The AI: Will it get better?

I think the AI is better than SEIV still not as good as SEIII but SEV is a better game all the way around though

the short answer is yes there are Mods around with much better AI's than stock which shows the games potential and looking at the change logs for the next patch there are tools which when implemented will alow this to go further still. I expect the stock AI to improve significantly just as soon as the last of the bugs are squashed and we must be near to that point now.

The AI is still a fair bit away from SE IV's AI( SE IV's is rather good with the TDM modpack), and there are some changes in the game mechanics, like the addition of fog of war, which the AI is still not programmed to handle, thus lowering its performance significantly.

Will the AI get better?

Did the AI get better in SEIV?

If that sad fact is true you need to open your horizons to different games.

Try GalCivII for a really tough AI

I don't know anything about scripting (and I am only assuming the AI is scripted now) and my only programming experience is a college C++ class. can anyone give me any advice on how to learn to modify the AI controls? and by advice, I don't mean "learn Pearl" I mean something like "buy XXXX book" or "check out XXXX website for the basics."
I realize there will be a learning curve involved, but I need to know where to get started.
Thanks

It is a custom script language that looks quite like a mixture of BASIC and C++ for me.
Have a look in the Utilities/ScriptParser folder for the Scripts and of course the SE5_Scripts.pdf in the Docs folder.