I think Stellaris does tech in an interesting way. Tech trees are much flatter than civ, and you can't outright pick a specific tech to work - you have a choic

I think Stellaris does tech in an interesting way. Tech trees are much flatter than civ, and you can't outright pick a specific tech to work - you have a choice from a random set, and when you finish that one you get another random set. What shows up in that set is also based upon what is in your empire's space.