Writing AI and such in C++

Before I start: This is a long post, helping me out may take a while, I really don't want to waste your time so if you don't feel like spending a bit of time helping me out, I won't blame you. It is all phrased terribly, I'm tired. Apologies. At the end are the clearest questions I could write.

Hey everyone. I've had a bit of time on my hands lately, and I've been touching up on my torque 3d skills. I've written a lot of stuff in TorqueScript. I would now like to move things such as AI over to C++ for performance. I've learned C++ in the past, and I like to think I still know the important parts, pointers, references, classes etc, however actually using it in the engine is slightly challenging for me at the moment. That's why I'm posting here, I'm hoping some people could teach me just the fundamentals of what I need to know in order to get moving. Feel free to keep your answers brief, I don't want to be a burden. I know how to add console methods etc, added things like getting the AI to just wander around using navPaths from WalkAbout while they aren't doing anything, but I need help with more difficult AI.

So, for practice, I've tried moving some script very similar to the zombieThink function from this resource. I'll paste the code here:

function AIPlayer::zombieThink(%this)
{
	if(%this.getState() $= "Dead")
	{
		cancel(%this.thinkCycle);
		
		%this.stop();
      %this.clearAim();
      %this.lockedOn = false;
      %this.isAttacking = false;
		
		return;
	}
	
	if(%this.lockedOn == true && %this.getTargetDistance(%this.target) <= 3)
	{
		%this.stop();
		%this.destroyThread(1);
		
		if(!%this.isAttacking)
			%this.isAttacking = true;
		
		%sequenceNumber = getRandom(1, 2);
      %sequence = "attack" @ %sequenceNumber;
      %this.playThread(0, attack2);
		
		%id = %this.getId();
      %position = %this.getPosition();
		
		%this.target.schedule(100, "damage", %id, %position, "5", ""BulletProjectile"");
		%this.thinkCycle = %this.schedule(1000, zombieThink);
		return;
	}
	
	else if(%this.lockedOn == true && %this.getTargetDistance(%this.target) > 3)
	{
		%this.playThread(1, sprint_forward);
		%this.destroyThread(0);
		%this.followObject(%this.target, 1); 
		%this.thinkCycle = %this.schedule(100, zombieThink);
		return;
	}
	
	else
	{
		InitContainerRadiusSearch(%this.getPosition(), 45, $TypeMasks::PlayerObjectType);
		
		while ((%targetObject = containerSearchNext()) != 0)
		{
			// If a player is located and it is NOT an AIPlayer (other zombies)
			// AND the player isn't crouching. I.e, can be 'heard'
			// begin lockon/tracking
			if(%targetObject.isMemberOfClass("Player") && !%targetObject.isMemberOfClass("AIPlayer") && %targetObject.getPose() !$= "Crouch")
			{
				
				echo(%targetObject.getPose());
		 
				// Target the player
				%this.lockedOn = true;
				%this.target = %targetObject;
				%this.followObject(%targetObject, 1);
				%this.playThread(1, sprint_forward);
				//Play Snarl
				serverPlay3D (MonsterSnarl, %this.getPosition());
				 
				%this.thinkCycle = %this.schedule(200, zombieThink);
				return;
			}
		}
		
		%this.thinkCycle = %this.schedule(1000, zombieThink);
		return;
	}
}

I like to think I know what I'm doing, but sadly that may not be the case. I'm fairly sure I've done the majority of it, just with a bunch of errors. I've added some new private members such as mAttacking and mLockedOn which are just booleans for the states the AI will be in, and have get and set functions to get the values. I'll post what I've done in C++ so far. Note the pointers for player are 100% wrong, it was all failing so I changed them to all possible variations and haven't changed them back. This is one area where I need to know the fundamentals. When do I dereference pointers and whatnot I'm just a little confused.:

void AIPlayer::zombieThink()
{
	if(getStateName() == "Dead")
	{
		stopMove();
		clearAim();
		setLockedOn(0);
		setAttacking(0);
		
		return;
	}
	
	if(getLockedOn() && getTargetDistance(mAimObject) <= 3)
	{
		stopMove();
		if(!getAttacking())
			setAttacking(1);
		
		setActionThread("attack1", true, false, false);
		
		return;
	}
	
	else if(getLockedOn() && getTargetDistance(mAimObject) > 3)
	{
		setActionThread("run", true, false, false);
		followObject(mAimObject, 1);
		return;
	}
	
	else
	{
		gServerContainer.initRadiusSearch(getPosition(), 45, PlayerObjectType);
		
		SceneObject *player = gServerContainer.containerSearchNextObject();
		while (player != 0)
		{
			if(player->isMemberOfClass("AIPlayer")) && player->getPoseName() != "Crouch")
			{
				setLockedOn(1);
				mAimObject = *player;
				followObject(player, 1);
				setActionThread("run", true, false, false);
				
				return;
			}
			player = gServerContainer.containerSearchNextObject();
		}
	}
}

Whats the right way to do this? There are errors all throughout it.

Also, I know that isMemberOfClass is only a script function, how would I make it available in code?

I'm also aware that getTargetDistance isn't a thing, I tried to make it myself and failed miserably.

F32 AIPlayer::getTargetDistance( SceneObject target )
{
	vectorF tgtPos = mAimObject->getPosition();
	
	MatrixF eye;
   getEyeTransform(&eye);
   vectorF eyePoint = eye.getPosition();
	
	VectorF distance = eyePoint - tgtPos;
   return distance.len();
}

My questions probably aren't clear enough. Let me try to write them concisely:

What is the correct implementation of that AI script in C++?

How do I use functions that are exposed in script (such as isMemberOfClass) and use them in C++?

In script, you can access an object by its ID and call functions on it, like 4755.getName(). Above, when using initRadiusSearch, I'm getting a sceneObject returned. Is this just an ID like in script? how would I go about applying damage to that sceneObject that I have stored in a variable?

What are the fundamentals I just need to know when working with the Torque 3D source to allow me to figure all of this out myself and not bother all of you with it?

If you're still reading, thank you so much for taking the time to read, and if you have the time and know-how, please do try and help me out!

Thanks.