Finding the right Expansion-style mod for me to play

[Xilmi]

When looking for what mod to play, I've run a bit into a problem called https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overchoice

I have a hard time deciding which is the right one for me.

My general idea is that I'm looking for something that is not a Total Conversion that massively alters the game-play but something that at it's core is vanilla-esque.

My own research seems to point to basically 3 different mods that kinda promote themselves as such.

Final-Mod-Pack, Hardmode Expansion and Reaver's Harmony.

Can anyone who knows all of these summarize in what way they differ?

Here's also what I personally would prefer if it worked like that, but that's of course no hard-requirements:

In cadence with the mention of Overchoice, I'd prefer it when it isn't too overwhelming at the beginning, when it comes to new stuff you can buy. Even less than the OG would be nice. Same thing is not true for research. I'd like to slowly expand my options and get new stuff over time.

I'd also like for the difficulty to start out slowly but progress over time. I'd kinda like it in a way where to progress in the story-line I'd have to do difficult stuff but that I'm also having options to do some not so difficult stuff later on in order to prepare myself. And also not to lose the entire game when losing missions. Especially as I intend to play with Brutal-AI. When the missions already are difficult to win, it shouldn't also be too punishing on the Geoscape.

[Meridian]

I'd recommend TWoTS.

[psavola]

Seconded. I have played TWoTS maybe half a dozen times with SH and usually ironman, and it's a classic if you like TFTD. The world is made richer, and there is more playable content (in the order of 5-10x more) - but not excessively more or made too complex or long. The game also starts easy-ish and relatively little happens in the first couple of months, but there are difficult missions you may need to skip. The mod also includes no-sight penalty and accuracy dropoff, which are the settings that a brutal-AI with spotter/shooter mechanics needs to deal with eventually.

[Chuckebaby]

Final Mod Pack is still one of my Fav's. It was the first mod I played after UFO defense vanilla.
It's the same storyline but with a ton of extras.

I also like Reavers harmony and X com files.
Those are my personal favorites.

[Xilmi]

I've actually tried several Mods over the past few days.
Reaver's Harmony was the only one saying something about difficulty-levels. This was what got me to play it on Veteran instead of SH.

I'd say that of the ones I tried to far I also liked it overall the most.

One thing that made it really tough though, was that the aliens seemed to be in possession of grenades much more frequently than in vanilla.

[Chuckebaby]

One thing that made it really tough though, was that the aliens seemed to be in possession of grenades much more frequently than in vanilla.

The X com files is like that as well. It's almost as if they are beyond smarter than AI.

The thing I really enjoyed about Reaver's harmony is the storyline flows nicely. Your not waiting months to get your hands on technology that you needed yesterday to fight the alien invasion.

FYI- There are some videos on YouTube for Reaver's harmony mod. If you get stuck and you watch those.

[Rangerh]

Final Mod Pack is  a good choice for a "Vanilla Plus" mod, especially as it's designed to not deviate the experience too much from the vanilla gameplay and balance
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2027.0.html
https://openxcom.mod.io/final-mod-pack

edit : just noticed i wrote "is not a good choice" , i have no idea how the "not" landed there, i should have re-read what i wrote because i meant to say that FMP is a good choice.

[Chuckebaby]

I will say this though about these mods. Some of them take some time to warm up to. For example, the first time I played 40k I didn't like it and have yet to play it again.
Same goes for X com files. I thought it was too dark and boring. Now I realized I was wrong about X com Files as I've been playing it loyally for a month. I love it.

So I realized, I would probably love 40k as well. I just didn't give it a fair chance.

[Xilmi]

I'd recommend TWoTS.

Just tried it for several today. It actually does seem to be quite fitting for what I asked for. Going relatively easily on you initially and not having too much stuff at once. Unlocking several weapons at once with certain techs still feels a bit overwhelming but it's kinda okay.
Interestingly enough it actually seems a bit easier than vanilla-TFTD. At least in the starting months.

[Zeta Reticulan]

I personally try not to change the game at all except for bug fixes, a few mods that makes the graphics and sounds better, a few mods that makes some of the useless weapons useful, and one or two extra weapons.