So I just heard that Civ 4 will include a feature which I have previously suggested for Dom 3: moddable AI using Python
http://pc.ign.com/articles/614/614551p3.html
Now actually I made two suggestions. The first one is to make the strategic AI fully moddable. This can be done very simply -- so simply that Illwinter can probably actually do it for Dom 3. The way to do it is simply to publish complete specification of the contents of the .trn and .2h files. Done.
The second suggestion was the make the tactical AI moddable. You can imagine making the tactical AI moddable in the same way: invent ".tactical-trn" and ".tactical-2h" files, have the game write out and read in those files in between every step of the battle. Obviously, that would be completely impractical. So where Python comes in (or you could choose a different scripting language -- Lua is popular and Io is very nice) is that instead of writing out a .tactical-trn file, you make a call to a Python function, passing all of the data as arguments. Instead of reading in a .tactical-2h file, you get a return value from the Python function containing all of the data.
That latter one is harder to implement so I'm not suggesting that Illwinter attempt it for Dom 3. (Maybe for a patch though?)
The former one obviously raises cheating concerns, but as we have seen, a secret 2h spec does not prevent cheating, it only makes it harder and less widely known. Whereas a server that verifies the fairness of all moves and a published 2h file spec would completely prevent cheating and also enable strategic AI mods.
Adding that "verification of fairness" is more work that might interfere with the timeline that I've proposed. One option would be to go ahead with Dom 3 plus strategic AI mods, and then add fixes for any cheats that are discovered in subsequent patches.
I don't have much time to spare, but for a tiny tiny sliver of a royalty, I will spend a few hours a week consulting to help you guys (Illwinter) implement this and make sure that it is safe. (A sliver of a royalty of Dom 3 is much less than my normal fee for this kind of consulting work -- I would do it only because I love the game so much and it would be fun.)