Prisoners and recruitment

Prepare a prison

Build an enclosed room with a reachable bed. Select the bed and turn on For prisoners; its frame changes and colonists stop using it as a normal bed. Keep the room safe, comfortable and supplied with care.

Enable Warden work on a colonist. Social skill and the prisoner’s mood affect resistance reduction. Keep Doctor work available as well: a newly captured survivor may be bleeding.

Select the bed and enable For prisoners before ordering a capture. Check that a bed is free, reachable and inside a safe room. View full screenshot

Capture a survivor

Select a downed hostile raider and choose Capture, or right-click them with an undrafted colonist. A warden disarms them and carries them to a free prison bed. The captive keeps their traits, skills and backstories.

If nobody acts, check for a free prison bed, an available warden and a clear route. Friendly visitors use Rescue instead. Many raiders die when downed; only survivors can be captured.

Choose an interaction

In the captive’s Prisoner tab, choose:

• No interaction to hold them without recruitment talks.
• Reduce resistance to prepare them for later recruitment.
• Recruit to reduce resistance and eventually invite them into the colony.
• Release to let them leave, potentially improving faction relations.

Wardens talk periodically, not continuously. They also bring food; doctors treat injuries. A prisoner who likes their warden is easier to persuade. When resistance is gone, recruitment still waits for the next appropriate interaction.

Choose Recruit in the Prisoner tab and monitor Resistance. The panel also explains who can talk to the captive and when the next conversation is due. View full screenshot

Prevent and respond to escapes

Unhappy prisoners are more likely to break out. They cannot normally open doors, but escaping prisoners can smash them and run for the map edge. Downed escapees can be carried back. Watch bed availability if the room is damaged.

You can sell prisoners to suitable trade caravans, but colonists dislike it. Family and lovers also react to captivity and death.

Arrest a colonist in a mental break

An eligible colonist in a break offers Arrest. A warden may take them into custody, but they can resist. This ends the break when they are locked up and has a social and mood cost. Releasing or recruiting an arrested colonist returns them to the colony.

A berserk person is hostile and too dangerous for an ordinary arrest approach. Defend others first; an arrested, downed berserk colonist can be carried to a prison bed.