First of all, I love this game.  In my estimation it is the most beautiufl and immersive 4x game ever made.  I have concerns however, and am not sure if I'm thinking like the developers or a traditional 4x gamer.  That being said I'd like to get some opinions on what the developers were trying to accomplish.

In every game I've played there seems to be an issue I run into halfway through.  That issue is money and influence become almost meaningless.  Likewise most of the Battle cards seem useless and I can't imagine when I'd ever want or need to use them as there are no "tough choices" to be made.  I always keep using the first 3 you start out with.  An aside, if you select the wrong card (or the AI does) it can mean the difference between a perfect victory or a full wipe of massive fleets.  Instead of them making small or medium effects on the outcome, it can be all or nothing.

Reason I ask, is that all of the early gameplay of carefully selecting uppgrades and planets is entirely negated by the mid to late game situation.  The bonuses become so ludicrously huge by late game no thought is required when selecting what or how many to build of each item.  There is no shortage of influence (purple star icons) for the races I've played and I wonder, "is there something I'm missing - I have 100,000 influence to spend, but not sure on what?)  Many of the mid to late research or battle card options seem to be applicable to the earliest part of the game when you're scrimping and saving, but coming late in the tech tree are ignored with the volume of food, money, and influence coming in.  It's like a drop of water in an ocean.

So as mentioned, I am wondering if the developers wanted the mid and late game to be flush with everything and some bonuses/rewards to be so huge they can turn the entire galaxy upside down, or if this is something that needs more time, work, and balance.  If it's the latter then I might embark on making sweeping changes to see how things shake out in a mod.  The most obvious would be slashing upgrades and bonuses by 50% so early game work is not rendered moot by the time you hit the middle of the tech tree.

It is the polar opposite situation of the Gal Civ series.  Where in most of that series game's research, you never felt like you made much a difference except for a very few big item unlocks.  Mostly, small tiny stuff that felt like it'd take eons before making a difference. 

I've also never been in a position where varying political makeup of my denizens made much of a difference.  While it's awesome we can micromnagae/infleunce and be concerned with the alien races inhabiting our planets I've never been hurt by any.  Have any of you needed to micromnaage this aspect of your games?