Chains of Ash

A captivity system for Ascent of Ashes. Subdue and capture downed or wounded enemies, confine them in a cell you have walled, and assign wardens to feed and work them. Wear a prisoner's resistance down over days to recruit them — or coerce them for information at a cost. Prisoners who are well enough and poorly contained will arm themselves and run for the map edge.

• Capture. A downed enemy can be taken automatically; one who is standing but wounded can be subdued on a roll — and if it fails, they turn on your colonist. Capture is physical: a colonist has to reach them, so a wall really stops it. • Confinement. A prisoner is held to their cell and paces it; furniture, doors and breaches are all handled so they never wander out or clip through a wall. Breach the wall and containment ends. • Wardens. Assign the Warden work type; wardens carry food to a healthy prisoner or hand-feed a downed one, and work down resistance over days. A prison costs warden-hours — neglect one and it starves. • Coercion. Interrogate or torture for the game's own intel, at the price of trauma that makes a warden's work worth less. Cruelty and neglect are charged for separately. • Escape. A prisoner who is up and not properly contained arms themselves, fights what is in the way, and despawns at the border — gone for good, or recapturable if you put them down.