AI I can't help you with.
Adding new facilities, components, and research areas is easy. Just copy/paste an existing entry and change as needed. The order in the files gennerally translates into the order in the game, too.
Watch the family numbers though. If you want to make, say, an entirely NEW class of weapon, you'll need to change the family numbers or the game will think it's just an upgrade Version of the old component.
Roman numerals are fluff and upgrade wise do nothing. The component order is god for that.
i.e., if you had
Armor III
Armor II
Armor IV
Armor V
Armor I
in that order in the file, with the same family number, Armor I would be the "latest" component and the one that would appear when "only latest" is checked. It would also be the one the AI would use.
Confused yet?
Phoenix-D