base-version not defined in info.json.

I presume you mean "base >= XXX" in the dependencies?

Since factorio_version is 0.17 and I don't yet have a minimum 0.17 patch version, the additional version dependency would be redundant. In fact, base doesn't use the data-final-fixes step, and Research Causes Evolution doesn't depend on anything in base specifically, so I could probably remove the dependency on base altogether.

Did you actually run into an issue with this?

no, sorry, you're right. it was just looking wierd inside the mod window (highlighted red) and i thought it had somethin to do with this. noticed other mods have it set the same way as well. so idk.

No worries at all! What I'll do is set it on the next release, that way it's always clear.