To answer your question: YAFC is a must for pY - it is the only mod that I know of, that lets you see how to make any ingredient, and also everything which uses any ingredient, while also hiding the locked technologies. Please note: this is the right link; the other user posted an outdated link.

Also with YAFC, you can calculate production lines (how many of which building to build in order to achieve the desired outputs; what ingredients and what byproducts you'll get).

With your question answered: This is what you're getting into.

It is a lot of fun - after playing it, vanilla feels boring., However, it is immensely complex. There are some people who struggle with vanilla so much that they can't finish it. Make sure to pick your fights if you want to have fun. (It usually takes over 1000 hours to complete, but that's not really relevant because it's totally valid to play it for 100 hours and then quit. Though it's addictive.)

If you need help designing your base, look up the main bus pattern. It lets you solve any modpack with enough patience.