The Gold edition and the later patches really fix a lot of quibbles and to me really added up to a major improvement. Resource coversion only requires one facility to convert huge amounts of resources, and can be set to repeat orders.
However, like Dominions, the amount of late-game management depends on the map size and your play style.
SEIV has a great automated multiplayer site too at
http://seiv.pbw.cc .
PvK