Managing Watchers ... do you need to ?

[Digress]

I don't play SP enough to know or make the time to experiment outside MP to know whether you need to set a ritually summoned Watcher to patrol.

Do you need to assign a watcher to a commander (a mage) to get the thing to patrol the province ? Or is its presence in the garrison enough and they patrol automatically without magical leadership ?

[Meglobob]

I use watchers alot and yes you need a mage(or other leader with magical leadership) to patrol with them.

I personally set them as far forward to the centre as possible. Scripting fire closet, they then launch lightning strikes. Have a mage patol who can remain in the centre and buff your PD up with a few spells. This is a very cheap and effective way of boosting a provinces PD.

One final point even with 50 moral they will rout from battle before they are killed.

[PvK]

Isn't it that their leader will rout due to army losses, and thus stop leading the watchers?

[Meglobob]

PvK said:
Isn't it that their leader will rout due to army losses, and thus stop leading the watchers?

Possibly PvK, it happened to me several times, I think when the rest of the army routes the watcher goes with them. Even if the watcher itself is completely unharmed. Same thing happens with SC's, they fail a morale check and route even thou they have not been scratched and could very easily given time destroy all the enemy.

[PvK]

Two different causes, I think. I imagine with the watchers it's just that they lose control when their leader routs. At least, I know I've seen a similar thing when leading mindless undead - the undead leader may panic and rout when he sees his army getting destroyed, which leaves them with no undead leadership, so they go leaderless and eventually collapse.

[HoneyBadger]

I think you'd have to set them to 99 (berserk) to assure that a unit never routs-except, guess what? I've had a berserk unit rout before! apparently-eventually-berserk wears off!