Prisoners?

[Ink.]

Is there anyway I can help increase the chances of recruiting a prisoner into my colony?

In addition, is there anyway I can help meet some of their mood problems. For example, one female prisoner has -5 because she's naked. I have her clothes from the battle still. Is there anyway I can give the clothes to her to help make her happy?

[_alphaBeta_]

When selecting the prisoner ensure the "try to recruit" is checked. Also, and I believe most importantly, ensure that the prisoner is setup to receive some conversation from the warden by selecting appropriately on the same screen. The prisoner's mood will soon be the highest in the colony from the constant "convinced by warden" modifiers. These modifiers even persist for a while after the prisoner is successfully recruited. Not sure if that's a bug (click to enlarge).

[Ender]

to solve the naked issue, simply select the colonist, then right click the clothes you want them to wear, and click wear "x".

[Ink.]

to solve the naked issue, simply select the colonist, then right click the clothes you want them to wear, and click wear "x".

They're not colonists, they're prisoners.

[_alphaBeta_]

I haven't tried, but at a minimum you'd probably need the clothes brought into the cell. This could be accomplished with a high priority stockpile just for clothes in the cell. Then it's just a question of whether you can right click on clothes with the prisoner selected. Give it a try, and let us know!

Regardless, if they stay sane for the first day or so of captivity, they should have enough social "convinced by warden" to easily overcome any smaller mood hits like being naked. In fact, this mechanic seems rather overpowered at the moment (look at my screenshot above). The warden could shoot the prisoner every other visit, and they'd still be happy.  All you can do at the beginning is ensure their accommodations are nice with plenty of space and light, and consider cooking some better meals so they are served to the prisoner in question. You'll need to bridge the mood gap until the social bonuses come in.

Once they join the colony they can celebrate clothes once more, or until Tynan implements this functionality for prisoners.

[Klaatu]

Convinced by warden stacking is definitely OP but also definitely necessary. I don't typically have day 1 sane prisoners. They go nut. Sometimes psycho because of scripted events, sometimes because they started out enemies. They are prisoners for a reason, and I have to beat them down into incapacitation via melee.

All that's required is that they don't die, get fed, and they have a spot to sleep, and the warden visits them regularly. Prisoner marked bed is mandatory, and food keeps them alive. Warden chats overcome all negative moodlet penalties so long as the prisoners don't die outright from being beaten down when they go psycho from bad mood. I've have 100-150+ moodlet bonuses for especially difficult recruits being talked to multiple times. That's nuts, higher than all the negative mood in the game combined.

Arrest those colonists about to leave, and with your warden brainwash them back into the cult... I mean colony.

[murhe]

Recruiting prisoners should not be that difficult. You can cheer them up with same things your colonist like to have. Make sure they have decent sized clean cell, bed, table and bench, cooked meals. Single cells are bit luxurous for my tastes, but if I have extra rooms without colonists I may use them as cells.

To me ex-members have been most difficult prisoners as worries that made  them leave still linger plus they are now upset about captivity. Once I had to beat down one guy several times as he went berserk all the time. He tried to left my colony twice and finally he was found to be traitor. He didn't survive the beating that time.

[Ender]

Recruiting prisoners should not be that difficult. You can cheer them up with same things your colonist like to have. Make sure they have decent sized clean cell, bed, table and bench, cooked meals. Single cells are bit luxurous for my tastes, but if I have extra rooms without colonists I may use them as cells.

To me ex-members have been most difficult prisoners as worries that made  them leave still linger plus they are now upset about captivity. Once I had to beat down one guy several times as he went berserk all the time. He tried to left my colony twice and finally he was found to be traitor. He didn't survive the beating that time.

wow you really dont mess around...

[Ink.]

Yeah, I find that usually it's the ones defecting that are the hardest to recruit.

Quick question; I should be using someone with a high social level as warden right?

[Klaatu]

Yes, the highest the social the better. It makes a huge difference, up to 20x as fast on a regular basis given single digit recruitment chance for low social vs up to 50% (technically max is over 75 at 15 social, but recruitment difficulty removes from this).

In game time, it means the recruiting in a few days vs weeks vs months at high social vs low social characters.

Personally I look for social 10-15 (preferably 15) characters when starting my games.

[murhe]

I try to get one member with skill level of 6, but thats not very important according my experiences.

It is tolerable to start new colony with social skill level as low as 3, because you can count on recruiting more skillfull characters or your skill raises up. You just need to feed prisoners longer and get help later.

It also seems they now get morale penalty for being too long inside. I suppose it might affect your colonist too if you seal exits and stay inside all the time.

[Scotty]

0_o i have never had a prisoner break down.
Make sure that their cell is clear and lit.

[psilous]

looks like you are not picking a social enough warden. Make sure at least one of your colonists at outset has at least level 9 social. Stay away from empaths as they are incapable of violence. usually a bartender of politician has a good skillset plus social 9+

[Beanie]

I always try to give my prisoners a spacious cell with royal bed and a table with a stool to eat from. Make sure they have a clean cell preferably carpeted floors and of course a light source. You could go the extra mile and add a plant and coloured lights, but usually I don't find it necessary.