Will it be essential to have all the BF2 patches that have come out to play firststrike, those out now and any that come out before FS release?
I think that, unless EA does something catastrophically stupid in a forthcoming patch, it's a safe bet First Strike will be using the latest patch. When you're a mod with an audience to compete for, you want to be playable by the largest percentage of players. The largest percentage of BF2 players will always have the latest EA patch, so there ya go.