I think BotE shouldn't be 100% predictable. It's a challenge for you to handle special researches as they pop up. On the other hand thereby the researches appear variantly you might be forced to select sometimes another of the three options in a different way you usually do. I know some options have more power than others....better suggestions are welcomed.
However....I posted it here too
http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... l_Research and here
http://forum.birth-of-the-empires.de/vi ... 552#p28552 so German guys can also discuss about your suggestion
...and maybe a programmer guy will meet your suggestion