Don't plan to be very popular along the course of the game. Meticulous planning WILL be required. Their many other qualities are basically unnoticed by players. They will do well in a universe where there is plenty of room. The farther apart the stars are, the better, as it will spread out those long- range planetary scanners.
Resources are still the key to games.
The Silent are resource pigs. They eat them up real fast. With your reserarch advatages, you won't have to devot as many resources to it as other races. These are only my opinions. However, I think that if you can't meet these minimums, the Silent will be doomed.