Can you capture a bandit and put them on your team?

[BigFatJuicyMonkeys]

If so, I haven't figure out how.

[CromX]

Yeah all you have to do is capture them with chains (bought at the jails on the map). In battle you need to get a bandit to low health and have someone sneak behind them (while they are engaged) and select the capture icon from the skill bar.

Then you have to keep them in camp with you and let them rest with you. Best to leave them near the campfire and put people with them. This gives positive relations. GIve them a haircut, also gives positive relations, heal them - ditto. Wait with them many many rests and eventually they will request to join the crew. Can take awhile. Beware they have a chance to escape every rest. Minimize it by placing more people around them when resting.

[BigFatJuicyMonkeys]

Cool, thank you. When you capture an enemy, will they have the same skill/stats as they had when you captured them?

[pd28]

Originally posted by BigFatJuicyMonkeys:

Cool, thank you. When you capture an enemy, will they have the same skill/stats as they had when you captured them?

Seriously, if you're new to the game don't waste your time trying to make bandits or any other prisoners part of your fighting group. They don't have a properly formed skill tree and they don't even keep the traits that are shown when you capture them. The only possible exception is the wrongdoer above level 5 which gives you a party wide 30% crit damage bonus but that's offset by their lack of other skills. Late game you can use some items and weapons to boost these guys to levels above your regular troops but to be honest by then your core team will be such angels of death that it never strikes me as worthwhile.

If you do want to try recruiting a prisoner, as well as healing them, giving them a haircut and feeding them, you need to give them a job in camp. This speeds up the recruitment process enormously. If you make them a cook it should still be easy to place a merc either side of them to prevent them escaping (you can see their escape probability chance in the character screen). The two things that you must never do is use animals to guard them or put then in the stocks for even one rest

[vakarr]

I have got some great light infantry types from bandits. They only use knives but there are some terrific knives in the game. My biggest problem with getting them to join your team is that if you don't have the money and influence to pay them when they ask to join your team, they don't ask again. Don't heal them, as that makes it easier for them to escape. Give them some work, they like that. surround them with camp items. You will have a lot of trouble preventing their escape. Save the game before resting. If the prisoner escapes, you have two choices. One is reload, and move the prisoner somewhere else in your camp. Second choice is to recapture the prisoner, you will find him wandering about nearby - attack him and you will get the choice to recapture or kill him/her. If you go in the wrong direction after he/she escapes, you may not see them again. There are some items you can give them that will make them like you more such as a cup belt item. Some wolves that sleep near them have a chance to make them like you, too. Some wolves are supposed to make it less likely that they escape, but I haven't see that happen. If you put any armour on them, take it off before resting, that seems to help prevent escaping. Some armour has an additional carrying capacity, so it's worth putting on them.

[BigFatJuicyMonkeys]

Such a shame that the prisoner/bandit units don't have good skill trees. Would have been so cool if there were good classes that you can't recruit through normal means like the Inn but only through capture and friendship mechanic.