The guard classes should be changed

[kongoman]

It makes no sense to have 3 types of guard classes imho.
Dog handler, armed guard and general guard should be changed to just 'guard',
and depending on which rooms you have built, you will then be able to 'equip'
that guard with weapons and or dogs.

example:
Just as armories worked in Evil Genius.
You build the armoury and make sure there are enough weapons for all you normal guards.
When a riot occurs, you should then hit a 'equip' button and the guards should run to the armoury and
equip themselves with weapons. With that mechanic, there will be a leadtime for the guards to get the weapons
and the prisoners will have that time as an advantage to make a run for it, and time to knock the guards out.
That will involve some planning to make sure the armoury is centrally located in you prison, but still
properly locked up so the prisoners cannot get to the weapons easily.

I hope this makes sense. Cheers.

[Raaaahman]

Hi Evil Genius player!

I liked you used it as example because Prison Architect seems to share some kind of interesting efficiency vs security concerns when seeting up your rooms. And I believe armory should be used by staff so its layout would matter a lot more as you mentioned.

But I also find that actual classes make sense. First, in a simulation way, I find it logical that they're not all trained to handle dogs or guns, that should, I believe, require a specific license IRL. And in the game, they fulfil totally different roles. Dog handlers are used to search for contrband and tunnels and focus on that (otherwise it would be wasting the potential of the dog) and armed guard are good at preventing misconduct while still being the ultimate solution to a riot. I like that kind of choices in game, where it is totally up to the player to use a tool in their own way.

And remember in Evil Genius, you also had different kinds of guards, and in the higher tier, you had the choice between the lethal and the non-lethal specialization.

[McLumberjack]

Have to agree here, at the moment there is no penalty for simply locking up your guns outside the main prison, meaning if anyone in a riot got that far then they may as well just escape. If an armed patrol was a matter of a regular guard going from their post to the armoury, taking a short time to gear up, and then to the patrol route it'd take longer and give proper incentive for more risky but efficient placements of multiple armouries. Dog handlers don't really matter as much, as ready access to dog poo and kibbles isn't exactly a grave security concern.

In terms of guard training and experience perhaps when they add guard towers and snipers those could be the all day sort, while the shotgun patrol duties would be handled by your regular capped flatfoots.

[5hifty]

Idea: All guards are guards. Dog handling, firearms, and, I dunno, something to do with patrolling, 'Attentiveness' are stats that they can level up in. Dogs, firearms and I dunno, a handheld metal detector (like dogs, less range, metal only) are all purchased items. Guards are all allocated their roles and clock on/off with another guard with the same role. More they do the role the better they get. That way you cant have your Main Gate guard gear up to a 'Armed Guard' during a riot without some major repercussions (drops guns or runs away), in the same way that a guard trained with weapons might let something slip by at the gate.

This gives the guards a little bit of variance between them, while keeping them essentially the same. It would also mean I would have a few other items to put in some rooms which are a little sparse on 'room appropriate' items (dog handling gear and leash in a cabinet in the kennel, baton and keys in different cabinet in the security room and the current stuff in the armory). You also wouldn't be hit with 'hire staff costs' at the same time as 'building room costs' in the existing staff could man the room at the expense of unmanning other parts of the prison until new staff could be hired.

[SpaceVelociraptor]

One possibility for making your placement of the armory more important is to make the armed guards visit it. Perhaps whenever they needed to rest, they would have to go to the armory and put away their gun and armor. It would make it so that you cant make it in the middle of nowhere, but you still have to make it somewhere that is somewhat secure. I'd also think the gardeners would get a little antsy if the armed guards were just chilling in the staffroom with their shotguns.

[m_wellbring]

YOu could still build the armory in the middle of nowhere. Just build a staffroom next to it.