Game Idea: Can it be done?

[Claymore Righ]

The premise is that there was an elder race that long ago declined and vanished.

All of the player races were once enslaved by this elder race and now they have advanced to the point of exploring the galaxy.

The cool thing is that as the players explore the universe, they encounter abandoned outPosts and deelict ships (that may be dormant or may attack).

The host plays only as the elder race (deciding which ships are dormant, etc.) and monitors the game.

Here are my questions:

1) Can one race be given more access to the tech tree at set up?

2) Can a game be constructed where you run 100-200 turns, advancing one race while holding all of the others back and then open it up to other players?

The latter seems possible, but I wanted to pose the question here before I spend the time generating 200 turns just to find out that it won't work.

Thanks.