The nice thing about the shaders is that anybody can write their own.
And given that I don't recall WCS having any (at this time, could be wrong) shader worthy assets (normal maps) you can use a 3.6.10 build with -no_glsl and not miss out on anything eyecandy wise.
If, even with -no_glsl on, you _still_ have low frame rates, there may be other issues at hand.
The 7150 has a lot of nice qualities, but complex shadows and lighting are the quickest way to turn a game unplayable on an IGP. And while the FSO engine does not have shadows, the lighting could be considered complex in terms of how an IGP handles it.
It is important to note that 7100 series does not support technologies such as: high dynamic range rendering (HDR) and UltraShadow II as well. As far as I can determine it has any where from 2-4 Vertex and/or Pixel Shaders, which is not a lot of band on an already limited bus.
If that mobile GPU was anything higher than a dedicated IGP/MCP, then your assessment of Dual Core and GeForce 7 series would be correct. However, the 7150 actually classes closer to the GeForce 6 series functions with production refinements mostly.
Mobility solutions can almost never be classed in the same category as their desktop counterparts.