Yes, it is true, especially with all of those upgrade paths. There is a lot more micromanagement involved in getting 1 planet to a worthwhile level in Proportions than there is in unmodded SE4. You have to spend a lot of time and effort to get the population to a useable level, you have to wade through complex facility choices that don't really add much, technologies take way too long to research past the first couple levels, etc. And, managing only a few planets is no fun. SE4 is about empires, not city-states.
All of these things may tolerable in singleplayer where you can just hit end turn 50 times, but they make the mod a pain in PBW.
[ February 08, 2003, 11:21: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]