The buildout and buildup with tech tree climbing is part of the core genetics of a lot of game genres. Building up is supposed to be fun and rewarding. In Sins it also just feels slow to me, and not fun and rewarding because it is also precarious and a bit tedious.
StarCraft, same structure but it all goes quickly perhaps because maps are much smaller and total army sizes are much smaller. The Civ games are even slower than Sins.
Most mmo games like WoW, Guild Wars, etc., start you off with a sharp stick and pajamas for armor. It may take months to get up to max level and longer than that to get all the skills and high end items. And of course, Diablo.
In mmo this is tolerable and accepted because there are many excellent adventures along the way. Sins does not have much in the way of excellent adventures. Fighting off the pirates is not an excellent adventure either with weak or strong pirates. Which leaves jousting with other players or AIs until you have superior forces and technology. Yawn.
If there is a Sins 2 I hope that they manage to incorporate excellent adventures that help to speed up the buildout phase. Captured planets and asteroids might provide a tech boost rather than just being a new dead weight on your economy until you build them up.