Noobie question for a PVE-leaning BF player that has not touched this game

Is the remaster and reclamation download essentially a must now unofficially? seems like it is and looks good too.

are the bots in this game? is the default ai good/smart, can I toggle difficulty of the ai and configure their difficulty? 2042's ai has been a little disappointing though fun to play against in large combined arms battles. If the ai isn't that good, are there any ai mods out there that can enhance the gameplay if possible?

Are bots supported in all/most game modes and maps?

Can you unlock stuff just playing against bots offline or via LAN?