I win games on hard building normally just a one city. It is true that you have to go to war early, but instead of building lots of pioneers, i just conquer closest neighbour with their cities. Then you have space and you have shards to defend/build as much as you want.
I don't understand your complaint really... Make a game that my strategy, which i like, works all the time ... Let's presume that i have strategy that i do not like use my sov, i do not like to build any troops i just like to build buildings and game has to adapt to me ...
There are many strategies, and I used various to win: magic based, troops based etc. Quick expansions, through war, through exploration and requiring lots of champs and doing quest - you have quite a choice right now.