Are your rules for real or are they for show? Because from where I'm standing, there are no rules.. just a bunch of immature brats with too much time on their hands.
I'm amazed how you guys learned to mix some sort of flaming (for the lack of a better word) while sticking to the subject of the thread. As long as you're doing that :) no reason for the mods to wave the rules infront of anyones noses. Keep it up! Interesting reading for me.
Without good graphics, your game won't sell.
Depends what good is. Masters of orion 3 had nearly no 3d graphics of any kind, just a bunch of menus and alien portraits. Civilisation had a bunch of tiny tiles on the screen. MMOG-s usually have little or no graphics and people subscribe like mad. On the other hand, like someone mentioned earlier, I agree that most players dont give a damn and do not really realise much difference from Dx7 to Dx9 features, as long as the art is well executed.
Cygnus, you can do it!