The answer to this question is most of the time just try both and see which picks your fancy.

Okey, thanks mate =)

As far as I rembmer the creator of NC used to be part of NH, but left due to "creative isues", also he made a bunch of the best content for NH. If you are more for content then NC should be more your thing... but both mods are good in my opinion.

One difference I've noticed is how the Dominion is handled by the mods. When I was checking both out to determine which mod I preferred I found the way the Dominion was handled in NH preferable but other ways different civilizations where handled lead me to keep NC. For one thing, I enjoy the Alternate Reality options offered by NC such as the Hibetian Union. Since I haven't used NH in a long time I'm unaware of such a feature was added to the mod.