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[LoamEater]

My baron's son was abducted several years ago, and since then I've sent some militia squads to try and rescue him with no success. Is there a time limit on when you're supposed to rescue kidnapped kids before they're completely brainwashed and absorbed into their army? He was only about 4 years old, so I don't think he can even be added to an invasion squad, since I've never seen one with kids in it. Will he just stew in there for the next ~10 years, giving me time to rescue him, or is it safe to say he's already too far gone? I'm not even sure if the rescue missions work at this point, since the militia's reports are always completely empty when I try.

[Loam]

I'm fairly sure "Rescue" missions don't work, as I've had the same thing happen - squads will leave, then immediately return without having done anything.

However, I have successfully rescued a snatched child before, by pillaging the site with the "free prisoners of your civilization" option turned on. Possibly this only works if the raid kills all of the site defenders. Also not sure if it works on a normal "raid" (i.e. sneak in unnoticed) mission, but it'd be worth a try.

I don't think snatched children will join a goblin civ until they've grown up, and I'm not sure it happens at all during gameplay (perhaps only in worldgen). But a child might adopt some goblin values during their stay, while remaining a member of your civ. I can't remember what happened to the kid I rescued; I think he was fine and normal, and that after a few years of captivity.

[Telgin]

I've had the same experience.  Rescue missions seem to do nothing, but sending a raid worked to free them on the first try.  I don't think my raid killed all of the defenders, but I'm not sure how much info the game gives on that so I may just have assumed so since the site still had some population left.

[LoamEater]

I'm fairly sure "Rescue" missions don't work, as I've had the same thing happen - squads will leave, then immediately return without having done anything.

However, I have successfully rescued a snatched child before, by pillaging the site with the "free prisoners of your civilization" option turned on. Possibly this only works if the raid kills all of the site defenders. Also not sure if it works on a normal "raid" (i.e. sneak in unnoticed) mission, but it'd be worth a try.

I don't think snatched children will join a goblin civ until they've grown up, and I'm not sure it happens at all during gameplay (perhaps only in worldgen). But a child might adopt some goblin values during their stay, while remaining a member of your civ. I can't remember what happened to the kid I rescued; I think he was fine and normal, and that after a few years of captivity.

Hmmmm I'll have to try normally raiding the settlement a shot, although it might be a while before I can actually drag the kid back over. The goblin fortress in question is about ~2000 strong with a lot of stolen artifacts in its treasury. If what I imagine is correct and the kid is just treated as another "item" to be looted, it could be that the kid has the same priority level as anything else, so who knows how long it'll take before the dwarves decide to take him during a raid. I'd love to check and see if he's picked up any goblin characteristics, that'd make for a really cool story!