I was thinking that when you capture a star from a player that has some better Tech than you do there should be a chance that they failed to destroy their Tech Manuals and you can capture those Tech Manuals.
Maybe not a huge chance but at least some chance.
Let me know what you think.
I think it’s a cool idea. A great way to balance things out a little when you are facing a superior enemy.
I’ve been really wanting this feature for a while…I actually kind of expected it implicitly to some extent, but I think there should be a chance of capturing tech rather than outright getting a tech. Like a 25% the more levels ahead the enemy, the greater chance of learning a scrap of knowledge–but limited to a 1-level gain per production round?
Or maybe a % chance of some amount or proportion of an RP boost in the advanced tech area ?
I would suggest that if you capture their home star and especially if you wipe them out, a very high probability of acquiring tech - maybe even their cash too! 
So the percentage chance of gaining RP increases with increasing Natural Resources ?
I think it should be based on how many science facilities are at a star.
Maybe, there should be a base level chance of capturing a Tech that is improved for every Research level on the Star captured. All of this wont happen often. They need to have a Tech Level that you don’t. Unless you have a large percentage chance to capture it, it will be a very rare occurrence and a little too rare to make a serious difference.
What about an alternative that will ensure that every time you capture a star you get some research bonus?
Every time that you capture a star you get a percentage of however many research points that they have on their current research? If they are a level ahead then you get a percentage of the whole level. A low base percentage, increased by Research level of the star. You don’t steal their research, so they don’t lose anything. You just take a copy of some of it.
it has to be linked to the science level of the particular star, otherwise the incentive for junk star harassing is just too big, the econ salvave is already enough incentive to jump at every useless undefended rock within scanning.