Due to balance changes and bug patches, just turning off AE wouldn’t accomplish the same run. You would need to downpatch thr game to before AE came out, which I’m not sure is allowed or that anyone has a file for. A no AE category could possibly be created if there’s enough interest

Personally, I would look at such speed runs, where there will be no: mind control systems, clone-compartment, hacking system and other things)

I've been checking out the idea, and the run is significantly harder. no hacking really reduces the pool of usable weapons, making it a lot grindier if going for a gunship build. obviously the record is a boarding strategy with crystal b, but I do wonder if shield piercing weapons like with crystal A might be faster. interest from 3 runners might not be enough to mandate the creation of a new category, but I do highly recommend running it yourself and submitting for others to see examples and potentially generating enough interest to warrant it.

Some short additional info to MrJollyWeepers good answers.

It is allowed to run older versions of the game, the only way to compete in the category actually. I've got older versions stored and they can be found on the open sea as well.

The low amount of runs is because the category was added mainly for posterity, mainly I wanted to give cred to Darktwinge and it's fun to see how they did it on older versions.

Record a run and ask a mod to create a category and it's a decent chance you'll be granted. It's all community driven.