the thing about guards is that its easily the most long term race before you start getting a good income and setup, plus the 50k turns needed for K class which no other race can even compare to in turns used. I think all other races research combined still isn`t even close.
BTW i think every race is easy, i played collective for the longest time made loads of money to the point of even maxing cash. every race is easy once you get used to it.
however expect to have insanely high base pr and have people just spam missiles ships vs you on aggressive that will make you lose everytime unless prepared to defend vs them