What are the must have mods for someone starting?

[Caduceus]

Also remember to increase the quadrants in settings.txt

Maximum Number Of Systems := 100

to

Maximum Number Of Systems := 255

And

Maximum Number Of Systems Large Quadrant := 100

to

Maximum Number Of Systems Large Quadrant := 255

This will maximize the game's number of systems for those really long "I want to play all weekend long" games.

[Santiago]

SE is a lifetime endeavor

[gregebowman]

I must say that the Balance Mod is probably the best of the ones I've played. But I'm no expert. I hardly have any time to play the game lately. But of the mods I've tried, I always go back to the Balance Mod. And like Master ChiToes says, try some different shipsets. Just read the Readme file for the Balance Mod, and it will tell you have to install them.