AI Assassins

What is the best way to stop the AI assassinating your generals?

I play in a more chivalrous style and never build the brothel line of buildings. Its usually not a problem but just occasionally an AI faction (Milan and Turks so far) will go crazy with assassins and kill a lot of my family. Most recently I tried not demolishing brothels etc in enemy cities I took (as these tend to be on the frontline near their assassins) and building 1 spy and 1 assassin to sit in vulnerable locations and it seemed to work.

Can anyone clear up for me which is making the difference (spies, assassins or the buildings themselves) or is their another way to defend these attempts. I'm sure I could just train up my own assasins with the numerous master thieves guilds I take from the AI (do they ever get any other type of guild in cities?!), but I dont really want to - is it the only sure way?

Do the same tactics also stop their spies?

Hints and tips please!

The best way I've found is just a single spy per army/general. They don't have to be trained up in any significant way.

Personally, I usually designate a single city in the interior (so it is non-coastal, and thus lower trade/profitability) as my spy city where I build up the brothel line, and produce spies when for my own protection, and occasionally to keep taps on that city I'm going to attack in a few turns. Just don't put a governor where you building the spies.

As for assassins, I don't think they add any true protection, but I could be mistake. I rarely use them.

Oh, and Thieves Guilds help spies, no assassins.

I think assassins in your general's stacks actually help more than spies, but I'm not completely sure (this is where we need FactionHeir). The AI usually isn't bright enough to assassinate the agent in your stack before going after the general, so usually keeping a spy and/or assassin in stacks with your important generals is enough to prevent AI assassinations.

Spies help the most in helping prevent assassination.

Use a assassin to kill the assassins. You will usually have 95% chance.

Spies work best at prevention (since they spot the enemy assassins sooner?) and assassins are good to have for counter-attacking (so they don't constantly attack your general and either get a lucky shot and kill him, or possibly give him some bad traits).