Question to Developers about Patch

[Warmskin]

I have the Atari boxed version of the game with the 1.6b7 patch that comes with it. I know that there is a new patch (vers. 1.6.5). I am hesitating installing the new patch because of the many complaints I've read here. I really don't want to see the game start giving me errors about 'emulation software' or crashing in general. Up to now the game has performed flawlessly with the only exception being that on the maps the icons for 'underground' and 'sea routes to other maps' don't appear. That's no real problem as I can just 'mark' where they are. What I want to know is this:
1) Am I missing something (huge improvement of some kind) by not installing the patch?
2) Can I *finish* the game 'as is' (1.6b7)?
3) Are you guys working on a newer patch to resolve the issues in 1.6.5?
And *thanks* for a really great game.