Your thoughts are much the same as mine. One bit though: I’ve seen one two-player game end with a win for a person (me) who had only 3 stars compared to an opponents 6. In this case it was because I had more territory and a lot of cash sitting in front of me. It was close (52 to 48 or similar) but still a surprise to both of us. After playing that game, I now understand the “Delay of Game” variant rule.