what happened with tunnel digging?

[Hamster3]

Since A14 my prisoners are barely digging tunnels. In A13, I was doing searches every 2-3 day and found at least 2-3 tunnels.
Now in A14, one week have passed, and I found only one tunnel.

[xander]

Since A14 my prisoners are barely digging tunnels. In A13, I was doing searches every 2-3 day and found at least 2-3 tunnels.
Now in A14, one week have passed, and I found only one tunnel.

As noted in the change log, tunneling has been nerfed. Only prisoners with the "Clever" hidden trait will attempt to dig tunnels, they require a tool, and they must be motivated. Details are in the release announcement.

xander

[Legadian]

I'm actually sad that they nerfed it. I built two perimeter fences and a regular fence between any cell block and freedom during Alpha 13 and had almost daily shakedowns. Alpha 14 seems quite tame now that I have dogs and nobody even wanting to tunnel.

[xander]

I'm actually sad that they nerfed it. I built two perimeter fences and a regular fence between any cell block and freedom during Alpha 13 and had almost daily shakedowns. Alpha 14 seems quite tame now that I have dogs and nobody even wanting to tunnel.

Obviously, the balance is still being worked on. However, I am not sad that tunneling was nerfed---the large number of tunnels took that aspect of management from a fun task to a boring, repetitive task (you knew that you had to shakedown the prison every couple of nights, or prisoners would escape). My preference would be to see the nerfed tunneling balanced by a greater penalty for unnecessary searches and shakedowns (i.e. they make the prisoners even madder).

xander

[air805ronin]

I'm enjoying the balance at the moment, in that I have perimeter dog patrols, and a protocol set that searches cells when illegal items are found at metal detectors. It pretty much guarantees I'll find tunnels before they reach a significant distance. If I found more than one or two tunnels in a week, I'd start to find it ludicrous how many of my prisoners are trying to tunnel out.

I'll have to rethink it, though, once i have to pay dog handlers a wage.

[Striket1234]

I a tweet on their twitter right after alpha 13 came out, they said they would make tunneling less likely. I alpha 13, it was kind of annoying how much the prisoners were digging. I like the balance at the moment.

[Dichotomy]

I'm enjoying the balance at the moment, in that I have perimeter dog patrols, and a protocol set that searches cells when illegal items are found at metal detectors. It pretty much guarantees I'll find tunnels before they reach a significant distance. If I found more than one or two tunnels in a week, I'd start to find it ludicrous how many of my prisoners are trying to tunnel out.

I'll have to rethink it, though, once i have to pay dog handlers a wage.

True but I guess when it comes to timeframe PA is not just measured by the in game clock. PRISONER sentences seem to be about 1 YEAR a day (or something like that), so 2 a week quickly becomes 1 every 3 and 1/2 years (if my MATH is correct) .

On that timeframe its not really an issue.

[VIPERGTSR01]

I like how it is now in Alpha 14, I usually get the odd prisoner who likes to dig and I keep tabs on it, rather than A13 which I had countless diggers every day.

[vulgarman]

As noted in the change log, tunneling has been nerfed. Only prisoners with the "Clever" hidden trait will attempt to dig tunnels, they require a tool, and they must be motivated. Details are in the release announcement.

xander

Nice, well looks like I'll be editing in clever trait in the save file.

[Dybing]

I don't know how much it the digging have been reduced. I got a prison running with roughly 130 inmates at the moment, and a pretty strict policy where any contraband found on an inmate triggers a cell search. I find one or two tunnels a day usually. You'd think a prisoner who is busy digging a tunnel wouldn't risk getting caught by carrying contraband around, as they all have to go through metal-detectors at least six times a day, plus dogs sniffing all the busy areas, but they do.

Perhaps in time, diggers will become less likely to carry contraband around - to keep a low profile and not encourage a cell search. But as it is most tunnels in my prison are discovered before they've reached three or four tiles out from the toilet.