I found these links very helpful:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...981;p=2#000019
For me this thread was a perfect "introduction". The collected knowledge of the TDM-Modders
. Most of it is still valid.
If you want to know how the AI designs its ships then you should read Atraikius' sheet, it helped me a lot.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/newup...1040385338.zip