[Alneyan]

Same here as Renegade, I don't think I will be able to play either (and, as you can see, I shouldn't start yet another game when I am currently lagging behind).

If I can however give my two cents, mines are actually very cheap to research even with High tech cost, since it only affects later technology levels while the first one costs the same. So Mines will cost 100,000 research points to get as usual with Construction, which is certainly not too difficult to get.

And if you can get a lot of trade treaties, you may very well have so many research points it isn't even funny (basically, gaining 200,000 research points isn't so uncommon in most games). I guess, however, that the early game will see the destruction of a few Empires and hopes, but it should go back to a normal game later on (ten systems are enough with treaties and good planets, if you can get the said treaties obviously).