There are loads of threads like this so i doubt a dev will answer so i'll answer for you.

1. The A.I is more then competent in the gold version but will also get improved again in the 0day patch. A.I has never been a problem in stardock games so i wouldn't worry about this.

2. Us Beta testers weeded out most of the bugs that we encountered and I expect the team played the hell out of the beta 5 and gold version before they sent it to the reviewers so again i wouldn't worry. The reviews should start coming out soon so you could wait and see what bugs they encounter. But if their are any gamebreaking bugs i imaging they will be fixed a day or two after discovery, stardock don't waste time when it comes to things like this.

As Awesome, Open, and Honest as Stardock is, I don't think even They would come out and say "Yes there is a Game Breaking bug that we're aware of and working on." this close to launch. I don't think any game maker on the Planet would do that. Game makers often count on making as much money as they can from the initial release of a title. Once word of mouth or review sites put the word out that a game has "Game Breaking Bugs" customers tend to avoid the game entirely or wait (possibly months) for a patch to come out to fix the bug, and by then the game in question has hit the bargain bin and is on sale for $19.99 .

Of course we all know that won't happen with Elemental as E:WoM will be supported and updated by Stardock for Years to come, but it has happened to many games in the past made by other companies. It's even happened to Big Name Triple A titles made by the big powerhouse devs and to more MMO's than I could possibly name off. No Dev would want Any Kind of bad press this close to the launch of a new game or new IP, no matter how honest and open they are with their player base. That's like committing business suicide.

If there are any bugs you can expect them to be fixed quickly.  Stardock is not above releasing a few small patches in the first couple weeks of a release.  One only need to look at their history to see this so no worries.  If you aren't quite sure you'll actually like the game a demo will come out shortly after release, probably a month or so and you can try that first.

If you aren't sure then there's nothing wrong with waiting a bit and reading the reviews before buying. I have confidence that it won't be horribly buggy or anything, but I have far less confidence about the AI given the relative lack of testing it has received. But because Stardock  has a good reputation in that area, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that it will be at least passable. But on the flip side even the best companies have had cases where they have let me down on a game, particularly when they are rushed on release (which Stardock definitely is because they have to get their game out before summer is over).

So anyway I'm likely to buy it on release, but I'm keeping my hopes in check for now. I hope to be pleasantry surprised by how good the AI is.

point of clarification: stardock didn't develop demigod, they only published it. they did, however, go out of their way to fix it after its initial developers, GPG, had moved on.

Stardock is probably the best in the business when it comes to post-release support. They game will be good at release, but your right, they won't have gotten all the bugs. In my mind, tha'ts no reason to delay purchase, all games have bugs at release, but not all developers are as good about squishing them.

I typically play CIV IV on Prince or so difficulty, I rarely play Gal Civ: Arnor on higher than normal or one or two notches up.  I have no worries about the AI, and if its not (yet) challenging on normal the upped difficulties will be.

As far as complaints of an unsatisfactory AI go... I've only noticed such complaints from the guy who makes the AI. Considering how other AI by the same dude turned out (especially GalCivII), I think it's safe to say that what he isn't satisfied with will nonetheless be good enough for the average gamer, at least until you get sufficiently skilled in the game that the AI no longer provides sufficient challenge, at which point a patch will likely have improved the AI even further.

Ahem...  No one is mentioning the prestige that comes with the dragon figure?  Or the cloth map?  I still have all my cloth maps from the Ultima series.  Ah, good times...

But yeah, the game will only improve with future updates and support which should be available quickly.  I'm counting on just spending the first few days getting the feel of the game down, exploring the factions and playing with the modding tools.  By the time I'm ready for a huge random map, full-on-campaign there should be an update well on its way.