welcome to the forums
well i've heard A1 is a right bi**h to mod, certainly in my experience. (all i was trying to do was mod the odfs). thats why i moved on to A2, i found it both easier to mod and better to play.
in A2 i found that you have to assign a team number to any NPC race (i.e. what you added before starting play) try to assign them a team number ( preferably the highest you can, 8 or 9 or whatever) this is to make room for the competition, (the opponants you set in game setup). hope i got this right & that it helps