How bad do you want out of prison?....

[ceo5891492]

Hypothetical scenario:

I've got the heir to the Duchy of Whatever in my prison. He's a good lad. Nice stats. Bright future. Good stuff. But all I can do with him is ransom him off for 50 gold, gain a weak hook on his father, or (maybe) recruit him to my court assuming he isn't landed himself. But this kid is in my prison! How bad does dear ol' dad want him back? I'd love to see some more options for negotiating release.

Maybe a condition of release is that I can't just recruit him but that I'm allowed to educate him and convert his religion or culture. Maybe I've got an equally suitable daughter that would make a great matrilineal wife to secure that territory for future generations of my dynasty. Maybe his liege has a prisoner that I'd like to swap for to secure some warscore or a mutual release so that I can get a powerful knight back onto the battlefield. There are LOTS of reasons to release a prisoner beyond just getting gold or some abstract weak favor that could create a ton of roleplay depth to the game, and I'd like to see it. At the absolute minimum, options to force a marriage or a prisoner exchange should be on the table.

 

[ceo5891492]

Side note: The force marriage option makes captured daughters more of a prize if marrying them into your family gives your dynasty a claim to the rival's titles down the line.

 

[Juncoril]

I believe all the interactions you mentioned are in game terms considered by the hook. By getting a hook on them for releasing the prisoner, you can then ask for all the other things you're asking. Maybe a better suggestion would be to have different hooks power so that releasing a heir gives you a lot of leeway ?

 

[Blk82]

I believe that is a game-balance thing, so you can't demand 1000 gold from a mayor, just because the mayor has a bunch of gold and wants out of prison.