The problem here is entirely related to the research pace. If you slow down (increase beaker costs) research by as little as 20% and remove 90% of them from the wreckage (goody huts) the pace is very different. Much more to my liking anyway and all-in-all a pretty easy tweak to make in the XML file.
It's actually pretty easy to spot a good system if you follow two simple rules; More planets is better and bigger planets are better. The way the game mechanics work you will always have a better system if it can support larger populations, especially larger populations on individual planets since that basically multiplies the production value of the planet by the population. For example a planet with a pop cap of 1 that produces 3 food will produce a maximum of 4 food per pop (with a farm) and have a max size of 2 (with a habitat or green civic) or 3 with both a habitat and the green civic. So, that planet will produce at most 12 food. Now a larger planet that produces 2 food can produce 2 per pop, if the base pop cap is 2 it will equal the improved size 1 planet without needing any improvements or special civics. So selecting sites for early colonies is very easy, bigger is always better since you will get a quicker return without needing any investment into infrastructure.
It works ok out-of-the-box. The strain on relationships makes it difficult to get every value in your systems. Since each value grants the ability to create a specialized building only being able to create a single one of them works well for balancing. If you can easily get wealth, knowledge and power than you can easily have big bonuses to income, research and free promotions for new units so not having them easily intermingled is a good thing.
That it does.