So, what are the ramifications of layering? If I install an RPM for vscode or sublime text, what happens when I upgrade? I don't have any real experience with flatpaks yet.
one thing that can happen if you have layered something that gets added in the base image in an update, the update will complain and you will just have to remove the layer before trying to update again
also layering will slow down updates since the layers have to be reapplied to the image after the base image is updated, so use layering as a last resort