Overview
Can’t seem to escape Center Perks, but don’t want to spoil your experience with a walkthrough? Never fear! This is the spoiler-free guide of tips and tricks that you normally learn the hard way at Center Perks. This walkthrough is written so that you can come up with your escape plan all on your own. While exteremely helpful, walkthroughs can take the fun element away from your experience. It’s not nearly as rewarding to escape using a walkthrough as it is to do it all by yourself. However, The Escapists is a game that almost ALL players have to do some researching on, so don’t worry if you feel like a useless lump of flesh sitting in Center Perks on day 30. I’m here to help you learn the tips and tricks of this game the easy way.
Know Your Prison
It is very critical to know your prison: Know it’s weak points and where it’s defenses are the thinnest. Know it’s schedule and what happens when. Plan your escape accordingly. Know the layout of the prison, and where you can and can’t go. With this knowledge, prison life and escaping will become much easier.
Here’s a map of Center Perks, if that’s what you need.
Have a Specific Plan
One of the biggest issues that new players have is that they get a ton of stuff, but don’t really have a plan to use it. They have plans, but havent thought them through enough. They haven’t taken the time to plan an actual route out of the prison with an actual plan. If you have a pair of cutters, and you say, “I’m going to cut the fence and escape,” you need to rethink. When are you going to escape? How are you going to keep the guards from noticing your not in your cell after lights out? How are you going to get out of your cell after light’s out? How are you going to get outside to get to the fence? What if you get fatigued? What if a guard finds a hole in a wall or fence? Are your tools strong enough? If you don’t have a good answer to those questions, then you might want to do some homework.
It might seem a little crazy, but having a written plan somewhere helps. On it, inventory everything you need, and then write a detailed step by step plan of how your going to escape. Include where and when your steps for escaping take place, and your plan to store contraband (tips in the next section). Make sure you revise the plan if it doesn’t wind up working. It’s also good to have a plan B, just in case you can’t get what you need for plan A.
Manage Your Stuff
If you have too much stuff, you will have trouble keeping track of it all, I guarantee it. This is especially true for contraband. If you accidentally leave one contraband item in your desk and you get searched, thats a three day stay in solitary. Not only will all of your contraband be confiscated, but your stats (strength, speed, intellect) Will go down. The combination of them can delay your escape many days, as well as make it hard to replace confiscated items. That can simply be the result of poor item management. Here’s a few steps to solve that problem.
1. Take Only What you Need
Having a clutter of useless junk in your desk is the worst problem that some new players have. While it might be tempting to swipe Rolando’s deluxe roll of toilet paper (believe me, I know it’s tempting) don’t do it unless you absolutly need it for your plan to escape (you probably don’t). If you avoid storing useless crap in your desk, theres more space for usefull things in there.
2. Storing Contraband.
Contraband can be your best friend, or it can ruin your entire day. Storing contraband in your desk is not a good idea. While conveniently accesible to you, it is also conveniently accessibe to guards during shakedown or even other prisoners. Keep it too a minimum until you can find other places to keep it. A hole in the ground, behind a wall, or in vents are all good places, as long as you do a good job keeping holes covered up. That way you wont need to sweat it every time you score a shakedown.
3. Don’t Carry it With You.
If you have contraband, and you get knocked unconscious, it will all be confiscated. It’s a good idea to keep your inventory clear for two reasons; just in case you get knocked out, you wont lose your stuff, and you can do things like jobs and looting more efficiently. It also is helpful if you have to deal with contraband detectors throughout the day. If you have excess contraband, disposing of it is very important. The best ways to do this are by giving them to other prisoners, either by putting them in their desks or giving them as gifts (contraband make great gifts and will help raise other people’s opinion), or by flushing them down the toilet. You must be careful if you decide to use a toilet though, because if they flood, it will get a guard’s attention and they will try to fix the toilet. Whatever is inside the toilet won’t dissapear and can be found by guards, which is instant solitary. Toilets also have a recharge period, so use them wisley.
Have Some Friends
Having some people that repect you in the prison is important; they wont snitch on you, will sell you items at a lower price and can be recruited to assist in beatdowns and prison takeovers. Have two or three people that you make a priority to get their opinion up. Do their favors first and never do anything against them. This is more important in some prisons where you share a cell with one or more prisoners. If most prisoners are all gathered in one place for role call, showers, meals, etc., then talk to all of them to get your opinion up a few points. Not only is it important to have prisoners who respect you, but have guards that have decent opinions about you too. If a prisoner or guards opinion of you is low enough, they will randomly lash out and attack you. Guards also will take down posters if they really don’t like you, so try to stay on people’s good side.
Be Superior To Other Prisoners
Having good strength and speed will be very helpful during prison life. If you ned to do someone a favor and it involves beating someone down, those stats will make it a walk in the park (also having a decent weapon in necessary). If you ever get into a scrap with someone, those stats boost your chance of winning a fight. If you ever wind up in the crosshairs of a tower guard, high strength will make you able to take more shots, giving you time to find cover. A high intellect is useful if you need to apply for jobs or craft complex items. If you are the biggest, baddest, and smartest guy in the prison, life and escaping becomes much easier. You shouldn’t be trapped with them; they should be trapped with you.