Welcome Dane (?)
Some quick answers.
1. Yes, basic DC principles is ok, but your better off bullet proofing it by going just that little bit further than "basic (see below)".
2. Yes, insulated joiners would be required in most circumstances. In fact I can't think of when they wouldn't be.
3. You will need a a way to "reverse" the polarity of the rails. For this you'll need to isolate the loop (4 insulated joiners) and if you are game switch the polarity with a toggle switch that can handle the current, or, even better Ring Engineering make an auto reverser for just this purpose.
4. You can make do with one or two buses for all 10 tracks. You will need droppers to all the tracks as usual.
I'd suggest taking a look our resident go-to-person-for-just-about-all-things-electrical's blog and
study what he's done with wiring on his layout (RailPro controlled).
www.lkorailroad.com. While you may not end up with the same level of sophistication if you follow his very sound principles with the wiring your layout will electrically thank you by giving you (hopefully) no problems long into the future when your operating.
Alan, our resident go-to person will likely chime in and either confirm, or correct what I have said.
- Tim