Anyone else hate assaulting a city?

If youre really stuck with a walled city, there are ways around it. For a start, building lots of siege equipment will allow you to attack from multiple fronts, dividing the defenders.

Or if youre being sneaky, you can make a feigned attack on one side. Let me explain.
Place your entire army plus a siege unit on one side of the city, except for one other siege unit, which you ready to attack a different side. Click "start battle" and you'll see the AI has placed all its defenders on the wall facing your main army. Then you simply take the undefended wall, completely unopposed, while you move your main army.

This creates a new problem though - assaults go from being too hard to a bit too easy.

I personally don't like assaulting cities, but given I like to roleplay the game I'll siege a city until it surrenders. I feel this gives a more realistic timescale, especially when you are really subduing a province not just one city.
There are a couple of exceptions, when a siege is longer than 8 turns in which case on turn 8 I autocalc and take the losses hit, and as the Romans when it's Carthage! Though, on reflection next time I wont and fight of the relief forces.

I lose autocalc battles more often than I win them, it seems.

In my ''experimental'' Epeiros campain i used storming parties composed of thureophoroi and mercenaries and this worked quite well but now i prefer to siege a city until it´s surrender.

if you the enemy outnumbers you twice retreat,
if you have same men with the enemy you can attack or defend,
if you outnumber the enemy twice attack,
to assault a city with stone wall (that is the most diffucult battle) you have to outnumber them 10 times...

Sun Tszu Art Of War