I played as Thrawn (How could I not?) and after mopping up some independent planets, I set about conquering the Eriadu Authority. My few Victory 1's and ISD 1's were instrumental in a swift conquest. For the sake of exploration of the mod (as well as refounding the empire while avoiding conflict with the New Republic), I snaked my primary force south, carving through the Black Sun, the Zann Consortium, the CIS, and eventually the Hutts and the Centrality. At the same time, I built up a force at Bilbringi and took down the Pentastar Alignment by allying with the "Restored Empire", who were next on the chopping block. This northern force then conquered Zsinj and the CSA. Although I had been building up at Fondor for a while, I was unsure whether to pull the trigger on the New Republic or mop up the rest of the galaxy first. Prentioch made this decision for me with a declaration of war. This was unwise, as my massive fleet of Secutors, Victory 2 and Turbulent Class Star Destroyers removed him from the map within a few turns.
At this point I was pretty much unstoppable. I was far and away the greatest power in the galaxy and took down the Ssi-Ruuvi and the First Order just for fun. I was working on various Sith Empire stuff, but this is where I ran into some problems.
1) The Arc Hammer was missing it's Wonder Splash (easy fix, no worries).
2) There was no way for me to complete the Maw Installation Wonder. I'm not sure if it is a result of the phantom resource bug that comes from having disconnected cities (ie no access to the resource it is actually on), or if having the Tarkin Initiative meant that the well over 25+ Research Stations didn't count, or if there was something else, but I was unable to build it. I was a Sith Empire, so it wasn't that. I would suggest maybe changing the requirement to just be "The Maw" Great Wonder, the Superweapons tech, and the Sith Government. That way it still requires a pretty substantial amount of time (having to complete the first tech tree and much of the 4th), during which I'm sure most players have either gotten 25+ Research Stations or the Tarkin Initiative, but it wouldn't be dependent on the resource.
3) I think some of the later wonders are a bit too expensive. I get it that these are huge investments and are supposed to be very powerful, but 30-50 turns at the point that there are only 5 or 6 powers left in the galaxy is a lot. Alternatively, if you want to keep the cost high, I think the units should be buffed to compensate. For example, the World Devastator is objectively worse than every kind of star destroyer because it only has a movement of 2 and starts way off in the Maw. 40/20/2 just wont come into play against X/X/4 or X/X/5. I personally only built the Turbulent Class everywhere other than Fondor and Bilbringi, just because I'd rather have the movement than the attack or defense stats.
Honestly though, this mod is great. The turn time issues have been really optimized. The quests/cool stuff really keeps you hooked. The techs and units feel right. (I love punching through a planet's defense with an Allegiance Class and then following up with a Stalwart full of AT-AT's.
Thank you again for all your hard work. I think I'll play as the New Republic one of these days.