Skills and tools for a mod

[123edsaq]

I wanted to know what the necessary skills and tools are to create a mod for Sid's Railroads!.
I don't mean map creation or engine re-texturing. What i mean is a mod that brings back some features from RT3 like the economy map, allows industry creation anywhere, introduces more raw materials and finished goods, removes the infinite demand in cities, allows in-situ consumption, gives specific values and units for demand, allows industry upgrading manually, and much much more along these lines.

Now i know i can never do all of this with the skills i currently have, so i wanted to know what the essential skills required are to create a mod of this magnitude.

I only know basic 3D model creation and texturing and i know programming in Java.

It would be very nice of you if you could let me know what other skills i need in order to do the above said. And if you could direct me to the tools needed too, it would be wonderful.

Thanks.

[Jancsika]

I am not the most qualified to give an answer, but here it is:
The game is more than two years old. And there are no more (and never was) help from Firaxis.
There are certain qualities programmed into the game that can not be modded.
Believe me it was tried.
Everything that could be modded was discussed on this forum. If you look up some of the threads by Snoopy55, Dr Frag, Lowell and others there was, a sometimes heated, discussion about what can be and what can not be done to this game.
There is an extensive Wiki page that can be accessed from this forum (You have to be registered).
The link is at the heading of this page.
Also there are a lot of modded scenarios and maps. Look them over to give you an idea what has been done.
Jancsika