I just tried to play a game with my friend on PA: Titans and the lag was horrendous. This has happened every single time I've tried to play with friends since we all jumped back on after taking a half-year break from the game. Back when it was just PA, I played on a mediocre laptop which had to run the game on minimum settings. Now I have a much better computer which can play the game maxed out @ 60fps on singleplayer. We have tried using the local server option with different people trying to and tried without the option, which seemed to make no difference. I've checked my firewall settings and everything seems to be on order. I'm not insulting this game in any way and I love playing it (when there was no lag). I want to enjoy this game again, but singleplayer is getting boring and multiplayer is unplayable. If there's any suggestions please let me know.
There is a bunch of software that can interfere. See this list: http://steamcommunity.com/app/233250/discussions/2/558751813508748383/ Failing that, can you try pressing <Ctrl>+P multiple times? That will show you various stats. What are the fps you get for client, server and sim?
I get around 60fps at the start of the game then it drops to about 40 round mid game then 30ish when the armies get to a couple hundred. I've already checked that list and I don't seem to have any software listed. Edit: Also I have tried to use Ctrl+P last time I played online and it 'froze' on the GPU screen, as in the stats were still being updated but nothing would happen when I pressed Ctrl+P again. Edit 2: Forgot to mention that I can freely move my camera around when experiencing this lag. All animations continue as normal (buildings, units, etc), but everything is frozen in place, and the progress bar under each building halts.
Yeah, the being able to move the camera around and simply getting good client fps most definitely sounds like network issues. Though if this also happens with single player with the local server turned on, then that would be really strange. The only program I know that can do that is Asus Gamefirst III, but you already checked the list... Could you try to do clean boot? That should rule out any other software not on the list (yet). Instructions are here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135/en-us