[Suggestion] Custom prisoner classification

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Sporegen
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[Suggestion] Custom prisoner classification

Postby Sporegen » Wed Feb 12, 2014 1:36 am

Overview
Basically every prisoner has a security rating (Min, Med, Max) and a group. A security rating is set based on the prisoner's traits and crime when he arrives, and can only be changed by using a lawyer.
The security rating dictates how much a prisoner will bring in daily.
A group is just that, a group to put certain prisoners in. These can be modified at any time by the player.

Security rating
The security rating serves to reflect a prisoner's hidden traits, and determines how much a prisoner will bring in daily. About 10% of these are wrong, and it is up to the player to correct them.

When the player thinks a prisoner does not fit his security rating, he can task a lawyer with requesting a new one. The chance of success depends on:
-The change itself, decreasing has a higher chance of success than increasing a security rating.
-The prisoner's recent behavior
-Recent needs statisfaction, so the player cannot neglect the prisoner to make him behave badly and increase his rating
-The reason for incarceration

Groups
Next, there are groups.
Every prison starts with the three normal groups: Minsec, Medsec and Maxsec. The player can freely add and remove groups, custom names and uniform colors can be set for each one.
When a new group is added, the deployment screen gains an additional zoning button for that group (the shared and staff-only zone is always available) and a custom regime can be set.
Zones should also be able to overlap, so the player could set a zone to be accessible by 'Trustees' AND 'Minsec'.

When a group which contained prisoners is removed, the game will prompt the player which group to put those prisoners in, there must always be at least one group.

This would also be a great tool for separating gangs when they are implemented, one could make a group for each gang and assign each one a different cell block or regime
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111none
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Re: [Suggestion] Custom prisoner classification

Postby 111none » Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:26 am

The prisoners already are able to be re-classified if you change their rating by clicking on them.

I suggest you delete this post before xander notices.
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xander
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Re: [Suggestion] Custom prisoner classification

Postby xander » Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:29 am

111none wrote:I suggest you delete this post before xander notices.

Actually, this suggestion seems to be slightly different than the way the game currently functions. That said, I don't like the idea that a player should have the ability to change security ratings in order to alter the amount of money they get for each prisoner. It is too easy to game. I am all for prisoners coming in classified one way, and the player reclassifying them another way, but the grant given for a prisoner each day should be determined by the crimes they committed.

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Sporegen
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Re: [Suggestion] Custom prisoner classification

Postby Sporegen » Wed Feb 12, 2014 12:38 pm

xander has it right.
I meant to say that the security rating, which brings in the money, should be separated from the group or regime the player decides to put that prisoner in.
A security rating is basically decided by a judge, and is dependant on the hidden traits and crime(s) commited by that prisoner. It is a hint to how much trouble that prisoner is likely going to cause.
Like xander said, if the player can freely change this security rating, he/she can easily game the system for more money. I present an alternative, where the player can change a rating, but requires a good reason for doing so.

A group is totally separate from a prisoner's security rating, the player can freely decide which group to put a prisoner in. Each group can have a different regime, set of rules and even cell block. (current groups in the game would be MinSec, MedSec and MaxSec). And groups can be added or erased freely.
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Re: [Suggestion] Custom prisoner classification

Postby 5hifty » Thu Feb 13, 2014 12:56 pm

Sporegen wrote:Every prison starts with the three normal groups: Minsec, Medsec and Maxsec. The player can freely add and remove groups, custom names and uniform colors can be set for each one.


This is a nice idea tho.
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Re: [Suggestion] Custom prisoner classification

Postby blacksythe » Mon Feb 17, 2014 1:16 am

I think the game should actually automatically adjust the prisoner rating, as apposed to controlled by the player. For example.


Prosecution and Defence Lawyers as apposed to just lawyers.

This is probably more for when bugs are cleaned up and new end game features are added but when a prisoner rap sheet changes a prosecution lawyer will push the courts (i.e. a new trial) the trial is automatic and is based on a couple of things e.g.

is prisoner in fog of war(true/false) -

If this is true in order for the crime to be added to the rap sheet it needs to be witnessed by another prisoner in the area and evidence needs to be brought forward against the prisoner I propose a mini game for the player to find evidence like ordering guards to search the area and cells of the accused ordering guards to interview prisoners known to be in the vicinity a flashcard system might work because micromanagement could potentially be to difficult in these circumstances

if true the following questions are asked

is prisoner caught in the act by a guard, armed guard True conviction successful false see below

is guard present(true/false) True - Much Greater chance of successful conviction, False - see other
is staff present(true/false) Greater chance of successful conviction, False - see other
is cctv present(true/false) If true is there a wall between cctv cone and crime (true or false)
Greater chance of successful conviction, False - see other
is other prisoners present(true/false) true how many? How many talk, if count is say 3 or greater then greater chance of conviction

Im sure there are many ways this can be broken and essentially apart from the mini game this should mostly run behind the scenes and the game should act as the defence lawyer for by asking the questions above. as i feel any lawyers you hire are to benefit the prison if the prisoner is convicted lets say 1 gameday after player is presented with a flashcard saying courts decided x y z

This is how it should be in a prison simulation
in a prison simulation alpha its probably one of those features to be tested in the beta pre game launch
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Re: [Suggestion] Custom prisoner classification

Postby gopheratl » Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:09 pm

On the subject of custom groups, as has been suggested before (repeatedly), cell blocks seem like a better way of handling it. Any prisoner in a cell in block A is affected by the regime, policies, etc. of cell block A. If the player desires and thinks it's necessary, they could reassign a prisoner to a different block, the same way they can change security rating now, but that kind of micromanagement would be optional.

An approach to handling cell blocks that I've been thinking about is to add a new "cell block controller" object. These would not be required, and without any, the prison would function just as it does now - one regime, one set of policies, etc. Adding your first cell block controller doesn't change much at the top, but it would give you a more detailed screen to control things that are currently automatic, like when cell doors are opened/closed, extending that to allow automatic scheduling for the doors of other rooms in that cell block, like opening the cantina during meal times. With just one, the entire prison (or at least the prisoner-accessible parts of it) would be in that cell block; adding a second would then require assigning rooms (and possibly individual doors) to blocks, but allow finer control in scheduling and managing the prision.

This may not be a new idea, but it seems like a nice balance for different play styles. New players, or those who just don't care enough to micromanage that way, could continue to run prisons with a single regime and no defined cell blocks, while those wanting finer control of their sprawling, multi-winged mega-prisons would be able to install controllers, handle wiring/mapping them, and drill down much deeper, micromanaging to their hearts' content, and those in between could plonk down one controller and get a bit more control without having to get bogged down in wiring a third type of utility to get it.

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