1. Magic: No

2. Races: Humans / races applicable to the setting (I doubt dragons would fit into a sci-fi RP very well)

3. Custom universe
3.1 Alternate history / high fantasy

4. Nation construction:
4.1 Too linear and blocks creativity too much for my tastes
4.2 I would rather create my own
4.3 Provided the presets weren't too strict, so to speak

5.1 Never
5.2 Free form

6. Dice take your control away far too much in my opinion. There's having an element of randomness and uncertainty and then there's complete restriction of what you want to do and simply having to do what a number tells you to.

7. There's one setting that not a lot of people tend to even consider when making an NRP, which is post-apocalypse. It may be more difficult but can be outstanding when done well. Nations forming years after nuclear fallout, remnants of countries after a virus outbreak or some sort of environmental catastrophe.