Rimworld PRO TIPS

[Sugar Show]

This thread is exclusively for share knowledge about the Rim

Pro tip:
Psychic shock lances are useful to stop pawns to commit stupid death actions, carry always one. Lances works in animals too, can be used to stop dangerous animals without major problem or turn them against the enemies.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1912634903


What is your pro tip?

[M.K.]

Zones. They are more powerful than you think.
You don't need to train attack animals, just herd em around with zones.

Got two pawns that bicker and fight? Zone em to separate subsections of your base.

Chickens drinking your beer? zones!

Animals being savaged during raids? Zone em to safehouse.

Wounded, and won't make it to the hospital? slap a med spot on the ground and... zone the hospital invisible to that pawn.

Time to milk your cows and your handler is wasting time running after them? Zones!

Builder keeps on working on the wrong project? Zones!

etc.

[ambi]

Use berries as travel rations. They last longer than normal meals and are easy to grow.

[AlP]

Originally posted by Captain Kaivarian:

Use berries as travel rations. They last longer than normal meals and are easy to grow.

And cause food poisoning.

[M.K.]

Originally posted by Captain Kaivarian:

Use berries as travel rations. They last longer than normal meals and are easy to grow.

Inferior to raw rice or corn in every way except that they don't generate the trivial "ate raw food" penalty.
Berries spoil quicker and are harder to grow than rice or corn. Berries cause food poisoning.
Berries are a bad idea!

[GeneralVeers]

Keep romantically-involved and married couples (or pawns you want to get cuddly with each other!) together as much as possible. Have them do similar work so they aren't always apart.

Relationships decay naturally over time; they need to be within chatting distance, so they can get relationship points for chit-chat, deep talk, and kind words.

I found it handy to put two stonecutting benches next to each other in the workshop; if I can't find other ways for involved pawns to get "sweet nothings" time, I can have them make bricks together. Keeps them blabbing to each other so they don't break up or get divorced.

(this is a constant problem for my lead researcher; she's ALWAYS in the lab, doing researchey things, and her hubby is an idiot and is therefore never in the lab, so every now and then i need them to head to the shop and spend a day turning big rocks into smaller ones)

[Marva]

When exporting goods with a short life cycle, or if mass isn't giving you trouble, it can be beneficial to create an outpost part of the way to the export destination.

Split the animals and let your trader handle the last leg of the route. Let the actual gathering of goods be handled by your dedicated haulers. Have all but one pawn leave that party early and return to the base. Have this party meet up with the trader's party at the outpost, and have it take the silver you received from the last trade. Remember to decide the distance to the outpost based on the amount of time it takes for both parties to complete their roles, and the amount of time it takes for the crop to expire.

If you have the Hospitality mod, you can develop the outpost into a Caravansary. Add beds for guests, charge a small amount for them to stay there, and leave difficult-to-sell goods on shelves in shopping zones. Ensure they enjoy their stay, and try to always have people coming through there. Make it self-sufficient, and leave food stocked in refrigerators there.

If it grows large enough, you can make it your main base, and change the old one to a more specialized base.

Desert tiles are great for travel. They barely take a moment to move through. Especially so if you have the Giddy-up mod for caravans.

[Marva]

Also, to maximize the amount of work you get done in a day, set up stockpiles with reagents near crafting tables, and have your bills set to "Drop on Floor". Keep one colonist or a few animals busy with hauling (depending on what you want your floors to look like during the day), and allow it/them to move the crafted materials where they need to go, rather than having your craftsmen do it.

[cinless]

colony wealth is important for more reasons than just being able to buy stuff. as wealth goes up, your colonists expectations rise until they eventually completely lose the low expectations mood buff, and one of the many factors that determine the difficulty of a raid is the wealth of your colony.

on a related note, cassandra is a more challenging storyteller in the long run than randy. randy's sometimes complete lack of chill and willingness to just throw three raids in a row at you may seem pretty intense, but it is nothing compared to the brutality of lategame cassandra.
randy stays the same (relatively speaking), the game gets harder as you get more colonists and wealth, but there's no other factors involved (to my knowledge)
cassandra doesn't care how you're doing. she respects wealth and population, sure, but she also wants the game to get harder the longer it runs, and there's no limit to how brutal she can get.

ultimately if you want to play rimworld as a game with a definite ending, where you either fail or your colonists manage to escape on a ship, cassandra is good, but if you want the game to just go, with no definite end point, randy is a better option

[Marva]

Originally posted by cinless:

colony wealth is important for more reasons than just being able to buy stuff. as wealth goes up, your colonists expectations rise until they eventually completely lose the low expectations mood buff, and one of the many factors that determine the difficulty of a raid is the wealth of your colony.

on a related note, cassandra is a more challenging storyteller in the long run than randy. randy's sometimes complete lack of chill and willingness to just throw three raids in a row at you may seem pretty intense, but it is nothing compared to the brutality of lategame cassandra.
randy stays the same (relatively speaking), the game gets harder as you get more colonists and wealth, but there's no other factors involved (to my knowledge)
cassandra doesn't care how you're doing. she respects wealth and population, sure, but she also wants the game to get harder the longer it runs, and there's no limit to how brutal she can get.

ultimately if you want to play rimworld as a game with a definite ending, where you either fail or your colonists manage to escape on a ship, cassandra is good, but if you want the game to just go, with no definite end point, randy is a better option

Note on that: As your colony's wealth goes up, the creatures that spawn near you become both more numerous and more aggressive. I live in an extreme desert biome, but have to routinely cull the cougar population if my colony ever gets rich. Still looking for a way to turn this off.

[Zar Shef]

Always make local mods copies after you sorted your mods to playable condition. Yesterday I forgot to do this and now I can't play because of updates

[Marva]

Originally posted by Zar Shef:

Always make local mods copies after you sorted your mods to playable condition. Yesterday I forgot to do this and now I can't play because of updates :usec_crying:

Mod updates are the most emotionally painful topic you'll encounter in Rimworld.

The creator of one of my favorite mods got conscripted, and still has yet to return.

[Creperator]

Don't forget that Cleaniness affects research time. Always clean up laboratories, and use sterile tiles in them.If the cleaniness is 0.6 (the vanilla max iirc), then you have your research multiplied by 1.09, which sounds small, but never forget that all the bonuses stacks.

[Marva]

Originally posted by Creperator:

Don't forget that Cleaniness affects research time. Always clean up laboratories, and use sterile tiles in them.If the cleaniness is 0.6 (the vanilla max iirc), then you have your research multiplied by 1.09, which sounds small, but never forget that all the bonuses stacks.

I've been playing Rimworld for 1,470 hours. I never knew this.

[Morkonan]

A defensive position without a secure line of retreat is where you have planned to die. Build a wall behind your defensive position to block the enemy's line-of-sight so retreating pawns can't be targeted.

Always build at least three batteries connected to your power network via a Switch as a "Backup Battery Bank" in case you get a Zzzt event that discharges all connected batteries in your network. Keep the batteries charged, but Switch them off when they are not needed.

Use a battery and turret(s) as a mobile gun emplacement for battling against "Crashed Ship" events. Go ahead and place it fairly close as it will draw fire from Mechanoids, leaving your pawns free to snipe at the most dangerous ones. Several turrets can take down a good many Mechanoids if assisted by decent shooters and EMP Grenades/Mortars.

Pay attention to the "Stopping Power" of weapons when determining the makeup of your firing line. LMGs, Bolt Action Rifles, and Shotguns have excellent Stopping Power, which will cause advancing enemies to "stagger/pause" allowing for more time for them to be a target and less as an active threat. Shotguns aren't ideal for this due to range, of course. But, they're deadly at close range and excellent for "door busting" when attacking enemy camps. (Incidentally, hanguns/pistols/revolvers/whateverthey'recalledthesedays have good stopping power, too.)

Better Quality ranged weapons are... better. Quality Level is A Big Deal ™ for ranged weapons. Never compromise on quality. Never. Better quality means better accuracy, damage, and armor penetration.

Don't bother making Kibble as general food for low-wildness hauling animals like Huskies/Retrievers. Plan on feeding them Meals unless you have an excellent reliable supply of corpses.

Start growing Devilstrand as soon as possible. Devilstrand Dusters are a renewable value-added piece of clothing.

Do not bother with growing Corn until you can sustain your Meal needs with Rice and Potatoes. Then, plant a new Grow Zone with Corn. By the time it matures, you should likely have additional pawns that have joined that are pushing your current Meal prep capabilities.

Muffalos are the best animal to tame and raise. They produce Milk, Wool, and make excellent pack animals. They can also Graze, which means they will feed themselves at home and on caravan in suitable biomes where Long Grass can grow.

Raising Chickens as a dependable source for eggs (A meat source for Fine/Lavish Meals) is a labor and resource-intensive operation that must be micromanaged, often requiring more attention and effort than it is worth.

Firefoam Poppers can be relocated and do not require power. If a wildfire threatens a structure, relocate some of your Firefoam Poppers to protect it. (Account for installation time.) Firefoam Mortars are effective at fighting wildfires, but need to be used in conjunction with the colonists own efforts. If you do not have Firefoam Poppers installed in critical areas of your base, you're going to have a bad time... This includes defensive firing lines and, of course, covering turret installations.

Pascifist/non-combat pawns should be equipped with Shield Belts so they can rescue downed colonists, flick switches for Turret batteries, and act as mobile Shields if necessary during combat.

You can use the "Re-Connect" feature on a Turret to turn it off and on if you place one piece of Conduit that isn't connected to your power network within its connection range. (This is somewhat "cheaty," but very effective and doesn't require a pawn to flick a Switch to turn it on.)

Allowing pawns to equip one Joint with an effective Drug Policy that will allow them to use it after an extended, morale-depleting, combat can literally "save the day." You can still be "defeated" by an enemy after they're all dead if critical pawns have a Mental Break afterwards.

[crgzero]

Walls

The AI tends to wonk out, so abuse it. When building walls build a wall double thick, then leave a "crawl space", and then build another single layer wall around your existing walls, build in any order doesn't matter just as long as the results are the same and when you get raided and sappers come they'll start to dig into your single layer and damage it a couple of times, they'll then give up and move on to your obvious kill box and get slaughtered.

The ONLY time I've not seen this work is with modded mechanoids.

I generally make the outerwall out of my best material on hand but I don't think it makes any diffference.