Build sophistication vs. SP competitive play?

[MarkShot]

Here are the two ways in which I personally intend to play (all SP):

(1) With AIs and difficulty levels turned up. But I don't have enough experience to know if once I get better at the game will the AIs really present a challenge.

(2) Goal script games where either the goals themselves or the year of achievement or some metric at the end date is the KEY MEASURE. In other words, I am playing against my previous achievements.

So, I have visited the two key WIKIs along with Owen's site. It appears to me that in competitive play (see above) there needs to be balance between sophistication and expedience.

The more sophisticated, the more time required to build while the clock is running and the more time required to test/debug while the clock is running.

The less sophisticated, the quicker cargo and/or money rolls in while the clock is running.

Given my personal objectives, how does one find the right balance of fast construction/testing for goal achievement versus maximally efficient construction/testing?

Thanks?

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Or is this like any other discipline. One learns to produce patterns until they become second nature? Then, they are both efficient and fast.

[_dp_]

Ofc it's the same, what else did you expect, a magic bullet? You can learn a lot by watching others though, here is a good example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHgsCHDChHw

[MarkShot]

Thanks for those links. I was unaware of those two videos. If something only has a few hundred or thousand views, it is easy to miss in a YouTube search.