I united the galaxy on Hard with only a little trouble.
Hard is (as I assumed) nonsense in several ways. I already knew that other races are literally genetically superior (heh), but they obviously get absolutely perverse bonuses to research and spying. When I was sitting around in the endgame with victory at hand, with over 40 spies on the Psilons, having specifically traded for every single +spying tech... I literally got 1 tech via spying in the entire game.
But still. Minmaxing my build, and even buying peace with tech... ensured my race's dominance.
Technically Bulrathi- but I only chose Bulrathi portrait to remove them from the potential enemies. Minmaxing *taps forehead*
...Psilons would have been a better choice, but I assumed I could steal their tech. I could not, even when I should have. Fortunately they were surrounded by Klackon and Sakkra (AKA moronic expansionists), so they occasionally traded me tech as I took care of the pathetically recalcitrant monsters. I did offer peace. Many times.
So I suppose having the Psilons around was beneficial... But I know that when they ascend, they are the literal worst.
Anyway, pretty sure I've won on Hard a couple times before now. But it's good to know I've still got it. I should try impossible, though I bet the AI will be less content to let me build up in peace - damn their self-interests.
Because the reason I posted this here? Out of 8 races, I didn't kill anyone who didn't attack me first... And only wiped out the Sakkras (who were repulsive due to hard mode genetweaking, AKA too alien for diplomacy).
I didn't save the whole galaxy, but I only committed one genocide personally... Okay I'm overthinking this probably...
Edit: Accidental genocide (my skype group's name) aside, I did win by council vote. And could have taken Antares in a few turns.