I understand your point about the NPC research bases, but I would point out that doing it that way generates no addition interaction between players, since you can do the whole thing by yourself.
Yes, I realize that POBs could also be that way, but most of them are at least a couple of players involved.
If the module was restricted to Core 3 or above, it would almost have to involve more than one player while not being unachievable.
