Good, thoughtful post, Crit. I just finished a game with neutered tech, and I didn’t like it. We didn’t get much (probably because we didn’t invest as much, because there wasn’t any awesome tech) and it wasn’t a factor until I got paras with Germany (was not neutered) and took over the UK.
I must add in that game I has no other choice than letting UK poorly defended against paras or I would lose naval race! You also spent 3 dices on tech so I have no complains being paratrooped. I risked and I lost, nothing to complain