Army attachments

[Jagger]

I have started attaching spies to my armies with important generals after one of my generals was assassinated.

Do spies reduce the chance of assassination when with a general in the field?

I am also curious if attaching priests or bishops to an army with a general has any advantage. Would a bishop attached to an army prevent heresy attacks on my general? Would having a priest attached give any piety characteristics to my general?

Are there any other types of agents useful to attach to general's armies?

[Doug-Thompson]

I had a priest with a stack that was on Crusade, and still had a psycho inquisitor burn my general.

However, having a spy does help foil assasination attempts. So do assassins, I believe.

[Kraxis]

I believe spies do help with that. Assassinating people in cities where there are spies running around seems to be rather tougher.

[Musashi]

If it works like the first game, having an assassin in the town/army not only protects against assassinations, but if an assassin attacks and fails there, your assassin gains skill.

[Jagger]

Aren't bishops suppose to stop heresy attacks? My thoughts if he is traveling with a general, I won't have to worry about an inquisition. But I don't really know.

[Musashi]

I think they likely help... that doesn't mean you're immune though.

[Zenicetus]

I think they likely help... that doesn't mean you're immune though.

With a high level spy, or stacks of spies, I think you're immune. I tried to send a spy and an assassin with 9 ranks in subterfuge (a real death machine) into Marrakesh, and they were both discovered and killed. After reloading, my spy parked outside the city could see that there were four spies inside the city, fairly low-ranked I think, but I couldn't be sure. My assassin couldn't touch anyone in the city, couldn't even do sabotage.

What's interesting is that he couldn't touch anyone standing outside the city, either! There was a low-ranked Moor general standing next to the city, and my assassin showed an 84% success estimate. But he failed every time, discovered by those pesky spies in the city. So there's a radius effect for spy discovery, not just the square they're in. I assume that applies to army stacks also. After the Moor general moved further away from Marrakesh in a later turn, he was an easy kill.