Setting up a colony in Desert - what should I bring?

[Cannenses]

It's a weekend (soon) and every other post here is a complaint of the game feature or lack of feature or something else. Everyone has their idiosyncrasies, I suppose.

Mine is, let's make the forum a bit more interesting? How about an open-ended, no definitive answer, thread?

I want to setup a Desert colony because I want to test a little theory I have on iguanas. They're from that biome (how smart of me!). Anyway, other than iguanas, what should I bring that's important for my new colony in this biome?

Desert (from RWwiki)
- A very dry area which supports little life. There is very little arable land, and animal life is very sparse. Deserts can be hot, or quite cold.
- With so few animals to hunt, growing crops is a priority on one of the few arable patches. The hot temperatures can cause problems for colonists and tamed animals. This biome has patches of soft sand which prevent building, but can be removed with moisture pumps.

I believe I've got the basics (attire, steel, etc.). Anything else that is special to Desert colonies which I should know?

[liosalpha]

Wood, hard to get on the map and by trade, used in many common things. From fuel for stoves to furniture, passive coolers etc. You can trade for wooden items and deconstruct them if you find your self in a scrap.

Deserts dont have cold nights like rl versions (thou i think i saw a mod for it) so prepair for heat.
If you start trible i would bring camel or alpaca wool clothing (maybe even the animals too for making new ones)


growing ground can be very scarse too. I would also focus first on pemmican to build a food stockpile.

[Evil Overlord]

If you're making a second colony that happens to be in a desert you can support it from the primary relatively easily, if it's a new one or too far away I'd remember to bring some extra wood (hard to come by in desert), food, and maybe steel.
For food you're going to want to wall off your farms asap as the few animals that spawn on the map will run straight in and chow down. While this is at least managable with most smaller animals (assuming it's a decent sized farm) a single thrumbo will strip your farm fairly effectively given a little time (this gets really annoying when they eat your half a year old trees before you notice).

[Cannenses]

Wow, this is what I'm asking about ... I would've never thought about the issue you lads bring up, lol! Thanks.

p.s. @Evil Overlord - this is my 3rd. I have the "masochist" trait. LOL

[Evil Overlord]

Originally posted by Cannenses:

Wow, this is what I'm asking about ... I would've never thought about the issue you lads bring up, lol! Thanks.

p.s. @Evil Overlord - this is my 3rd. I have the "masochist" trait. LOL

I get that, my current game I'm juggling 3 too, I intentionally set the third in a desert mountain for a bit of challenge and access to the obvious stuff. Thinking about it I probably shoulda made a post like this because I learned the thrumbo thing with the scientific method and man that took a long time to fix.
All that said I think this is my new favorite biome, I'm not ballsy enough to go to extreme deserts or ice sheets but the desert offers a nice bit of extra challenge with out feeling daunting.

[Cannenses]

@Evil Overlord: As I like to say of "scientific approaches", common sense is not that common! LOL.

Yeah, I believe I will enjoy the desert biome. The sounds of each different biome, for some odd reason, is why I create colonies in different biomes too.

[kevinshow]

With the lack of good soil , don't forget that you can grow potatoes. We may be so used to growing rice or corn in other biomes but potatoes will do well in the desert.

with the smaller good space to make large sprawling buildings and large enclosed bases, you may need to find other ways to defend your base.

[PyroMancer]

Originally posted by Evil Overlord:

Thinking about it I probably shoulda made a post like this because I learned the thrumbo thing with the scientific method and man that took a long time to fix.

What Thrumbo thing? I'm new to the game and have seen them on rare occasions from event but other than that I don't know much about them.

[Cannenses]

@PyroMancer - Thrumbo? Nah, they're harmless ... they will just move v.quickly when provoked and is built like the Sherman tank. Hits after hits, they don't die till you die. :-)

Here's my experience:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2038670362

[Feyda]

Avoid wood generators / wood stoves in the desert. They will eat through your wood supply in no time flat. Build structures out of steel at first, then stone. Quickly research either wind or solar power. Tribal will have a rough time. Campfires use far less wood for cooking than a wood stove. Always have some wood set by for passive coolers, heat wave in desert is a killer.

[brian_va]

Hydroponics (at least for food) is easy mode.

[76561198356019466]

Originally posted by Cannenses:

It's a weekend (soon) and every other post here is a complaint of the game feature or lack of feature or something else. Everyone has their idiosyncrasies, I suppose.

Mine is, let's make the forum a bit more interesting? How about an open-ended, no definitive answer, thread?

I want a chat room.
I'd even consider reinstalling Discord if I could have some place to go and real time talk about this, ask questions, share ideas.

[76561198356019466]

Originally posted by brian_va:

Hydroponics (at least for food) is easy mode.

And I can't get them to work. :P
Fortunately, extreme climates are the only places it is absolutely necissary.

[Feyda]

Hydroponics are useful in any biome. Steel and components are plentiful by midgame. You can choose to put them in protected spots and they are twice as effective as fertile soil. In the desert, wall them off without roofing over them, ya dont even need to put sunlamps on them. Grow rice for food and you can easily convert leftover rice to chemfuel if you wanted to.

[Sugar Show]

from my experience after Master Desert

Pick the best defense position/map for you base.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2053218758

Capture big animals from manhunter pack event, then wait for self-tame event.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2053195435

Farm isn't hard if you use any cultivable ground.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2053190732

Build fences isn't priority but usable.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2052557326


Build Minefield, it work great.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2053192405

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2053193052

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2053196932

[brian_va]

Originally posted by s.p.o.t.s.:

Originally posted by brian_va:

Hydroponics (at least for food) is easy mode.

And I can't get them to work. :P
Fortunately, extreme climates are the only places it is absolutely necissary.

Research them and keep them powered. Might be worth doing the quests for the constant power generator thing and the chemfuel reactor