Yes it is, or at least very nearly.

You most certainly CAN research everything. The only problem I have (even in 800x600) is that all the technologies don't fit on the page under planet tech/spy tech. Having 3 weapon types in a single fleet is absolutely devastating. Ion knocks out shields, quantum has area effect and proton mops up. I would normally have 3-4 proton, 2 ion and 2 quantum in a death fleet. Maybe 1-2 of those are turret type, but mainly blasters.
I don't particularly bother with missiles, as I don't find them the least bit useful. Sure, they have better kill off - but really a spy on a propaganda mission will do a far better job. Average tech missile ships are handy in early levels though, so a few RP can go there but I don't even bother with advanced tech until late in the game when I don't have anything else to spend it on.

How? Unless I really have to, I never spend RP on something unless it's very cheap (<300 or so RP) or I've stolen a protoype. You can stockpile a tonne of RP in the missions leading up to mission 5, where you get your first spies. I built up about 8-10 thousand before having to spend a few RP on techs that were necessary (such as improved colonisation). Nothing else is spent unless it's stolen, cheap or absolutely necessary.
For instance, on my current playthrough I only got advanced ship tech in the 3rd last mission (once it could be stolen). Mind you, at no point did I even need it, as my ships are so devastating that the missions have been quite simple. My biggest difficulty thus far has been compatibility issues, crashes and occasionally losing a valuable unit to a random event (Load->Autosave). Oh, and those annoying time limits.

There are 3 upgrades to research that reduce the cost by 5%. Obviously, for every project you research AFTER getting these upgrades, you save a fraction of the RP. Therefore, if you're frugal about it - you can save thousands of RP later on from the larger projects. (Eg if you have a 1300 RP project (Eg advanced ship equipment, half price of course due to it being stolen). With 5% AND further 5% with both early upgrades it's 1300*0.95*0.95 (1173) and usually you'll have Gaia Entity by then too, so it'll be 1115 - saving 185 RP on just that one project.

Also - turn random events frequency up to Often (the highest setting). Every now and then, you'll get free RP from a random event. This is important, just recently on a playthrough I got 1200 free RP from an event. You'll typically get about 3-4 RP boosts if you play slowly and meticulously like I do. Once you get free RP, immediately save.

All tech, bar proton tech can be had for half-price. For that you have to pony up. Also, I hardly bother with Missile tech, although I'm fairly sure I got it to nearly full levels last time I played through.

STEAL EVERYTHING.
Even on missions where you're not supposed to be stealing, dammit I'm stealing tech. Eg. The mission where you choose to side with either Mohr'Tep OR the Khariaks - I make no move until I have all their technology on both sides.

Some missions have you return to the a system that you've previously developed. No planet should be left uncolonised, and generally maxed out with buildings as much as you can before the mission finishes. This is important because you can park Military bases at known enemy entry points, and they'll still be there when you return later. (eg. The southmost wormhole in Eden system - where the Darzok first appear. I parked a base there and it nailed almost the entire fleet before my mobile ships got there (it was blown up, but not before taking out most of the enemy).

Also, the mission where you can either directly assault Raki or go for Panola/Yarbo first - the choice is obvious. One path gives you two missions, the other one. So that's two missions of starting RP (about 3000-4000), clearly better. That mission isn't even remotely difficult when you have uberships of doom cruising around. The Darzoks and Mohr'Tep both continually throw streams of battleships at your fleets, but they get chewed to pieces easily.
Because you're stealing technology, you get ALL 3 races' shield/engine/armour upgrades as well. So that means your ships become FAR more powerful than if you were to research things the honest way. At present I have Ion, Proton and Quantum all maxed (but not chaotic stuff, increased accuracy is actually better than increased damage, less accuracy).

When you're choosing your starting units, it is possible to have more spies than there are spy slots - meaning that you can have more than the usual 3 or 4 spies (I've had 8 at one point) by choosing spies as your starter units. Subsequent missions will then also have more than 3 or 4 available to choose for the next mission.

Here are some save games for you to play with: This time around I was a smidgen more liberal with spending, getting a few upgrades a tad earlier, for overkill purposes. The Darzok armada was humiliated in an embarrasinly one-sided wormhole blockade. They did manage to destroy two battleships with their Entire Humanity Destroying Armada Fleet of DOOM. (I only sabotaged 1 ship for the sake of game scripting, and the human/khariak reinforcements didn't even get to the first wormhole before the job was done. After singlehandedly erasing the Darzok armada, Jack's dialogue is far more appropriate. "it was a tough batte (lie), but our superior fleet one the day".

Ion, proton and quantum military bases camping at a wormhole. Carnage galore.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ddbaia2auh5cy7e/33%20Mil%20base%20ownage.dat

Latest mission start - you can very easily wipe out the Darzok
http://www.mediafire.com/file/14l5vh81n4ax0s6/01%20Episode5%20mission5%20-%20Level%20start.dat

nice post, and nice tactics :)

I used wormhole camping alot, already from the early 2nd episode matches.

Systems often have too many planets, if you want to defend them. The wormholes are excellent choke points.

Another nice tactic is to have bases camping a wormhole, and have spies in system constantly looking for enemy spies. The enemy spies often dont have a chance to get out of range of the bases, and get popped :)

I have several other nice tactics up my sleeves, since I play Haeg since 2004 (I have the original retail version collectors edition). I played many multiplayer matches, and I know many tactics.

One of these is putting ECM bases on your planets, and watch those missiles evade your planet like crazyness.

If anyone wants to play multiplayer, feel free to contact me here or on ModDB :)

You can get a lot of good technology from stealing during Episode 4 - Mission 1, most importantly Gaia Entity and a lot of proton tech. It's a bit difficult because you are restricted from using your research points until a certain point and because the pirates seem to always detect your spies no matter what, but it's doable. All you have to do is build up your empire (ideally in the Eden system), then deal with the Unknown Base (after being contacted by Mohr'Tehp and researching the two 0 RP techs). After this you're free to spend your RPs. To steal techs from the pirates, just build up your fleet and push the pirates back to their only planet and have one or two cruisers (set to watchful) attack the units that are being constructed while you have your group of spies constantly stealing tech until there is nothing left. Wait until you have stolen Gaia Entity before you research anything to maximize your RP.

I finished the game with EVERY technology researched and I had 4746 RP left over.

I have a question about tech, specifically Ep3m1 or m2. Did any of you upgrade the proton weapons, ship equipment, etc. to get conquer the Kariak Khiir-something? I am getting mauled by the ground defense ion lasers and whatever they build while mauling my armada of 32 ships. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I did not upgrade my proton weapons (or ANYTHING else I wasn't required to research) until I could steal them during E4 M1. However, there are a couple of ways you can deal with your problem. Have your ships that are attacking the planet attack Weapons and they will focus on the planetary defenses before bombarding the planet. But first, clear out all the ships near the planet and then have one or two squads focus on the ones that are being produced constantly while the rest of your fleet wipes out the planet. Don't worry, once you get past this one, you can start cranking out spies next mission and stealing tech once they get to level 4. Note: you should be able to build cruisers now if you researched it last mission provided you're playing as Mars. Otherwise, you can't research cruisers until later in the next mission.

Thanks for the info! It really helped alot! Before it was set to attack hull, and my ships would be constantly massacred. Now I wipe out the planet defenses before more than two ships are taken down by the planet defenses. So thanks! There really needs to be more game guides to this great game, gamefaqs only has one that doesn't really explain it as well as you just did on how to win that level(s).

No problem, feel free to ask me anything. I recently beat the game twice, first as Earth then as Mars. I prefer Mars because they get Cruisers earlier, but in the end it doesn't make much of a difference.