Note that any part of the ini stuff can be edited manually in the ini file if it's too cumbersome in the editor you technically only need the editor for making the raw map terrain. The only way to get a loaded APC is to reinforce it through scripting.
Generally, you'll want to ally Goodguy (GDI) with Neutral (civilians), especially on a GDI mission any civilian losses are counted as your losses when you're GDI. Alliances are an important part of the map settings.You absolutely need to leave that 1-cell border open for missions to work right. If the map dragging is too cumbersome on the editor, you can always just adjust it in the ini file afterwards, as detailed in the ccmanual.txt guide, by editing the X, Y, Width and Height.V19 and ARCO (oil truck at pump) are the only civilian buildings that can be used in all three TD theaters.On the note of desert civilian buildings, v37 is the Westwood Studios building ).All the Desert civilian buildings are missing from your list.
For some reason the editor won't let you place v12-v18 as structures, though they do perfectly work in-game, and even have graphics for damaged states."v19 = Civilian Building" - v19 is the oil derrick.