How To Recruit Prisoners In Rimworld

Recruiting prisoners is one of the most effective ways to grow your colony in Rimworld. By assigning a skilled warden to interact with your captives, you can gradually reduce their resistance and convert them into loyal colonists. This guide walks you through the entire recruitment process, from setting up your prison to managing prisoner morale for faster recruitment success.

Accessing the Prisoner Recruitment Tab

To begin recruiting a prisoner, click on the prisoner to select them. You’ll notice a prisoner tab appears in the interface with several options for managing that captive.

From this tab, you can choose different management strategies. You have the option to simply maintain the prisoner—providing food and basic needs without attempting recruitment. However, the recruitment option is what you’ll want to select to convert them into a colonist.

Understanding the Recruit Option

When you select the “Recruit” option, wardens in your colony will attempt to convince the prisoner to join your settlement. If the prisoner still has resistance remaining, your wardens will speak to them to reduce it. The recruitment process is essentially a manipulation mechanic where your wardens use their social skills to persuade the captive.

Setting Up Your Warden

For recruitment to work effectively, you need to assign a warden. Navigate to the Work tab and designate which colonist should serve as the warden. This is crucial because your warden’s social skill directly impacts their effectiveness at recruiting prisoners. Choose someone with a high social skill, as they’re more persuasive during interactions.

In the work priorities, you can set your warden’s tasks. Assign them to manage, feed, and chat with—and recruit—prisoners. In this example, Afonais is set as the number two priority for prisoner management and recruitment duties.

Monitoring Resistance Reduction

Once your warden is assigned, you can right-click on the prisoner to see them in action. The warden will begin talking to the prisoner, and you’ll notice their resistance value decreasing over time. Each interaction chips away at the prisoner’s resistance—the lower it gets, the closer they are to recruitment.

For example, after a warden finishes speaking with a prisoner, their resistance might drop from 10 to 9.8. This might seem like a small decrease, but with consistent interaction, the resistance will eventually reach zero, resulting in successful recruitment.

Improving Recruitment Speed Through Morale

A critical factor in faster recruitment is the prisoner’s mood. If your captive has low mood, their recruitment will be significantly less effective. The warden’s persuasion attempts won’t work as efficiently on unhappy prisoners.

To speed up the recruitment process, invest in creating a comfortable prison. Provide nice furniture, good food, and a clean environment. When prisoners are well-fed, comfortable, and content, their resistance decreases much more quickly. This upfront investment in prison quality pays off by reducing the total time needed to recruit them into your colony.

Summary

Recruiting prisoners in Rimworld is a straightforward process: assign a high-social-skill warden to interact with your captives, monitor their resistance through the prisoner tab, and improve results by maintaining good prison conditions and morale. With patience and proper warden assignment, you’ll successfully convert prisoners into productive colonists. Remember that a well-treated prisoner is a quicker recruit, so don’t neglect your prison’s quality.

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