Homeworld 2 is LUA encoded, you can easily learn with some ship codes and make a synthesis with them, ships states are in .ship format and can be opened with notepad.
@Volken : Or you can use the research function in relic new forum, In homeworld 2 modding section.
HW2 modding isn’t dead at all! Look at mod db, there is mod under dev and relased.
Kuze I recommend you to contact silliconworm who created Complex Simple mod, here is the mod link : http://www.moddb.com/mods/homeworld-2-complex-simple.