Are prisoners worth recruiting?

[GorishiDan]

I'm yet to get one to join my band after over a month with trust still at neutral. My wolf has a "Altruistic" trait that makes it easier to recruit nearby prisoners (some of them don't seem to mind being guarded by an animal) but so far haven't noticed anything.

Idk, at this point it just feels like a lot of hassle specially since you have to give up camp bonuses to keep watch on or they escape. Which can happen regardless of how many ppl you have watch them...

The unique skill tree and ability they have are cool but its so much waiting mixed with rng (as i've read in other threads) that i feel like im better of with a regular merc that i can recruit on the spot.

And i really hope this game gets mod support so ppl can tweak things to their liking and make the game more fun.

[Tenshin51]

No they barely have active skills compare to vanilla class in the game unless you gave them some skills that can be bought.

Is not worth a hassle. They also cost influence and cash. What's decent with them their wage perk making them cheap to maintain like if they got volunteer perk and after you free them they gain another perk to lower their wage.
I am guessing they are better than animals due animals you need Beast Master Archer to control animal companion instead of relying to their AI.

Guarding prisoner in the game is easy. You will not even lose some camp bonus as long some companion are near them. Even your companion is using camp gear as long they are near them.

[funkmonster7]

Some prisoners are worth capturing, although you just want 1 or 2 at most. Wrongdoer gives the whole party +30% crit damage. But he by himself sucks... He is only good for tanking. You put equipment on him to get him to soak up damage, that's about it. He will need a shield that isn't your crafted shield to make him able to do at least more than 1 attack.

Don't underestimate that +30% crit damage. A Fighter's upgraded Destabilizing Strike has guaranteed crit on enemies with no guard. This means his DS attack will crit on every light-armored enemy, +30% crit damage can become a one-hit-kill especially on wolves. For your Cutthroats or Assassins flanking an engaged enemy, it is possibly overkill.

[KocLobster]

Absolutely not worth the effort, not in the current state of the game.

Only recruit from inns & jails, don't recruit people that you captured in a fight and that are now your prisoner. Actually probably just recruit from inns... All recruits from jails almost always come with two negative traits and one bad "good" trait

[Grandork]

Originally posted by cookie!:

Absolutely not worth the effort, not in the current state of the game.

Only recruit from inns & jails, don't recruit people that you captured in a fight and that are now your prisoner. Actually probably just recruit from inns... All recruits from jails almost always come with two negative traits and one bad "good" trait

Wrong. Wrongdoer is a massive damage buff to your team. Especially if you have 60%+ Crit rate on your team.

[Barara]

Wrongdoer is good one, also Messenger(archer) "Damage increase by 20% for each enemy unit within 6 meter" from "Inquisitor party" CMIIW

[KocLobster]

Originally posted by Grandork:

Originally posted by cookie!:

Absolutely not worth the effort, not in the current state of the game.

Only recruit from inns & jails, don't recruit people that you captured in a fight and that are now your prisoner. Actually probably just recruit from inns... All recruits from jails almost always come with two negative traits and one bad "good" trait

Wrong. Wrongdoer is a massive damage buff to your team. Especially if you have 60%+ Crit rate on your team.

Meh, I dont have that much crit rate on even my best guys and I still do a truckload of damage.

I wouldn't disapprove of prisoners so much if the bar to finally get them recruited wasn't so high. It took weeks of doing just about every mechanic the game has to improve trust just to win one prisoner over. Just doesn't seem worth it

[Yian Yan]

I heard somewhere that non-merc recruits (i.e. prisoners) aren't weighted as heavily for enemy scaling... Anyone know if that's true or not?

[funkmonster7]

Originally posted by Yian Yan:

I heard somewhere that non-merc recruits (i.e. prisoners) aren't weighted as heavily for enemy scaling... Anyone know if that's true or not?

I think it is, unfortunately, if you're talking about adaptive difficulty. Because when I recruited 2-3 wolves, enemy numbers scaled up to match those wolves. And wolves are crap. The scaling is based off numbers.

However, a Wrongdoer buffs 30% crit damage, that is a large number. It may seem like nothing but flanking from behind gives +25% crit rate. When you have someone on your team with 40% crit rate (rangers usually), +25% crit rate and +30% crit damage is an automatic one-hit-kill even on a tank.

If you run an animal team and all your alpha wolves have over 50% crit rate (especially alpha wolves that auto-crit on unarmored enemies), it is instant death if you have +30% crit damage.

Moreover, a Wrongdoer on his own can still reasonably tank. That's what I use Wrongdoers for anyway, just as a defensive tank to hold down an enemy while the Ranger flanks and kills whoever it is that is engaged to him. With the new flanged mace or whatever it is called, Wrongdoers can tank even more than before.

[PotatoBasket]

Legionairs get automatic deflection any time they end their turn next to a party member.
So it depends on your squad and whether the prisoners one skill will assist you. If it is a great boon then typically you'll only wanna recruit one; Maybe one of each, might make for an interesting run. Ultimately it's up to you and your personal strategy.

The important part is loading them up with additional skills from the brotherhood (taunt, run, aim, etc) and pairing them appropriately with your mercs.

**If you go wolves, be sure to have at least three; I went with three alphas my first lengthy run and they were not my weakest members at all - excellent support damage.

[GorishiDan]

i was finally able to get a prisoner to ask to join my band of mercs after so long. however, i was missing 25 influence so i had no choice but to refuse and that reset their trust back to neutral bringing me all the way back to square one. simply wonderful.

i'm not bothering with prisoners anymore until either the devs change how it works so ppl don't have to wait so long to have them join or someone makes a mod that does the same.

[drake_hound]

You shouldn't waste time with Prisoners. other then that Wrongdoer.
Unless you want to handicap or cheat the game, by not caring about leveling and running a mercenary company.
In that case just keep hiring prisoners and firing them till you hit levelcap. while running around trading. till your cash hit max. then go hire the FREE mercenary at MAX level.

[Khalunka]

Originally posted by drake_hound:

You shouldn't waste time with Prisoners. other then that Wrongdoer.
Unless you want to handicap or cheat the game, by not caring about leveling and running a mercenary company.
In that case just keep hiring prisoners and firing them till you hit levelcap. while running around trading. till your cash hit max. then go hire the FREE mercenary at MAX level.

You are really out of your mind lol.

[drake_hound]

Originally posted by MaruWeave:

Originally posted by drake_hound:

You shouldn't waste time with Prisoners. other then that Wrongdoer.
Unless you want to handicap or cheat the game, by not caring about leveling and running a mercenary company.
In that case just keep hiring prisoners and firing them till you hit levelcap. while running around trading. till your cash hit max. then go hire the FREE mercenary at MAX level.

You are really out of your mind lol.

What that is what Prisoners are nowadays, Leveling Prisoners need MAX +2 level prisoners so level 14 for them to be viable :P LMAO.