I've decrease steps from 16 to 5 on this version. Much better tri count, but the ropes are now distorted.
When computers render models at a distance from the camera, they render all of the mesh that's visible to the camera. A 200,000 tri model will be rendered the same no matter what the distance is. But if you're far enough away, you won't be able to make out the detail on-screen even though your graphics card is in fact rendering the entire thing.
We can take advantage of that. If we zoom out on this model and view it from a distance, then it doesn't look too shabby. Most of the flavour, half the calories.