In my last game I had this quest where I could choose in between two goals that both would reward me a random tech. My reaction was "Can this quest please just go away..."

That’s not the reaction I/you want, so backtracking why:

After a few games I think the tech tree works pretty well, and what techs I need depends on my start position, what planets I find and which of these I choose to colonize, my faction traits, what minor factions I can assimilate, and how I plan to win.... So really a lot which makes each game different and make the tech tree work well.

_ But there is a downside: For a large number of techs their usefulness depends on all these situational circumstances I listed (where I start, what planes I find ...) Like in my first game I didn’t need food techs at all, but in my last game I needed food techs really badly... In itself this is good. But combine it with a story line that gives you a large number of techs you don’t need, and each such tech adds to tech cost, then it feels like the story line techs sometimes becomes a burden. 

_ Which was the case here. I had very little science income and really desperately needed some particular techs to help me out, not techs adding a burden.

It’s possible not to do quest, but doing quests is a central part of this game, and choosing doing the quest one way or the other is supposed to add flavor to each game. There is also the third choice: Stopping that story line, not doing the quest, but I think I should get a positive quest reward for doing them.

Solutions? What about making sure tech are helping towards opening a new tier in it’s quadrant? That would always be an expensive tech and would always help in some way. Oh. I’m sure someone else might have a better idea...