Since you don’t want to shift the front gear while under pressure I try to shift it first before a big hill. But planning ahead is the only reason to pick one or the other of your overlapping combinations.
Here’s a tool to visualize gear ratios that I found interesting https://mike-sherman.github.io/shift/
I run Michelin Country Rock as a hybrid tire. Anything that’s not knobbly is going to be a huge upgrade on pavement.
You also don’t need to run the same tires on both wheels. Having a slicker tire in the back can make sense as you put more weight on it, and slipping with the back wheel is a nuisance, while slipping with the front is often a disaster. So you could start off just swapping the rear. That way if it doesn’t work out, you also spent only half the money :)
Lastly I’d want to share that I really disliked those wheels that are knobbly along the edges. Leaning over when taking a curve at speed, and suddenly transitioning from smooth to vibrating was very unsettling to me.