Anyway... out in the hinterlands, after you've built your rams (or your spies open the gates) & you're allowed to assault, fairly often on the order of battle setup screen you're looking at a blank wall. (That kind of threw me the first time!) I had gotten in the D&D habit of always "going right". Finally, I was attacking & had 2 rams & it dawned on me that "Uh, there's at least 2 gates!" So I made 2 about-even assault groups & took one around to the right & the other around to the left. Start the battle & hit both gates. This splits the defenders so there isn't quite so big & dense a mass of them just inside the gate. (Especially in the early game, I usually don't have enough or good enough missile units to break the primary gate defense - so those mercenaries? the ones I've been paying lots of silver for? yeah, YOU guys - TAKE THAT GATE! Hitting gates on opposite sides of the town has other effects besides making the defense "thinner". I believe more enemy units hole up at the town square right from the start, making for even fewer gate defenders. A neat visual effect (I guess there's some tactical value to it, too.) is, if you've been directing what's happening at one gate & then double-click any unit at the other gate, the camera view flies right over the town square so you can see how many & what kind of units are waiting there long before your guys are even thru the gates. Once you control the inner walls at both gates it's usually almost a cake walk. The AI seems to realize it is flanked & in a vice. I think there are wet & stinky sandals in that square. If it isn't in "fight-to-the-death" mode, routing becomes rampant. Even if it's gonna stand to the last man, if you have any missile or cav at all, some unit in that town square has to have its back to some of your units. They're TOAST! Mop up & plant your standard on another city for your empire! Have fun