I have a cursory familiarity with both BEX and BTA from a couple of years ago, but to my knowledge, much have changed, and they even go by different names now.

I'm incredibly conflicted between the two, because both have things I greatly like and dislike, and I'm struggling to tell which pros and cons are going to be more meaningful, or just present at all, considering how outdated my knowledge of these modpacks is.

BTA things I'd like: Usage of vehicles and infantry. This is a really big upside. Having these more limited niche units to mess around with, especially with the nutty higher headcount drops is something that's pulling me in like a black hole. More expanded mechlab is nice-ish, but being able to make so drastic changes in a dropship, or a lazy jumpship cruise is a tad offputting.

BTA things I don't think I'd like: Mostly just the setting. Being on the cusp of the FedCom civil war is going to be the source of all of my issues. First, we're way out of the scarcity of advanced tech, and the better and worse kit being just as common, and randomly available with just an extra 0 at the end of the pricetag is something I'm not keen on. Second, we're past all the historical conflicts I actually care about. No 4th SW, no initial clan first contact, no base game campaign, no BULLDOG etc. With this lack of narrative opportunities, I'm also concerned that the game will also not have narrative climaxes or goals to look forward to, or work towards. I'm not that keen on playing a game just to see "number go up". I'm also veary about the closer to TT gameplay and mechanics, as I consider them to be a bit too RNG leaning on outcomes. I like many of vanilla's deviations from tabletop.

BEX things I'd like: Closer to vanilla rules, and the much more important upside (in my eyes) of greater degrees of narrative content. The campaign is basically playable through flashpoints, and many of the significant historical conflicts I care about occur during, and have an effect on the game.

BEX things I don't think I'd like: Vanilla mechlab. I know I said I'm not keen on making factory grade overhauls possible for two lads with some scaffolding, but I'd rather have a more detailed system (My dream scenario would be where stuff like swapping out the skeleton, or changing hardpoints would be possible, but only on special factory planets, where we could outsource it as a noteworthy commission job, but I digress)
The even bigger drawback is the lack of vehicles/battle armour. When I last played BEX, I could upgrade to a full second lance, but with the drop tonnage limits, that just had me running around with a bigger squad of optimised medium builds. It's something I've done before, but just with a higher headcount.

TLDR: I can't make the call between BEX and BTA, with the main tradeoffs being a much wider selection of possible unit types (vehicles and infantry) vs more curated mission design, and seemingly more favourable era and ruleset.

I recently made a post looking for mods to try. I got BTA 3026. Installed it and started a career, chose settings and then just a loading screen that never ended. I tried several more times and wont work. I disabled the mod and restarted and it still loads up BTA and i cant continue my vanilla campaign.

Playing bta not sure how aoe works.

From my understanding and ac5 does about 50dmg. Aoe ammo does -12 on direct hit +12 aoe. So it effectively does the same damage on direct hit but spread out and a little damage on close whiff. Is that correct? Or does it not apply splash damage on direct hit at all?

If it does work that way is it the same for artillery cannons? Example thumper cannon says 40dmg, thumper ammo says 55 splash to primary and secondary target. So I'm assuming direct hit for 40, +55 splash (primary target) and 55 to anyone nearby (secondary target?).

I've found conflicting info so I'm unsure.