I wish you all the success in the world. The prequels exist and there are some nice designs and a few okay performance moments but they are are not the films we were promised around 1980.
I still think the logical progression for this story is to have the Queen on Coruscant and hear of the invasion. Then voyage back to rescue her people. It knocks all the events into the same sort of simple linear progression that worked so well on the first film.
I’d also have Yoda mentioned but not seen. Have him like Jabba was in the theatrical OT build him up to be a big thing when Obi-Wan’s ghost mentions him in ESB. Also cutting Artoo and Threepio is probably an error. They are the baton that’s passed down through this saga. Threepio’s origins are stupid in the original version but Artoo makes sense. Having Threepio a translator droid on either the Queen’s ship or the Fed’s ship and removing him from Anakin’s childhood seems the way to go.
Also the Federation need a more tangible reason to want this planet. I suggested some time ago that before joining the Republic the Feds owned the planet and were forced to relinquish it as one of their stipulations for joining. So you have the Gungans who venerated the Feds as Gods being resentful of the humans on the planet who liberated them and stole their cargo cult religion from them.
With the Republic becoming more divided and weak the Viceroy sees a chance to prop up his own power by reclaiming an old colony (see Londo Mollari for details). He cuts a deal with the Sith to sort out the legal situation not seeing the bigger picture.
The Prequels are the backstory of the original trilogy so for them to work they need their own backstory. The current one is just not rich enough and it percolates this weakness through all the comprimised elements of these films.
