Both sides are fun to play, and they are pretty equal, but in a different way. Generally, the Empire focuses on the Core sectors, and the Alliance on the RIM. Of course the RIM is easier to develop, but the core is already developed (mines and refineries, shipyards and stuff). The Empire begins with a HUGE fleet, sometimes consisting of over 2 ISD and VSD, Carriers, etc. They have many troops, strong characters for all kinds of missions. The Alliance has some good diplomacy characters but they are useless in the RIM sector (except for some developed RIM planets). These characters should do diplomacy missions in the Core. As you see, there are a lot of variety of strategy. It all depends on you... - and of course C3PO to manage your mining!