I'm not sure if it's just me-- it could be but here's what I got:
In the latest beta we now have 3k, which stops me from getting even close to debt in most cases. But in order to stay competitve on research and even stay out of debt and expand my empire, I'm finding it much more impossible to build up a military till half of my techs (besides war) are researched. I'm finding this the same for my enemies, so it's very possible I'm right.
I don't know.. In TA when I play it seems the techs are researched very quickly before the real combat really starts. I have 0 military, so why aren't I being attacked. I see no one attacking me at all. Another interesting note is the Minor Races seem to be a lot more competive in TA, when I'm playing a game against 9 people and I have discovered maybe 4-5 major and 2 minors the minors are often near the top of the list. I'd like to see the Minor races manage their money better though. They don't need to be extremely conservative with the 10k. And if they're in a high position standing there should be a chance that they colonize another planet. It doesn't make sense to see a minor race being in 3rd or even 1st place for a few turns and doing nothing. Maybe a 5 percent chance per turn in 2nd and 8 in 1st?
Also I'm not sure if it's just me, but I see the Carinoids as being more powerful than the other minor races, they often do more. Not sure if the minor races all have unique AI; that'd probably be a waste. But it'd be nice if one of the minor races randomly does a little something extra than it's counterparts to make things interesting. A minor race can be turned into an excellent appendage of your empire if situated very close to you. If they start getting really powerful they should do something just with technological disadvantages or something