I agree with your favorite. Carthage was by far the most enjoyable campign I've had. I have never played RTR but it seems to me that the AI fighting for every blockaded port would get to be very, very annoying. The U shaped tactic seems interesting though.

Does anyone know of a mod that would just give the AI more starting formations without messing with anything else? I think the basic game setup is good (with a bit of tweaking) but the AI really needs a more diverse option of unit placement.