Fixing the AI (practically)

[Arcani_Bar_Kochba]

I know the AI is retarded, i know this as a long-time player of RTW and EB.

I recently installed a mod-pack for Alex which incorporated sinhuet's(?spelling?) formation mod. I became fed up with the poor dumb AI getting butchered while they sat in guard mode, so i wiped guard mode everywhere i found except in phalangites, and missile cavalry, as guard mode enables skirmishing troops to escape more effectively even if partially "caught".

Now i noticed that when attacking, the AI received:

"default_melee_state fire_at_will_and_engage_at_will_and_skirmish"

meaning the AI just comes right at you regardless.

Now, my thought is this, is there a way to set a maximum distance for the AI to engage at? In other words let the AI sit on it's hill and then storm you when you get within a certain striking distance? Is there a way to set it to attack all out if it has a certain terrain advantage?

What seems interesting to me is that it might be possible to script the AI into using troops as a reserve for flanking or protecting it's general as well.

any thoughts or experiences?