Introduction
RimWorld is a complex and highly engaging colony simulation game that challenges players to manage a group of colonists stranded on a distant planet. With its deep mechanics and unpredictable events, the game offers endless possibilities for storytelling and strategy. However, new players often find themselves overwhelmed by the game’s intricacies. From managing resources and ensuring the well-being of your colonists to defending against raids and environmental threats, building a thriving colony in RimWorld requires careful planning and adaptability. This guide will walk you through the essential steps to build and manage a successful colony, ensuring your survival and prosperity in this unforgiving world.
1. Starting Your Colony: Choosing the Right Scenario and Landing Site
Picking a Scenario
The first step in RimWorld is selecting your starting scenario. The game offers several preset scenarios, such as “Crashlanded,” “Rich Explorer,” and “Tribe,” each with its own unique challenges and advantages. For beginners, the “Crashlanded” scenario is recommended, as it provides a balanced start with three colonists, basic resources, and some starting equipment.
Choosing a Landing Site
Once you’ve chosen your scenario, you’ll need to select a landing site on the planet’s surface. The location you choose will have a significant impact on your colony’s development. Factors to consider include the biome (temperate forest, desert, tundra, etc.), temperature range, growing seasons, and proximity to resources like mountains and rivers. A temperate forest is generally a good choice for new players, as it offers a balanced environment with moderate weather and abundant resources.
Understanding Biomes
Each biome in RimWorld presents different challenges and opportunities. For example, deserts have limited plant life and water but offer easy access to minerals, while tundras have short growing seasons and harsh winters but may offer more isolation from enemies. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your chosen biome will help you better plan your colony’s strategy.
2. Selecting and Managing Your Colonists
Choosing Your Colonists
Before starting your colony, you’ll need to choose your colonists. Each colonist comes with a set of skills, traits, and background stories that influence their abilities and behavior. Look for colonists with high skills in key areas like construction, medicine, and growing, as these will be vital for your colony’s early survival. Additionally, consider their traits—some can be beneficial (e.g., “Industrious,” “Sanguine”), while others may pose challenges (e.g., “Pyromaniac,” “Depressive”).
Balancing Skills and Traits
A well-balanced group of colonists is essential for a successful start. Ensure that your team covers a wide range of skills, with at least one colonist specializing in construction, growing, and medicine. Traits can also impact your colony’s dynamics, so be mindful of potential conflicts between colonists. For example, a “Night Owl” colonist will prefer working at night, which can be an advantage or a challenge depending on your colony’s needs.
Managing Colonist Work Priorities
Once your colonists are selected, you’ll need to manage their work priorities. Use the Work tab to assign tasks based on each colonist’s skills and preferences. It’s important to balance tasks so that essential jobs like food production and construction are always covered, while also ensuring that no colonist is overworked.
3. Establishing Your First Base: Construction and Layout
Building the Basics
Your first priority upon landing is to establish a basic shelter for your colonists. Start by constructing a simple building with wooden or stone walls, and include enough beds for each colonist. You’ll also need to build a stockpile zone to store your resources and a kitchen area to prepare food.
Planning Your Base Layout
As your colony grows, planning an efficient base layout becomes increasingly important. Group related structures together, such as keeping your kitchen close to your dining area and food storage. Consider future expansion when laying out your base to ensure you have space for additional rooms, workshops, and defensive structures.
Defending Your Base
Security should be a priority from the start. Build basic defenses like sandbags or walls around your base’s perimeter to protect against raids. As you progress, consider more advanced defensive measures like turrets and traps. Placing these defenses strategically will help keep your colonists safe from enemy attacks.
4. Managing Resources: Food, Medicine, and Materials
Securing Food Supplies
Food is a critical resource in RimWorld, and ensuring a stable supply is essential for your colony’s survival. Start by planting crops in fertile soil areas and hunting local wildlife for meat. As your colony grows, you can expand your farming operations and build hydroponic basins for year-round crop production.
Managing Medicine
Medicine is another vital resource, especially when dealing with injuries, illnesses, and infections. Early on, prioritize growing herbal medicine by planting healroot (if your biome allows). Later, you can produce more advanced medicines in a drug lab. Always keep a stockpile of medicine on hand, as medical emergencies can arise unexpectedly.
Gathering and Producing Materials
Materials like wood, steel, and components are essential for building and maintaining your colony. Gather these resources from your surroundings, and as your colony progresses, set up production facilities like stonecutting tables and smelters to produce more advanced materials. Managing your resources efficiently will ensure your colony can continue to grow and adapt to new challenges.
5. Ensuring Colonist Well-Being: Mood, Health, and Relationships
Maintaining Colonist Mood
In RimWorld, colonist mood is influenced by a variety of factors, including their environment, relationships, and physical health. To keep your colonists happy, ensure they have comfortable living quarters, access to recreation, and a varied diet. Building beautiful spaces with art and decorations can also improve mood and prevent mental breaks.
Monitoring Health
Regularly check your colonists’ health status in the Health tab. Address injuries and illnesses promptly by providing medical care in a clean, well-equipped hospital room. Preventative measures, such as vaccinations (once researched) and proper hygiene, can reduce the risk of disease outbreaks.
Fostering Relationships
Colonists in RimWorld form relationships with each other, which can have a significant impact on your colony’s dynamics. Positive relationships lead to mood boosts, while conflicts can cause fights and lower productivity. Encourage good relationships by assigning social colonists to roles like Warden or crafting activities that foster interactions, such as dining together.
6. Research and Technology: Advancing Your Colony
Setting Up a Research Bench
Research is key to unlocking new technologies and improving your colony’s capabilities. Build a research bench early on, and assign a colonist with a high Intellectual skill to focus on research tasks. Prioritize research projects that will address your colony’s immediate needs, such as electricity, advanced medicine, or defensive technologies.
Choosing Research Priorities
As you progress, you’ll need to carefully choose which technologies to research based on your colony’s needs. For example, if you’re facing frequent raids, prioritize researching advanced weapons and turrets. If you’re struggling with food production, focus on hydroponics and refrigeration. Balancing your research goals with your colony’s growth is crucial for long-term success.
Upgrading Infrastructure
Researching and unlocking new technologies allows you to upgrade your colony’s infrastructure. This includes building power grids, automated production facilities, and more efficient heating and cooling systems. Continuously improving your infrastructure will help your colony thrive and better withstand the challenges of the RimWorld environment.
7. Dealing with Threats: Raiders, Wildlife, and Environmental Hazards
Preparing for Raids
Raids are one of the most common threats in RimWorld, and they can range from small groups of poorly armed enemies to large, well-equipped forces. Preparing for raids involves building strong defenses, training your colonists in combat, and strategically placing traps and turrets around your base.
Handling Wildlife and Environmental Threats
In addition to raids, your colony will face threats from wildlife and environmental events, such as manhunter packs, toxic fallout, and wildfires. Each of these threats requires different strategies to mitigate. For example, manhunter packs can be lured into traps or locked out of your base, while toxic fallout necessitates staying indoors and filtering the air.
Managing Mental Breaks
Under the stress of constant threats, your colonists may experience mental breaks, leading them to act irrationally or violently. To prevent this, maintain high mood levels by addressing colonists’ needs and providing ample recreation. If a mental break does occur, ensure you have non-lethal methods to subdue the affected colonist, such as using melee weapons or fists.
8. Expanding Your Colony: Growth and Trade
Recruiting New Colonists
As your colony grows, you’ll have opportunities to recruit new colonists through rescue missions, capturing and converting prisoners, or accepting wanderers who join your colony. Carefully assess potential recruits for their skills and traits to ensure they will contribute positively to your colony.
Establishing Trade Routes
Trade is an essential part of expanding your colony’s wealth and resources. Build a comms console and orbital trade beacon to engage in trade with passing ships, or establish caravan routes to nearby settlements. Trading allows you to acquire rare resources, sell surplus goods, and form alliances with other factions.
Building Multiple Bases
Once your colony is stable, consider expanding by building additional bases in different biomes. This allows you to access new resources and trade opportunities. Managing multiple bases requires careful planning and resource allocation, but it can greatly increase your colony’s power and influence in the RimWorld world.
9. Endgame Goals: Building a Spaceship or Conquering the World
Constructing a Spaceship
One of the primary endgame goals in RimWorld is constructing a spaceship to escape the planet. This requires researching advanced technologies, gathering rare resources, and building the necessary components, such as the ship’s reactor, engines, and cryosleep caskets. Once the ship is ready, you’ll need to defend it against waves of enemies until you can launch.
Conquering the World
Alternatively, you can choose to conquer the world by defeating other factions and establishing your colony as the dominant power on the planet. This requires building a powerful military, forming strategic alliances, and launching attacks on enemy bases. Conquering the world is a challenging but rewarding goal that allows you to fully explore the combat and strategy aspects of RimWorld.
Achieving Colony Wealth
Another endgame goal is achieving high colony wealth, which can be accomplished through trade, resource accumulation, and building luxurious living spaces. Wealth is a measure of your colony’s success, but it also attracts stronger enemies, so be prepared to defend your riches.
10. Conclusion
Mastering *RimWorld* Through Strategic Planning
Building and managing a thriving colony in RimWorld is a complex and rewarding experience that requires careful planning, adaptability, and strategic thinking. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you’ll be well-equipped to navigate the challenges of RimWorld and create a prosperous colony that can withstand the test of time.
Continued Exploration and Adaptation
RimWorld offers endless possibilities for growth, exploration, and storytelling. As you continue to play, you’ll encounter new challenges and opportunities that will test your skills and creativity. Embrace the unpredictability of the game, and don’t be afraid to experiment with different strategies and playstyles.
Encouragement for New Players
For new players, the learning curve in RimWorld can be steep, but with practice and perseverance, you’ll find that the game’s complexity is what makes it so engaging. Take your time to learn the mechanics, experiment with different scenarios, and most importantly, enjoy the journey. RimWorld is a game where every decision matters, and your colony’s story is yours to shape.
