So is this game a lame duck.. or is there a chance it will improve with futher patches?

oh you certainly are a commedian.

A guy on another forum said his wouldn't run much at all. Then after he did a new system install along with drivers and the game, things went much better. While I do find oddities, I (and alot others) don't seem to have this majhor crash problem others have.

I've lost interest in it already. Just not a difficult game to master. And a challenge is where I find pleasure in games.