How to make an away base?

[Nuggs]

I've never actually made a base away from my main one before in all the hours ive played this game. I know theres an option in the main options menu to set additional colonies but never used it because it says its not recommended.

But I've always thought about how helpful it would be once i run out of mineable rescources on my main area to have at least one small base somewhere outside of my main one where i can have maybe just a few colonists stationed to mine materials and caravan them between there and my main.

I'm starting a new run with 1 additional colony turned on so i can do this later, just curious how i'd go about actually making a second colony on a tile once i get to that point though. Thanks for any answers in advance :D

[Khan Boyzitbig of Mercia]

It is very easy to establish a second base, just create a caravan and send it at least two tiles away from any other settlement and click the settle button when you arrive.

[Hoki]

setting up new colonies is easy. 2 colonies should be the default amount set in the options IIRC. just create a caravan, load it up with some materials to get you started and then move to the location you want to settle at. once there there should be a button popping up for the caravan to settle down there.

if its just about getting ressources and you arent against mods i can recommend 'set up Camp'. this mod is an immersive way to quickly enter new locations to grab some ressources from.
In regards to immersion you can think of it as 'going on a mining expedition'.
Camps create encounter maps (smaller and therefore better performancewise) and disappear after a set amount of days.

[Kittenpox]

You don't have to create a 2nd base to get materials:

https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Long-range_mineral_scanner for metals, components, plasteel, etc.

https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Deep_drill for stone.

When visiting the location which shows up on the long-range scanner, you can also strip-mine the stone from the area too.
Suggestion: Bring pack animals to help haul everything back to main base. :-)

Originally posted by Hoki:

setting up new colonies is easy. 2 colonies should be the default amount set in the options IIRC.

I'm pretty sure the default is 1, but yeah thats where OP should check first if they do still want to create a 2nd base.

@OP, be mindful that sometimes you'll find that quests, and/or quest rewards, will show up at the other base. (Read carefully before accepting a quest to have like 20 pirates show up at your mining outpost with like 2 pawns there.)

[Nuggs]

Hey guys, thanks for all the info :D I appreciate all the answers and time spent posting them. I'll definitely take all the info and apply it. Cheers :D

[Cannenses]

Be careful of turning those mining camps into a full “away” base. These camps have a smaller map size, so not quite suitable to be a base.

I usually create another base for animals in that biome. Not so much the mining, which is endless with the scanner from my main base.

[desrtfox071]

Originally posted by Cannenses:

Be careful of turning those mining camps into a full “away” base. These camps have a smaller map size, so not quite suitable to be a base.

I usually create another base for animals in that biome. Not so much the mining, which is endless with the scanner from my main base.

Another potential downfall to this is that when a raid occurs, it can be difficult to tell which "base" the raid is going to happen at, so with more than one "base" you can get surprised more easily in my opinion.

As far as I know, the game treats all bases combined as a single colony. I could be wrong here, but if right, this means that you can get a sizable raid showing up at your infant base. Even if incorrect, it can still be difficult to know which base is going to be attacked.

[Darth A.R.T.H.E.R.]

recommendation: wait till you have drop pods to establish a second base. If you keep your second base in range you can send pawns for those raids that show up at the other base.

[yeastus]

Originally posted by desrtfox071:

Another potential downfall to this is that when a raid occurs, it can be difficult to tell which "base" the raid is going to happen at, so with more than one "base" you can get surprised more easily in my opinion.

As far as I know, the game treats all bases combined as a single colony. I could be wrong here, but if right, this means that you can get a sizable raid showing up at your infant base. Even if incorrect, it can still be difficult to know which base is going to be attacked.

I may be incorrect, and when I was at the point of having two colonies I was on a modded game, albeit the mods weren't very heavy and shouldn't have affected how the mechanic for this worked. There very well may have been some bug in the background.

In my experience with having two colonies, wealth was calculated separately. Raids would happen just as often as before, but it (seemed) to randomly choose one to send the raid to. The colony of my away base, which was pretty terrible in terms of how rich they would be considered, got far smaller raids than my main base. Wealth being calculated separately was also proven by my colonists at the away base having the low expectations mood modifier, while my main base colonists had sky high expectations.

In reference for problems with recognizing the colony being attacked, it does say the colony in the description for the raid upon hover, and you can click jump to location from either colony and you will jump to the other colony even if you are at your other one. Though regardless of this, I myself (albeit I have ADHD and may just be being a dumbass) have read the colony name being attacked, then completely forgotten the colony being attacked or my mind switches the name I think I just saw and I go prepare the wrong colony for attack. I also have this same problem when being attacked from multiple angles, as I will prepare only some of the angles and forgot I'm being attacked from other spots. For this reason I recommend a mini-map mod, regardless of two colonies or not. I'm unsure if there are alternatives but personally I use Dub's mini-map mod.

TLDR; Wealth, and henceforth raid strength etc. are calculated separately for different colonies AFAIK. There can be minor problems with confusion for raid locations, though you are provided with information on where the attack is.

[Crisco]

I had a colony once where I created a second colony for minerals. It was small with just minimal structures and entertainment. I ended up strip mining TONS of minerals.

This is strictly from my experience with this:

Raids are based on colony wealth, the colony being raided. I had two turrets and maybe 4 to 5 pawns there at a time. the raids were small, maybe 4 raiders at a time.

I used pack animals to haul between colonies. had to do many many trips there were so many minerals.

If a raid appears the game pauses. You can click on the raid warning box and then click 'jump to location'. It will take you to the appropriate map that's being raided and center you on the threat.

Long range mineral scanner maps are tiny and give you just a small amount of minerals, about the same as if a meteorite landed.

So in my experience it was very successful and I had more minerals than I knew what to do with.

[jscjml]

If you're going to do those mining colonies, you might be able to just skip the pack animals, and instead build pod launchers to send the ores back to your colony... If you settle a new tile you're probably going to find enough steel and components to do it. So if you dont have an army of 8+ muffalos you're still able to do off-tile mining expeditions.

The biggest problem would be the Chemfuel probably. You could bring a battery with you, and build a biofuel refinery though. It doesnt cost that much (compared to how much ores you are going to be getting from the colony anyways) I think if you send the pods short distances it uses less fuel too, so if you just settle 2 tiles away you could probably get multiple launches off of just 35 chemfuel.

Chemfuel is light though, so you could probably just bring that (and some emergency components) with you and not have to worry about it period.
If you run out of components for the pod launchers, remember that 12 steel = 1 component, so you can just craft more out of the steel that you are mining anyways.

edit: Hauling the ores back with animals might be the better play, but I dont like keeping animals. They keep eating all of my food lol, idk how to manage them yet. And if I let them graze they get eaten by predators. They're really good for tanking mechs and infestations though so its good to know how to keep them.

and im p sure wealth is counted separately between colonies, so you should be fine. Its just that you dont know which colony raids are happening at until you actually look.

[Hedgie]

Just a note as your post didn't seem to imply it, you can change the number of colonies you can use midgame so you don't need a new one

[Crisco]

Originally posted by jscjml:

Hauling the ores back with animals might be the better play, but I dont like keeping animals. They keep eating all of my food lol, idk how to manage them yet. And if I let them graze they get eaten by predators. They're really good for tanking mechs and infestations though so its good to know how to keep them.

and im p sure wealth is counted separately between colonies, so you should be fine. Its just that you dont know which colony raids are happening at until you actually look.

I use the fences mod to build a big fenced in area with wooden fences. Make a zone to keep the animals in that enclosure. Create a small stockpile zone, 1 or 2 squares big in that enclosure and set it to critical and set it to vegetables or hay then either grow hay or grow extra vegetables and your colonists will fill that first above your regular food storage. Orrrrrr what I do and prefer.... create a new zone, invert it and it will cover the whole map, name it 'stay out' and erase all the area of that zone you DON'T want them to go. Food storage, kitchen, meal storage, barracks, rec rooms, production rooms etc. Then create a zone call 'safe' or whatever and set that to an area inside your building away from food that you can send the animals too when they get hunted, there is a raid, etc to keep them safe. Oh and from experience with predators in general. I occasionally check the wildlife tab and hunt predators as they appear. Not good to leave them out and about.

Just a lil advice on dealing with animals ;)

[jscjml]

Originally posted by Crisco:

Originally posted by jscjml:

Hauling the ores back with animals might be the better play, but I dont like keeping animals. They keep eating all of my food lol, idk how to manage them yet. And if I let them graze they get eaten by predators. They're really good for tanking mechs and infestations though so its good to know how to keep them.

and im p sure wealth is counted separately between colonies, so you should be fine. Its just that you dont know which colony raids are happening at until you actually look.

I use the fences mod to build a big fenced in area with wooden fences. Make a zone to keep the animals in that enclosure. Create a small stockpile zone, 1 or 2 squares big in that enclosure and set it to critical and set it to vegetables or hay then either grow hay or grow extra vegetables and your colonists will fill that first above your regular food storage. Orrrrrr what I do and prefer.... create a new zone, invert it and it will cover the whole map, name it 'stay out' and erase all the area of that zone you DON'T want them to go. Food storage, kitchen, meal storage, barracks, rec rooms, production rooms etc. Then create a zone call 'safe' or whatever and set that to an area inside your building away from food that you can send the animals too when they get hunted, there is a raid, etc to keep them safe. Oh and from experience with predators in general. I occasionally check the wildlife tab and hunt predators as they appear. Not good to leave them out and about.

Just a lil advice on dealing with animals ;)

Nice, thanks ill keep this advice in mind. What do you do if Volcanic Winters or Toxic Fallouts happen though? How would you grow food for the animals then? Because those events kill off the plants in the map.

[Darth A.R.T.H.E.R.]

I like to keep an excess of animals in order have a "walking reserve". I have an interior granary marked as a safezone for animals. I keep it stocked with corn. colonists are eating rice and taters. whenever the granary starts getting full. I allow chemfuel production to use it. as a last resort "looks like meat is back on the menu boys."

[Cannenses]

My experience with multiple colonies/bases seems different, I get hit at the same time, ie. both colonies have an event simultaneously. I usually have only 2 colonies/bases.

So, for one of them, usually it’s a set-and-forget and let the simulation run. I switch focus to my smaller colony when this happens because it’s more direct — I don’t have that many pawns and less animals — so it’s simpler to manage 5 pawns and about 50 animals in a fight.

My main colony is usually “the whole thing” with kitchen sink thrown in! It would have multiple Counts, cataphract armour for all, about 100 to 150 predators for about 30 colonists. So, there’s nothing to do in the simulation except watch them fight. The cleaning up is the real pain, lol.