights…) Meanwhile both bumpers and triggers remained as a single function: yaw and weapon groups