Performance Issue Questions

[Epaminondas]

Hello, all. I have some performance issue questions that I hope some kind soul can answer before I buy the game. I have thus far only been playing the demo, because I am transitioning between computers. In particular, my current computer has a broken DVD-CD drive (in addition to being extremely old), so I could not have played the game even if I had ordered the CD.

Right now I am inclined to buy the CD when I buy a new computer, but I wonder whether certain performance issues I am experiencing have to do with my current computer and hence will improve with a new computer, or whether they are characteristic of the game and hence will not dramatically improve.

For your information: My current computer is 4 years old, and the specs are something like 1.5g Pentium chip, 524 MB memory (I think), and an extremely old Nvidia card that was very old even when I got the computer. I am looking to upgrade to a computer along the lines of 2.66 chip, 1048 MB memory, and a low end graphics card.

Anyways, here are the two major problems:

1. Extreme lag between turns. The turn lag is rather severe even on the turn 30s, with only 6-8 factions on a large map. I can imagine the game being unplayable at later turns or more players unless the situation improves with an upgraded computer.

2. Extreme lag when a large number of units are involved on the battle screen. Things basically turn to a crawl when there are, say, over 2-300 units, in particular when a lot of mages are casting spells that have a lot of graphics effects. (Incidentally, is there a way to speed up how fast mages cast projectile spells in general?)

Again, I realize that my computer is old, so this is not a complaint thread at all. I am just wondering if I should expect a dramatic game performance when and if I get an upgraded computer.

Thanks.