Raiders are shunned in the wasteland and as consequence are usually outnumbered. Luckily though, they also have the ability to play really dirty. Capturing hostages and deploying them as human shields is one just of the underhanded ways of evening the scales.
As mentioned in Devlog #10, after attacking certain settlements or parties, you will capture the odd hostage. These hostages are generally useless to your organization, but others in the wasteland will pay for their release.
Another option exists where you can use them as human shields instead. If outnumbered in battle, feel free to roll out a line of human shields. The enemy will be forced to reluctantly hack and shoot their way through the unfortunate human shields before reaching your raiders.
Depending on how cruel you're feeling, this is just one more tactic to deploy while marauding the wasteland...
