I LOVE Germania's troop mix, but the geography (impenetrable forests, long distances between settlements, etc.) is just too frustrating from a gaming perspective. I spent 10X as much time marching as I did fighting. Bleh. Same with the Scythians. Maybe I should learn to mod and figure out how to give them paved roads (or even highways!). Not realistic, maybe, but it would make them more fun.

At any rate, I don't think that watchtowers decrease rebel activity. A series of garrisoned forts is the best way to minimize the appearance of bandits. Bribing works too, of course, though I have a self-imposed "no bribing" rule when I play R:TW (as opposed to R:TR) because the game makes bribing WAY too cheap and easy. For example, it makes NO sense for it to be cheaper to bribe/buy a rebel army than to train that same army on your own.