Not much here right now. Let me know if you have any ideas. I'll flesh this out a bit and tell you how to change the default weapons as part if this description.

Also here are some other Bits of info that might help immerse you better.

Phase 1 Rank Markings
White- Basic Troopers
Olive Green- Sergeants
Blue- Lieutenants
Red- Captains/Majors
Yellow- Commanders

Phase 2 is just a color markings based on the unit i.e 501st uses blue markings Google/fan wikis are your friend!

The XCOM ranks are very similar to these clone rankings and give a sense of progression as your troops gain more experience on the battlefield.

Tips
-Set Character pool option to Character pool only
- If you don't care for the Phase 1 style clones unsub from the character pool mod and find a different character pool, there is a ton!

To do
-Quick copy/paste tutorial on how to swap out XCOM weapons to republic weapons as default.
-Add more immersive mods
-Format this ugly description

Other mods not required but highly recommended
-Evac All
-Lost Autofire

Default Weapon Swaps Tutorial
Go here
Users -> username -> Documents -> My Games -> XCOM 2 War of the Chosen -> XCOMGAME -> Config -> XComGameData.ini
Make a backup of XComGameData.ini so you can revert back
ctrl+f "RookieSoldier"

Copy this over that entire section up to the "SquaddiePsiOperative" Loadout.
Loadouts=(LoadoutName="RookieSoldier", Items[0]=(Item="KevlarArmor"), Items[1]=(Item="WP_DC15A"), Items[2]=(Item="FragGrenade"), Items[3]=(Item="FragGrenade"))
Loadouts=(LoadoutName="RookieSoldierM2", Items[0]=(Item="KevlarArmor"), Items[1]=(Item="WP_DC15A"), Items[2]=(Item="FragGrenade"), Items[3]=(Item="FragGrenade"))
Loadouts=(LoadoutName="RookieSoldierM3", Items[0]=(Item="KevlarArmor"), Items[1]=(Item="WP_DC15A"), Items[2]=(Item="FragGrenade"), Items[3]=(Item="FragGrenade"))
Loadouts=(LoadoutName="SquaddieRanger", Items[0]=(Item="WP_DP23"), Items[1]=(Item="Sword_CV"))
Loadouts=(LoadoutName="SquaddieSharpshooter", Items[0]=(Item="WP_DC15X"), Items[1]=(Item="WP_DC17"))
Loadouts=(LoadoutName="SquaddieGrenadier", Items[0]=(Item="WP_Z6Rotary"), Items[1]=(Item="GrenadeLauncher_CV"))
Loadouts=(LoadoutName="SquaddieSpecialist", Items[0]=(Item="WP_DC15S"), Items[1]=(Item="Gremlin_CV"))
Loadouts=(LoadoutName="SquaddiePsiOperative", Items[0]=(Item="WP_DC15A"), Items[1]=(Item="PsiAmp_CV"))

That's it!