I'm not sure what to do either. Thapsus has been fine but Carthage has given me real problems. 19 units of town watch got kicked out and then destroyed by 3 units of Carthaginian elephants that appeared when the city rebelled. Still not sure how they snuck those guys into the city without arousing some suspicion?

Then they smashed my second army that had destroyed every other unit but the elephants when trying to stormm the city. 2000 Romans and a couple of years later and they were kicked out themselves by some Iberian rebels.

I retook the city, killed about 15,000 civilians - loot would not have come close to covering my costs in manpower, repairs and lost income. I still have to maintain a huge garrison and even then with low taxes they have threatened to revolt.

The problem with killing the inhabitants is you can't upgrade the city if you have not finished building everything so then can't improve temples, sanitation etc.

I think Carthage may be the Portugal of MTW - hugely rebellious and you can't solve the problem by moving in huge stacks - 19 unit limit in the city with 1 governor in charge.

My suggestion is to put a governor in there with good management/influence. Swap retinue members around to get the best stat imrpovements. And cross your fingers!