Something I noticed that's a huge difference from GalCiv 1 is that the minor races stick with one world and don't compete with the major races at all for available planets, even when given a colony ship early on.
Is this a bug?
Personally, I like the idea of the minor races, but they seem a little underpowered, and, quite honestly, stupid. I think they'd stand a better chance at being something other than speed bumps on the galactic superhighway if they were at least a little more ambitious, at least ambitious enough to use all the habitable worlds in their home systems.
My personal love for them comes from the fact that if you can secure a minor race entirely within your sphere of influence, you have a captive market which almost 100% assures you can set up a massive trade route system that won't be subject to the vagaries of interstellar war early on.