Capturing prisoners and converting enemies
Your captures keep dying because your loadout is built to kill. This is the system that links the shooter to the colony, and it punishes ordinary FPS instincts.
Last verified
· Game build 0.184.0.196275
Why your captures keep dying
Every shooter trains you to remove threats efficiently. This game asks you to leave them alive and then gives you the same arsenal you would use to not do that. Grenades, explosives and heavy kinetic weapons are excellent at ending a fight and terrible at ending it with a prisoner.
The mental switch is that on a capture run, damage is a cost. You want just enough to weaken and no more.
Build a loadout that can take people alive
The game provides special ammunition specifically for capturing enemies rather than killing them. Carry it, and carry something low-damage as a finisher alongside your main weapon.
| Tool | On a capture run |
|---|---|
| Capture ammunition | Bring it. This is the intended answer. |
| Pistols / low-damage weapons | Useful. Fine control over the last slice of health. |
| Bows, knives | Situational. Precise, but slow while a fight is still live. |
| Assault rifles | Fine to weaken. Stop firing earlier than instinct says. |
| Grenades / explosives | Leave them. Area damage will kill the target you are chasing. |
| Heavy kinetic weapons | Leave them. Same problem, more reliably. |
Weapon stat blocks matter here — Shooting Damage is the number to keep low, not the one to maximise. See the weapon database for confirmed stats.
Capture is a commitment, not a prompt
The capture prompt appearing does not mean it is time. Starting a capture puts you stationary and occupied in a fight that is still happening around you. Clear the immediate threat first, then capture. A capture interrupted by an elite behind you costs you the prisoner and usually some health.
Cells before doctrine
Prisoners occupy base capacity. Soldier Management shows captives explicitly tagged
[Captive], and shows a Pending Imprisonment state for people you have taken but
cannot house. Someone in that state is not working, not converting, and not contributing.
The planning rule is simple and people ignore it: capture to your capacity, not to your opportunity. Three processed prisoners beat ten queued ones.
The four paths, and what each one is for
| Path | What you get |
|---|---|
| Fear | Break resistance without spending a conversion. Cheapest, least durable. |
| Indoctrination | The long road to a genuine convert. |
| Execution | A warning to would-be rebels rather than a labour gain. |
| Conversion | The enemy becomes a citizen — and needs a job, gear and a stable social circle. |
Only conversion produces labour. Execution produces a message — the Execution Gallows is a real building with a construction workload of 114 and a 10m × 10m × 15m footprint, and it exists because the game expects you to use deterrence as a tool on the living, not just to dispose of the captured.
After conversion: they are a citizen, with everything that implies
A converted enemy joins the population as an ordinary citizen — same stat lines, same traits, same needs. That means the work is not finished when the conversion is:
- Read their rates. A former soldier with high combat stats is a different asset from a 13/H gatherer. Assign accordingly.
- Read their traits. Conformist is a gift. Faint-hearted under a fear doctrine is a breakdown waiting to happen.
- Give them a stable social position. Citizens chat, argue and try to learn from each other during Social Hours. A convert dropped into a hostile clique is not a stable convert.
- Watch them. If someone's state degrades into a persistent threat, exile is on the table.
Read next
- Loyalty & revolt — What a wave of converts does to stability
- Citizen traits & stats — Every trait with exact wording
- Expeditions — Where the prisoners come from
Frequently asked
How do you capture enemies in Pax Autocratica?
Weaken them first, then capture — and stop using explosives and heavy kinetic weapons on targets you want alive. There is dedicated capture ammunition for exactly this.
Why do my captures keep dying?
Because the damage that weakens a target and the damage that kills it come from the same weapon. Switch to a low-damage or dedicated capture option once a target is low.
What happens to prisoners back at base?
Four paths: break them through fear, indoctrinate them, execute them, or convert them. Only conversion gives you a working citizen.
What does Pending Imprisonment mean?
You captured more people than you have cells for. They sit in a queue, doing nothing for you, until capacity exists.
Are converted enemies as good as normal citizens?
They are ordinary citizens with their own stat lines and traits — including bad ones. A converted enemy with high combat stats is worth protecting; one with Low Energy and Faint-hearted is a liability you chose.