after re-reading your post i like it i thought you were asking for research speed controls at first not just better controls for it
Correct they are't in beta right now & it's pretty expected that things not be finished in betas 
. With that said take the example of a larger galaxy with tons of planets because someone enjoys managing them, compared to an even larger one with fewer planets because someone enjoys the strategy twists that go with all the extra space. Both of them will need wildly different different tech progression rates . A rate that works well in one leg of the game might stagnate or prove trivial in others. Being able to quickly & easily set them for individual epochs would eliminate that
With that said here are the xml files for a small mod to 0.61 that does a few different things
- The research costs are modified to normal for age of exploration, double age of war techs, & triple for age of ascension techs
- the stars are a bit closer (don't include the map xml file if you don't want that)
- The strength of life support & engines are reduced to 50% base & the individual hulls are modified with the same change themselves but also given an extra 20ish mass to account for needing engines & life support more significantly (something that troubled the ai sometimes)
The combination allows galaxy sizes beyond huge to be almost simulated.
huge common stars, occasional planets occasional habitable works great, common/common/common works ok but brings back a lot of the rush because so many colonizable planets are around. I like the slower speeds/shorter ranges & wish there were a way to easily set them without having to edit the components without having to edit the hulls & components one by one (i.e. via GlobalCombatMods similar to shiprange like I'm suggesting for tech cost by epoch too). the sensor bump was less interesting than I'd hoped buy removing it would be a pain due to the need to edit each sensor one by one
