Some things are definately simplified, although in certain situations like with the economy, it's been too simplified and doesn't give you enough control over your empire. It's not so much that things have been dumbed down, because things are still quite complex, but the problem is that nothing is really explained. I've seen it convince other opponents to attack you as sacrificial lambs to weaken your military while they circle around your empire to swoop in and take out your weaken military. The AI is awesome, depending on the level that you play at, it will through some curveballs at you.
These settings are on a global scale so they affect every planet in your empire whether you want them to or not. That money is then further divided into the three catagories of military, social and research.
You have a total spending slider which is how much of your total capacity you will use. I also dislike the global sliders for spending. It doesn't tell you anything about how it works and therefore takes a lot of experimentation in order to figure out how things work.
