SP - General Prisoner heroes magically disappearing is BORING!

[GG Cannon]

(Image info-graphic in the bottom to help better explain)

It is extremely maddening and utterly boring when you went through a lot of trouble to capture someone specific to transfer to someone else in a barter or use its freedom as a diplomatic tool and after a few minutes after a HARD battle, they just disappear from your prisoner list.
It is as if we are FORCED to ransom, kill or release someone, with no other option besides those unless it is done almost immediately after capture.
All the more so when it happens during a siege, where you defended, had a victory, continued the siege and before the siege ends, your captive already escaped.

As such, I thought over a few suggestions for a make over in the hero prisoners system, both as captive and captor.

This also doubles as a small balancing fix for the current hideout system.
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Instead of magically escaping and disappearing, a "mini-game" of the sorts. Its difficulty relative to how many prisoners(besides the heroes) you have and how close to full you are in matters of how many prisoners you can have before reaching your limit.
The trigger of this mini-game would be the exact same as what makes a heroes disappear from captivity currently, just instead of escaping and disappearing this would be triggered.
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1 As a captor:
The hero or heroes sharing a same faction, of allied factions or with good relation among them would try to escape together in the same mini-game.
It is basically the same as the current hideout, only the opposite and the prisoners AI objective priority is A) Stay close to their allies, B) Fight those that get too close and C) Escape outside of map bounds.

Your troops be scattered around similarly to how bandits are in hideouts in a map that depends on your current location nut looks as either a makeshift camp or the castle/town/village you are currently waiting in, and the time of day would be possible at any time but with higher chances of happening at night time.
You would not be able to give order to your troops, they would react by themselves, only to your companions, as if everyone got caught by surprise and chain of command is broken due to confusion.

If you have horses in your inventory that the heroes are able to use, they would use one of them and their weapons would be only spare weapons within your inventory as well, same to a few non-hero prisoner troops "helping them" escaping together.
Just like a battle, the non-heroes would have a chance to die and only be wounded and if wounded, they are captured again.

Those that escape appear on the world map slightly away from you in the numbers and troops they escaped, with how many and exactly the items they escaped and only "disappear" if they get out of your field of view, concluding the escape. So until then, you can recapture them by engaging.

The number of your troops scattered would be slightly limited to the number of escapees in a rate of 1 to 5 or 1 to 7.5(this would also be applied to hideout ambushes, so that you can bring inside up to 1/5th of the number of soldiers inside the hideout, picking which troops you want to bring in the same type of window as filling a castle/town garrison with a maximum limit or when you delegate a mission to a companion)
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2 As a captive:
The counter part of when you are the captor, prevent prisoners from escaping, when you are a captive instead, escaping yourself, you would begin in the world map, choosing which time of the day you are gonna escape when the current auto-escape trigger happens. Still within your cell your cell in a map of the inside of the dungeon or that captives cells within the camp of the army, you would have a mini-game to convince one guard out of several to help you escape, as well as the other captives to escape together with you.

After that, you would begin a situation similar to the current bandit's hideouts, except you objective is to escape out of bounds from the battle map.
You will have no weapon and only a prisoner's clothes. But close to the cell you'd be able to find a weapon's stash and short after, with a small fight with very little NPCs, a stable.
Just as in the captor's bit, the AI of the other captives would follow the same priority list, except that if you stray to far from them, they will disregard you, and if you escape while too far from them, you will spawn in the map as a single unit party with only 1 unit, you. Possibly another party of the other captives that also escaped.
You would then begin to run away from your captors in the world map and try to find your way to safety.

If you fail too many times in convincing the guards to let you go, you would be returned to the world map, following your captors, which soon after would proceed to ransom you, which would make spawn somewhere random in the map.
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deGoucan Scrolls Index

 

[Ackdam]

There is already a system in place for the companion equipment. You just use the civilian attire for each character. Your small battle may have merit, but only if you are near the location of the prisoners. Here are some additional points/possibilities:

• Captor - There should be a system in place to inform the player that prisoners have reportedly escaped from their dungeon in whatever fief.
• Captor - There could be a system in place to inform the players of when the guards notice prisoners acting suspiciously (planning escape).
• Captor - There should also be upgrades available to help reduce the chances of escaping/enhance the risk of recapture should someone get out.
• Captor - A well-garrisoned location should have a very low chance of escape short of bribing guards/charming the locals.
• Captor - Having a high reputation and passing some speech checks could have them released and their clan switching sides (if they are the head of their clan).
• Captive - Having a high reputation with local merchants could increase your chances of having their aide in your escape.
• Captive - Having a high reputation with someone of the opposite gender of the clan in charge of the fief may have them assisting you in order to win your favor.
• Captive - Having a high reputation and passing some speech checks could have them release you and switch sides (if they are the head of their clan).
• Captive - The Roguery skill should play into this heavily.

 

[Dr-Shinobi]

There is already a system in place for the companion equipment. You just use the civilian attire for each character. Your small battle may have merit, but only if you are near the location of the prisoners. Here are some additional points/possibilities:

• Captor - There should be a system in place to inform the player that prisoners have reportedly escaped from their dungeon in whatever fief.
• Captor - There could be a system in place to inform the players of when the guards notice prisoners acting suspiciously (planning escape).
• Captor - There should also be upgrades available to help reduce the chances of escaping/enhance the risk of recapture should someone get out.
• Captor - A well-garrisoned location should have a very low chance of escape short of bribing guards/charming the locals.
• Captor - Having a high reputation and passing some speech checks could have them released and their clan switching sides (if they are the head of their clan).
• Captive - Having a high reputation with local merchants could increase your chances of having their aide in your escape.
• Captive - Having a high reputation with someone of the opposite gender of the clan in charge of the fief may have them assisting you in order to win your favor.
• Captive - Having a high reputation and passing some speech checks could have them release you and switch sides (if they are the head of their clan).
• Captive - The Roguery skill should play into this heavily.

Good and i think they are not really finished with this yet. There will most prob be things coming from war band t that has some of these features. By being able to visit prisons as it stands now there is most prob missions coming and perhaps you have to attempt to break out since there is a small game level down there

 

[Ackdam]

Another possible aspect could be holding higher-up, or more respected noble captives in a secure room in the keep, rather than in the dungeons with the general populace. This could increase relations with them slightly for having creature-comforts, but also allow a greater chance to escape (mind going back to Monty Python and the Holy Grail and the Lancelot scene with Prince Herbert ).

Or perhaps marrying them off to one of your own clan members or vassals if their other family is (possibly very recently) deceased.

 

[Lord Ferdinand]

There is already a topic on this problem, check it out.

 

[GG Cannon]

• Captor - There should be a system in place to inform the player that prisoners have reportedly escaped from their dungeon in whatever fief.
• Captor - There could be a system in place to inform the players of when the guards notice prisoners acting suspiciously (planning escape).
• Captor - There should also be upgrades available to help reduce the chances of escaping/enhance the risk of recapture should someone get out.
• Captor - A well-garrisoned location should have a very low chance of escape short of bribing guards/charming the locals.
• Captor - Having a high reputation and passing some speech checks could have them released and their clan switching sides (if they are the head of their clan).

I really, REALLY like these.

1. It would be very fun to have the ability to start a manhunt for a prisoner that escaped if we are close enough to where they escaped from even if it is not one of our clan fiefs, but from another noble.
2. It'd be interesting to know beforehand that a prisoner is planning to escape, so you can make "preparations".
3. Going through the trouble of making improvements that make your dungeons harder to escape from should definitely be a thing, like assigning more guards to garrison it specifically, making better and harder to escape cells, checkpoints, that sort of stuff.
4. A well garrisoned castle should definitely have low escape chances, as the more guards there are, the harder and longer you will have to plan for a successful escape to truly happen.
5. Being able to convince a prisoner to defect to your clan should be one of the first things added, in my opinion.
   As I mentioned in another post, we are not even allowed to talk to them, as it currently is.

• Captive - Having a high reputation with local merchants could increase your chances of having their aide in your escape.
• Captive - Having a high reputation with someone of the opposite gender of the clan in charge of the fief may have them assisting you in order to win your favor.
• Captive - Having a high reputation and passing some speech checks could have them release you and switch sides (if they are the head of their clan).
• Captive - The Roguery skill should play into this heavily.

Reputation is definitely something I kind of miss in this game.
Renown is one thing, but reputation is more like a renown with a specific niche, and in this case, it makes a loooooot of difference.
There could be a new value, even if it is a hidden value, for your reputation. From Vladian/Battanian/Sturgian/etc soldiers, villagers, merchants, beggars, thugs and so on that would have a lot of impact on how NPCs would interact with you and even dialogue options available.

1. Merchants you deal with a lot and whom you helped achieve a lot of profit and would definitely feel a little indebted and wish for your escape, as you free = money to them.
2. With a not of Personal Affinity with someone of the enemy faction, more frequent with the opposite than the same gender, it could be very interesting to have them help in your escape. This is even a big part in several famous romances and stories, where the son or daughter of a noble helps one of their prisoners, the main character of the story, escape and then joins them in their war against their father.
3. Convincing your captor to release you and join your side is definitely a must if a system like this or similar is added.
4. YES!! I feel a lack of usage for the roguery skill and, with prison breaks and spies possibly added to the game, it would be a lot more meaningful to raise your roguery skill.