Galactic Civilziaitons has a lot of great canon civilizations. I would like to ask you which one is your favorite and which one is least favorite. You may do separately gameplay and lore or together.
As for me, my favorite is Terran Resistance. I like their lore, Jenna Casey is one of my favorite characters and their abilities are very good too. Resourceful is really good with Communication Array and its +10% to Intelligence per level.
As for least favorite, probably Cosmic Contaiminat. It’s mostly that I don't like their ship names. And they are weird and their citizens’ stats suck. It especially hits when you need good leaders in the early game. Festron also can be annoyed with their tendency to eat other citizens, but at least their buildings may be done well.