What comes next in this sequence?

[Xorimuth]

Is Py more complicated than Seablock, or less, or just different?

I've started a new Seablock run for now to get back into things, and I never did finish Seablock last time around. But I'd be open to an even crazier mod. Not necessarily masochism for masochism's sake (you could always just have a mod that just made everything take a trillion science packs), but something long and complex and well thought out is appealing to me.

Py is the most complicated by far. If you're trying it, get the PyBeta downloads from the Py mod portal, which overhauls the mod and is a big improvement.

So you just use Py by itself? Or in combo with Angel/Bob/Seablock/something else? Does it come with a reasonable minimum of QoL mods (i.e. surely Seablock is unplayable w/o FNEI)?

These days you can't play Py with any other overhauls. And even if you could, it would actually make it easier because you'd be able to use them to skip steps that you'd otherwise have to do. No overhauls come 'with QoL', although Seablock comes the closest with a very-highly-recommend modpack (Sea Block Pack). Space Exploration also has an official modpack with a little bit of QoL. The expectation is that you can pick-and-choose which helper mods you like, and which you are familiar with.

Yes all mods harder than K2 need a recipe mod, but there's several options. I'd recommend Recipe Book over FNEI though as it has a much cleaner interface. Similarly, Helmod is historically popular, but many people now would recommend Factory Planner instead as a more modern alternative.

If you'd like a list of suggestions for QoL that will work with any modpack, here's mine:

Italics means less essential
Information/Helper: Factory Planner, Recipe Book, Blueprint Tools, Pipe Visualizer, Factory Search, Milestones, Assembly Analyst, Rate Calculator, Solar Calculator, Ghost Warnings, Show Max Underground Distance, Ghost Counter, Quick Item Search, Stats GUI, Task List, Extended Descriptions, GUI Unifyer, Color-Coded Planners, Better Alert Arrows
Very minor gameplay changes: Wire Shortcuts, Cursor Enhancements, Slightly Smarter Pipette, Module Inserter Simplified/Extended, Copy Paste Modules, Area Paste, Even Distribution, Auto Deconstruct, Spidertron Enhancements, Automatic Train Painter, Automatic Station Painter, Trains Switch to Manual at Temporary Stops, Auto Trash, Automatic Underground Pipe Connectors, VehicleSnap, Redo

[YLLYXZMZ]

These days you can't play Py with any other overhauls. And even if you could, it would actually make it easier because you'd be able to use them to skip steps that you'd otherwise have to do. No overhauls come 'with QoL', although Seablock comes the closest with a very-highly-recommend modpack (Sea Block Pack). Space Exploration also has an official modpack with a little bit of QoL. The expectation is that you can pick-and-choose which helper mods you like, and which you are familiar with.

Yes all mods harder than K2 need a recipe mod, but there's several options. I'd recommend Recipe Book over FNEI though as it has a much cleaner interface. Similarly, Helmod is historically popular, but many people now would recommend Factory Planner instead as a more modern alternative.

If you'd like a list of suggestions for QoL that will work with any modpack, here's mine:

Italics means less essential
Information/Helper: Factory Planner, Recipe Book, Blueprint Tools, Pipe Visualizer, Factory Search, Milestones, Assembly Analyst, Rate Calculator, Solar Calculator, Ghost Warnings, Show Max Underground Distance, Ghost Counter, Quick Item Search, Stats GUI, Task List, Extended Descriptions, GUI Unifyer, Color-Coded Planners, Better Alert Arrows
Very minor gameplay changes: Wire Shortcuts, Cursor Enhancements, Slightly Smarter Pipette, Module Inserter Simplified/Extended, Copy Paste Modules, Area Paste, Even Distribution, Auto Deconstruct, Spidertron Enhancements, Automatic Train Painter, Automatic Station Painter, Trains Switch to Manual at Temporary Stops, Auto Trash, Automatic Underground Pipe Connectors, VehicleSnap, Redo

Ok, so no "official" QoL set for Py. Got it. Maybe I played Bob's and survived w/o QoL and then Seablock and depended on the built in QoL (in the Sea Block Pack) and just kinda expected the big packs put whatever QoL was deemed "necessary" to play. I suppose none of these modpacks are "vanilla", but I like to play "vanilla" within the context of the modpack itself, so it's disappointing there isn't a list of "official" QoL mods. At any rate, thank you for your list, that will be very helpful.

So.... where do you get this PyBETA thing? I went looking for it and couldn't find it. As for the Py mods that are on the mod portal, there appear to be tons. Do you just install them all, or what?

Thanks!

[Abarel]

Is Py more complicated than Seablock, or less, or just different?

It is different, and more complex; specially if you play with the full set.
There is even a PyBlock https://mods.factorio.com/mod/PyBlock: seablock style game using pyanodons mods

So you just use Py by itself? Or in combo with Angel/Bob/Seablock/something else? Does it come with a reasonable minimum of QoL mods (i.e. surely Seablock is unplayable w/o FNEI)?

Everything you need is included, but I would not play it without anything like FNEI and Helmod (or similar).
Some people like to use Bob Inserters and/or miniloaders, and a few more from a big list of "QoL mods"; that's ok for me, get whatever you need to get fun, but not a must for me: the developers tried to provide the players with solutions for every puzzle they offer (I'm loooking at you, filtered burner inserter to handle ash, in the beta).

So.... where do you get this PyBETA thing? I went looking for it and couldn't find it. As for the Py mods that are on the mod portal, there appear to be tons. Do you just install them all, or what?

If using the mods from the official Mod Portal, you can use whatever you like, given that some mods will include others as dependencies.
If using the beta, (downloads from the link in a pinned message in the Pyanodon Community discord https://discord.gg/Cg9VgW8B), I recommend you to ask on the discord for any doubts.
About using all or just a subset, check this image posted on that discord:

PyMods_1.4.png (472.94 KiB) Viewed 1232 times

Last thing, about my personal findings:
1. I love using Earendel's Alien Biomes, that should be just graphics. You should check the mod settings for shallow waters, as it will take a bunch of hours to reach Landfill on Pyanodon, and a lot buildings are huge. Also take in mind the (vanilla) settings for Cliffs.
2. I play with biters ON, but it is not yet balanced for that, so I recommend playing with biters off or at least touch some settings to get it easy. If biters off, also pollution off makes sense and will be helpful on late game, for ups.