Do you think that needing 150 villagers it's unnecessary from a gameplay point of view ?

I understand that currently you need at least 150 villagers to have a sustainable economy. But why? Isn’t that too much and to much time? Would the game really change that much if, instead of 150 villagers, you only needed 80 or 100 to sustain your economy by making the villagers a little bit more productive?

In my opinion, It would be the same thing, just a bit quicker. It would also open the chance for more and bigger battles across different ages. And if someone still reaches 150 villagers, they would still have the economic advantage, just like now but the other player wouldn’t immediately lose, since it would be also possible to create a bigger army without starving your economy.

So I think the only real differences would be that the action starts faster and the game becomes more dynamic. What do you think?