So, essentially you're a whiny little brat with an entitlement complex? Because, to put it bluntly, that's exactly the way you sound.
"Waaaaahhh! How dare they not cater to my exact desires, even though I didn't even bother to check into what they were doing or give feedback?! How dare they develop a game without hiring an entire team to do high end graphics at great expense to satisfy my sense of entitlement?"
That's what your argument basically boils down to, now that I've seen the reply. You came in assuming things and demonstrating you know nothing about software development and then went off on a half-cocked tirade on that basis.
You're also complaining how mods should not be needed to make the graphics look better, so what is your take on the likes of Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim and a truckload of other games where the stock graphics look like crap and graphics added via mod make everything look much better?
As far as the porting to Linux or Unix goes, with regard to Illwinter, you have that arse-backwards. They develop their games on Unix, then port them to Windows and Mac.
And your admission on just how much you actually seem to know about AoW mechanics and the comparisons you make with CoE3 mechanics, are you kidding me? "I've tried FC, but never bothered to analyze it." ROFLOLOLOL!
Here's a hint: There's a
big effing article at AoW Heaven, based on
this thread, which goes on at some length and has some serious discussion by people who know what they are talking about.
Seriously, if the high end graphics are that much of a make or break issue, why don't you stop beating this dead horse, sod off and go look into something like
Masters of the Broken World or other things. That one even uses a hex grid.
Although if you want to find out current information, have fun learning Russian, since there's almost nothing on the English language internet on that except a previews.