I love the rebels more then the loyalists they seem to go in a way that will totally change game play I never notice how big a problem Neutral and Pirates and even rebels had been until I know long had to deal with them. I loved the Loyalists doubling the defenses. I think you were right in describing them as a super defensive group. Now an item that comes from both rebel and loyal sides have that I love is the troop carrier. I believe that it is much more effective then the semi-equivalent Advent ship.  I also love the one new type of victory condition I have played which is Capital attack. I believe that in general that is how many war end is by taking the capital. I also believe though I have not tried it yet the ship victory goes along the lines of an Emperor Admiral all in all I don't see any bad part to the game. With one exception the pirate ships aways taking up  taking up all the points maybe there could be a way of controlling that.