Well, played and won my first game, all 8 races in the federation, normal difficulty in both settings, peltians as starting race. It was fun puzzling out how to get each race into the federation, but i noticed I could grind hunting AFA over and over again if I kept one race in the low negatives, this combined with convincing races to trade tech allowed me to simply ask another race to ask them to join, the burlast were 2nd to last to join and get spaceflight so I just killed there boss and the next guy stepped into line quickly enough, the borines were a puzzle, last to get spaceflight and the burlast started on them for kicks but I had worked to get the pluralists in government on the andors home and just spammed system wide help until the boarines were happy to go solar unity, main points are was fun, but grinding AFA can solve too many problems for my liking, I was paying for peace with the skulls of furry communists from the moment the federation was founded. Checked out the dispatch missions but owl skulls were a better investment of my time. Might of been a lucky setup but i could just hunt rebels until the next race discovered space flight, trade tech, pay credits, new member next race, this worked even on independent state members.
Also the hunt rebels missions were kinda boring compared to the rest, I flew in circles over and over, maybe popping a shield boost if i get hit too many times until I won.
Also I could ignore researching tech completely, didn't research a thing, or get any outposts, no idea how to or why I would want too either.
But it is fun, going to try again on higher difficulty, maybe pick a race a bit hardier than the suicidal cuddle toys to start with. Well, tomorrow anyway, it appears I've been playing until 3 in the morning, always a good sign with any game
