well normal mode allows you to save in town (i.e. in the same screen where you choose the dungeon), and you can quit + save at any moment while inside a dungeon and resume your away-party exactly where they were.
i guess maniac mode performs saving just like the original wizardries 1-5, as in the game automatically hard-saves whenever you exit the dungeon. any time you visit the town boom it auto-saves.
if you want to make backups of your saves they are inside PROGRAM FILES > STARFISH > WIZetcetc, as a hidden folder. simply make hidden folders visible in your options and copy the SAVE folder somewhere.
EDIT: goddamn
Dorarnae your LOVE BONUSES are insane. i'm seriously thinking of creating an entirely new party again. the benefits of having perfect racial harmony (hah) are too good to pass up. I believe it's something like every 3% above 100 the character gains +2 or +3 to each attribute. That is fucking insane. My current party all are at 90-100%, so no bonuses, but no penalties either.
dude imagine an entire group of dragon-kuns. they have highest str and vit by far, and with normal conditions their max is 22 for both, but with +8 or +10 from their loving embraces... oh man. 30 str, 30 vit ??? jesus. those HP gains would be ABSURD + the fact their breath attack gets better w/ more HP... and 30 str? just watch them land 10-20 fucking hits in melee. i think i'm gonna go do that.
edit: nope, won't work. the only race that loves itself, heh, are the wolfs. Elves, Gnomes and Dwarves love hobbits, humans love faeries, and faeries love humans. Werewolves ONLY love themselves, and hobbits love basically everybody.
Devilish, half-elves and dragonkun's don't love ANYONE, but on the plus side the don't hate much either. of all the races the only one that will never get love bonus or love penalty from any race combination is the Half-Elf. he doesn't give a shit. their stats are the same as Humans, too, so a team of all half-elves would basically be playing without love %.