If I play nomads, do I miss out on all the FAF improvements?

[shpxlbh]

n00bish question (I only discovered supcom a month ago):

If I choose to host a nomads game, will all of the bug fixes from the latest patch/version of FAF apply as well? I'm keen to give the nomads a spin but I'm not so keen on doing that if it means I miss out on all the balance and bug fixing that has gone into standard FAF (and is continuing to go into it).

In other words, are FAF and Nomads separate development forks from Forged Alliance? Does Nomads ride on the back of "official" FA or is it a mod for the current version of FAF, complete with all the latest updates?

(I know exactly what I'm asking but it's hard to put into words clearly. Seems to be coming out like a tongue-twister)

[pip]

Nomads current version use same balance and bug fixes as default FAF. It's the superior version because it has one more faction to play with. People don't play with them because games are not ranked (for now, it's a mod) and because they are still in beta.
Later, they will be merged into FAF, once they are finished (they are 95% finished now).