I dont know what the poly ceiling is for an average machine. Tracey, lets look at the numbers...
An average ship today seems to come in around 5k polys. FS's models average that or less... So for sake of argument, lets use 5k.
A good benchmark for no lag, of course, would be a 3v3 dyna match. Using Multi-ship rules, lets say we have equal teams of a carrier and 2x escorts and 2 other ships for a total of 5 per team. Thats 10 ships at 5k for 50k polys. Thats a lot. You'd prolly have lag in an average rig depending on which way the camera is pointed... Sector assault just makes it worse.
Now, a full carrier, imo, fielding 24 ftrs, should not have the entire ftr group exceed the carriers poly total. So 24*200= 4,800. I think that is perfect.
We dont even have a modeler volunteer yet. If the project does take off, there will be a model and ftrlist D/L pack made from whatever models we are able to obtain, and I'd prefer a 200 or less poly ftr count to be done 1st and any higher poly ftr pack to come second. The point of being able to use it at all is for ftr recognition OoB and CnC. A model pack with all the individual folders and models in it... is the direction SGODev ftrlist has been going since SG3. It's slowly taking shape. If we could find an interested modeler... Tracey... You have $$$. Make an offer.