Is this game going down the drain?

[Jambo]

Yeah, the OP raises some very good points I'm afraid. Siege AI is the pits and particularly under the scenarios you highlighted, i.e. when it builds one siege tower, one ram and one set of ladders, and then uses only the ladders for all its units...

When a spy has pre-opened the gates, the AI doesn't seem to grasp the idea of the surprise attack using the gates and instead still goes about its business of taking an eternity assaulting the walls.

Despite those issues and all the other battlefield bugs, the game's excellent moddability really allows users to get the most out of the mess. In fact if it wasn't moddable it would have been a disaster of a game.