Research "Roulette" just plain sucks

Title says it all.  This is my 3rd game in a row where all of my opponents had medium and large+ hulled ships and despite multiple attempts to "spin the wheel" Im stuck on small hulls and get wiped off the map when (and this is Oh so fun..) 5 factions in the same turn out of absolutely nowhere for absolutely no reason all declare war on me at the exact same time. 

Im not a threat, cause im at the bottom, or near the bottom, I dont have any fleets that can match even ONE of their ships.. but for some reason.. Im apparently Osama Bin Spanking of the Universe. 

At one point I saw all of the factions besides mine had RIDICULOUS amounts of money too.. Im over here BARELY scraping 1k (getting 23 credits a month.. woohoo!)  and thinking im doing well.. and then I see dudes with over 60,000 Credits and MASSIVE fleets with hyper advanced ships.

Are we even playing the same GAME at this point?

I cant even TRADE for the tech because NONE of the factions will trade the research.  They just wont do it unless Im super friendly with them, and even then I gotta give up 100 to 1 value just to get 40%.. its just not worth it.

The funny part is, I kinda get the whole "random" research thing.. emulates a guy getting an idea and you agreeing to pursue it.  I really do, and I like it.. but this needs SOMETHING to let me go "Yeah, I get it, a Xeno Entertainer is the bestest thing ever.. but I dont think a Twilek Dance is gonna stop the Drengin Battleship EXPLODING THE ENTIRE #()$*@##) PLANET YOU IDIOT!"

I cant even compete militarily because despite having planets with 6-10 manufacturing tiles.. all of my ships take like 20 turns, and they'e cranking out a battleship every 3 turns. 

Im not even playing on hard or anything like that.  Just Normal default difficulty.

Im all for "git gud", but exactly what part of me getting "gud" helps get the research I ACTUALLY need to stay relevant in the game?

Let people PICK, add a penalty, make us sacrifice a goat, something, ANYTHING.  This is a 4x Game, not a friggen Las Vegas Casino.

Thank you.


PS - The UI is garbage too, but thats a common complaint so I wont get into it..  do better.