Thousand prisoners insanity. What to do?

[Retrobarbaari]

I just took a castle, and had well over 1000 prisoners. Can't keep, sell or recruit them. This is not something extraordinary, more like just another Monday (in the game). Regularly need to dismiss hundreds of prisoners, everyone has been there (usually you are full of prisoners, then get a few hundred more). What's the point making us do that? Want to make us curse the wasted money and recruits? In that case, job well done!

My party can keep 153 prisoners now, and my three clan members can keep about 110 (as we all lost some troops). The castle prison could hold a whopping 30.

I dismissed about 300 prisoners already, and after filling my clan members' and castle prison capasity, I have now 602 prisoners. When I reach the next town, almost everyone over my prisoner limit have escaped.

It must be a constant queue of them walking away from my party!

Luckily the closest town is still owned by me, because my vassals will slam their prisoners to the town's horribly overcrowded prison. I can get them from there again, if I want to, and then sell them. Don't need the money, but what else would you do with them? If the closest town would be owned by someone else, my vassals would sell their prisoners. They don't need money either, but hey.... maybe they like money baths.

And in case it was my kingdom's town, my vassals would stuff their prisoners in the overcrowded prisons. To get influence. Makes no sense, they will escape in a moment.

Drag them prisoners with me? I wonder if there is enough free prison space in the whole kingdom. My kingdom reaches from northern Khuzait through Aserai desert to southern Vlandia, 18 towns and 21 castles, but I would need to ride that back and forth multiple times to recruit these prisoners and put the remaining in prisons. Can't do it, there's two kingdoms in war against me. Nor would I want to do it (because boring).

I don't think this prisoner thing is well thought, at all. Need bigger prisons, less prisoners and/or smaller chance of escape.

Playing 1.8.1e though. I hope they fixed this in the release version.

 

[Brano]

You ransom them at ransom broker in any tavern. Don't understand what is your issue here. Player is not supposed to keep them in some kind of medieval POW camp. Dungeons are for nobles to keep them out of war > more enemy nobles in dungeon, less war parties available.

 

[Retrobarbaari]

You ransom them at ransom broker in any tavern. Don't understand what is your issue here. Player is not supposed to keep them in some kind of medieval POW camp. Dungeons are for nobles to keep them out of war > more enemy nobles in dungeon, less war parties available.

No taverns in castles.Taverns are only found in towns, and your extra prisoners are usually gone before you reach a town.

Can't help if you don't understand and think that there's no issue here.

Ah so, the game is realistic? Yeah, because in medieval times lost armies, peasants and all, were always sold to slave traders / hostage dealers that were waiting in taverns. Look, the game is not realistic. The prisoner system just bugs me. I don't need money, I would take recruits, but traveling with the prisoners is nuts. And you can't take more prisoners, if you're already walking with prisoners.

 

[Julio-Claudian]

This happens now because in one of the recent updates NPCs ability to sell prisoners at Taverns was removed, so only the player can sell prisoners, AI parties have to put them in dungeons. IDk why this was done

 

[monoolho]

This happens now because in one of the recent updates NPCs ability to sell prisoners at Taverns was removed, so only the player can sell prisoners, AI parties have to put them in dungeons. IDk why this was done

Why tho

Also, what patch did it? 1.0.3?

 

[Julio-Claudian]

Why tho

Also, what patch did it? 1.0.3?

It was before the full release. So e1.8.0 or something. If I remember correctly there was some minor problem with AI parties selling prisoners at taverns so they removed their ability to do so. Now all dungeons are full and when you capture a city you get tonnes of free troops. I've captured cities with thousands of prisoners, all of which I could take into my party for free... obviously couldn't hold them all but still. It's just created a new bug/exploit.

 

[murtega]

It's just created a new bug/exploit.

IMO it’s more like a design choice. This prisoner hoarding came up with the same patch that changed how armies behave. Everyone used to complain how it took them forever to replenish their loses after each battle/conquest, hence did so little before disbanding. Now they go on like through the entire war, until being beaten of course, as there are heaps of free recruits sitting in prisons everywhere.

 

[Julio-Claudian]

IMO it’s more like a design choice. This prisoner hoarding came up with the same patch that changed how armies behave. Everyone used to complain how it took them forever to replenish their loses after each battle/conquest, hence did so little before disbanding. Now they go on like through the entire war, until being beaten of course, as there are heaps of free recruits sitting in prisons everywhere.

That would be an extremely odd design choice. I don't think it was though. It was a 'fix' for some problem with AI selling prisoners.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

It'd be nice to able to send freed prisoners directly to a allied garrison rather then into the void. As for the piles of normal prisoners, you can put some in your clan parties prisoners and go into any fief (in past versions) and get influence for them being shoved into the prison by your AI clan mates, not sure if this is still working in 1.1 beta though, I think they will sell them in a town, not sure if the donate to castle for influence, will look once they patch some bugs. It'd be nice in general to have 1 button presses or automation for things like splitting you 1000+ prisoners between you parties, like "add all lord and locked troops types to my party, give all highest tier to other parties, discard lower tier" since it happens constantly. The menu systems are tedious for how often they are used. Same for many other constant chores though.

As for why, it's just part of the inflation of everything to keep the AI constantly fielding armies for you to fight. Piles of units everywhere forever

 

[geala]

If you are using the mod Improved Garrisons, it's a pleasure to find huge amounts of prisoners after getting a fief, for recruiting them automatically over time. If you need the money and want to sell the poor prisoners, you have to make the journey to a town several time. Boring, but there are worse tasks to make money in the game. If you don't need the money, usually at about the time you get lots of prisoners in fiefs, and they annoy you, just release them. It does not cost you real money.

 

[Retrobarbaari]

It'd be nice to able to send freed prisoners directly to a allied garrison rather then into the void.

Yeah. Why not have prisoner trains, or parties of troops that return to castles and towns you own?

It'd be nice in general to have 1 button presses or automation for things like splitting you 1000+ prisoners between you parties, like "add all lord and locked troops types to my party, give all highest tier to other parties, discard lower tier" since it happens constantly. The menu systems are tedious for how often they are used. Same for many other constant chores though.

As for why, it's just part of the inflation of everything to keep the AI constantly fielding armies for you to fight. Piles of units everywhere forever

Absolutely!
I spend lot's of time giving prisoners to different members of my army's own clan members.

 

[Lucius Confucius]

Would be good if we could give a mission to a companion to sell off prisoners.

 

[BjornP]

Take what prisoners you can take with you, ride to nearest town, ransom prisoners, repeat. Start off with grabbing the most high lvled prisoners for immediate great profit.

 

[Retrobarbaari]

Take what prisoners you can take with you, ride to nearest town, ransom prisoners, repeat. Start off with grabbing the most high lvled prisoners for immediate great profit.

Yeah but what if you already have prisoners with you?
Yeah but what if the nearest town is not right next to you? Them extra prisoners escape REAL FAST. After couple of inches on map travel, you have lost them.

They are mostly: can't sell, can't keep, can't recruit.
I would rather send them to some of my towns, but then that's not possible. So they are just released.

 

[BjornP]

Go multiple times, and only carry the prisoners you're actually able to. You don't have to grab ALL of your town/castle's dungeon prisoners, after all.

 

[Retrobarbaari]

Go multiple times, and only carry the prisoners you're actually able to. You don't have to grab ALL of your town/castle's dungeon prisoners, after all.

Errr... I wasn't grabbing anyone from my towns and castles. These are prisoners caught in the battles.

In case of a sige battle, you can leave 40 prisoners if lucky, into the town prison. But when you already have hundreds with you, and get hundreds more, 40 is very little.

 

[BjornP]

Oh, my mistake. I thought when you "took a castle", it implied you also had been given control it.

Anyway, I don't have an army size big enough for more than maybe 150-ish prisoners, so if there are more... I just make sure to take the most expensive troops plus heroes. The rest? Well... I think that part is realistic. You probably can't haul around basicly a second army of prisoners IRL.

That said, it would make sense for those ransom brokers in towns to also travel with armies when they are formed...

 

[Retrobarbaari]

Oh, my mistake. I thought when you "took a castle", it implied you also had been given control it.

Anyway, I don't have an army size big enough for more than maybe 150-ish prisoners, so if there are more... I just make sure to take the most expensive troops plus heroes. The rest? Well... I think that part is realistic. You probably can't haul around basicly a second army of prisoners IRL.

That said, it would make sense for those ransom brokers in towns to also travel with armies when they are formed...

Or send your prisoners back to your far-away towns, filling their prisons if there is room. Or go sell them to the brokers.

The most unrealistic solution is to drag them with you all over the map and back again. But how else do you fill the garrisons of your towns and castles, when you are continuously in war? No time to run all over the map's villages and towns recruiting: and it's boring job, and leaves to the A.I. NPCs the only interesting part of the game: the battles.