suggestions and a brief intro.
Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 8:59 pm
Hi there fellow architects. Before I start suggestion let me give you a quick background on me. I have owned PA for 3 year, and been active on the steam forums for 2 under the same user name I am using here. I have a few prisons up on the workshop there if anyone wants to see my design style, but i digress,.I like to build large multi sec prisons. I don't like to use save file edits, and only mod sparingly (mostly the functional object mod-- really Devs bookshelves STILL don't work) So most of my suggestions will deal with the realities of managing large (1000+ prisoner complexes) which I feel sometimes falls by the wayside in the haze of new players that have user errors mis labeled as bugs.
First I wanted to mention the why I finally got around to creating an official account here after such a large interval- a bub that in and of itself seems small, and I was worried it might not get reported very quickly. Solitaries are no longer receiving laundry. I'm not sure that is even the best way to put it, it is not delivered, no dirties are left crumpled up in the cell.. nothing. It's like clothing does not exist in a solitary, but the prisoner still requires it, and trow a fit cause they don't have it) . The 2 or 3 prisoner I have in this state are making playing a chore because of their constant need for clean clothing.
suggestions
1) farther prisoner assignment (in regaurds to cells/cell blocks) especially involving gang members. Most of my prisoners I really don't care where exactly they bunk, I assign them to a sec lvl and that's the end of things, gang members are the exceptions though due to the territory capture mechanics and general danger of gang wars. It would be very helpful to assign all the red gang to cell block a, the blue to cell block b, and the green to c. They don't need thier own sec lvl or regime, they can use the same one, but please.. I an sooo tired of manually moving prisoner around IDENTICAL cells because my guards won't leave them in the cell they are in. Alternatively an option to lock a prisoner into that cell for his entire stay length would be fine, but I LIKE using the cell grade system, and the game auto groups cells into blocks anyway for logistics assignments.
2) allow gangs to participate in certain programs, especially Chapel (gang members can be religious too) and Drug and alcohol treatment. If they can't get thier drugs they are going into withdrawal. The point of the Drug Treatment is to administer a drug to them to manage their symptoms. There is no reason a gang member wouldn't participate in that if they were in withdrawal, besides it's a great place/time for them to steal the drugs they want. Perhaps just have their success chance be smaller, or have it have less effect on over all cell grading.
3) allow for teams of guards. We all know what happens when a tough, extremely deadly, skilled fighter goes off and a single guard wanders in to try and stop them from busting up their cell. It's predictable, and preventable. If you could hook say 5 guards together as a single team they could cover each other and take they prisoner down with little risk to themselves, if their was a way to add a combat medic to the team even better (basically someone to stabilize anyone injured so they didn't bleed out before reaching a dr.
4) Allow stationing of staff like drs. to specific infirmaries I hate it when I need to mop up after a gang freak out and all the dr's in the infirmary in the gang unit have inexplicably left, despite me including a staff room right next to the infirmary. Also what about assigning workers to deliveries.
5) Shops need some love devs. They are a great idea, but you have a few flaws in your implementation. a) no green boxes- you all know what I mean, it seems that your shop winds up with 1 color that no one needs, one that you might have enough on the shelf, and one that you just can't keep instock, meaning every night you have to dump all the blue boxes and hope for greens-- #unnecessary micromanagement also why don't mag's increase a prisoners literacy needs (or maybe just add books to the list of things you can get in the shop) The single biggest frustration in starting a new prison is the wait until a few prisoners get through foundation ed so they can run the library. While I'm on the subject why can't I just hire a librarian to sort my books, or an outside co to work my shop front.
6) foremen and workshop certs. Why is there a limit to the number of foremen we can have, or barring that why can only the foreman teach workshop certs. I can't keep up with the number prisoners interested and my classes are always full. just let me hire as many as I think I need and move on.
7) Non functional object need a use, and all objects need to rotate all 4 directions. It's a little thing but it really needs addressed as it gives the game a very unfinished feel to it that is not at all in keeping with it's actual state.
First I wanted to mention the why I finally got around to creating an official account here after such a large interval- a bub that in and of itself seems small, and I was worried it might not get reported very quickly. Solitaries are no longer receiving laundry. I'm not sure that is even the best way to put it, it is not delivered, no dirties are left crumpled up in the cell.. nothing. It's like clothing does not exist in a solitary, but the prisoner still requires it, and trow a fit cause they don't have it) . The 2 or 3 prisoner I have in this state are making playing a chore because of their constant need for clean clothing.
suggestions
1) farther prisoner assignment (in regaurds to cells/cell blocks) especially involving gang members. Most of my prisoners I really don't care where exactly they bunk, I assign them to a sec lvl and that's the end of things, gang members are the exceptions though due to the territory capture mechanics and general danger of gang wars. It would be very helpful to assign all the red gang to cell block a, the blue to cell block b, and the green to c. They don't need thier own sec lvl or regime, they can use the same one, but please.. I an sooo tired of manually moving prisoner around IDENTICAL cells because my guards won't leave them in the cell they are in. Alternatively an option to lock a prisoner into that cell for his entire stay length would be fine, but I LIKE using the cell grade system, and the game auto groups cells into blocks anyway for logistics assignments.
2) allow gangs to participate in certain programs, especially Chapel (gang members can be religious too) and Drug and alcohol treatment. If they can't get thier drugs they are going into withdrawal. The point of the Drug Treatment is to administer a drug to them to manage their symptoms. There is no reason a gang member wouldn't participate in that if they were in withdrawal, besides it's a great place/time for them to steal the drugs they want. Perhaps just have their success chance be smaller, or have it have less effect on over all cell grading.
3) allow for teams of guards. We all know what happens when a tough, extremely deadly, skilled fighter goes off and a single guard wanders in to try and stop them from busting up their cell. It's predictable, and preventable. If you could hook say 5 guards together as a single team they could cover each other and take they prisoner down with little risk to themselves, if their was a way to add a combat medic to the team even better (basically someone to stabilize anyone injured so they didn't bleed out before reaching a dr.
4) Allow stationing of staff like drs. to specific infirmaries I hate it when I need to mop up after a gang freak out and all the dr's in the infirmary in the gang unit have inexplicably left, despite me including a staff room right next to the infirmary. Also what about assigning workers to deliveries.
5) Shops need some love devs. They are a great idea, but you have a few flaws in your implementation. a) no green boxes- you all know what I mean, it seems that your shop winds up with 1 color that no one needs, one that you might have enough on the shelf, and one that you just can't keep instock, meaning every night you have to dump all the blue boxes and hope for greens-- #unnecessary micromanagement also why don't mag's increase a prisoners literacy needs (or maybe just add books to the list of things you can get in the shop) The single biggest frustration in starting a new prison is the wait until a few prisoners get through foundation ed so they can run the library. While I'm on the subject why can't I just hire a librarian to sort my books, or an outside co to work my shop front.
6) foremen and workshop certs. Why is there a limit to the number of foremen we can have, or barring that why can only the foreman teach workshop certs. I can't keep up with the number prisoners interested and my classes are always full. just let me hire as many as I think I need and move on.
7) Non functional object need a use, and all objects need to rotate all 4 directions. It's a little thing but it really needs addressed as it gives the game a very unfinished feel to it that is not at all in keeping with it's actual state.