Latest patch, mods & current game

[Jon Brave]

I just know this must have been asked a thousand times before (please don't scream), but...

I've just got back from a two week holiday . I was in the middle of a 1.19 game with "most common" mods (i.e. Mod_Pack_1.01, plus required ship sets). I would like to continue my game. May I just ask:

1. Can I patch and continue, or must/should I restart? From my brief tour here it looks as though it's worth patching, even though I'm already modded?

2. Presumably patch will clobber mods, do I need to remod (newer Versions of above)? And while I'm at it, I *know* different people recommend slightly different mods; I don't want new techs, don't care about shipsets, just want the best AI, but I do find it's very unclear whose mods will clobber who else's, so in the end I decided to do Mod_Pack_1.01 *only* coz I didn't know whether other good looking ones would undo that; seems a shame, but it's all a bit messy...

3. For idiots like me who forget, why can't there be a permanent link somewhere here to latest patch/mods --- I can never remember...