On the other side it's a bit dissapointing to do that when you're missing half the game with the battles. And as the Carthaginians you need to fight you're battles a lot otherwise you get creamed in autoresolve....well that's what I've found anyway. Oh yes, and the best battles are as the Carths as they're ofter quite close against the romans because of the crap Carth infantry.

Sorry, as you can tell it goes against my soul to autoresolve too many battles

As the others have said, infrastructure is the key to winning this game. So it's ports, roads and economic buildings that'll keep the money coming in. Have one or two cities get the higher level barracks and stables so the units they crank out will stand up to the Romans better and the rest use for economy. I am however saying this from the point of view of someone who didn't have to give up a single province as the Carths in my last campaign with them. From most strategies I've read up on a lot of people have to give up Carthago Nova or Caralis or both.