By 'some balance mods' you mean your mod right? Cause I don't see any other mods there about balance...

Next week. But after that a long wait for beta 3.

Maybe you could decrease accuracy of archer units by a relatively significant amount who move and shoot on the same turn, instead of giving defense to all units before they move?

Yea, Beta 3 will be introducing the major economic/city related elements of the game. The beta 2 series should begin the path of faction differentiation that will continue right up to release.

What where the major introductions in Beta 1 & 2?

I would imagine it was the AI starting to be implemented. IIRC Beta 1 had pretty much zero AI for anything beyond the basics.

Off-hand, I'd say the major improvements in Beta 1 and 2 were: a GUI display of path-finding, balancing, stability improvements, performance improvements (lower memory, better graphics responsiveness), new art assets, removal of caravans and imbuing champions as game mechanics, tactical combat improvements, drastic AI improvements, revised sovereign selection screen, addition of the Kingdom Overview screen, UI re-arrangement, additional content, addition of more shards/magical components, and improvements in using mundane units. I'm sure there's more things to list, but the changes have been pretty significant to seeing the game as more mature, strategic and magicy.

I play so many games, there are things that bug me that need modding. It would be way worse to play one more game with an impotent Lumbermill. But my mod is focused on experimenting with user feedback and ideas. Of course much of it is moot in the next beta, but there is a small chance that someone will have an idea that is awesome. I then test it out and love it. The idea gets its own post and the devs hear about it. That idea sparks some dev discussion and makes the overall design better. So it's not really pointless. Plus I love modding.