Ok, I've been busy downloading a lot of mods and I have looked at the list that tells you the order to install most of them. The thing is, though, that while I have modded SS2 before and gotten a very fun game I have always had to disable some mods that I really wanted to have and have, since then, lost track of several awesome ones. What I really want to do is put together all the best graphics mods for my game and add in all the best functionality mods - including permanent ejected bullet casings and this mod I found a long time ago that allows you to repair turrets you have destroyed by resembling them - and plenty of other cool things.

The snag is that I have lost that really cool mod and I remember it conflicted with another mod and prevented the security panels working.  Has anyone any suggestions on where this experience-upgrade mod might be found and what order I might install it to get the best effect?

graphics upgrade mods mentioned here are all compatible with each other, and if you want repairable turrets that would mean Secmod (not compatible with ADaoB or other gamesys mods)

Aww, coool. That's just what I wanted! Is there anything else I might consider having? I've already pillaged pretty much all the graphics upgrades, I think, but are there any expansion mods that make the maps bigger or do more stuff like secmod does?

Man, this mod order stuff is pretty complex, I think someone ought to just get all the best gameplay mods and merge them together so that there is one big conflict-free package newbies can download. Would make modding a lot easier too, I think.

Please consider this old Chinese Koan:

A young man who had just left home to travel the world came into a big city. He entered a tavern but - having never had alcohol before - he didn't quite know what to order. He had heard of course that drinking was a lot of fun. So he called for the barkeeper and asked him:
"Barkeeper, what is the best drink you have?"
The barkeeper smiled and said: "Well Sir, we have a lot of drinks that are all very good."
The young man said: "Then I'll have ALL of your good drinks."
The barkeeper smiled again and served the young man his first drink. When he had finished it, the barkeeper came back and asked: "So how did you like it, Sir?"
The young man said: "It was good and I feel great. Now bring me the other good drinks you have."
The barkeeper soon came back with another drink. But the young man shook his head. "No no, this way I will be here all day. Bring me ALL of your good drinks AT ONCE."
But the barkeeper answered: "With all due respect Sir, we don't do it this way here."
The young man grew annoyed, but he had an idea: "Why don't you just fill all the best liquors you have into one big bottle and be done with it? Are you just trying to make my life hard for me?"
"That's really not the reason, Sir." said the barkeeper.
"I don't believe you." said the young man, who had become furious. "I think you're just making yourself more important than you really are, by serving all these various drinks. They mix in my tummy anyway! So if you actually cared about your customers you would just make that one big bottle and make it well. But then you'd be out of your job. Ain't that so?!"

At this point the barkeeper took the drunk young man by his coattail and threw him out of the tavern. Outside he pointed down the road.
"There's another tavern in this direction." the barkeeper said. "Every other night or so they come around our tavern and take our drinks. Then they fill it all into one big bottle. They serve what you want. Of course it's not very fresh and therefore I do not recommend you drink there. But if you do and grow ill, then don't come back to us to complain."
And with that the barkeeper slammed the tavern door shut behind him.

When he came back into the tavern the regular guests were still sitting around a table in the back, inventing a new drink. One of them raised his head and asked the barkeeper what the ruckus had been about.
"Just a young man with a grand idea." the barkeeper said grimly.
"Did he propose we mix all the good drinks together?" the regulars asked and started laughing. The barkeeper nodded and went back to business.

So, are you saying I should only play with one mod enabled at a time, or that I should be forced to juggle standard mods that may or may not add conflicts that I may or may not force me to re-mod and restart the game after a significant amount of time playing? If there is a recommended mod list, why not just combine the major graphics updates into one version and have a second version that modifies much more stuff? I'm not talking about major gameplay changes or moving items, just a combined fixpack. Since graphics mods don't tend to conflict unless both change the same thing you can just swap stuff about if you prefer a different version.