4x3 screen preferred? 128 key keyboard?

[tonyhernandez]

Two technical questions for those that know these kinds of things. Goodness knows i don't know!

Question 1. I play mostly exclusively WDS/JTS Nappy games on a laptop. I want to make the ultimate setup since i'm moving and will have a desk to game. From what i can see, while the world has moved on to 16x9 aspect ratio, and WDS games do a great job of adjusting to these different ratios, the title screens seem, to me, to be in 4x3. And that kinda makes sense. Putting the Hex Info Area on the top or to the side works...sort of. To me, it seems that these games would play better on the old school ratios they were designed on. Should me external monitor be 4x3?

For example, they make this gorgeous, 17" LED HD monitor for $62! (With coupon.) https://amzn.to/4hi9kK7 Is this a good idea? I can then turn my small, 16x9 on its side and make that hold the PDFs. I dunno. I think this is a great idea. Do you?

Question 2. And this has the possibility of making my gaming experience like NASA's Mission Control Center! Does anyone have any experience with X-Keys? They started with a 24 key programmable keyboard and now have a 60, 80, and as i've linked, 128 keyboard! https://amzn.to/4bGqCiX

You can make a Black Powder board to handle all your Nappy games and your ACW games all in one place! Maybe more!

Not only can you print out colored tabs and recreate the toolbar, but you could also possibly add shortcuts that don't exist like Mode > Play By E-Mail.

Thoughts?

Go Suns,

Tony Hernandez, Phoenix

[Embis]

WDS games display very well on 16:9. I think you will find you will actually see more of the battlefield.

I have a two monitor setup and had thought i would rotate one monitor when reading documents, in practice i think i did that once and then decided it was too much hassle!

Although most of the games have been out for a very long time the recent updates to all the series means that they have been brought thoroughly up to date in all respects, and that includes adapting to the development that most people have much larger monitors than they did 20 years ago, and also that most of those are 16:9.

I see no advantage at all to sticking with 4:3

Cant help with the keyboard question.

[Almskaar]

Two technical questions for those that know these kinds of things. Goodness knows i don't know!

Question 1. I play mostly exclusively WDS/JTS Nappy games on a laptop. I want to make the ultimate setup since i'm moving and will have a desk to game. From what i can see, while the world has moved on to 16x9 aspect ratio, and WDS games do a great job of adjusting to these different ratios, the title screens seem, to me, to be in 4x3. And that kinda makes sense. Putting the Hex Info Area on the top or to the side works...sort of. To me, it seems that these games would play better on the old school ratios they were designed on. Should me external monitor be 4x3?

For example, they make this gorgeous, 17" LED HD monitor for $62! (With coupon.) https://amzn.to/4hi9kK7 Is this a good idea? I can then turn my small, 16x9 on its side and make that hold the PDFs. I dunno. I think this is a great idea. Do you?

Question 2. And this has the possibility of making my gaming experience like NASA's Mission Control Center! Does anyone have any experience with X-Keys? They started with a 24 key programmable keyboard and now have a 60, 80, and as i've linked, 128 keyboard! https://amzn.to/4bGqCiX

You can make a Black Powder board to handle all your Nappy games and your ACW games all in one place! Maybe more!

Not only can you print out colored tabs and recreate the toolbar, but you could also possibly add shortcuts that don't exist like Mode > Play By E-Mail.

Thoughts?

Go Suns,

Tony Hernandez, Phoenix

I bought a 42" TV for $40 on FB marketplace and I love it, the hexes in 2D normal view are the same size as hexes in 2D magnified on my laptop (15") but of course you can see so much more of the map. I never considered a different aspect ratio so I tried it just now, going to 4:3 the map is squished but maybe there's a fix. I'll be sticking with 16:9.

I count 11 hot keys that I use regularly and it hasn't taken much to memorize those so I'm content with a regular old keyboard, although I can imagine a custom keyboard would be optimal.

Sorry, this probably isn't actually very helpful

[tonyhernandez]

WDS games display very well on 16:9. I think you will find you will actually see more of the battlefield.

I have a two monitor setup and had thought i would rotate one monitor when reading documents, in practice i think i did that once and then decided it was too much hassle!

Although most of the games have been out for a very long time the recent updates to all the series means that they have been brought thoroughly up to date in all respects, and that includes adapting to the development that most people have much larger monitors than they did 20 years ago, and also that most of those are 16:9.

I see no advantage at all to sticking with 4:3

Cant help with the keyboard question.

I think people who like the 16x9 play with the Unit Boxes to the left or to the right, yeah? For me, it just squeezes an already tight screen since i like putting the Unit Boxes on top so i don't have to scroll up and down, up and down with my crosshairs.

Thanks for your answer!

Postscript
Your signature is my favorite Napoleon quote 

[tonyhernandez]

Two technical questions for those that know these kinds of things. Goodness knows i don't know!

Question 1. I play mostly exclusively WDS/JTS Nappy games on a laptop. I want to make the ultimate setup since i'm moving and will have a desk to game. From what i can see, while the world has moved on to 16x9 aspect ratio, and WDS games do a great job of adjusting to these different ratios, the title screens seem, to me, to be in 4x3. And that kinda makes sense. Putting the Hex Info Area on the top or to the side works...sort of. To me, it seems that these games would play better on the old school ratios they were designed on. Should me external monitor be 4x3?

For example, they make this gorgeous, 17" LED HD monitor for $62! (With coupon.) https://amzn.to/4hi9kK7 Is this a good idea? I can then turn my small, 16x9 on its side and make that hold the PDFs. I dunno. I think this is a great idea. Do you?

Question 2. And this has the possibility of making my gaming experience like NASA's Mission Control Center! Does anyone have any experience with X-Keys? They started with a 24 key programmable keyboard and now have a 60, 80, and as i've linked, 128 keyboard! https://amzn.to/4bGqCiX

You can make a Black Powder board to handle all your Nappy games and your ACW games all in one place! Maybe more!

Not only can you print out colored tabs and recreate the toolbar, but you could also possibly add shortcuts that don't exist like Mode > Play By E-Mail.

Thoughts?

Go Suns,

Tony Hernandez, Phoenix

I bought a 42" TV for $40 on FB marketplace and I love it, the hexes in 2D normal view are the same size as hexes in 2D magnified on my laptop (15") but of course you can see so much more of the map. I never considered a different aspect ratio so I tried it just now, going to 4:3 the map is squished but maybe there's a fix. I'll be sticking with 16:9.

I count 11 hot keys that I use regularly and it hasn't taken much to memorize those so I'm content with a regular old keyboard, although I can imagine a custom keyboard would be optimal.

Sorry, this probably isn't actually very helpful

42" screen?! No wonder everything looks great! That's what i would want as well.

The custom keyboard would just be for the cool factor. Maybe even get something steampunkish to put it in; old style with modern trappings.

You've been very helpful! Time is the most valuable thing we have. Thank you for taking the time to chime in and give me more to think about.