I'm doubtful that you will crack the cpu load issue. That would require going into the source code. There is no simple fix, it is what it is. I'm going to rent 1 per machine, 16 slot minimum, $139.99/mnth. Great if I make a sale, oh well if I don't.
There is no such thing as a bad game to host, only bad pricing.
AOWC had it for $1.49 Tuesday evening, I see they have adjusted to $5.00 per slot. If your a big company like AOWC; who likely have many idle or very low load servers, it makes sense for them to sale it at $5.00 per slot since they have ample unused resources.