With the ISD I'm not building it to use Normal maps, and why not? Because we don't have them..
Just seems silly to build a mod around a feature that isn't implimented, and may not be for years to come, if at all.
So in the mean time, I'll stick to a high poly model, just high enough that FS can put a few on screen at a time. Combine that with effective LODing and detail boxes and I don't think we'll have a problem with these guys. Besides, inefficient textures tend to slow the game down just as much if not more than high numbers of polies.
And if we do get normal maps, well then I'll have a high detail source from which to make normal maps, and can easily cut down my polies to the basic level and make up the detail with the normal map that I've generated
Either way, basically, the way we're doing it now, everyone wins. The mod can be played without waiting on the SCP coders, and when they do get the feature in, it's a quick conversion to use it.