Is there an advantage to keeping prisoners in a castle?

[Cdnr1]

Is there an advantage to keeping prisoners in a castle?

[JOKESTER215]

Probably the ai wants them back, other then that probably to recruit them or if they are lords make them work for you once you have taken over most of everything that they have and make them essentially join you because they essentially lost their kingdom

[peacefighter]

I have the same question.

When I capture prisoners in the battlefield and by the time I reach a neutral city (to turn them in as bounties), some of the lower tier soldiers become "ready" to join my party. I thought I would see the same if I took them into my castle prison. Unless it takes more time for the prisoners in a castle to join, I don't see any advantage of leaving them in there. They may even escape! And thus, I lose my bounty. Is there a precursor that I have to do?

[Closet Deadpooler]

Prisoners in a dungeon never break and decide to join you. I think the main benefit is if you need to fight a battle and you're over your capacity or are being slowed down to the point where you can't chase enemy armies effectively.

Also, if you lose a battle, you don't have to worry about losing all of your prisoners but you'd still be captured yourself so it probably wouldn't be much of a boon to you in that situation...

[Van]

I might be wrong, but having prisoners of war inside your castle can act as no-cost garrison in case of a siege. I saw a siege battle in which there were some troops that I sure didn't hire join me in the defense. Not all of them, but I did noticed some of them from the prisoners joining the fight.

[peacefighter]

Originally posted by Closet Deadpooler:

Prisoners in a dungeon never break and decide to join you. I think the main benefit is if you need to fight a battle and you're over your capacity or are being slowed down to the point where you can't chase enemy armies effectively.

Also, if you lose a battle, you don't have to worry about losing all of your prisoners but you'd still be captured yourself so it probably wouldn't be much of a boon to you in that situation...

In my game I occasionally see scrolling texts (lower left corner) about someone escaped. Don't know who he is, perhaps an important character, and not an ordinary foot soldier. Anyway, how long do I have to wait for, say a Tier 1 troop (a recruit), to join? When I was hauling them around from after combat, they don't take long at all to join, while a Tier 2 takes longer. So why prisoners in a castle take longer (if at all)?

[Pie Lord]

Pretty sure donating troops to a garrison or prison gives you influence if you're not a King. I'm not sure but I think I saw in patchnotes about the influence gain being reduced because you could donate everyone you captured to a single faction to get a lot of influence. Be great for a merc though to get their paycheck.

Otherwise lords will always escape over time it just depends how long for them and I don' think troops above T4 can be recruited from prisoners.

[The Mau Corporation]

Originally posted by peacefighter:

Originally posted by Closet Deadpooler:

Prisoners in a dungeon never break and decide to join you. I think the main benefit is if you need to fight a battle and you're over your capacity or are being slowed down to the point where you can't chase enemy armies effectively.

Also, if you lose a battle, you don't have to worry about losing all of your prisoners but you'd still be captured yourself so it probably wouldn't be much of a boon to you in that situation...

In my game I occasionally see scrolling texts (lower left corner) about someone escaped. Don't know who he is, perhaps an important character, and not an ordinary foot soldier. Anyway, how long do I have to wait for, say a Tier 1 troop (a recruit), to join? When I was hauling them around from after combat, they don't take long at all to join, while a Tier 2 takes longer. So why prisoners in a castle take longer (if at all)?

You'll get a check on recruitment every payday. I'm not 100% sure, but I feel charm/leadership/steward may be a factor. Or % number of prisoners. But you'll start accruing defections on a daily basis.