ME:A Research; How would you do it?

Since I've asked all of you how you'd do it, I guess its only fair if I say how I would've done it too.

First of all, I would merge the three sets of research points into a single set which we'll name Research Points. Three currencies for research was overkill, and this simplifies things. The player receives points by helping with various scientific studies, uncovering ancient artefacts (both technological and cultural), finding hidden resources, scanning wildlife, etc, anything that contributes to the scientific side of the Initiative. These points could be spent in the following five technology groups:

Milky Way; Refinements to technology brought to Andromeda by the Initiative
Outcast; Gear constructed from both Milky Way and Heleus technology, as well as Krogan technology
Angara; Technology created by the Angara
Kett; Technology brought to Heleus by the Kett
Remnant; Technology used in by the Remnant's mysterious creators

By splitting the technology between races/factions, it allows a player to specialise in a tech more easily, and keeps with the theme of exploration. Not only that, but such a split also reduces the number of technologies to research for each category, which would hopefully stop a player from feeling overwhelmed. However, from here on is where I would get more experimental and change a lot. I used to play games such as Pax Imperia 2 a lot as a kid, so I'm quite influenced by how they handle research. In light of that, here are a list of the changes I'd make:

- Completed research moves into a separate subcategory; to help prevent clutter in the research categories all complete research moves, that way you only need to scroll through the research you want to do rather than those you've already researched.
- Research affect multiple weapons/armour; to upgrade your weapons you commit to research. For example, you might decide to research Targeting VI's for your Milky Way assault rifles for improved accuracy, if you do it, then all MW assault rifles will benefit rather than one getting a bonus. This provides more immersion by giving a story to the upgrade, but it also means there is less clutter on the research tab.
- Weapon/Armour levels are removed; once you research weapon/gear then you can develop it.
- Dismantle weapons/armour to study them; if you loot an unknown weapon then you can dismantle it, and from there you can research how to recreate it. This places more emphasis on hunting down alien weapons & armour to improve your arsenal.
- Sometimes research is just theoretical; You can research theoretical studies, these provide no actual benefit but open the door to integrating technology later down the line or will lead to augments that can be researched later. This is, again, to provide immersive story elements to the research. This would apply more to Angara, Kett and Remnant tech than any other, as the Initiative seeks to understand their new neighbours.
- Mods; You'll be able to research mods to create yourself.
- More Augments; Removing gear levels makes augments more vital, so I'd add more varied augments so that players can further tailor their weapons in the way they would want to.
- Other fields of research; other fields of research such as biology would be open to the player, which can lead to other benefits that either apply to the Tempest and Nomad, to squad mates, to colonies or even the Initiative as a whole.
- Remnant Tech is mysterious; The Remnant and their technology is meant to be powerful and mysterious, unlike the other technologies listed above, I'd make remnant technology one that involves a lot of theoretical research, so the Initiative learns the basics before discovering how to make their weapons and armour. Each dead remnant form would uncover new research, as would scanning their glyphs and other objects. On top of this, the Architect Cores that you pick up would each contain research that leads to a new weapon.

That's all I can think of for how I'd do it now. Simplified in ways, complex in others, with the main goal of improving immersive elements and giving a reason to explore.