I use vanilla with Therapist added (manually) as my main crutch. No LNP, if I have Hack it's also added 'manually
or at least with my version of an LNP subset functionality. I don't habitually use graphics packs or other Mods and make the three or four INIT changes I like to do (water levels as numbers, seasonal auto-saves, more tiles width/height in the windowed version and... something else I forget but would spot when I go in to edit things) in the almost-lowest-thrill text editor.
But that's me. In the early days I'd maintain a complicated spreadsheet one Alt-Tab away from DF (letting me at least calculate whar I needed to do, manually, but FT covers most of that info (the remainder I tend to stick in the in-game nickname of Urist "Something important" McWhatever,
or through DT, which also shows me those missing Nicks) and saves my typing and manually synchronising.
I know what the default tileset means and it seems awkward to learn someone else's idea of a better one (aesthetically, informatically, whatever) and while I used to (manually) Mod in the possibility of War Elephants in the past (when it wasn't possible at all with the default Raws) I've not really taken to "This Mod makes Star Trek/My Little Pony/Pirate-rethemed games" sort of thing, due to the vanilla setup already dominating my interest.
But I'll agree that (whether to prettify, make gameplay easier or make other gameplay harder, and perhaps with a few simple clicks rather than some manual retyping and hoping one is doing it right) LNP and the rest i
s an option that people can take. Even if I don't and you think you might really not want to do either.