...and I can't run Civ V smoothly at all. Don't get me wrong, I did not expect it to since I am running on a laptop without a video card (FAIL), but I had a question. I played the demo and it actually ran well enough for me to consider buying it. Also, I played the game in strategic view a lot and was wondering if that was a viable way to play since it runs like a dream for my shitty comp. Should I buy it and play it in strategic mode (rarely switching to regular view) until I have enough money to buy an actual PC? Or, should I just wait until I get the new PC and buy them both together?
 
Thanks...I'm addicted.

The thing about a great game like Civ is even with simplified textures akin to boardgame cutouts, its just as addicting. I got a new comp when SC2 came out so I've never tried to play an entire game using strategic mode. Perhaps tomorrow when I play I goo 20 turns or so in it just to see if its viable. 

If you're happy with the strategic view, go for it. 

It's definitely viable. My computer is terrible (still has a AGP video card) and I've played exclusively in Strategic view. I haven't had any real problems with it. Plus it skips animations and other stuff so war is a bit more quick. 

I had this problem all the way through the years when Half Life 2 and it's episodes were released. Then 2 years ago i finally thought about building a proper gaming rig and this week i make my second upgrade to my system. It's the downside to PC gaming to a degree but the results are always the best. It's expensive but so worth it in the end.

I have the wall of black doom instead of inviting clouds, funny as hell go explore! in the blackness of dooooom 

Also make sure you play it in the Direct 9 version as grafic cards that cant hand direct 10 suffers greatly. 
 
I went from choppy to a total smooth frame rate when doing it.

What slaneesh said, chose Direct 9 when you start up the game. Had the same problem (I think) but that fixed it.

Strategic mode makes me feel intelligent!

Play in strategic view, on my laptop it's what I do.

In a livestream of the game by Firaxis they said you could play the entire game in strategic view if you wanted to. So yeah it's possible.
 
I have to use DX9 since DX10/11 has fucked up ground textures and terrible frame rates. Also DX9 crashes just after loading a world if I use SLI. Still quite a few technical issues in this game.

" Also make sure you play it in the Direct 9 version as grafic cards that cant hand direct 10 suffers greatly.   I went from choppy to a total smooth frame rate when doing it. "

Oh okay, sounds good! I definitely have been playing in DX9, because I didn't want to risk it. God bless Firaxis and Strategic view! I'm gonna go ahead and buy the game.

Mine keeps crashing when I play for a few hours. The graphics are okay, but maybe I should try out DirectX 9 just in case.