BTS or no?

BtS is the destination of a very fine journey that starts at Vanilla. Or rather, BUG'ed BtS is the destination. Or maybe BAT, but I haven't gotten that far yet. BtS is great, but I would not have wanted to miss making my way there slowly, enjoying every addition and expansion as a way of improving an already great game.

I think BtS is an improvement over vanilla, but I wouldn't say it (or BUG) is the 'final destination'.

It really just depends on what you're looking for. People in this thread have said that they prefer BtS because it has more gameplay variety and better AI; and they like BUG because it improves the interface. I agree with those things, but I also think there is a lot of room for improvement. In K-Mod I've tried to improve the AI and gameplay from BtS (without adding completely new content), and to improve on the interface from BUG. Most people probably wouldn't agree that I've improved on the BUG interface, because its somewhat subjective and the stuff I care about isn't necessarily the same as the stuff other people care about. In short, K-Mod is how I think BtS should be.

Good AI, strategic balance, and mulitplayer stability have been core focuses for me, but a lot of people don't give two hoots about those things. Some people just love content content content. There are mods which add bucket loads of content to satisfy those people. So again, BUG might not be the final destination... It's even possible that some people prefer the relative simplicity of vanilla Civ4...

I understand your point, seeing that you have created a well respected mod that takes the game further (or at least down a slightly altered path), that you would not agree that BtS and BUG are the end of the line. Thanks for pointing that out. That was not the main intent of my post, however. In essence I think we actually agree that everyone has their own preference and that the range of possibilities is a big positive. And I certainly agree that BtS is not perfect. However, I primarily wanted to point out that I have enjoyed all versions of Civ IV, starting at Vanilla. The path of exploration from there to where I am now, BtS with BUG, has been the highlight for me. I aim to try even more versions in the future, BAT, Better AI, K-Mod, and a number of others, but BtS is the basis for most, if not all, of those variations. The term "final destination" was meant merely to invoke the the journey, not rule out the value of Mods that continue on from there.