Knights are only an option if you can afford to teleport them. The Baton is for ldr anyway. The +1 human morale might as well not be on it and nobody would care.
I can't tell you if Royal Snakes will work better for you than Ancient Vampires. Try it and see for yourself.
Don't worry about the speed, you'll never move them in human form anyway. Transforming into Bat form costs no Action Points. And whoever told you the Bat damage isn't good is probably doing it wrong ^^
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