i have to say, i'm in the "shoot them" camp. this patch should NEVER have seen the light of day.
i have a dell alienware laptop, specs:
i7, 8 cores, 2670QM, 2.2ghz
8 gigs ram
750gig HD
nvidia GT 555m 3gigs
my machine used to rock civ. this patch SLAUGHTERS it. slow beyond words, can't focus or click on units, unresponsive, says the turn is over when it isn't, units forget movement commands, and on and on... time between turns is EXCRUCIATING. and of course, all saved games ruined and unplayable.
i have the game of the year edition, plus i DL'd korea and wonders DLC right before this patch came out.
i haven't tried the =0 fix, but making civ think my computer has one core instead of 8, while probably a plausible workaround, is hardly a desirable one.
someone should lose a job over this. it really makes them look bad. i don't blame the devs, i blame some idiot in management who probably wanted this out right before GnK.
LAME and SHAME on you civ! clean up your act!