The game encouraged having a small empire, so I always did and went with it and that way could have fun, myself. You were no longer finding artifacts (if you bothered) because you had all the bonuses and if you build more than four or five cities it all becomes a spammy chore.
The original developers set out but failed to streamline everything, because by the mid-late game everything could certainly become a lot less fun.
A lot of people had problems with the base game, but I always sorta liked it.
