General

I very much agree with streetrac for the reasons meantioned below and many more.

I personally feel it is. Here is why (note that this is a personal opinion)
The fighting in gc is much better and more one on one. It is your stack against his while in uc you get interfearance from feds, lords and vassels. There is a certain art to stacking here (depending on race, habits and expieriance of other players, for defending or attacking, ...
When you have done a decent amount of research and finally got hold of some nice planets (and starting to get some income) it would be not possible for a newbie to gather some funds and become as rich or richer than you. In uc people beg arround a bit and then blow it all on a fleet and repeat that daily. Gc is more a long term game where all your hard work pays of. I played uc as well (still have a Vacation-Mode account there) and I must say gc is the better game for me.