Thanks for the replies!!! I am still learning what buildings get destroyed when an enemy besieges a province. I thought that they got destroyed as soon as the enemy lays siege. I was glad to find, from the few examples that I have witnessed, that this was not the case. When an enemy besieges the province, most buildings remain intact, and only get destroyed once the province is captured. The only building that survives a province takeover in Ancient:Total War is a port. This is indeed unfortunate, because of all the rebuilding that must be done every time a province changes hands. This does help my strategy though, as now my garrison can retreat to the castle and then my backup armies can relieve them the next turn.

For stats, I will have to try F1 in battle. I did have a look at the unit_prod_file for ATW, but the information in there is disorganized. I guess I have been spoiled by stats given on the unit cards for later TW games. For now I will have to rely on the information the MTW unit cards give me. I assume that the more advanced the troop type, and the higher support costs, the better the unit is. I will have to find out good army combos as I go along.

Thanks again for the help!!! I will probably be back and post more questions to this thread as I play.