Originally Posted by
CommodusIV
^ Completely missed the second half of the OP. Lets try that again.
Stainless Steel + SSHIP, Europea Barborum 2 (I know I spelled that badly), Broken Crescent, Deus Lo Vult, Eras Total Conquest, Rise of Three Kingdoms and 1648 - Thirty Years of War all rank high for me in historical merits, gameplay and stability. Other mods exist, but while I might have missed a few, most from here lack scale, stability, finished gameplay or historical validity (ie, gaping holes compared to the efforts listed or too focused on just enhancing/remaking the vanilla experience).