I was giving the Thalans a try and observed the following:
1. There are no good planets near Thala, no matter how often I restart.
2. There are no buildings buildable, except for the three inital Galactic Achievements.
3. Researching any usable buildings takes a ton of time.
So my game went like that: Build the three GAs, wait for 50 turns for the research to finish (slow tech), buy one planet in the meantime ... wait another 50 turns for another research project to finish.
My question is: Are the Thalans intended to feel like this ... hanging around and catching up to others while not having appropriate techs in the mid-game because of being stuck to just one planet?
What are your experiences?