Thank you ModDevs for the "Patrol" feature!!!
At first I did not check it out at all, but now (gamedays over 400... I am slow to try anything new
) I finally tried to make a patrol.
The nicest thing is that you can have multiple patrols following you simultaneously thus easing up them city sieges.
Patrols also absorb rescued prisoners, so it seems: I forgot a patrol of 98 multinational archers "to patrol this area" near Yalen and the next time I happened to see them, they had 195: caravan masters, refugees, sea raiders, forest bandits; you name it!
With so many NPC companions (2
I can never unload my mixed patrols back to my own ranks, therefore I have huge manning costs, I suppose I still have to pay "sold" (wages) for them perma-patrolling units, although they seem to have catering service of their own
cheers,
Sataraha