For me I play with no mods and typiclay play somewhere between peaceful and normal dependent on how im feeling.
Generally I choose Randy as my storyteller unless I'm trying to achieve a specific goal then ill choose cassandra, when I first started playing rimworld I would choose phoebe but I found her difficulty scales oddly sometimes.
I also tend to play on commitment mode.
I personally play rimwold the same as i would play dwarf fortress, more as a colony sim than a strategy game, I dont play efficiently and dont play "to win" at lest half of my colonies in over 500hrs of gameplay never escaped the planet and a few were destroyed in horrific firey death (or worse), i wouldn't really play it as an idol game either, while the game is running I'll be planning new constructions or expansions and constantly redesigning old parts of the base as new tech becomes available.
For me rimwold isnt about a win or loose gameplay loop, its more than that, for me it's about the random stories and situations, the interactions of the pawns and their personal triumphs and failures.
Sometimes its a story of triumph and sometimes its a story of utter hopleness but its always entertaining and its all drama to me