Basically yes, all the changes that have gone into the steam edition (with the exception of graphics) has been added to the free ascii classic version, which can have tilesets added to it (though the ones that come with the steam edition are better than any of the tilesets I tried imo ). Also I was wrong actually, they did release steam workshop support for mods and there are several hundred on there already, so mod away!
Basically yes, all the changes that have gone into the steam edition (with the exception of graphics) has been added to the free ascii classic version, which can have tilesets added to it (though the ones that come with the steam edition are better than any of the tilesets I tried imo ). Also I was wrong actually, they did release steam workshop support for mods and there are several hundred on there already, so mod away!