I've found that high tech games open you up to a different set of tactical questions and possibilities. Expansion is easy because you can colonize any world you find but that goes hand-in-hand with micro-management and the headache of finding out you built the wrong colonizer. OTOH, militarily you really get to show off your ship designs and combined arms tactics. I've learned a lot about the game this way, not that it's helped me in KOTH.
As for interesting, the elimination of being able to get a tech advantage over your opponent can make for hairy situations, so yes, I'd say I find them interesting.
I'd be willing to go with colonize own type only to reduce the micro-management if you'd like.