One of the great challenges of science fiction is building a world that feels real without burying the story in explanation. Readers need enough detail to believe in the setting, but too much can stop a story cold. The solution, in my experience, is to build the world first and then trust that most of it will remain invisible on the page. The reader does not need to know the full history of an empire to feel its weight. They need to sense that the history exists, that the characters are shaped by it, that the rules of this world have consequences. When a writer knows their universe well, that knowledge tends to come through without ever being stated directly.