21 Feb 16, 12:25PM
To run a client of the next version, the requirements are mostly the same. Due to some optimisations, some maps will require fewer CPU power than with older versions. The requirements for your 3D-card are roundabout the same, as long as you don't enable hi-res textures. Overall, lots of things got optimised, and lots of other things got added, which should mostly balance out...
New clients will require more RAM - but still not so much that a 10 year old machine can't handle.
Servers will require more RAM. The more maps a server provides, the more RAM it needs. Servers will use more CPU cycles in total, but also should be less troubled by CPU load from other processes. Disk speed will no longer be an issue.
The network protocol will use roughly the same amount of bandwidth - which is still the same amount like a decade ago... Several protocol bugs from the 1.1 era will be fixed, so the overall experience should be better.
However - and that may be what's troubling you: no new revision can work magic and eliminate the impact of bad ping and bad connections. If you have a bad connection to the server you're playing on, you will likely be kicked by other players for "lag". This is not because of a new release of the game, but because of changed IP networks. You could blame those who think, download speed is the only determining factor for an internet connection - or you could blame carriers, who don't like you phoning over the internet because they would like to sell you a landline and a mobile to phone with.
In short: if your connection is bad, try to find a server where it's good enough. If you can't do that, try to set a server up, that's good enough to reach from your network. If you can't do that, go play angry birds (or try to warm up to gema, since lag doesn't mean anything, if you're just hopping around).
You should keep in mind: AC is already much better at handling bad ping than most other games. If you have a stable connection with up to 300 msec ping, you can still enjoy playing AC - when other games will kick you immediately, when you go over 100. But - and that is the important point: your connection has to be stable! If it's overloaded, because your little brother is downloading porn or it's unstable because part of it is crappy wifi - then there's nothing we can do for you. It has probably been a while, since someone actually played AC over a 56k modem line - but it should still be working find, as long as that connection is stable.
If you have a choice of internet connections: always go for the land based ones. A satellite connection will always have a ping that will make gaming in general impossible. Anything involving wireless will give you bad connections at least some of the time, because air is a shared medium, and if too many use it, the performance drops.
Also: the AC server browser provides a lot of information about the server you're connecting to. Use that information to choose the best suited for you. This may not be the most popular one and not the one running the match you wanted to play - but you won't be kicked for a bad connection...
New clients will require more RAM - but still not so much that a 10 year old machine can't handle.
Servers will require more RAM. The more maps a server provides, the more RAM it needs. Servers will use more CPU cycles in total, but also should be less troubled by CPU load from other processes. Disk speed will no longer be an issue.
The network protocol will use roughly the same amount of bandwidth - which is still the same amount like a decade ago... Several protocol bugs from the 1.1 era will be fixed, so the overall experience should be better.
However - and that may be what's troubling you: no new revision can work magic and eliminate the impact of bad ping and bad connections. If you have a bad connection to the server you're playing on, you will likely be kicked by other players for "lag". This is not because of a new release of the game, but because of changed IP networks. You could blame those who think, download speed is the only determining factor for an internet connection - or you could blame carriers, who don't like you phoning over the internet because they would like to sell you a landline and a mobile to phone with.
In short: if your connection is bad, try to find a server where it's good enough. If you can't do that, try to set a server up, that's good enough to reach from your network. If you can't do that, go play angry birds (or try to warm up to gema, since lag doesn't mean anything, if you're just hopping around).
You should keep in mind: AC is already much better at handling bad ping than most other games. If you have a stable connection with up to 300 msec ping, you can still enjoy playing AC - when other games will kick you immediately, when you go over 100. But - and that is the important point: your connection has to be stable! If it's overloaded, because your little brother is downloading porn or it's unstable because part of it is crappy wifi - then there's nothing we can do for you. It has probably been a while, since someone actually played AC over a 56k modem line - but it should still be working find, as long as that connection is stable.
If you have a choice of internet connections: always go for the land based ones. A satellite connection will always have a ping that will make gaming in general impossible. Anything involving wireless will give you bad connections at least some of the time, because air is a shared medium, and if too many use it, the performance drops.
Also: the AC server browser provides a lot of information about the server you're connecting to. Use that information to choose the best suited for you. This may not be the most popular one and not the one running the match you wanted to play - but you won't be kicked for a bad connection...