I used to think the general's dread had a battlefield effect, and really it should, I'd love to see the enemy quaking before an 8-star 'butcher', but unfortunately not.

As for the autoresolve - I never do that for field battles, the only use for it in my book is this one situation. Playing a siege assault yourself usually ends up killing the king, but when it's autoresolved, he seems always to be captured - just one of those quirks that may come in handy