On a more positive, mod-related note, I'm still more tempted to do the stealth version of my idea. D:
Do what you most feel like doing. You'll enjoy doing it more that way.
You bring up a good point about pausing. When they stripped away the hunger system, it wasn't so bad. Without hunger, you could just build a dirt box around yourself and go take care of whatever. With a hunger system though, the inability to pause is a glaring flaw. What if I gotta go bring dogs in? What if some mutant shows up on my driveway on his deth hawg wanting to throw down during the apocalypse? Without the ability to pause, I have no time to throw on my Ned Kelly suit and grab both sawn-off shotguns. How am I going to survive the post-trumpocalypse if I can't pause to arm myself properly?
Seriously though, it's a glaring flaw not having a pause feature.