I think that's how the mod is supposed to work. On the one hand, progress depends on luck; on the other, nearly every research gets you something.
(in Meridian's playthrough, there are many researches that seem to be empty, but he beelined for the plasma weapons and therefore neglected nearly everything else. If you go in blind, it won't be like this.)
For my defense, I'd like to add that I have used tech viewer only 3 times as a walkthrough:
1. for Dojo -- I was mising about 4-5 techs when I looked
2. for Interrogation Techniques -- missing 1 or 2
3. for Plasma Weapons -- missing about 5 or 6, but all just hidden behind Toxigun
In general, I prefer researching every type of prisoner once and then research topics which have a "topic" name; I neglect items, ships and weapons. Armor and voodoo only as secondary nice to have's. That's why it may look like I beelined to plasma weapons, but I didn't do it on purpose, that's how it worked out.
Lastly, I have started using tech viewer now since it's in the game to filter out prisoners I dont need anymore, very useful.
I already have another feature in mind, which will help me filter out stuff in the stores I don't need anymore... hopefully I can sell a lot of stuff I have since the beginning and couldnt sell because I have no idea if I will ever need them... just think of 3 ghouls I had since first mission and I sold them and had to hunt for toxigun for 4-5 months (that's actually a bad example, since they are not used for manufacturing, but you get my point
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