@Namoys if you want to get serious with modding, the first thing I recommend is joining our
discord. Our modding community is very friendly and we're usually happy to help anyone with questions. If you don't have discord, get it. This is an essential tool for communication and collaboration with mods. Get chatting with people, lurk the discord and the modding section of the forum. Lurk the Q&A, and other mod development posts. Check out the tools section. There are some great tools that will edit the xml for you and give you an easy sort of data entry to change the values in case you aren't very familiar with it. Remember that the modding section is kind of separated from the rest of the forum. You have to go all the way to the top and click the modding forum after Home and the regular forum.
I am in the middle range of skills when it comes to modding, but I know C# and xml, and have played extensively with the scene editor. Feel free to PM me any time for advice or if you have questions. Also, know that modding is a lot of work. If you want to make something awesome, be prepared to put the time in. It doesn't happen quickly.