Yor:

Eco +20
Morale +20
Population +25
Social +20
Military +20
Soldiering +30
Creativity
Logistics +6
Loyalty +100
Miniaturization +10
Federalists +20

This is the starting spread for the Yor (modified with the 10 points)

A "custom" race starts with 15 points and can't even come close.... thoughts?

Just open the xml file for the race and change the stats to whatever you want. You could have each category at +100 if you wanted, but that doesn't make for a fun game. I usually play around with my custom enemy races to make them unique and more fearsome.

I'm of the exact opposite oppinion - for many of the races it seems that their starting abilities aren't worth much at all, while if you create a custom race you get 5 extra points to spend, and the ability to choose the optimal tech tree+super ability synergy. Take the arceans for example - you get a penalty to speed as your race ability, and nothing amazing as bonuses.
In some cases the bonuses are worthwhile of course, such as with the Krynn, but of course in their case it's because they're forced to have the near-useless super spy ability which you'd only choose for a custom race if you wanted to put yourself at a disadvantage.

What if you play, as I do, with super abilities off - does this gimp them - or are they still worth it in your opinions?

Without super abilities the Krynn might take the top spot (free +50 morale; although their tech tree offers only like +30 or +40 more).

If you want to make a tough custom race i suggest you turn on super abilities.

In ToA, the way I see it, stock races have the potential to be superior for a certain playstyle and/or a certain combination of tech tree/super ability.

For example, the Terrans appear superior to a custom race with Super Diplomat and the Terran tech tree. But if you want to make a (legal) race that has the Terran tree and, say, Super Breeder, it *has* to be custom. Thus, the custom race has a huge advantage in versatility.

Then you've got other examples, where the custom race is might be superior than a stock race with the same tech tree/super ability combination - unless, of course, you really want to stack a stock race's inherent bonuses. For example, if you make a custom race with the Thalan tech tree and Super Hive, you can take 30 social and 30 military production (close enough to the stock Thalans' 33) and have 9 points left with no penalties, and the same amount of logistics, compared to the Thalans' -30 diplomacy and population growth and 8 points. Of course, if you want to use all those eight points to get even higher production bonuses, the Thalans are a better choice for you.

In conclusion, I think custom races are great - 15 free points without penalties and free choice of tech tree/super ability combination is great and lets me do some pretty cool things.