Here's an idea I had... what if you removed all the "ordinary" ruins from the game, as well as the racial techs, and add in a bunch of unique ruins techs (including the racial techs) with multiple researchable levels, so EVERY ruins you find will give you something unique that only your empire can use, and EVERY unique tech you have comes from a ruins world? Some unique techs (like the former racial techs) could even open up entire other tech trees to research! Would make those ruins a bit more contested, don't you think?
All-uniques mod?
Threaded Mode