Working on finishing this up and my low poly is at around 12,000 right now. Is that grossly over for a modern FPS? I think the circle base is whats killing me on the polycount. any feedback appreciated. Thanks
Both the pattern on the blade and that circle in the middle of the snake should both be done by texture. You shouldn't add geometry to anything that won't affect your silhouette.
Mars has the same issue - it's clearly polar mapped, as there's a dirty great black circle right in the middle of the sky dome - it's very obvious in some places.
Hold shift, and right click; go to create poly disk... Or, you could smooth a cube, cut it in half, and flatten it; though it wouldn't be a perfect circle.