Struggling With An Entrance

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IAmTheDude
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Struggling With An Entrance

Postby IAmTheDude » Mon Sep 29, 2014 2:32 pm

Hey all.

Been plodding along slowly with the same prison since A24 (when I caved and brought PA :)) and all seems well so far. I have a couple of things that I want to try and iron out before I start expanding.

The entrance is killing me, I cant seem to get it right. What I'm after doesn't seem to be happening.

Heres how it is currently (105th rev) but everyone just seems to ignore it and do what they want including LETTING PRISONERS OUT! - Top: https://db.tt/r54OZp2W & Bottom: https://db.tt/O2T1XjVB

This is the routes they are taking: https://db.tt/zAJLuACL

How do I get it so that prisoners are escorted through the large jail doors into deliveries and visitors & staff come through the staff doors?

So far, the visitors do what they want and take multiple routes.

The staff take deliveries perfectly but the fricking guards will gladly open BOTH staff doors to let prisoners escape and even take them through the staff room above into the staff only outside area!

The outside areas above and below are staff only, Ive played with staff only zones in the entrance as well as stationed/patrolling guards. If I lock all the staff doors in export & garbage visitors do try and use the main door but then its the staff that have to do more running around.

It needs a complete redesign before I continue so please throw advice my way. What I really want is a separate corridor leading to visitation with remote jail doors that only they use (where the staff room is now) and deliveries for goods and people but when I did that they still came down to the other doors.

The other tiny niggle I have is that stationed/patrolling guards don't have any interest in whats going on in the room they are stationed/patrolling in.

The one in the canteen will just ignore the metal detector going off at the door and the game will use another unstationed guard to deal with it, even if they are across the other side of the prison.

Same with the cell block, a patrolling guard next to the door will ignore a workman trying to get in even though hes next to the door. Eventually solved this with remote doors but the issue still arises. Is this how its supposed to be or is it one of those things that will be eventually ironed out?

Other then that I am thoroughly enjoying PA, been a long time since a PC game has pulled me away from console gaming. Well done IV, haven't had this much fun since making people at work think what I was doing on Uplink was real...:P
ble210
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Re: Struggling With An Entrance

Postby ble210 » Tue Sep 30, 2014 3:28 am

I'm not sure how to take screenshots, otherwise I would post a picture.

I used to have the same problem, but I've got it figured out. The first option is to use multiple doors to create through your entrance to create at least one separated zone, and use the deployment screen to mark it staff only. Then post a guard in there to stop any inmates who happen through there.

The better way is to wall off a portion of the road and to use road gates. This will allow you to let prisoners pick up things from the delivery section, and will prevent any new arrivals from escaping. The trick is to use four road gates in total, so that there can be no escapes even when one is open. Forgive the text art below.

The prison is to the left. The "= =" is a section of road, and the "____" and "]" is a fence (or wall if you prefer). (Ignore the "......"; I had to use them to get it to show correctly).

................= =
................= =
_________GATE]
................= = ]
................= = ]
............... = = ]
_________GATE]
................= = ]
................= = ]
Delivery.....= = ]
Garbage....= = ]
Export.......= = ]
................= = ]
................= = ]
__________GATE]
.................= = ]
.................= = ]
.................= = ]
_________GATE ]
.................= =
.................= =

Keep 10 spaces between the two gates, as that is the length of the trucks. I also post a guard on patrol between each of the two gates, so he can unlock them quickly.
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RichieGrape
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Re: Struggling With An Entrance

Postby RichieGrape » Tue Sep 30, 2014 5:45 am

this is an old pic of the prison i've been working on the the entrance is still the same...have never had a single escape

Image

heres a more recent one after the land expansion

Image
IAmTheDude
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Re: Struggling With An Entrance

Postby IAmTheDude » Tue Sep 30, 2014 4:18 pm

Hmm some interesting ideas.

I hadn't thought about using road gates and will have to have a look at a proper redesign now. Just waiting for the little feckers to get me my 10 superior beds finished and wait one more day to finish the nutrition grant for some cash :(

I hope in the future they will be able to separate the people and goods to set separate delivery areas, that would make things a little easier.
ble210
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Re: Struggling With An Entrance

Postby ble210 » Tue Sep 30, 2014 6:37 pm

Haha I hear you on waiting for grants, and those two are tough ones.

Another idea, looking at your top screenshot, is to remove the staff door entrance and wall it off, as well as remove the middle of the three jail doors. Then, make that internal area between the jail doors"staff only" and post a guard in there. The guard will unlock the doors for all your staff, and stop any prisoners trying to get through. This is cheaper than using the road gates, and should be sufficient until you can get them built.
Forsaken
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Re: Struggling With An Entrance

Postby Forsaken » Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:05 am

I've personally had good experiences with using servo's on the road gates. Hook both (or all 4) of the gates up to 2 different RC panels, and you'll never need more than 2 guards to make a door open instantly when needed, preventing a lot of waiting around.

The instant opening especially makes a difference when processing fresh prisoners at 8 AM, since the sooner they're in their cell, the sooner they can get some of their needs(toilet, shower) sorted before the daily regime starts off, and the lower the chances of trouble starting.
IAmTheDude
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Re: Struggling With An Entrance

Postby IAmTheDude » Thu Oct 02, 2014 10:28 pm

Im going to finish these grants and build a maxsec wing to get the 100 prisoners grant and try and get my site value to 300k (260 at mo).

I think that I should then have enough to start from scratch and build a proper entrance way this time round and also have some cash to play with things like road gates and logic circuits this tome round.

Theres some changes I also want to make but it would be too costly to rebuild my current one so easier to start from scratch :)

60hrs on my first prison, quite impressed with myself :)
sebastiannielsen
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Re: Struggling With An Entrance

Postby sebastiannielsen » Thu Oct 02, 2014 10:52 pm

I did instead do Deliveries as a indoor area with a automatic door, inside staff only.
Works really nice.

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