The emperor mod will include a VERY low effect edition in the download, I believe generals will run really fast with that. The treads for vehicles, for example, are never seen, or at least I don't see them, I care more about the tanks health bar than their treads..
All the high quality settings lag the game. Since most units can't be seen closely in-game, there is no reason to display every tiny subatomic particle, is there?
But this low setting configuration will be optional, of course.