What do the yellow flags mean?

[Gamerwolfsix]

I get my dogs finding them all the time. I heard they are tunnels but I am getting a flag alot but not finding any tunnels. While I do patrols all over my prison and also nightly shakdowns. Are there really that many tunnels being built?

[Darak]

from the Alpha 25 video they say the flags indicate a tunnel, and it's up to you to determine it's origin. Also, there is a lower chance to discover the tunnel with a search of the toilet. A prisoner can also have a chance to return to his bed if he knows his cell is going to be searched. The only 100% way of detecting them now is to dismantle toilets.

[blipadouzi]

The flags represent possible tunnel, but it's not always 100% certain. Somtimes they find gopher holes and stuff like that ;)

Anyway, grab a dog and and have him sniff around that area several times. If no additional flags get planted, then it's a false alert, if several other flags get laid down, then you most likely have a tunnel, and you'll start to see a pattern.

Follow in the direction the flags' pattern is pointing and continue search, this wil reveal more flags and they will eventually reach the edge of your prison walls and stop being found altogether. This is where the tunnels exit your prison into the yard/outdoor area.

Now the fun part... searching cells in that area... if searches to do not produce any found tunnels, you may have to dismantle a few toilets.

[Time Traveling Fetus]

I consistently got yellow flags in one area of my prison, so I dismantled every toilet in my entire prison. I found one tunnel that didn't get anywhere near that spot, but other than that I found nothing

[MicHaeL MonStaR]

I got flags in this area that wasn't even that near any cells, it was just in the Yard somewhere, and even hours later (real time) no tunnels were found. I think there's a small bug somewhere that just makes the dogs "find" something, but there's nothing really there.
The annoying part is that it's in the same spot every time. If it was in a different spot every time, just to plant some uncertainty, that's acceptable of course. But not in the same spot every time without ever finding any actual tunnels. It just seems like this feature needs a tweak/fix.

[Mansen]

The dogs produce a lot of false positives right now - I expect the guys will tone it down even further in the next update.

[Zaxerino]

I found a tunnel so how do i fix them cuz its just got a massive hole in the middle of the cell

[Trixi]

In the material tab is at right bottom a button to remove tunnels. Click it abd drag over your area with tunnels . Cost 20 $ per square with tunnel

[ReadyNick]

The flags seem so random at the moment I ignore them.

The best way to prevent escaping is to check sleeping prisoners every three days at about 3am if some escape before this you have missed it.

If a prisoner is asleep with a full sleep bar without any other needs then there you have it search his toilet, unless that prisoner is just back from a long lock up from solitary and needs sleep because of that, prisoners back from solitary usually have every need bar full but there is no harm searching him anyway when asleep.

If you catch a sleeping prisoner with a 70% sleep bar only and maybe a few other needs 100% that prisoner is digging, the higher the need bar of sleeping the closer to the base wall of your prison is the digging, I have pretty much put so much into this and find it perfect, the only problem is checking 100s of sleeping prisoners but I like it :)

Here is when I caught 14 planning an escape the tunnel was huge
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/449583146866417001/C0FF56606F7942C83234B8D9FE657DCE4688EAA6/

[RedMan]

Originally posted by sickbullet:

The flags seem so random at the moment I ignore them.

The best way to prevent escaping is to check sleeping prisoners every three days at about 3am if some escape before this you have missed it.

If a prisoner is asleep with a full sleep bar without any other needs then there you have it search his toilet, unless that prisoner is just back from a long lock up from solitary and needs sleep because of that, prisoners back from solitary usually have every need bar full but there is no harm searching him anyway when asleep.

If you catch a sleeping prisoner with a 70% sleep bar only and maybe a few other needs 100% that prisoner is digging, the higher the need bar of sleeping the closer to the base wall of your prison is the digging, I have pretty much put so much into this and find it perfect, the only problem is checking 100s of sleeping prisoners but I like it :)

Here is when I caught 14 planning an escape the tunnel was huge
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/449583146866417001/C0FF56606F7942C83234B8D9FE657DCE4688EAA6/

That's lucky of you.
I always do this if i am going the Devils Punishment Way
- When Prisoners are out of their cells do Cell Block Search
- If people are up during the night search their cell
- Put escape attempt punishment to 24h to reduce a chance of that happening again.
- Metal Detectors in every contraband area
- Dogs around the canteen (Makes it easier to detect drugs)
- Armored Guards patrolling 25x49 Cell Blocks (64 Cells if i correctly remember)
- Sniper Tower at the middle of the prison to easily get rid of riotiners and makes it harder for escape mode.

Also i recommend having bunkers since if you find a snitch they might tell you if a prisoner is attempting to escape (But i mostly reward them with luxerious rooms instead)

[TakataCheroki]

Yeesh. I don't have any prisoners or even cells built in my sandbox (in it right now) and one of the dogs I set up planted a flag right at the entrance to the security building (Armory, Kennels, Parol, etc). I'm sure you can imagine my panic...

PS- Any clue why the 'Remove Tunnels' tool under materials doesn't seem to do anything?

[Estelyen]

Originally posted by takatacheroki:

Yeesh. I don't have any prisoners or even cells built in my sandbox (in it right now) and one of the dogs I set up planted a flag right at the entrance to the security building (Armory, Kennels, Parol, etc). I'm sure you can imagine my panic...

PS- Any clue why the 'Remove Tunnels' tool under materials doesn't seem to do anything?

As said before, the flags get planted a lot, most of them are false alarms. To be honest, I largely ignore the flags altogether and just do nightly shakedowns.

The remove tunnel tool will remove tunnels THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY FOUND. It doesn't do anything when you have not yet uncovered the tunnel. The flags do not uncover it.