Hi Histidine!
You were faster. I recently played a game with the previous Nex version, and after conquering Eventide from the Persean League (they captured it from the Hegemony), I asked, why shouldn't I conquer the whole Hegemony, just for fun.
It took me less than a year, and I managed to put down the rebellions by the end of 213. I have to mention, that I had around 12 mil credits at the start, but aside from Eventide, no passive income. I had 8 Conquests, just with one S-mod each, and only level 1 and 2 officers, and less than 25 ships in total. I'm far from being a good pilot, and I had very bad relations with the other factions. So being able to conquer the Hegemony so easily was very immersion breaking, especially that I had to fend off not just Hegemony counterattacks, but also TT, League, and Diktat attacks as well.
I started the attack at the beginning of 212 (with Eventide) and finished in 213. I had a profitable economy by 214. That's totally unbelievable.
So, to sum up, I'm very glad you made these new changes, however, I fear, that only the conquest part gets harder, not the holding part.
I don't know, maybe after playing with the new version, I could give you more feedback.
Also, unrelated, could you boost the bonus admin numbers? Vanilla cut back on them with the new skill system, if I'm not mistaken.