Hmm... I'm definitely not a fan of
Empty Levels in games, and that's exactly what this plan does: you need to research Tech 1, which gives you nothing, then Tech 2, which also gives you nothing, and then finally Tech 3, which gives you big fat nothing. Only the fourth tech gives you anything real, so we can simply roll the first three into one single research called "Laser Technology" - and hey, that's what the original game did.
My point is that sure, we can build a new tech tree, but we need these items to mean
something - or at least a large majority of them. We should also make most techs prerequisites for more than just one more advanced tech, so that they would be more meaningful and create a more interesting mesh of dependencies.
As for the next part of the tree... Items destroyed when used up? No clips? Lol, why would I threw away a perfectly fine laser gun just because it ran out of juice? And even if it made sense, which it totally doesn't, it's impossible to code it in. No, either we have normal clips or unlimited shots; there's simply no other option.
Below is a suggestion for modification of the tech tree. It still contains some empty techs, but no more than the original game.
(Note that I included a suggestion for gauss weapons tech tree - it's mostly as an example, though I do entertain it as a possible alternative for lasers.)
