Resource (and by extension - Patent) quality are natural deterrent, coming from your ability to explore, exploit and expand.
Building(production) quality is an artificial deterrent, basically another on/off switch that TL32 once was. You either have Q255 buildings, or not. Once you do, it's hard to lose.
(I'm sorry I have to repeat myself so many times, but I sincerely hope this being the last time, so I won't need to write a bot to copy-paste it each time this subject comes up.)
Building(production) quality is an artificial deterrent, basically another on/off switch that TL32 once was. You either have Q255 buildings, or not. Once you do, it's hard to lose.
(I'm sorry I have to repeat myself so many times, but I sincerely hope this being the last time, so I won't need to write a bot to copy-paste it each time this subject comes up.)