Dead staff member wages and dealing with death

[Dosedmonkey]

Hahaha, incinerator is not a bad idea, you could use it for garbage too! Bit of black humour.

[ChaserGrey]

You're sick. I love it.

My suggestion has always been to have a coroner's van come by to pick up corpses. All it would take is a reskinning of the supply truck (though I suppose we could send 'em off in a dump truck if we wanted to...)

[Dosedmonkey]

All types of ashes can be collected in the same truck...

If you wanted to make a coroners, it would be worth making a different looking truck, just out of respects, but I'd much prefer an incinerator, the morgue needs more objects.

[SchlauFuchs2]

+1 for incinerator. Else dead bodies need to be picked up by a hearse the next day or so.

[Causeless]

Incinerators are a little extreme. It has pretty big connotations with the holocaust, so...

[notsatan]

They just need to add an incinerator object to the morgue to dispose of the corpses.

I like your thinking.

[phoenixca]

Incinerators are a little extreme. It has pretty big connotations with the holocaust, so...

"Prison Architect is like having your own Nazi concentration camp!" would be pretty bad for reviews...

[acegamer08]

.

[Dosedmonkey]

Incinerators are a little extreme. It has pretty big connotations with the holocaust, so...

Only if you make it mass killing by poisoness gas first....

Make it look like a real Cremation, and it'll be fine. There is a difference.

[GreenGriffin]

I'm not sure incineration would be a very welcome game mechanic. Might be misinterpreted or viewed as being tasteless given the subject matter. Death should be handled in a tasteful but realistic manner that has virtually no chance to offend anyone.

I think there are two good ways to approach death that would enhance the gameplay and stay in line with the whole "heavy handed vs compassionate" theme the game promotes.

With any casualties, you are faced with 2 choices:

1. Zone your own graveyard and bury the dead on the prison grounds. You don't need any extra staff to do this; your workers will dig the plots and bury the dead for you. The benefit here is that it costs you nothing but the cost of constructing the zone and the burial plots. The downside is this takes up valuable real estate in your prison.

2. Staff your morgue with a medical examiner. This person "investigates" the death (and has a reasonable chance to implicate the guilty person), then places the body in a bodybag or a freezer object you purchased for the morgue. The next morning, a van arrives to pick up the bodies, and you are charged a fee for removing each body. That body is then presumably shipped off to be buried by their next of kin. The benefit here is that you don't need a dedicated space in your prison to dispose of the dead. The downside is that you need an extra person on staff for this, and you are charged for each body that must be removed from your prison.

I think this approach works best for giving the players choices that must be weighed. Do you take the more expensive option that saves you space, or do you go the cheap route that you have to zone for?

[itsab1981]

I have played prison architect for more than 50 hours now and I support the idea of having a prison cemetery strongly.
When a riot happenes in a prison I have built over hours that is a very intense experience. After the riot is over and the dead bodies are disposed it takes about 1 day until all traces of this event (e.g. blood) are vanished. Just a look into the valuation report reminds me that something very bad happened. But that really is not very satisfactory. If I do not plan to sell my prison anyway I don't care how many unsolved murders give me penalties (In fact I think it is more appealing if you have to start a new prison with only a small amount of money).
It would be much more atmospheric and even challenging if:
-dead bodies stay where they are or a brought into a morgue and stay there until
- you build a cemetery and add
- enough graveyards.
The dead then are burried - I have an optical reminder on the riot that happened, a cemetery needs space so I try to avoid it getting bigger than my prison and even the visitors (when prisoners are buried could come and visit the grave). One could even add the option to click on the grave and see the name of the prisoner (or guard without name) and the reason for their dead (e.g was stabbed in riot). My gardeners could plant trees there that look rotten/ the graves could get overgrown with time so even more to do for my gardeners) These changes perfectly fit in the game mechanics and in my eyes this addition would make much sense and deepen the personal connection I have to my prisoners and employees.

[HeroFV]

Ok, I have read through this thread and I like the whole conversation! I also looked up some information to help support a few suggestions.

First off... I thought there was a hearse that came to pick up the bodies from the morgue slabs?

Secondly this is what I think would be cool to happen after reading all the posts here. Obviously all this isn't "my idea" and I don't mean to take any credit

1) Morgue

• When someone dies they should be taken to the morgue and placed in a freezer, or more appropriately, a "Cold Chamber/Cold Room"(NEW item).
• A "Morgue Attendant" or "Diener"(NEW staff) should then perform an autopsy to attempt to solve murders.
• After an autopsy they should be embalmed using an "Embalming Station"(NEW item).

2) Death Mechanics
(This is obviously not the most simple thing here to do but it would indeed make things the most realistic and bring the most depth)
There is already a system implemented to determine family members. I suggest that this system be expanded to determine which of the following would happen in the event of death...

• The body will be claimed be the family, in which case, a hearse will arrive to pick up the body.
• The family will choose to have the body cremated, in which case, the body would be cremated in an incinerator, or much more appropriately, a "Crematory"(NEW item).
• There is no family to claim the body, in which case, the body would need to be buried in the local prison "Cemetery"(NEW room).

(This could also be something that Name-in-the-Game members could specify.)

3) Cemetery

• A gravedigger, or more appropriately, a "Caretaker" could be hired to tend to the Cemetery.
• A choice of "Marked Grave" or "Unmarked Grave"(NEW items) would be the easiest, as this can get complicated (Also assuming that all staff would be claimed and not buried locally, there would be no need for elaborate graves or tombs)
• Maybe a Toolshed(NEW item) for use by the Caretaker could be added.

An additional note is that Crematories are typically in their own room called a "Crematorium"(NEW room?).

Clearly though, there is a LOT of new content that could be added here. Which could be taken different ways. Either, it's great to add a bunch of new content OR it's not worth it to add SO much content for a seemingly small purpose.