Newbie here
 

Well not really. I ordered the original space empires IV when it came out.

Is getting the gold Version worth it?

All the mods on the disk, are there other good ones out there (to download) that I should be on the lookout for?

Re: Newbie here
 

If you want to take advantage of all the latest mods , new features, and bugfixes, you'll need to buy the Gold Version - sure, it might be expensive, but you're not just getting the game itself, you're getting all the user mods as well - not just the ones on the CD, most mods have been converted to Gold and development on the older Versions have pretty much ceased.

Re: Newbie here
 

Nearly all of the mods on the Gold CD have been updated. Go to www.malfador.com/se4.html and then to the Mods section (linked in the right frame (news or some such)) to get a glance at the mods, and what Version of se4 they use.