My captured prisoners do not let themselves be recruited, despite long time. What's missing?

[Jǫrmungandr]

So've I've been capturing prisoners. Some are for sale and some are for keeping/recruiting.

I've been having the same two prisoners in my camp for 3 weeks (in-game-time), spending resources on them, which means a lot of nights spent sleeping/resting. But there's no progress.

They may have experienced a tiny little hunger one or two nights, but aside from that they have been well fed, well treated, and I healed their injuries right from the start. Their prison log shows only green/positive comments, "they're fed and happy in my company despite it all", except for that once or twice of slight hunger. They've been down on "wary" status slightly, and "satisfied" even less slightly, but they've been on "neutral" for the vast majority of time. The once or twice of hunger happened pretty early, so they've had many camps/rests in a row with only positives...

Aren't they supposed to warm up to me and eventually maybe ask to join my crew ?? Isn't that the point ? A way of recruiting them ?

One of them is a Henchman (Outlaw), the other is a Ravager (Brotherhood).

What's the trick here ? What am I missing ? I've been looking for options to initiate dialogue with them, but that's not possible.

[xahadume]

Have you given them a profession or assigned them to a tool in camp? Try that if you have not. You can arrange your camp so that while a merc is assigned to something they are still next to the prisoner and therefore guarding. Also, try buying a shaving kit and using it on them.

[Pie Lord]

Don't forget to give them a shave as well, if you have someone in your party that is good at making friends have them next to the person you want to recruit.

And never put them in stocks, not that you did but for future peeps.

[Bronoomsie]

You also need to feed them. If you have any starvation, (Ie, you don't feed the exact amount or more) it goes to the prisoner. Heal them if they are injured too. Notice you can click on the chain in their portrait that says trust. This shows how you are doing. Personally, I find it not worth the effort to recruit prisoners anymore. Companions have more skills, and you still have to pay them, you just save on the influence cost.

[Jǫrmungandr]

Originally posted by Pie Lord:

And never put them in stocks, not that you did but for future peeps.

In stocks ? You mean in chains? The chains are placed automatically on them when I capture them with a rope, and I can't remove the chains. I tried.

[Jǫrmungandr]

Alright, thanks for the advice. I'll try to shave them, I guess. But a barber kit is ridiculously expensive, at 25 krowns, I could get some basic, yet important resources for that. It should be cheaper to change the appearance of mercs. But I get it, you wanna treat the prisoners well and keep them clean and feel like they're being cared for. Seems like good advice. Makes sense. I will also asign them to a duty, maybe, except that I have already, in a sense - by placing them around the campfire to collect happy-points, always keeping mercs near to guard them. 1-1,5 weeks ago I also realized i should try place my altruistic and social mercs near them. Their escape likelyhood has actually been down at 20 % half the time, as I've kept my mercs so close to them.

[drake_hound]

Wait till they are satisfied and sooner or later their Speech bubble will pop up...
Can take 1 rest can take 10 rest.

[Capnbludd]

Originally posted by krikkert:

Originally posted by Pie Lord:

And never put them in stocks, not that you did but for future peeps.

In stocks ? You mean in chains? The chains are placed automatically on them when I capture them with a rope, and I can't remove the chains. I tried.

Stocks are a camp item that you can build, it removes any chance of escape. I think you can buy the knowledge at jails, I have it but haven't built one and forget how I learned , but jails seems logical.

[MrCbast]

Prisoner cant be place near a animal

[Jǫrmungandr]

Originally posted by Capnbludd:

Originally posted by krikkert:

In stocks ? You mean in chains? The chains are placed automatically on them when I capture them with a rope, and I can't remove the chains. I tried.

Stocks are a camp item that you can build, it removes any chance of escape. I think you can buy the knowledge at jails, I have it but haven't built one and forget how I learned , but jails seems logical.

Okay. That brings some clarity. The barber kit / shave, along with very specific camp duties, proved to tip the scale in my favour. I actually had them assigned to various tasks already, but only very specific ones, such as working on the meat rank, or cooking satisfied them. Unluckily I simply focused on wrong tasks at first. But Now they're getting all buttered up.

Was surprised to learn that they still cost influence points to recruit... and they have basically no skills / abilities, unlike the recruits you recruit in the tavern, even when you level them up.
So, you need x 1 rope, x 1 chains, x 1 barber kit and you need to feed them as free passengers until they join the crew. They also come with zero equipment. So is it really worth it ? It seems probably not. It seems more beneficial to sell them.

The prices of the recruits in the tavern went insanely up, however, as soon as my lead mercs reached level 5. Previously I paid a small petty sum for a level 2 in the tavern. Now I have to pay 340 - 440 krowns + lots of influence for a level 2 and level 3 in the tavern... Seems a bit odd when their level don't match mine, but it is what it is. ;D

[Jǫrmungandr]

Originally posted by MrCbast:

Prisoner cant be place near a animal

My experience has been that *some* prisoners get offended by that, roughly half of them, it seems, not all.

[Locklave]

Glad we made another one of these threads, it's not like there are 20 already that have these answers.