Is There a Balance Between Survival and Exploration?

The game still plunks you in a place where you're probably, within a couple of turns, going to find basic, important stuff. It is hard to find that perfect balance of like, when do you actually go for that finald star? Or if you've already got it, when doyou become a foll civilization? And also, i found when the first time that I turned the difficulty em up, i think two notches to, i think it was empire, immediately fighting and being lairy.