Tips with colony growing too fast?

[MandyMM]

I just wanted to hear from more experienced folks what tips you guys use to avoid growing a colony too fast. By that i mean both having lots of resources (and wealth consequently) and a lot of pawns and animals.

Idk if is my lack of attention bc i have a tendency to focus on certain things and be like "out of sight out of mine" about others (hello adhd...) but since i came back to playing i'm struggling a lot with rapid growth and not being able to match my defenses and overall structures to that growth (so i end up with 12 colonists in a colony there is not even a perimeter wall or proper defenses but drafting them all up and sending them to deal with 20+ tribals..... i just had this yesterday and i let go of that save bc the type of stone i was using for my walls, you guess it, i used it all lmao and it was taking a long time to mine just for the chucks->process to stone-> build despite having like 4 really good builders).

So i want to hear from you guys about it, like you guys usually more selective about pawns? I guess this can be a way to deal with that. Other thing that i just learned to do more often now is caravans to get rid of stuff i don't want and extra animals i don't need, like chickens and puppies.

Also just for the record i usually play Cassandra strive to survive, i don't risk into going to randy lmao and only base game. I usually play crashlanded but had some good runs in lost tribe scenario but also faced the same issues.

The thing is i really want to achive a point with a colony i can get to like late research techs and having a strong squad with strong base to fight against enemies with few to no loses, but i never got to that point. The later i got to was i defeated the ancients in ancient danger, 3 mechs dropping with that ship that messes up with nature (or bringing a high psyco drone) and a siege, idk how long this takes to happen bc i lose track of time very often...

[Steelfleece]

Steel, gold, silver, jade, etc deposits don't need to be mined until you're sure you'll need them. Note where they are and mine around them until then.

Deconstruct ruins on the map when you can, especially any with floors. They're adding to the map's total wealth.

Too much food? Gift it to other factions. Allies don't add to wealth, but they're valuable nonetheless. Get rid of weapons and excess clothes that way too.

Be picky about pawns you recruit. There'll always be more raiders.

[XelNigma]

I also stick with Cassandra, randy is just pure boredom. More often than not it's just long stretches of nothing.

As far as growth my issue is I like to build base and can go overboard and end up with so much building wealth too high.

I might be too particular with my pawns as I can go 2-3 years with out recruiting any one and by year 5 have only 6 people.

My survival tactics is go get at least 1 emp and smoke grenade/launcher from trade/craft/raid to deal with mechs. Then get heavy SMG (the best gun in the game) and lastly flak armor for everyone.

Base wise I set up like a town with lots of roads and paths and that my combat zone. No city wall, no kill box.

[schnappkatze]

Originally posted by MandyMM:

i let go of that save bc the type of stone i was using for my walls, you guess it, i used it all lmao and it was taking a long time to mine just for the chucks->process to stone-> build despite having like 4 really good builders).

That struck me as an odd reason to give up on a save. Is there a reason why you couldn't just use another kind of stone? Or, if you seriously don't have any kind of stone, just use wood until you are able to get stone again? (yes you have to rebuild the wooden part of the wall after every wildfire, but still better than not having a perimeter at all).

[null]

Usually I will stop accepting new colonist once I reach 6 as I find it a good balance for tasks and management. I had bigger colony in the past but they all fail because I grow them too fast. Also note that every colonist add to your wealth I believe.

[MandyMM]

I also like to settle my bases looking like a small city, with separated rooms and lots of paths, usually the first major building is a storage area that starts at multi-purpose and i grow out of it with time. It's interesting to think other strategies, i particularly rarely do kill boxes but i don't have a good strategy tbh... I just most of the time play along and try to do some spots with walls/barricades/sand bags to draft my pawns. Idk if i do right but sometimes i take long and long choosing a starting map because i want something that gives me rich soil in a more central area to avoid having my base on the border of the map. In my case like in year 2 most times i already have more than 10 colonists, i guess i need to select them better and look for people specialized and multiple things.....

Originally posted by XelNigma:

I also stick with Cassandra, randy is just pure boredom. More often than not it's just long stretches of nothing.

As far as growth my issue is I like to build base and can go overboard and end up with so much building wealth too high.

I might be too particular with my pawns as I can go 2-3 years with out recruiting any one and by year 5 have only 6 people.

My survival tactics is go get at least 1 emp and smoke grenade/launcher from trade/craft/raid to deal with mechs. Then get heavy SMG (the best gun in the game) and lastly flak armor for everyone.

Base wise I set up like a town with lots of roads and paths and that my combat zone. No city wall, no kill box.

[MandyMM]

Originally posted by schnappkatze:

Originally posted by MandyMM:

i let go of that save bc the type of stone i was using for my walls, you guess it, i used it all lmao and it was taking a long time to mine just for the chucks->process to stone-> build despite having like 4 really good builders).

That struck me as an odd reason to give up on a save. Is there a reason why you couldn't just use another kind of stone? Or, if you seriously don't have any kind of stone, just use wood until you are able to get stone again? (yes you have to rebuild the wooden part of the wall after every wildfire, but still better than not having a perimeter at all).

Oh it was not only this! I was kinda done with it after losing 2 colonists as well one due to plague and was one of my starters lmao

[MandyMM]

Originally posted by null:

Usually I will stop accepting new colonist once I reach 6 as I find it a good balance for tasks and management. I had bigger colony in the past but they all fail because I grow them too fast. Also note that every colonist add to your wealth I believe.

I'll keep that in mind!! This made me question if skills also counts as wealth for the game? Like if we start with higher skilled pawns, the raids will came stronger? Or it will impact other way?

[null]

Originally posted by MandyMM:

Originally posted by null:

Usually I will stop accepting new colonist once I reach 6 as I find it a good balance for tasks and management. I had bigger colony in the past but they all fail because I grow them too fast. Also note that every colonist add to your wealth I believe.

I'll keep that in mind!! This made me question if skills also counts as wealth for the game? Like if we start with higher skilled pawns, the raids will came stronger? Or it will impact other way?

Yes. A pawn "value" is about points. Think of it like this, the better the pawn is, the more value it has. See https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Wealth for more details about how wealth is calculated if interested

[Veylox]

Cull anything useless, don't produce variety. If you have psycho plants, you probably don't need every other drug under the sun. If you have a couple pack animals, you don't need to go Noah's ark and recruit every other species. Stick to something that works without going in every direction.

I put my defenses up almost immediately. If I start in a pure flat tile, I usually do the main room, with a stockpile and three beds in it, a table, a cooking thing, a butchering thing, then I plant my rice, THEN I put up defenses. So it's usually by day 3 or so. The first raid is ridiculously easy, so you have some time. But I clearly don't start going high pop before setting up a perimeter wall, the wall is done by week one, with wood first, I replace it later.

You have no reason to go stone first unless you're in a tile with low access to wood. Wood is basically an infinite resource on regular biomes, so you just set up a wall and then change it to stone once your stonecutting gets going.

I usually stay low pop for a while, but I don't feel like I'm selective, getting to 20 naturally would require several years of in-game time, OR making prisoners all the time, which you can't afford early on. It's fine to recruit pawns since they increase manpower more than they increase raids, but getting to 20 without having ANY defense set up is alien to me, I don't even know how you achieve that. I usually stay a year or two with 4 to 8 pawns max simply because I don't find anyone interesting to recruit

Cassandra is harder than Randy btw. Usually more raids with her. Randy can do you dirty but on average, he's more chill.

[Astasia]

Traits are really one of the core factors of difficulty in the game. One colonist with 3 good traits can be more efficient at combat or work than 4-5 colonists with bad traits. Like a Very Neurotic, Industrious, Quicksleeper is going to be lightning fast at getting things done compared to a Slothful Slowpoke, while a Tough, Trigger Happy, Jogger is a monster in combat with very little risk of serious injury. Waiting for recruits with 3 good traits and relevant passions is a solid way of making the game substantially easier. Mass recruiting every enemy downed on your map is generally just a good way to create chaos and interesting stories of struggle.

So ya, when it comes to recruitment I would just say, be more discerning. Fewer colonists is slower wealth generation, is less resources needed to keep them fed/geared, and is generally a stronger colony with the better traits. You don't have to wait for perfect traits, early on especially it can be useful to get a few recruits that are just "decent" to accomplish things like hauling and cleaning and to help with combat. Once you get up to around 6-8 though it's not a bad idea to just stop accepting anyone unless they are really good.

Pawn value, affected by things like skills or traits, is generally completely trivial and ignorable. Good pawns are always good to have.

Originally posted by Steelfleece:

Deconstruct ruins on the map when you can, especially any with floors. They're adding to the map's total wealth.

Note that this only does anything if you then consume or remove the stone blocks after. Building wealth counts as half of item wealth for scaling purposes, deconstructing gives you half the resources, so deconstructing a floor and then leaving those resources on the map is a net wealth decrease of 0 as far as game scaling is concerned. With the exception here being flagstone floors which have no resource return. Unclaimed buildings do not count toward your wealth, but floors are always "claimed." Lastly I'd like to point out this is overall a trivial amount of wealth on the map unless you use a mod to add extra ruins or fancy floors or resources that can be used in ruins. With mods it can definitely be a serious concern though, if you start the game and look at your day 1 wealth and it's at like 100K+ you might want to get a move on trying to destroy some of those ruins and their resources.

[MandyMM]

Thanks for all advice so far!! I started a new save today and in the hopes with this new tips it can last long lmaooo

[Steelfleece]

Originally posted by Astasia:

Note that this only does anything if you then consume or remove the stone blocks after. Building wealth counts as half of item wealth for scaling purposes, deconstructing gives you half the resources, so deconstructing a floor and then leaving those resources on the map is a net wealth decrease of 0 as far as game scaling is concerned. With the exception here being flagstone floors which have no resource return. Unclaimed buildings do not count toward your wealth, but floors are always "claimed." Lastly I'd like to point out this is overall a trivial amount of wealth on the map unless you use a mod to add extra ruins or fancy floors or resources that can be used in ruins. With mods it can definitely be a serious concern though, if you start the game and look at your day 1 wealth and it's at like 100K+ you might want to get a move on trying to destroy some of those ruins and their resources.

Generally, I use the materials from those early dismantled ruins to build initial defenses in the case of stone blocks that aren't marble, starter furniture with the marble, and the steel goes right in to expanding the power grid. If I hit the jackpot with a ton of marble ruins, they get recycled into pretty interior walls and floors for the colony before even needing to start cutting blocks. Plus any secondary builders can skill up deconstructing before getting put on something they may flub.

[Mringasa]

Use Rimworld's inherent diminishing returns to your advantage. You can get good gains, early, by crafting and constructing Good+ items/structures and then selling off what you don't actually need. Take that silver and invest in weapons and armors. Silver is not to be hoarded, it's to be used as a force multiplier to upgrade your defensive, and offensive, capability. Tribal starts especially, since enemies quickly outrange you if you aren't grabbing bolt-action rifles reasonably early.

Building, I tend to build a wall around my base out of whatever I have on hand, wood if need be, then either upgrade it to the best stone on the tile, or expand and set up a second set of walls if I need more space once I have the stone available. If I end up using wood, and it burns down, oh well. Build some more. My contructors can always use the experience.

Upgrade your colonists whenever you can. Unless you are playing with body purists, selling off all your spare stuff and buying any sort of bionic is going to be a net gain. You gain on the pawn's wealth value, but the number of items it takes to buy bionics, or archotech items, is going to drop your colony's value nicely. Don't be shy about grabbing aesthetic noses or love enhancers either. They aren't as nice as a bionic leg or arm, but the social impact and mood gains can offset penalties for extended periods of combat or when you just have to force that one pawn to sew pants all day.

[Rave Pathfinder.]

Sometimes, you just need to give them a uranium or wooden club and tell the extra mouth to feed to go stage dive dablios and if he wins they get to live.

[twistedd]

no idea what you are going on about here

every pawn is a useful resource
you cant have too many unless you are on a map that can not support enough food for some reason- even so you can always send out a hunting party to a nearby tile if needed

learn to use your pawns efficiently. otherwise I have no idea what the issue is here