Indeed. Another thing people tend to forget is that a mod is based on a game which will naturally date and fall out of favour. A typical game shelf life tends to be in the region of two to three years. Good games may get past five years, outstanding games don't die. To pull in new players takes a lot of effort, we either target those that have a copy of 2142 lying on a dusty shelf or convince people to look for it in the bargain bins. 2142 wasn't anything special, so we struggle to either convince people to change or grab it from a bargain bin.

To give a mod a real fighting chance it has to start production on release of a demo to a highly expectant game. Sure, demo code doesn't have everything and will differ slightly, but it gives maybe 2-3 months to sink your teeth in to new modelling concepts and working out code. That way you could have a mod out within a few months of initial release of a game even if it doesnt have development tools.

Bite my shiny metal Tie Fighter!

I would reccomend doing so yes.

Bite my shiny metal Tie Fighter!