Why the high system requirements?

[Kung Karl]

The old Century of Warfare only required a 133mhz computer but this version requires a 800mhz. Has that much been done to the game?

I guess it won't run on a p3 450 hz 128mb RAM then?

[Okimaw]

It will definately run, those are only recommended requirements. I was running an old comp 333 mhz, 64 mb ram. 400 mb free space and it still ran. Fortunately I got a much better comp recently

[golden delicious]

Well;
a) the Opart 100 executable has been done away with. So the savings in system resources afforded by that are gone.
b) the inter-turn calculation has been changed. I'm not aware of the details, but this might necessitate a minimum processor speed. For computer which can run the game, the impact is quite significant. These calculations now run much faster.
c) COW was designed for Windows 95/98. XP uses more system resources.
d) There may be more changes I'm not thinking of. Certain aspects of TOAW III (mostly whenever I have to browse for files) do run significantly slower than in TOAW III and I don't know why.
e) Matrix's standards may be different from Talonsoft's. You may well find that TOAW III will indeed run on the machine you described. However Matrix can't guarantee that it will, so they set the minimum specs higher. This protects them from complaints.

[Kung Karl]

I see. thanks for trying to clarify. Guess I will have to stick with TOAW: Elite edition.

[Okimaw]

ORIGINAL: Kung Karl

I see. thanks for trying to clarify. Guess I will have to stick with TOAW: Elite edition.

Actually, no you don't have to. Don't let our overhelpful friend confuse you. My comp was about the same as yours and it ran (good idea would be to make a no sound command in the desk top icon). There's even a thread somewhere on here where the programmer, Ralph Trickey says they tested t on worse systems than the listed minimum requirements. So in short, if you got the dough and you want to play, buy it.

[Telumar]

By the Gods of War! I guess your comp has win98. It will run! 128M is the minimum RAM a computer must have to run Windows XP, so it's not the minimum requirement for TOAW3 under win98. As GoldenDelicious said WinXP needs more system ressources than Win98 or win2000.
I had a computer like yours and civ3 ran without problems and that should use more ressources than toaw3. Jamiam once tested toaw3 on his old 400Mhz 128M RAM computer and also encountered no problems. Make sure you have the latest version of DirectX installed (9.0c).

[Kung Karl]

Yep, it has WinME installed wich I reckon uses the same amount of resources as Win98.

I will consider this game as a future purchase. I have Toaw: Elite Edition wich have to do so far.