Oh, let's not forget that the Empire has the capacity to traverse an *entire* galaxy, whereas it would take the Federation some 70+ years to get from one side to another at their maximum speeds.
Using this same propulsion technology, the Empire could pretty much just slap engines onto massive objects and bombard Federation planets with relativistic projectiles.
Also, the Empire has Darth Vader. 'Nuff said. (Though Picard ranks up their in bad***ery too)
You know what I want to see? Saul Tigh from the re-imagined 2004 Battlestar Galactica as the 2nd officer on the Enterprise. Picard has such rich character, Riker is a little shallow... Tigh and Picard would not get along and that would be greatly entertaining.