Slave Recruits

Aside from speaking to characters in bars and specific outposts, the player is also able to recruit by buying or rescuing slaves.

A slave in her cage, ready to be bought.

Buying Slaves

Mostly in United Cities territory, the player is able to purchase slaves from the slave store. The purchase is done in a similar way as with buying animals. Slaves can either immediately join the player after being freed or hang around for a while as "allies" before deciding to do so. However, unlike with animals, there is a chance of the slave abandoning the player immediately after purchase, or after some time of traveling together. This chance is lower with "stock" slaves found at the beginning of the game. Anyone found to be enslaved as part of the "living world" has a lesser chance to join the player.

There's a way to recruit some of the non-recruitable characters by "buying their freedom" after they are enslaved. The irony of this method is in that it is the player that puts them into this terrible situation and then "rescues" them. Players should pick up unconscious characters, travel to the slavers, and then drop them down in front of the slavers so that they'd enslave them. After it is done, it is safe to "rescue" the new slaves by buying their freedom. Provided that the player characters are not seen by the new slaves prior to them suddenly appearing in a slave cage and with a headache, they will feel grateful towards the player. Upon being freed, some former slaves will join the player's party as a form of gratitude. This strategy has been tested on Holy Nation Robots for example.

Menu when buying slaves.

Rescuing Slaves

The player may attempt to rescue slaves by unlocking their cages and shackles. Once successful, the freed slave may follow the player for some time and then join or abandon the player after some distance. On the map these slaves will be displayed as a green "ally" dot similar to bodyguards and ally reinforcements for Events.

Slaves may sometimes be found wandering the map with their masters. This is true with Noble Hunters and Reaver bands, the latter owning a special type of slave known as a Reaver Slave. Freeing these slaves can also lead to potential recruitment, however one will most likely need to fight both the squad and the slaves themselves first, as their handlers can and will order these slaves to attack the player. This is always true for Reaver Slaves, as their masters must be defeated in order for them to be recruited.

Some sources (here and here) indicate, that:

• Characters with Strength, Dexterity, Melee Attack, Melee Defence, Martial Arts, or Dodge above level 25, and the cumulative total of those stats equals 75 or higher, cannot be recruited. If they have 25 or lower on those stats, they can be recruited despite the cumulative total. And if they have more than 25 on any of those stats, they can be recruited if the cumulative total is less than 75. (In FCS this condition is named DC_IS_RECRUITABLE.)
• Characters sold into slavery or placed into cages by the player can not be recruited via liberation.
• Characters of certain "classes" (internal game classification of NPCs) can not be recruited via liberation, namely Diplomats, Law Enforcement, Military and Traders.
• Characters which were fought by the player may have difficulty at being recruited.
• It is possible to recruit a character via liberation after performing Assasination KO on it.
• Chance of recruitment depends of character's "personality" (another internal game classification of NPCs), with some personalities being unrecruitable.
  • If liberated, Dumb or Fearful slaves will prefer staying in their cages.
  • If liberated, Brave and Traitorous slaves will run away.
  • If liberated, Honorable and Smart slaves will follow the player and may join.
  • A bug currently causes Maniacal slaves to have a positive reaction to freedom, but still stay in their cages similar to Dumb or Fearful slaves.
  • Traitorous slaves will always run away when bought.

• Some characters can not be recruited (ever, even if they would pass DC_IS_RECRUITABLE check) due to not being assigned a dialogue package, or due to being assigned a dialogue package without recruitment possibilities.

Dialogue definitions in FCS also have related dialogues defined "for enemies = false", so if the character is enemy, recruitment would seem to be impossible. Making character non-enemy may involve allying with character's faction or allying with the character personally, and may involve saving and loading the game. Usually unlocking character's shackles, cage or buying him from slavery marks the character as "temporary ally", which is sufficient for dialogues to trigger.

Locations

Slaves can be found and rescued or purchased from these locations:

• Eyesocket
• Port North

• Port South
• Slave Farm
• Slave Farm South
• Slave Markets
• South Stone Camp
• Stone Camp
• Any United City that spawns a Slave Shop.

The Holy Nation enslaves many characters for religious purposes and because of this they do not sell slaves to players. Slaves can be found and rescued from these locations:

• Holy Mines
• Rebirth

Characters imprisoned by police will likely also ally with players if they are freed from their cage and shackles. Due to this, there is a potential of recruiting characters this way from any Major Town.