Taken prisoner mechanic

[Alienman]

What other games besides Xcom 2: War of the Chosen and Jagged Alliance 2 have a captured/prisoner mechanic? With that, I mean that your men can be captured and later rescued instead of dying.

I think it's an excellent mechanic for ironman runs, and I wish more games would use it instead of death. It adds a lot of dynamics to the game and makes it easier on the consequences of a battle going wrong. Besides it's a fun mission type too - springing your men from capture.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

mount & blade.

i agree, the days of "game over" must come to an end, recoverable failures must be the future. there's a mod for skyrim for this, instead of reloading on death it randomly rolls a different event, like "you've been robbed", "this random adventurer healed you", "you got thrown in this prison", "your precious stuff now belongs to the local pawn shop"... every game should include stuff like that.

 

[Alienman]

mount & blade.

i agree, the days of "game over" must come to an end, recoverable failures must be the future. there's a mod for skyrim for this, instead of reloading on death it randomly rolls a different event, like "you've been robbed", "this random adventurer healed you", "you got thrown in this prison", "your precious stuff now belongs to the local pawn shop"... every game should include stuff like that.

Ah, yeah. I remember using that mod. It's excellent and adds a lot of fun to the "dying" aspect. There were even extensions to the mod if I remember. Also good call with Mount & Blade.

 

[Cross]

Heroes of Might and Magic IV

Invisible Inc

 

[spectre]

Every enemy I've met I've annihilated, so I wouldn't know.

More seriously, apart from the stuff already mentioned above, the obvious thing to mention is Kenshi, and then there's Thief Deadly Shadows which had a prison you can break out of.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

the obvious thing to mention is Kenshi

if only it had worked...
when it triggers, WHEN, you're brought into a cage and left there to rot. never seen a slave trader actually trade. only working slavery is under the giant statue, forgot its name, and only if you start here, and there's a thousand ways it's going to break.

 

[Alienman]

the obvious thing to mention is Kenshi

if only it had worked...
when it triggers, WHEN, you're brought into a cage and left there to rot. never seen a slave trader actually trade. only working slavery is under the giant statue, forgot its name, and only if you start here, and there's a thousand ways it's going to break.

I had some fun with it, being captured and convincing a few others to escape with me. But it's true that it seems rare, most times I'm left to die in the desert.

 

[Glop_dweller]

Dungeonkeeper 1 & 2

*Presumably War for the Underworld also.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Mount and Blade was my favorite example of this. Gotta love those times where I kept like 3 nobles as prisoners at the same time.

 

[Tweed]

The NES version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lets you rescue captured turtles if you live long enough.

You won't.

 

[KIss My Ass]

Xcom 2 is epic. Wont ever get much love here but I dig it.

 

[Rosey]

Galaga if you let them tow your ship.

 

[Zlaja]

instead of reloading on death it randomly rolls a different event, like "you've been robbed", "this random adventurer healed you", "you got thrown in this prison", "your precious stuff now belongs to the local pawn shop"

Should also add stuff like "you've been tastefully raped" if played as a female and "you've been brutally sodomized" if played as a male.

 

[Rosey]

There's plenty of games right up your ally over on ulmf if that's your thing.

 

[Victor1234]

Rimworld also has the possibility that enemies will kidnap your wounded/downed dudes, carry them off the map and then you have to go to some other map location to rescue them. Sometimes random people will show up begging for shelter as escaped prisoners and if you accept them in, the dudes they ran away from will come and try to capture them again.

 

[Ash]

i agree, the days of "game over" must come to an end, recoverable failures must be the future.

Eat shit, sore loser.

 

[Alienman]

Rimworld also has the possibility that enemies will kidnap your wounded/downed dudes, carry them off the map and then you have to go to some other map location to rescue them. Sometimes random people will show up begging for shelter as escaped prisoners and if you accept them in, the dudes they ran away from will come and try to capture them again.

Yeah, that is true. Reminds of Dwarf Fortress that has similar mechanics.

 

[Tweed]

Your spare ships can be stolen in Galaga, you need good aim to get them back without shooting them yourself. Getting ships stolen is a valid tactic for increasing your firepower since the rescued ship joins you.

 

[KörangarTheMighty]

Crusader Kings II

 

[JarlFrank]

Ultimate General: Civil War kind of. There are situations where units surrender instead of routing, like when they're surrounded or in a badly losing melee. It's rare, but it can happen.

When your unit surrenders, the enemy can control it as a prisoner unit and move it behind their lines. You can liberate them by moving a unit of your own into the captured guys.

As rarely as it happens, I think it's a great mechanic and exactly what Total War style battles needed to feel less like massacres towards the losing side.

 

[NecroLord]

and then there's Thief Deadly Shadows which had a prison you can break out of.

Indeed.
You have to get caught by the City Watch while out on the streets.
Pretty cool mission, the prison is pretty well designed (it's a Thief game after all).

 

[Alienman]

Ultimate General: Civil War kind of. There are situations where units surrender instead of routing, like when they're surrounded or in a badly losing melee. It's rare, but it can happen.

When your unit surrenders, the enemy can control it as a prisoner unit and move it behind their lines. You can liberate them by moving a unit of your own into the captured guys.

As rarely as it happens, I think it's a great mechanic and exactly what Total War style battles needed to feel less like massacres towards the losing side.

I think Graviteam Tactics and the Close Combat series has something similar during battles.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

aaah, the sweet sound of ignoring retards in the afternoon.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Outward has it.

 

[Victor1234]

Ultimate General: Civil War kind of. There are situations where units surrender instead of routing, like when they're surrounded or in a badly losing melee. It's rare, but it can happen.

When your unit surrenders, the enemy can control it as a prisoner unit and move it behind their lines. You can liberate them by moving a unit of your own into the captured guys.

As rarely as it happens, I think it's a great mechanic and exactly what Total War style battles needed to feel less like massacres towards the losing side.

You'd really like Hegemony III: Clash of the Ancients then. Routed units try to get back to their own territory, if your units are faster and catch up to them, they become slaves to work in your resource producing buildings (mines and so on), with a hit to faction relations. Usually only elites/super experienced units have high enough morale to get wiped out entirely before routing.

Sometimes they'll try to ransom them back, you can release them as a good will gesture, etc and sometimes they'll raid to free them. Needless to say the same can happen to your dudes.