Addon Mods?
 

So I had this idea, though I doubt it could be implemented in SEV without a major overhaul of the way the game handles mods, but it's a pretty simple idea.

We have a GameTypes folder, but my idea involves another folder: Addons. In this folder, the data files don't replace the stock data files, instead they are tacked on to the end when the game loads. When starting a new game, you can choose which Addon Folders you want to use, and then all of the data files in those folders are added to the end of whatever Gametype data file you choose (in memory). This way, you can have addon mods that can be mixed and matched to work together, or you can have mods that are built on other mods and will still work if the mod they're based on gets changed. For instance, you could make a mod based on the balance mod, and not have to completely overhaul your mod whenever balance is updated. The system could even be expanded to images and sounds.

Unfortunately, I fear this is just a pipe dream as it would no doubt require some kind of frankenstein-like surgery of the Space Empires V base code to implement. But hey, there's always Space Empires VI... (lol)

Re: Addon Mods?
 

The frankenmodding could be done fairly painlessly with a separate application, though. You'd load it up, pick a base mod and the addons. The app then creates a backup of the mod, splices in the addons, and launches se5. Either revert the mod after it detects SE5 closing, or set it up as a one time thing and let the user manually revert the mod (or change addons).