Automated site searching request

[thejeff]

vfb is correct. It never chooses provinces with 2+ known sites. Except, obviously, when it defaults to the caster's current province. But that's not really choosing that province, just telling you it can't find a valid target.

The only bit vfb left out was that it also doesn't target any province that has been manually searching in that path. So if you had a level 1 mage search, that province will be skipped.

But I think what may be confusing you is the timing. A mage you have doing automated monthly casting of a site search spell picks his next target right after casting his spell. This means he may choose a province and then have other mages casting search spells find sites in it, bringing it to 2 or more sites.
Since ritual magic happens before battles, it also means provinces conquered that turn aren't eligible targets. You didn't own them when the target was chosen.
This also means that a caster could be targeting a province you lost that turn, possibly giving your opponent free gems.