Preface
This discussion post does not go over my in depth thoughts on the Republic and CIS factions in AotCW. I will be posting a separate post for each faction on their units, ships, tech, heroes, and includes separate suggestions to perhaps improve each faction. This is merely an overview of my thoughts on the mod as a whole and broader suggestions for the mod. I hope you all enjoy reading this.

First Impressions

1. Space
I'm unsure if this is just me, but I feel that the speed of most ships from both the Republic and the CIS can seem very very fast. Moreover, most of the ships in both factions seem to have this "glass cannon" feeling to them that feel more fragile and that ships' shields can go down very quickly. The Venator for instance is very great early game ship to have as it has the firepower and a good fighter compliment, but one Venator can get easily pummeled by a mere defense satellite and could be "overwhelmed" by two munificent frigates. Fighters in this mod feel right though and the payloads from bombers on both factions seem good enough to do substantial damage.

2. Ground
One of the highlights of this mod is definitely the ground combat. I thoroughly enjoyed deploying both factions' ground units and their heroes including the experimental units such as the CIS super tank or cortosis droids as an example. However I do think some heroes feel weaker cause maybe they have less health? Again maybe this is just me.

3. Heroes
I love the huge selection of both ground and space heroes for both the Republic and CIS. It gives a good variety to play around especially with 30 week long administrators that can help speed up production of certain units, buildings, etc. However this means late game when you have what you need to produce as many units or buildings as you want, the administrators can be useless.

4. Diplomacy and Events System
I think both of these systems have been implemented very well. Lets start with Diplomacy, bringing Independent or Pirate planets into the fold with a time limit is a great idea! You even gain the units and buildings of the planet you "diplomatically" taken over which can change the composition of your forces in both space and ground battles. Even on enemy planets, the Diplomacy system can be greatly useful. Its overall just a really interesting mechanic.

Meanwhile for the Events system, its interesting in concept where we can get new minor heroes for free, more credits, lose a minor hero temporarily, knock out a major hero temporarily etc. However, you can be attacked during an event which has broken my game. So you gotta do it quickly.

5. Tech Trees
I think the Tech for both factions is very well done that it helps show the progression of the clone wars, but maybe the timings for late tech for both factions should be a little bit longer.


Suggestions

1. The Mandalore Arch? Story Event/Act
a major story event idea for both the CIS and the Republic could follow the events of the Mandalore Arch from the Clone Wars tv show. (I think this would be more preferably than the addition of a new faction, but I digress)

I noticed during both my campaigns, the systems around Mandalore (at least in my playthroughs) were not big areas of focus (even for me) considering the cluster pirate and independent planets around it. A story event/ACT focusing on that area could be very intriguing.


2. Third Faction? Maul's Shadow Collective (Black Sun)
Perhaps in a submod this could be possible, but the inclusion of a playable third faction like the Hutts or even more interesting, (in my opinion) the Shadow Collective can be a unique campaign to enhance this mod even further. Where the faction uses more Black Sun related ships and units. Perhaps a similar system from AOTR where the leadership can change and therefore have different tech trees. (This is just me rambling)


3. Hero Progressions
While I do like the concept of Anakin and Obi-wan's hero progression, I don't know if a timed progression is best. Perhaps through advancing tech and buying their progression or through a story event, could be a better way of progression than something timed.

Conclusion:
Overall I think this is mod is great and just needs some balancing and tweaks to make it better. It definitely has a great potential to go above and beyond with future patches. I'm excited to what else the devs have in store for this mod.