Yeah, combat has been the shortcoming of the Endless games so far. To be honest, that's been true for most 4X's I've played that try to add a combat layer. Auto-resolving usually works if you don't have customisation. GalCiv II did this OKish, though it wasn't amazing. I think the combat system in Endless Legend has potential, but if you're fighting a lot the game will grind the game to a halt. Again, a problem most 4Xs have, including the MOOs.
Either way, when you setup a new game you can make combat animations faster! It's in one of the advanced settings pages, and has a weird name. I'd still like to generally make things flow faster, in and out of combat. It looks good, but it's interfering with my ability to speed past the uninteresting parts, and that's something that gets on my nerves.
I also had an easy run in my first game, but I was really taken in. I usually get drawn in by gameplay, but dayum the music and look on this game... it felt so peaceful and amazing! To be fair, I really needed to relax, and I got that from playing this on easy. I just decided to restart in a size 4 world for 6 players, so space is going to be at a premium, and a level above normal. We'll see what happens.