I don't think A18 will be more different than A17, not as much as A17 is for A16, so I don't see reasons on making the mod up to date with future versions. The fact, that A17 release is taking me some is mostly because I am introducing some C# SDX core gameplay changes, that I wanted to do over 2 years now, way before the mod even had a name.
Got a bit sick yesterday with food poisoning, but I am recovering now.Working really hard on the A17 update, if A18 comes out first, well then it's going to be a A18 release, but as I stated before, I will post the first version once I feel that it's at a stage, where you can play the mod and have some fun instead of pushing half baked ideas out, later asking you to restart etc, when more features are added.
Regarding the new encumbrance system, vehicles now will play a more significant role in hauling resources and will make you think on how to best use them, load up heaviest stuff on the vehicles etc. Later I plan to add encumbrance system on vehicles as well, that could be upgraded with better suspension, engines with more torque, stronger frames as mods for vehicles etc.