Why Play this instead of Dwarf Fortress?

[aks2161989]

I checked the YouTube reviews of Rimworld and this game seems to be like Dwarf Fortress. So why play this game when DF is free? How is this game better than Dwarf Fortress?

Also, is it as bleak and boring as Dwarf Fortress? I could never get into that game

[whatamidoing]

I used to play DF, but ever since I got Rimworld I've put in 1.4k hours and have done maybe one serious game of DF. RImworld is a lot more focused on what I like out of DF, the story that emerges as you play. Due to its events system, lower population, and the fact you're never safe (no raised bridges to stop every threat in this one, and enemies will smash structures to get in), there's a lot more drama. It's also a lot more moddable, has a better soundtrack, is less bloated, and the UI is, of course, much, much easier to learn.

[MagnusCerebrum]

The biggest pros in my eyes is the UI (no pun intended) and the modding community. Even with tilesets and whatever DF has, Rimworld is just much more comfortable to play.

[ZED]

DF looks like ♥♥♥♥ thats why

[James]

I can't really compare them since I was unable to get into DF.

[PyroMancer]

MODS!!!

Though seriously I like the whole DF idea and tried to get into DF but despite playing tons of similar ANSII looking games in the past I just couldn't get over the horrible UI layout along with NO mouse support which even a lot of those older ANSII games had.

As a result I've tried tons of other DF such games and none of them really had everything I wanted or as much polish as Rimworld has.

Things I like about Rimworld that other such games don't seem to have.
1) World Map with ability to move Caravan around on.
2) Have Caravan setup additional settlements
3) Caravans have random map encounters
4) Caravans launch attacks on other settlements
5) Ability to control Pawns in combat(so many such games your citizens are dumb and get themselves killed doing stupid stuff.)
6) Massive mod support for adding whole new features like Space Ship and Ship combat

It's been a long while since I played DF and I know he improves things over time so not sure if any of these were added to DF since I last tried it as DF been around for decades at this point. But besides DF there are a lot of controls with UI on production and other such things that I didn't add to list above as some games do them and some don't which would just have a long list of stuff i like about Rimworld.

The only thing that I can think that RimWorld lacks that DF and some of it's clones have is the 3D natural of multiple elevations on the map. Which while interesting I don't think ultimately we lose out much on by not having.

[Astasia]

This is like asking why people would play Final Fantasy 14 when they could just go play Meridian 59.

That's not the analogy I wanted to make but I can't think of a MUD off the top of my head and this is about as much effort as I want to put into this post.

[brian_va]

Originally posted by aks2161989:

Also, is it as ... boring as Dwarf Fortress? I could never get into that game

rimworld probably isn't for you. sometimes you get what you pay for (not intended as an insult to DF).

there's no story to spoil; watch some videos on YT and decide for yourself.

[Punyrock]

Originally posted by James:

I can't really compare them since I was unable to get into DF.

Hopefully when DF releases onto Steam we can all see what the hubbub is about.

[Punyrock]

Originally posted by aks2161989:

I checked the YouTube reviews of Rimworld and this game seems to be like Dwarf Fortress. So why play this game when DF is free? How is this game better than Dwarf Fortress?

Also, is it as bleak and boring as Dwarf Fortress? I could never get into that game

Rimworld's as bleak as you want, I'd say. It depends on the difficulty you choose while playing, as with the higher difficulties (ex. Blood and Dust) your pawns are more likely to die, and have breakdowns, etc. You can make it as easy as you want (ex. Peaceful), and just relax and build a colony where pawns make lives for themselves and others.

It's about player choice, really. You'll hear much more dramatic and sad stories from Rimworld because... it's dramatic and sad. People like those kind of things in stories.

[ichifish]

As a player who tries to get into DF but got frustrated with the ♥♥♥♥ graphics and dysfunctional UI, but loves RW, that’s the first reason.

If you like colony sims, RW isn’t boring. It generates good stories and keeps you on your toes. If you don’t like colony sims, we’ll there you go.

[vortex_13]

Because Dwarf fortresses UI is terrible.

[The Yeen Queen]

Originally posted by Astasia:

This is like asking why people would play Final Fantasy 14 when they could just go play Meridian 59.

That's not the analogy I wanted to make but I can't think of a MUD off the top of my head and this is about as much effort as I want to put into this post.

Hmm. "Why play Diablo/Torchlight/Path of Exile when you can play Nethack/Angband/Rogue" would probably be a closer analogy. While I love the games in both categories, sometimes you just want the modernized feel and polish of the ones in the former category over the latter.

[Vardath]

Mods.

I have created werewolf vampire super saiyans with cortical stacks and highlander immortality, each with advanced bionic animal parts and extra limbs of all sorts sprouting from their bodies. Then I irradiate them to give them super powers.

That's why.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by aks2161989:

Why Play this instead of Dwarf Fortress?

This really isn't much like Dwarf Fortress.

It adopts a few concepts, but one can find those present in other games, too. While DF is certainly one of the gameplay experiences that has inspired Rimworld, Rimworld is hardly a carbon-copy of it.

DF is... outdated. It is, at least in its current "living" form, a gaming "Evolutionary Dead-End." While it surely provides entertainment for its fans, its far too much an eclectic, arcane, gaming experience to serve the average gamer.

Soon, it will be succeeded by its new incarnation. However, many games have been building on its legacy and there are plenty of games on the market now that provide a very similar, if less detailed, gameplay experience.

Rimworld is much more of an intimate, smaller-scale, gameplay experience. It's a bit more comparable to "Space Colony" than "Dwarf Fortress" in its scope/scale. And, to be fair - Rimworld has evolved past being compared to other games and is somewhat within its own special niche genre, now. :)

[PyroMancer]

Originally posted by Morkonan:

DF is... outdated. It is, at least in its current "living" form, a gaming "Evolutionary Dead-End." While it surely provides entertainment for its fans, its far too much an eclectic, arcane, gaming experience to serve the average gamer.

I think it has a lot to do with developer. Back when I tried it there was a lot of talk about how the developer refuse to listen to any feedback on improving the UI and was more focused on the mechanics of the game like getting the water physics to act realistically because the whole can I do this mechanic was what interested him. At least that seem to be the sentiment in the forums.

He seem to get away with it cause Someone made a separate program called Stone Sense which wasn't so much a mod but a HACK that read the memory of DF and translate it into the 3D isomorphic view of the game but because it was a separate program it was like running two copies of DF in order to work.

DF development reminds me of stories like the one from Ultima Online where they originally wanted to have realistic ecosystem where animals would eat the plants and grow based on local population with predators hunting prey. But when they released it to testers and it fell apart cause it's an MMO and people just grind the local animal population to extinction so they realized it would never work and just put in normal spawn mechanics. Except in the case of DF the Dev refuse to yield on his vision for better or worst.

Originally posted by Morkonan:

Soon, it will be succeeded by its new incarnation. However, many games have been building on its legacy and there are plenty of games on the market now that provide a very similar, if less detailed, gameplay experience.

Rimworld is much more of an intimate, smaller-scale, gameplay experience. It's a bit more comparable to "Space Colony" than "Dwarf Fortress" in its scope/scale. And, to be fair - Rimworld has evolved past being compared to other games and is somewhat within its own special niche genre, now. :)

It's "new incarnation" appears to be little more than a UI overhaul that players have been requesting for over a decade. I was expecting, or at least hoping for something more like Stonesense when first announced on steam.

I can see how one might view RimWorld as "smaller scope" but I think it's cause DF does a lot it doesn't really need to.

1) It generates a complete world history with story and characters of which mostly the player won't even be aware of and can easily be faked the way Rimworld does by generating characters on the fly with relations to your existing pawns or other characters you've met before.

2) Previous failed Fortresses can show up on the map if you continue in the same world, though since you can't really travel it's little more than a note on the map. Which mods could probably do in Rimworld if haven't already for visiting previously failed colonies.

3) Adventure Mode where you can directly control one dwarf and roam the world searching for, well adventure. It's basically a completely different game genre of Rogue tacted onto a colony building game. Though again in Rimworld you can basically do this by turning your whole colony into a Caravan and just go for location to location, there are even mods to help with this like Setup Camp mod to setup temporary maps without the full settlement implementation.


With DF and all the work put into world generation history it feels more like the Developer wanted to build a RPG campaign setting generator, then shifted to colony sim, and lastly Rouge adventure quest.