I've always used keyboard and have never touched a joystick...but my laptop has no number pad. I'm not at all experienced with this kind of thing. Is editing files fairly easy of one can read?

Thanks in advance. GOG has been, far and away, my favorite gaming experience. The memories and gameplay are top notch.

Dunno about editing. For I-War2 the numpad only deals with camera controls, which are completely optional to use. I never used them except to view the purty ship models so the lack of a numpad wouldn't have an effect on how I personally play the game.

Not sure about I-War 1.

I-War Deluxe also has an inifile you can edit to change the control mappings:

It's <install folder>\psg\resource\keybind.ini

It should be fairly self-explanatory.

Thanks Ravager. I'll try. In the 90's I did more messing up my PC with attempts to do this, but I will try!

I might also get a USB number pad. That would work, too, right?

A number pad would probably work, but a full size USB keyboard would be cheaper and better if you're playing the game at home.