Alright, I’ve been poking around the early game, and I have a stupid question. How do you catch slaves in Conquest? Can’t seem to bring ropes along with me on expeditions. Am I expected to buy all my slaves?  One of my favorite features in the first game was supplying all my slaves free-range.

You can only capture specific slaves, usually at the end of bandit-type dungeons.

Bandit dens and outposts always guarantee one slave similar to those appearing in the slave market, additional slaves can be gotten from the random free a prisoner event in these dungeons as well.  Goblins can be can captured from a random event in the goblin dens.  Fairies and I think dryads can be recruited or captured from a random event in groves and I think it also spawns in ancient jungles but I'm not sure.  Ancient jungles also host the elven ambush random event which gives you a captured elf or wild elf.  I don't think I've ever gotten a dark elf from one of those.

All ways to get new slaves in current version, not counting unique chars:

Guilds: Only common races.

Slave Market: Mostly common races with occasional rare.

Exotic Trader(every other week): Rare and Monster races. (no orcs/beastkin)

Bandit Den/Fort Beaten: 25% to get person of random race (anything goes) otherwise common local races.

Bandit Den/Fort Prisoner: Same as above just 10% chance, or 15%?

Goblin event in goblin den.

Fairy event in grove.

Tribal elf ambush event in jungle.

Notably you can only get orcs/beastkin races from the Bandit Den/Fort. They cannot generate anywhere else in 0.6.0b