I also suggest getting a wireless mouse, or mini-mouse, I use them all the time for my laptop; unless you plan on actually playing the game with it on your lap which is ill-advised and uncomfortable for a long game such as this one anyways.
I haven't read all 8 pages but I've read a few posts...anyway For this type of game the speed settings before playing, choice of map size and all are more than adequate to fine tune it to your liking/time allotment, and if they are still too restrictive you can make your own mod or find one that probably "fixes" it for you. For what it is, I find it to be a great game. Sometimes the games even on small maps run for longer than I plan on playing for, so I save my game o
I have that card too and I had no sound at all at first, other than the intro vid which was fine, till i alt tabbed and went back;it was in windowed mode, not sure if that was what fixed it. I was just checking forums and went back to the game and suddenly it had sound. *shrug*
