Would be nice. There is currently no way to edit the resource start level. You only have the low (5000), medium (20K) and high (100K) options in the game setup screens. And no way to store research points, as you found. These would require hardcode changes. If we could get these, maybe we could just get the ability to have starting tech levels.
If you read the whole thread we have talked about making a starting tech mod that uses racial points. It would require extensive changes to the data files though. SJ (I think it was SJ) offered to make a program to help with the modifications, but he must ahve got tied up on some other projects cause I haven't heard anything else from him. I guess I could do it by hand. If I start now I could probably have it ready by Christmas.
As an alternative, I suppose you could have a 10 planet start. This would give you a ton of research points. You could agree among you to only build anything on one planet and then after X number of turns abandon all the rest. This would simulate your idea without too much in the way of modifications. You would have to change the settings.txt file to allow you to abandon a fully populated planet, or build cargo bases in orbit and transfer/jettison the population. And you'd have to trust the other players to do likewise.
Geoschmo