I take it then you've never played any Paradox titles other than Victoria or Hearts of Iron. Literally every other major game they make gives you minimal to no control over your research goals. At best you can choose an area of "focus" in them, but typically the amount of research generated by this focus pales in comparison to the amount of research generated by all other factors.
Also, a lot of the "research" in Victoria is more like cultural and industrial development.
You forget Army, Navy, and Commerce tech trees. Don't fall behind in military technology in that game or the AI will eat you for breakfast, it is far better than the CiV AI. Just like in Civ everything matters as far as technology and development goes. It is about making the correct choices at the right time, which just like in Civ, makes or breaks how your game is going to go. With Victoria II it seems a lot more patience is needed and the game is far more complicated. There are many more concepts to keep track of and learn about, so it takes awhile to learn it.
Hearts of Iron is even worse, it is hugely complicated. I have not played it much, because currently I have not purchased the expansions for it, which make the game far better. I do have AHD for Victoria II. I enjoy the game, because it to me is much easier than HoI. Although, I still learn something new each time I play it.
EU3 I have and have played a little, but I also need to add the expansions for that.
What do you think about comparing CiV to Total War?
I do have most expansions for those games. I am missing the Peninsula campaign for NTW. The one thing that is comparable to CiV is building up cities and towns. Turn based campaign, but RTS combat. A lot of people who play civ should be able to relate to Total War games. Well at least I do.
As far as CiV goes, if they are going to add a future unit, they should add a true future era. I have said the same about them adding the GW units. They should have added a whole Great War Era. All the tech and units that go there are added to that era. It would make the techtree make more sense IMO.
Comparing CiV to other strategy type games really does not matter and it will not change anything. Firaxis needs to do that. We will be seeing what else they have up their sleeve in the near future.