Yeah, the only way I saw to do what I wanted was to assign the abilities to a facility and then somehow convincing the player to build it. Even then, I couldn't knock techs down at all, but I could probably blow up the planet real good.
What I originally had in mind was a series of techs that would unlock the next level up, but in being researched they would damage the society trying to harness the newfound power.. This isn't something I was thinking of springing on the unsuspecting, either, these would be late-game techs with definite warning signs that the player was dabbling into the realms of the Dangerous and Pointy. Or something.
Thanks for the advice, I'll have to play with things and see how it goes.. I've played enough stock games to understand the basics and dabbled with a few mods (luv the quadrant mod BTW ^.^) I know I want to make my own now, just gotta figure out how. =)