[Suggestion] Search party for escapees

[SnakeShake]

First post, hooray!
Checked for similar ideas, didn't find any.

It would be fun (and would introduce a new risk-reward situation) when a prisoner escapes to have the option to send a search party after them (off screen)...
You'd have to assign the security chief and could determine a number of guards who'd then be gone for however long the search takes (two days tops?)...
The more guards you send the higher the chance you'll get the escapee back and don't reset the days without incident counter, but obviously you'd have to manage without the chief and the guards back at the prison...

[KailanTheFanboy]

This is absolutely brilliant, I hope to see this implemented one day!

[Gonumen]

I also really like this idea! Few days ago I posted my suggestion about improving escaping and this would be awsome to have those two things in game.

Link to my post: viewtopic.php?f=43&t=50154

[MulleDK19]

I like it! Especially considering 99.99% of all escapes are due to bugs or horrible design decisions.

[christopher1006]

I think that you should get a days without incident reset regardless, the incentive to not have the penalty for an escaped prisoner should be enough to motivate a player to move. Also, perhaps we could pay the government to help us out, using law enforcement to increase the chances of finding the prisoner. However, if you lack the funds or just don't care you can send your own guards who'll have a chance(increased by research?) that is much lower than law enforcement who are trained to deal with this. Sending dogs should increase your chances of success if you send your own men to find them.

[Justin-Wood]

Yeah, I like this idea too!

[KailanTheFanboy]

I think that you should get a days without incident reset regardless, the incentive to not have the penalty for an escaped prisoner should be enough to motivate a player to move. Also, perhaps we could pay the government to help us out, using law enforcement to increase the chances of finding the prisoner. However, if you lack the funds or just don't care you can send your own guards who'll have a chance(increased by research?) that is much lower than law enforcement who are trained to deal with this. Sending dogs should increase your chances of success if you send your own men to find them.

This is a great idea as well. It could be available under "Emergency Services" if a prisoner(s) escape.

[snarst]

Love it. Calling the local police to help with the search should be free since looking for an escaped convict is probably not something that the locals would like to put on hold even if the man doesn't plan on hanging around to check real estate. Maybe it should add an additional penalty but is free and greatly increases the chance of finding the convict. A prison the calls the local cops to often suddenly gets more attention and is more likely to be brought for nomination to be closed for being ineffective at holding people.

[Pallemaker]

I think that you should get a days without incident reset regardless, the incentive to not have the penalty for an escaped prisoner should be enough to motivate a player to move. Also, perhaps we could pay the government to help us out, using law enforcement to increase the chances of finding the prisoner. However, if you lack the funds or just don't care you can send your own guards who'll have a chance(increased by research?) that is much lower than law enforcement who are trained to deal with this. Sending dogs should increase your chances of success if you send your own men to find them.

This is a great idea as well. It could be available under "Emergency Services" if a prisoner(s) escape.

Good idea! Some suggestions to expand on the idea:
The likelihood of the police catching the escapee could be a probability influenced by a couple of factors:
- Wether or not you send a search party to help police in their search. Sending a seach-party would increase your chances of finding the prisoner, but of course make your prison vulnerable as you get a few guards less.
- Was the prisoner spotted (by a guard or cc-tv) during the escape? This would give the police an indication of the general direction in which he was heading, and would increase the likelyhood of finding him. This would increase the incentive for patrols, and possibly cc-tv-cameras, outside of your prison (and of course be a use for the guard-towers that some in the forums are dying to get).
- How long ago did the escape take place? If the prisoners was spotted by guards or cc-tv during the escape, this information would be available to you. If not, you would a) not know, reducing the chance a successful search; or b) be able to determine an approximate time of escape through an investigation unlocked by bureaucracy, which would be better than not knowing, but worse than having the exact time.

A way to implement this could be that once you hit the emercency-button, a patrol-car and a police-truck could stop outside your prison. You get a decision-box where you can check for sending a search party (or this could be a part of the prison policy), and if you do, four regular- and two dog-guards will board the empty police truck. The chief will move out to the police-car and deliver your information on the escape (no practical function other than that I think it could be visually cool).

The likelihood of finding the escapee starts out at whatever percentage is calculated based on the factors mentioned above, and decrease per hour after the escape took place. The escape party will return either when a) the probability of finding the prisoner is reduced to zero; b) the search party has been out searching for a given time, e.g. two days; or c) the search party has found the prisoner.

Any thoughts or input would be appreciated!

[AbandonedWolf]

let me add something

This is a brilliant idea BUT You should also be able to send dogs as it will increase the chances of finding them. another suggestion is that you pay one of your EXSISTING prisons to spare some guards / dogs. Or you pay for a government funded search goin from 10K - 750k

[Pallemaker]

Perhaps the penalty for an escaped convict could also be according to the escapee's security-level (it's worse letting a max-sec-murderer escape than a low-sec-counterfeiter) and perhaps also reoffending chance. If your escaped prisoner runs right out killing a bunch of people, the government will fine you harder than if he just goes into hiding minding his own business.

These factors could also be included for prisoners on parole (which will likely be implemented some time in the future).

Any thoughts?

[lugaru]

I like the risk vs reward element... like yeah you can say "well he is gone" but you could, if you feel gutsy, send dogs and guards after him and hope they can catch him. One would think it is not logical (since the police exist) but who is better equipped to find a fugitive than those who know him intimately?

Also I feel the game is currently fairly forgiving about incidents so I would rather that they take a long time to decay BUT lawyers, accountants and 'fixing your mistakes' will help you get back to a good reputation.

[matty1415]

i actually like this idea

[TK2k1]

This is fantastic, especially with dogs.

[wafels45]

I don't think anyone has added this yet but since Alpha 25 has the new character traits you could have an Escapist trait. Meaning that he has a higher chance of actually escaping and maybe a higher chance of dodging the search parties.