Prisoner labor

[pollgg12]

Prisoner labor would work as a half of the colony working and fighting and such but only if you take some what care of them or scare them in to submission. (like the old fear system)
they would have a chance of escape if left for two long and would start to riot if not "taken care of"

[H_D]

I like the idea itself, but how prisoner would be different from colonist? Prisoner still would need food and bed, but he could't work outside, defend colony and he would possibly work less efficient than colonist, so why don't just recruit him? You need to rethink whole job system to implement prisoners and make them profitable.

[ToXeye]

Also, you can already buy slaves that are without any status of slave when they get there. It's a bit weird, in my opinion, that they are automatically freed and do not come in shackles. I would like to see a kind of rope or chain that is attached to a metal bar that goes into the ground. That way, the prisoner can plant and harvest crops, or cook meal if someone hauls for him. Either that or make a prisoner work zone. Either way would be fine. And prisoners would automatically be equipped with handcuffs/shackles when arrested/captured. And that way, the player might be more deterred from "recruiting slaves" as it would become "buy slave" instead and become more sinister and more of a weird thing to do.

Prisoners right now are either just eating your food, or become happy colonists that have no quarrel with you. It is weird that there's nothing in between (due to RNG). Freeing prisoners would be nice too.

[iShura]

Some kind of Supervised Work (some would call it "Slavery" ) would be nice. So you could let 5 Prisoners mine/farm/cut trees while one of your colonist is supervising them.

[ToXeye]

In a sense, a guard with a weapon equipped (or who is extremely muscular) could be drafted as normal - and then when he is drafted, the area around him becomes guarded area. Then when a prisoner comes outside that area, he might begin to think about escaping.

[Barley]

Slaves/Prisoners would need to be assigned at least one guard. The guard must stay within a certain radius with his gun out or must stay within the same enclosed space as the prisoner(s). Otherwise, the prisoner will attempt to escape. All prisoners are in restraints and thus easy to capture if they try to escape. Only certain menial tasks are possible: Planting, harvesting, hauling, and crematory/grave duty. No construction (give your prisoners welders? Bad Idea), cooking (they could poison the food), doctoring, researching, or fighting. Maybe firefighting?

That would be tricky to implement as it would introduce a whole new subsection of gameplay; practically a miniature "Prison Architect" minigame, which is kinda tumorous to the rest of the experience.

Alternatively, we could just have prisoners/slaves be colonists but they suffer from the restraint penalty, the imprisoned moral penalty, and will occasionally attempt escape. Visitors will also note the presence of slave labor with distaste. Since your colony is in the middle of nowhere, it would be assumed that the prisoners would be unable to survive in the wilderness with the restraints on. Both slaves and prisoners could be "Freed" at any time and there's a chance they would stay in the colony that varies with circumstance. i.e "These colonists just bought my freedom! They seem nice, so I'll stick around" vs "These people have been keeping me as a slave for months! I'm outta here!"

The slave labor option would be a toggle in the prisoner menu. The "Free prisoner" option is found via drop down menu: Select Colonist, then right click prisoner, then select "Free Prisoner" option at bottom of drop down.

[ToXeye]

... practically a miniature "Prison Architect" minigame, which is kinda tumorous to the rest of the experience.

Alternatively, we could just have prisoners/slaves be colonists but they suffer from the restraint penalty, the imprisoned moral penalty, and will occasionally attempt escape. ...

I like this. Being freed doesn't mean you feel you are in the right place. Perhaps the slave wants to be part of some of the other colonies or groups on the planet, and flees to them instead.

"Gizmo has fled the colony and became a pirate of the SkunkShanker"'

And add thoughts like "Desires to leave the colony for another group."

This could be combined with higher frequency of having immigrants (of varying quality qualities).

[Tertnes]

Alternatively, we could just have prisoners/slaves be colonists but they suffer from the restraint penalty, the imprisoned moral penalty, and will occasionally attempt escape.

This would work nicely, with a new prisoner zone to control their movement. Doors could be manually toggled to let prisoners through, or just be usable if in such a zone. That way they could leave their room/s, but not leave the base or eat all the prepared food for example. They could also have a morale boost when they see armed colonists or turrets. Fear would be more fitting, but I don't know when or if it will be put back in.