Regarding your point 2, 1e308 (actually ~1.7977e308) IS bigger than the given names, which only go up to (1e303)-1 (1e303 would be C, 1e306 would be UnC, 1e309 would be DoC and so on).
Also, I found out that when you load a save, the tasks switch to Easy mode even when they're actually in Normal/Hard. I also found a black thing in "Format" that can also research "root:", thus "root:" can be researched with two different nods for some reason. FYI, the black "root:" is the leftmost nod. Is the existence of said nod intentional or not?