SH 5 regular or gold edition?

[Coral]

Should I buy the regular or gold edition of SH5? The gold edition seems to only be a download. Is that an issue for later mods? On Amazon, there appears to be 2 versions of the regular edition, one that states on the cover that it needs a constant download ($19.99) and one that doesn't say that ($29.99).
Any preference?
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519T8TTTPdL._AA160_.jpg

Are there any official patches to the game? I couldn't find any.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Tz1vjlZjL.jpg

[Sailor Steve]

According to this your money gets you these items:

Gold Edition
Includes three famous non-playable historical U-Boats:
U-99 (type VIIB) – submarine of U-boat ace Otto Kretschmer
U-30 (type VIIA) – submarine of U-boat ace Fritz Lemp
U-552 (type VIIC) – submarine of U-boat ace Erich Topp

Includes four famous Allied ships:
HMS Duke of York (King George V battleship class) – the ship responsible for sinking the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst and carrying Churchill to America in one occasion.
HMS Walker (V&W destroyer class) – ship commanded by Donald Macintyre during the battle for convoy HX112 which led to the capture of top U-boat ace Otto Krestschmer (U-99) and death of U-boat ace Joachim Shepke (U-100)
HMS Stork (Black Swan sloop class) –flagship of the famous commander Walker, leading the 2nd Support Group flotilla assigned to U-boat hunting
HMS Suffolk (Kent cruiser class) –famous British cruiser involved in the battle of Norway and the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck

Includes The Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic Official Guide:
110-page PDF guide detailing the crew, submarines, ships, and weapons of Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/48110/discussions/0/540734423960805769/?insideModal=1

And this guy gives and emphatic "No".

well, I found the guide hunting through the steamapps SH5 folder. It's just a stupid pdf with screenshots of all the ships and their basic stats. Totally worthless. If you're considering getting SH5 gold edition I suggest you just get the regular version and save a couple bucks.

I guess there's a reason they hid the 'guide' so well... if anyone actually saw it they'd never get the 'gold' version.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1675805