Caravans in the wasteland aren’t always just carrying resources – sometimes their cargo is human.
Specialists
Some of those people may be valuable to your organization, folks like carpenters, engineers, armorsmiths, chemists, coopers, scribes, jesters, scavengers, smelters, brewers, and more.
Specialists provide bonuses, unlock buildings for construction in your hideout, and more.
Once you capture one of these individuals, they will be pressed into service, applying their trade in earnest.
Hostages
Some caravans will be carrying VIPs instead.
Knocking off one of these caravans will yield a VIP – however, unlike specialists and tradesmen, these so-called “important” people to the settlements of the wasteland are useless to your own organization, so you can take them hostage instead.
The settlements will pay dearly for their release, depending on their importance.
Your options are to either ransom them (for chips), execute them (for fear), or butcher them (for meat). If you’re of the kinder disposition, you can also free them without ransom for a drop in infamy.
Laborers
General laborers are also valuable. No settlement will pay for their release and they aren’t as important as specialized tradesmen, but they still serve a purpose. You can obtain workers from raids, from demands, and from slavers.
The more workers you have in your hideout, the faster things are built. Workers can also be assigned to buildings to increase their efficiency.
So go forth an plunder – resources and money aren’t the only thing you can steal!