I would turn off the Rulers if that’s possible in the alien hunter DLC. The weapons from that DLC are great but those ruler aliens will really wreck your campaign if you’re not ready for them.
Of course if you liberally make saves it might not be that much of an issue. I would install all the long war studios mods and the main game mods.
Also, there is a mod that shows you if where you’re are going to move to will be considered a flank - that’s a really handy one. There are several quality of life mods (show HP numbers, add more cosmetics). Whatever floats your boat there. I would just stay away from any game changes. Some of them are really good but I wouldn’t do it on a first playthrough.