Should I buy considering the bad Ai?

[ArtistofWarfare]

At this point? I guess go ahead and buy it. If you're itching to play the game, the only thing that will scratch that itch is playing it. That's how TW goes.

By now, the community has a collaboration of fixes and workarounds for most major issues- and the absolute torture that the patching/config process could be in some cases.

You have about 4.5 months before Empire comes out. I would say pick it up and start playing it. At the worst, you are sick of it in a couple of months and you've just gotten closer to Empire's release date.

For the record- Of what I'm seeing out of Empire thus far, it's going to destroy all previous total war's...perhaps even MTW:VI (perhaps). I've never seen a strategy game (or really any game) look as good as it does this close to release. Factions like the French should kick ass and take names against even diehard TW players...at least initially.