Patch (and other) Questions

[taterbill]

I'm sure many of these might have been answered somewhere else, but I am at work and don't have forever to search.

1) Has any patch ETA been announced?
2) Is there anyplace to go see what has been fixed in it so far?
3) Will it include these "mods" that you guys talk about, or should I still look into installing them separately?
4) In some Posts, people say things like "I gave the Texrak seven star bases and checked back later and they had built 7 cruisers..." How does one do things like that, i.e. give computer players something, check their build queues, view their planets, etc...
5) Would somebody please give me a layman's explanation of the "defense base bug" that everyone blames everything on?

Thanks!

Bill