Group Issues....

Okay, I've been trying for months now to keep groups of NPCs together. Sometimes better than others, always ending in failure. Here's some issues and where possible... solutions.

1) I keep losing them as I run/fly around the world.
Actually the reason I stopped creating NPC groups for a while. The solution here is actually simple. Trust 'em. trust yeoman, trust slave whatever. I assumed I was automatically trusting them because /they/ were trusting me. Trust them, you move slower, but you keep your group together.

2) Keeping them alive.
I ultimately have the most difficulty with this one. Main thing is an auto-succor or 'followers, go west' or 'hounds, stay here' if you're in for a big fight. Equipping the talking kind with shields and "followers, set combat mode to cautious" can go a long way too.

3) Plague.
Followers catch the plague and ultimately it's one of the biggest off-puts. There are solutions open to me for small groups, especially with lay hands. I've even given them masks, but still lost them. For larger groups laying on hands isn't that effective as the plague jumps from a sick one you've not healed yet to a healthy one you just have healed. Lysator has proposed breaking the group up into smaller units by sending them in different directions, but I haven't gotten around to trying this yet.

4) Link-death.
Reason for the loss of the Dream Team. I understand there's a mechanism for link-death (followed by disconnection) that means you lose your followers. For someone with a tricky internet connection like mine, a real pain in the butt reason to lose your level 10+ group of battle-hardened followers.

5) One life.
A solution I neglect too often to this are gems of preservation. Problem here is your level 12 yeoman is gonna come back as he was at the time you activated the gem on him. So best to update when possible. Also if you die and lose your stuff the gem isn't going to be helpful. It's nice they have one life as it maintains balance, but it can be frustrating when you've lost your level 30 drake you're not going to see anytime soon.