[Hrothgar]

Atrocities, I agree that the modding can be fun, and it's certainly one of the reasons the game's as popular as it is. But, there's one problem with mods--you can get to the point that no two players are playing the same game. This is of little significance if you only play solo--go ahead and change anything you want; you're modding the game to satisfy your own tastes, and that's all that matters. But, if you want to play against others, you obviously have to agree which Version you're going to play, and my guess is that the stock Version is always going to be the most commonly played. So, I want the stock Version to be as good as possible.

I say this despite the fact that I find some of the mods very interesting to play--like AST and Proportions. They both do some things better than the unmodded game. Haven't tried P&N yet, but it sounds good too. But, TDM's popularity--and I do have the impression that it's the most commonly played mod--lies, I think, in the fact that it doesn't change anything in the stock game, but simply reworks the AIs to provide more of a challenge. So, lessons learned in TDM are applicable to multiplayer unmodded games, while anything that you learn in a more extensive mod is likely to be applicable only to that mod.