[Deathstalker]

You cannot have different levels for different races (unlike se3 I'm told) but you can modd in starting tech levels yourself quite easily. Go into your data folder within se4 and open up your 'TechArea.txt' file.

You will find these lines:

(Explanation of what a start level is)

Start Level:
The level at which the player starts the game.
The 3 colonization tech areas are a special case which the game will set
higher based on your racial traits.

Example of starting level:

Name := Ship Construction
Group := Applied Science
Description := The construction of starships and their support components.
Maximum Level := 9
Level Cost := 10000
Start Level := 1
Raise Level := 0
Racial Area := 0
Unique Area := 0
Can Be Removed := False
Number of Tech Req := 0

Thus everyone starts with escorts (start level 1), if you wanted destroyers for everyone then change this to start level 3. All techs have this and you can change this to whatever level you want. Just set a 'low tech start' when you start your game. The 'Raise Level' is for starting a 'Med tech start' game.

Note that you can have techs without pre-requisits (ie start with point defense 1 but not Military science).

Hope this helps.