yeah like i said that could be a finance thing too? naturally the imperials will pour what money they've got into their war machines (see: star destroyers, the death star), whereas the alliance was never exactly rolling in legal riches

either way everything was a lot more artsy all around back when the republic was around for sure. kinda like sliding from handcraftsmanship to the industrial revolution, i guess? but we all know the producers just wanted to show off some shiny cg with the prequels after the special effects limits of the 70's original trilogy, so all this guesswork floating around is just nerds trying to align those changes to the universe anyway lol