The prisoner system
Defilade’s prisoner system has three confirmed parts:
- Surrender — broken soldiers can give up instead of dying.
- Interrogation — captured soldiers are questioned.
- Live intel — the prisoner can reveal information about you or the enemy.
The developer frames it as a system that changes how a fight ends: not every enemy is killed, and a surrendered enemy is worth something.
Why it matters
- Intel is a resource. A prisoner can tell you where the enemy is, what he is building or where he is weak.
- The Rebels use tunnels. The Rebel faction can build tunnel networks and interrogate prisoners there, which suggests the Rebels get a different interrogation loop.
- It changes target priority. If a squad is broken, capturing the survivors may be better than shooting them.
The exact intel types are not published. We do not know whether interrogation reveals unit positions, building locations, supply routes or the enemy’s next attack.
How to use it
- Break the squad, then capture. A surrendered soldier is intel; a dead one is not.
- Interrogate before you move. The intel is only useful if you can act on it.
- Protect the prisoner. The public material does not say whether the enemy can rescue prisoners, so assume they can try.
- Expect the AI to use it. The rebuilt AI commander remembers where it lost men; a prisoner system fits that design.
The Rebel tunnel loop
The Rebels can build tunnel networks and interrogate prisoners inside them. That suggests:
- tunnels are a Rebel movement and interrogation network;
- the Rebels may get intel faster or in more places;
- destroying a tunnel may be a way to disrupt Rebel intel.
The exact rules are not published. We will test the Rebel side in the demo if it is playable.
What we still need
- what intel a prisoner gives;
- how long interrogation takes;
- whether prisoners can be rescued or recaptured;
- whether the player can execute prisoners;
- how the Rebel tunnel interrogation differs.
We will update this page after the December 1 demo.