Is there an existing list of the appropriate times to save and not save civilians, the possibilities for skipping phases on bosses and such?

I think the best resource right now is the written and track 2 audio commentary on my (former) IL WRs at SDA.

http://www.speeddemosarchive.com/TypingOfTheDeadOverkill.html

thank you my friend, i must take back my records

Please get all of them this time. :-P

Look out for Stubae.

And I'm powering up myself though we'll see how far it gets.