What I've done to somewhat alleviate that problem is I start a new universe... set it up... and then commit to ONLY PLAY 5 seasons. Doing this allows me to go ahead and play the game even if I'm not 100% happy because I know in 5 seasons I can "fix" things. After 5 seasons, I should have a feel for what I liked and didn't like... make a universe.. and repeat. Of course the problem now is that I keep only going 5 seasons lately instead of like the very first universe I had which went over 100.
Okay... so now I'll have to alleviate THAT problem....