DLCs

[Union]

Bought rimworld 2 days ago and love it now and since there's a sale for their dlcs which one would be worth it?

I know Royalty gives a special set of Armour that everyone likes but thats all I know for that one .

Seen a lot of people like Biotech the most and seems very good but also that ideology might better?

So far im leaning into Biotech or royalty and yes i know they are preference but i just want opinions.

[Veylox]

The biggest selling point for royalty is access to magic (psycasts) in my opinion. DLC is centered around dealing with the empire and trying to rise in the nobility ranks, but you're likely not gonna do that often because it's quite restrictive and doesn't fit every playthrough. There's still a bunch of content in royalty besides the royal stuff, just not anywhere near what Biotech/Anomaly give.

Biotech is good, races/genes/children/controlled mechanoids

Ideology is more of an RP mod, it doesn't add a whole lot of content but allows you to massively change the rules when starting your colony, making it so your colonists hate cutting trees if they're nature lovers, or maybe they hate the sunlight and need to live in caves, etc. It's very hit-or-miss as a DLC, because you can tell yourself tons of fun stories with different types of ideologies if you wish, but at the end of the day most of the DLC boils down to "pawns get a mood debuff if they do X and a mood buff if they do Y", which can be underwhelming.

Anomaly is similar to biotech in terms of content amount, they're the two biggest, but biotech mostly just powers up the player while Anomaly powers up the player AND adds a ton of enemy events. Some people don't like it.

[MadArtillery]

Biotech is vastly better then ideology. Tons of systems, huge boost to run variety. Mech based gameplay style, customizable genes and races to shake up play through that you can also apply more genes to mid run, and reproduction so you can have kids to raise to be your perfect colonist choosing perks and passions. Pretty huge dlc with a ton of features useful every single run. Vast play style options to use in runs and all with the mechanical crunch to back it up. Immense mod support as biotech is immensely popular, you'll have essentially infinite selection.

Royalty is mostly the Quest dlc. Double quest frequency, tons of new quests including a bunch of non combat types, variety of temporary worker sources, recruitable refugees moving in to work for you for awhile are pretty consistently useful. It also has a bunch of late game equipment and implants as well as greatly increasing melee weapon variety. Contains an extra faction you can earn honour from quests from to get royal ranks for spellcasting levels essentially along with permits to call in solders, items, workers, shuttles, or airstrikes to help you out. Pretty simple but a good "more stuff" dlc.

Ideology is a bit barebones without a lot of modding. If you ever look at a picture of the meme page for example, cut your expecations in half, a major chunk of those are nothing but pictures that do nothing that you can pretend matter. Overall it's the mood dlc, you change up what makes people happy or angry to make runs easier or harder. There is no meat to this, you just select whatever you want without any sort of balancing system to make decisions more interesting. Has some special roles so you can have dedicated solders or workers for specific tasks that do better at those but won't do other things. The rest of the content is a bit more interesting as Raidable camps are a huge boon to an active playstyle letting you go out and murder and rob your way to whatever resources you need. Gaurlen trees and dryads make an interesting alternative playstyle, drown people in swarms of lil critter things by tending trees. Slavery is pretty mid, more useful if you own anomaly so you can lobotomize slaves for obedience.

Anomaly is an odd ball. Archotech focused, big godlike ai but one bugging out and gone a bit crazy. Monsters and nanomachines cause a bit of chaos, some classic horror tropes, and many of the most flexible and powerful player tools they've ever made. You'll get incredibly strong, death loses it's meaning, great scar and age removal, multiple sources of efficiency, new guns and utilities. Big and hard to talk about without spoilers. Divisive dlc but you can make some great use of it's powerful mechanics.

[Union]

Publicado originalmente por Veylox:

The biggest selling point for royalty is access to magic (psycasts) in my opinion. DLC is centered around dealing with the empire and trying to rise in the nobility ranks, but you're likely not gonna do that often because it's quite restrictive and doesn't fit every playthrough. There's still a bunch of content in royalty besides the royal stuff, just not anywhere near what Biotech/Anomaly give.

Biotech is good, races/genes/children/controlled mechanoids

Ideology is more of an RP mod, it doesn't add a whole lot of content but allows you to massively change the rules when starting your colony, making it so your colonists hate cutting trees if they're nature lovers, or maybe they hate the sunlight and need to live in caves, etc. It's very hit-or-miss as a DLC, because you can tell yourself tons of fun stories with different types of ideologies if you wish, but at the end of the day most of the DLC boils down to "pawns get a mood debuff if they do X and a mood buff if they do Y", which can be underwhelming.

Anomaly is similar to biotech in terms of content amount, they're the two biggest, but biotech mostly just powers up the player while Anomaly powers up the player AND adds a ton of enemy events. Some people don't like it.

Thank you so much i think im leaning more into biotech now or anomaly because of these replys. But more biotech if anything ill buy bio first and then maybe anomaly

[Union]

Publicado originalmente por MadArtillery:

Biotech is vastly better then ideology. Tons of systems, huge boost to run variety. Mech based gameplay style, customizable genes and races to shake up play through that you can also apply more genes to mid run, and reproduction so you can have kids to raise to be your perfect colonist choosing perks and passions. Pretty huge dlc with a ton of features useful every single run. Vast play style options to use in runs and all with the mechanical crunch to back it up. Immense mod support as biotech is immensely popular, you'll have essentially infinite selection.

Royalty is mostly the Quest dlc. Double quest frequency, tons of new quests including a bunch of non combat types, variety of temporary worker sources, recruitable refugees moving in to work for you for awhile are pretty consistently useful. It also has a bunch of late game equipment and implants as well as greatly increasing melee weapon variety. Contains an extra faction you can earn honour from quests from to get royal ranks for spellcasting levels essentially along with permits to call in solders, items, workers, shuttles, or airstrikes to help you out. Pretty simple but a good "more stuff" dlc.

Ideology is a bit barebones without a lot of modding. If you ever look at a picture of the meme page for example, cut your expecations in half, a major chunk of those are nothing but pictures that do nothing that you can pretend matter. Overall it's the mood dlc, you change up what makes people happy or angry to make runs easier or harder. There is no meat to this, you just select whatever you want without any sort of balancing system to make decisions more interesting. Has some special roles so you can have dedicated solders or workers for specific tasks that do better at those but won't do other things. The rest of the content is a bit more interesting as Raidable camps are a huge boon to an active playstyle letting you go out and murder and rob your way to whatever resources you need. Gaurlen trees and dryads make an interesting alternative playstyle, drown people in swarms of lil critter things but tending trees. Slavery is pretty mid, more useful if you own anomaly so you can lobotomize slaves for obedience.

Anomaly is an odd ball. Archotech focused, big godlike ai but one bugging out and gone a bit crazy. Monsters and nanomachines cause a bit of chaos, some classic horror tropes, and many of the most flexible and powerful player tools they've ever made. You'll get incredibly strong, death loses it's meaning, work efficiency, great scar and age removal, multiple sources of efficiency, new guns and utilities. Big and hard to talk about without spoilers. Divisive dlc but you can make some great use of it's powerful mechanics.

Thannk you like i said to the other reply i think ill go for biotech.

[Judgement Kazzy]

biotech if youre into scifi, anomaly if youre into horror (think SCP stuff), ideology if you want more roleplaying, like "oh lets make a cannibal faction that gets happy when enslaving people and eating their organs" which doesnt work in vanilla because they get mad and you have to do mind lore

royalty is cool i havent gone above knight but tbh it feels kinda lacking content, its not bad don't get me wrong, but compared to the other dlc it shows that it was like a test or experiment by the devs to figure out dlc, i feel you are the most likely to get disappointed if you get that one first, id save it for last unless you REALLY want the psychic powers or royalty related stuff, it doesnt have as much content as biotech or anomaly and it doesnt seem to have that much impact like ideology in my experience (been playing for only 2 weeks or so)

edit: you guys are right biotech adds ohter stuff like children, thats a selling point for me tbh

[Wasted]

Royalty of course

The Empire has arrived. Their refugee fleet settles the rimworld, and seeks allies. Their honor-bound culture wields hyper-advanced technology, while bowing to the ancient traditions of kings and queens.


Colonists can complete quests to earn honor with the Empire. Honor brings Imperial titles like acolyte, knight, and baron. Build grand throne rooms for your noble as they rise through the royal ranks. Dress them in finery fit for a monarch, or the prestige armor of a great warrior. They'll make speeches from the throne, inspiring your people, and play piano, harp, and harpsichord.

Each title allows you to choose or upgrade an Imperial permit:

Imperial troopers, janissaries, and cataphracts drop in to fight for you in times of need.
Orbital strikes and orbital salvoes blast your foes from above.
Shuttles take you where you want to go.
Labor teams help when you are shorthanded.


There are multiple ways to develop psychic powers. Those who gain Imperial titles receive powers from the ceremonial Imperial bestower. Tribal colonists can commune with the mysterious anima tree to build their psychic link. Or, you can fight the Empire using stolen psychic technology acquired through quests.

There are a wide variety of psychic powers. Some are made for combat:

Skip, chaos skip, mass chaos skip, chunk skip, and wallraise move people and objects across distances to gain tactical advantage. Extract wounded allies, cross no man's land, pull enemies into melee brawls, shift cover where you want it.
Painblock and focus modify the mind for combat.
Blinding pulse and vertigo pulse blind your enemies or force them to vomit uncontrollably.
Neuroquake overloads every conscious being on the map in a huge wave of psychic energy.
Berserk, berserk pulse, and manhunter pulse drive people and animals momentarily insane.
Invisibility prevents your colonist from being seen during stealth approaches or escapes.
Burden and stun slow and halt your foes.
Smokepop blocks line of sight.
Farskip moves a group of your people across the world.
Skipshield creates a small temporary safe zone for attack or retreat.
Flashstorm calls down a storm of lightning.
Waterskip showers fires with extinguishing water.
Beckon mind-controls foes into approaching you.
Neural heat dump moves neural heat to an ally so you can keep casting.

Others powers are useful for community management:

Solar pinhole creates a long-lasting source of light and heat.
Word of trust helps recruitment.
Word of joy makes people happy.
Word of love induces romantic attraction.
Word of serenity ends mental breaks.
Word of inspiration confers creative energy.

Psychic powers require psychic meditation. Each colonist meditates differently, depending on their title, backstory, and traits:

Titled colonists meditate on their thrones according to Imperial tradition.
Tribal colonists meditate directly in nature, to the anima tree itself or to constructed shrines or ancient stones.
Morbid colonists with psychopath, cannibal, or bloodlust traits meditate to graves. It's more effective when the grave has a related person in it.
Ascetic colonists meditate to blank walls.
Pyromaniac colonists meditate to flame shrines made of braziers, torches, and campfires.
Everyone can also meditate to sculptures.


This expansion adds a large variety of quest content. Since RimWorld is a story-generation game, quests aren't fixed like in other games. Instead, the system procedurally generates unique quests with every new game. Different goals, foes, guests, rewards, helpers, special threats, and world conditions combine to create endless varied stories and challenges. Quest givers may even provide special helpers during the quest - for example, a quest may ask you to fight a huge mechanoid cluster, but also include help from elite Imperial cataphracts to make the battle winnable.

Quests will reward you with Imperial titles, new allies, unique implants, archotechnological artifacts, gear, faction goodwill, and more.

Imperial hospitality quests ask the player to host a group of Imperials. The guests may be injured or healthy, useful allies or helpless burdens, single or numerous. They may be hunted by mercenaries, pirates, mechanoids, or more. You might need to get the guests to an escape shuttle under fire.
Refugee hospitality quests present a group of impoverished travelers asking for help. There are many outcomes. They may reward you later for your help, or betray you in the middle of the night. A third party may make you an offer to betray them. If you treat them well, they may spontaneously offer to join you. Since they have no faction, you can treat them with kindness or brutality.
Animal hospitality quests see you caring for a group of animals struck with sickness or hunted by enemies.
Prisoner hospitality quests ask you to keep prisoners under guard.
Shuttle crash quests begin with a shuttle crashlanded near your colony, under attack by enemies. Quickly assemble a defense around the shuttle and help its defenders drive off the attackers while keeping the civilians safe, until the rescue shuttle extracts them.
Monument quests ask the player to build a grand monument, and sometimes, to protect it from attacks.
Aerial assault quests have you supply troops for an ally's airborne assault against a rival faction. A shuttle takes your troops into combat and extracts them.
Colonist lending quests ask you to send some of your colonists to help an ally, leaving you to run the colony shorthanded.
Mechanoid cluster quests threaten you with a mechanoid cluster at your colony, or at a site nearby, in exchange for a reward.
Other quests present special combinations of raids, animal attacks, insect infestations, atmospheric effects, weather, and more, in exchange for rewards.

A new endgame quest comes after you have climbed the ranks of Imperial nobility. Host the Imperial High Stellarch and his elite Stellic Guards in your luxurious court, protect them from their enemies, and be invited to leave the rimworld as an honored Imperial guest.


Mechanoids can now create mechanoid clusters - groups of new mechanoid buildings which work together to present a unique tactical challenge.

Mech clusters always appear in an initially dormant state. The player can take the time to decide and execute a plan of attack. This puts the player on the offensive, which contrasts with the defense-oriented fights in the base game. Mech cluster elements include:

World condition makers that poison the air, darken the sky, or create some other world condition.
Shields to block bullets or mortar fire
Factories to assemble new mechanoids over time.
Beacons to call reinforcements.
Turrets, mortars, and surrounding walls.
Unstable power cells which you can attack to create explosions, or steal.
Alarm systems of various types.
Mechanoid defenders including the new Pikeman sniper mech.
Mech nodes provide an extra reward if you eliminate the cluster with precision.

Each mech cluster generates with a unique layout, presenting a unique tactical puzzle. Some of them will require a frontal assault. Others may be susceptible to mortar bombardment. You may be able to plant explosives inside the cluster before waking it up. A few can be defeated with a key sniper shot to a critical structure. There are many other tactics. Mech clusters can even be used to your advantage if you can lure foes or undesired allies into them.



This expansion adds a ton of new gear. Some of them are unlocked through new techprints, which are special technology items acquired by quests, trade, or theft.

New combat equipment:

Jump packs allow a user to fly across a battlefield.
Plasma swords ignite targets.
Zeushammers blast the target with an EMP pulse.
Monoswords cut through almost any armor.
Cataphract armor provides ultra-heavy protection.
Locust armor is recon armor with an integrated jump pack.
Grenadier armor is marine armor with a shoulder-mounted grenade launcher.
Phoenix armor is heat-hardened heavy armor with an integrated flame launcher, for indoor flame combat.
Low-shield packs deploy a local shield for tactical defense.
Prestige armor comes in recon, marine, and cataphract forms. It displays status and enhances psycasting.

Persona weapons are unique melee weapons with built-in personalities. Bonding to one is a lifelong commitment. Each one has individual personality traits that give it special powers and quirks:

Kill thirst weapons demand blood.
Kind or mad thoughts affect a user's mood.
Jealous weapons don't like it when you use any weapon except themselves.
Psychic sensitizers or foggers affect a user's psychic sensitivity.
Kill-focused weapons give instant psychic focus when they kill.
Kill-happy or kill-sorrow weapons give happy or sad thoughts when they kill.
Painless weapons block the user's pain entirely.
Fast mover weapons increase movement speed.
Hungry weapons increase the user's hunger.
Neural cooling and Psy-meditative weapons allow faster psycast use.
Freewielder weapons don't bond and can be used by anyone.

New body implants enhance a variety of aspects of anyone's physiology.

Internal blades and poison teeth mean you always have a deadly melee attack.
Drill arms and field hands improve mining and farming ability.
Neurocalculators and learning assistants help with mental tasks.
Gastro-analyzers make better cooks.
Immunoenhancers, coagulators, and healing enhancers protect health.
Skin hardening glands resist damage, but they're quite ugly.
Detoxifier stomachs, reprocessor stomachs, and nuclear stomachs enhance digestion or remove the need for it.
Circadian assistants and circadian half-cyclers reduce the need to sleep.
Aesthetic enhancements make your colonists more popular.
Love enhancers improve mood.


This expansion includes a new full album worth of new music by Alistair Lindsay, composer of the original RimWorld soundtrack.

There are 13 new tracks totaling 1:04:14 in length.

(All non-English translations are made by fans.)

[psychotron666]

Biotech and ideology are the two that are the most worth it imo, they add a ton of stuff integrated into the main game which to me are basically essential now.

The other two I can take or leave

[Kiana]

Biotech is literally what got me to buy the game. Gene modding, cloning, cybernetics, robot minions, the life sim elements of couples actually having kids... Tons of stuff. (Also tons of mods I love have it a prereq.)

Ideology is a nice supplemental addition, as it lets you customize your colony's playstyle (and to a lesser extent, visuals) pretty well, including enforcing self-imposed challenges (with the threat of tantrum spiral). Probably terrible on its own, though.

[Aranador]

IMHO, Biotech is best value. I put Ideology and Royalty pretty even, depending on what you want in your game, but maybe would say Ideology first. Anomaly, while a great DLC and a fun addition, is a 'sometimes' DLC which puts it at the bottom of my recommendation list.

[Ghevd]

Royalty is my fav since it add psycasts. Basically magic. Biotech is the better buy though if I had to pick one.

I find ideology the least necessary. It lets you customize the gameplay by determining which moods affect you colonist. In other words you can make the game easier because eating people is your religion.

[Lanny]

Biotech adds the most essential functions IMO. After that, it's Ideology for varying play styles and theming for me.

[Hoki]

ideology is my favorite dlc but its pretty much backend stuff giving you more control over the gaming experience. with just 3 days under your belt its not a dlc you get much use out of as youre still in the learning phase.
its a dlc that shines in replayability as you can make every run completly unique but for ideologys content is basically as broad as it is as shallow it gets.

biotech is recommendd as first dlc to get as all its content is straightforward. the content is all encounterable pretty early into the game and optional. everything it provides fits nicely into runs in general.
its the best bang for a buck as its the one that fits better into general gameplay than any of the other DLC.

royalty features a titlesystem with a new faction, psycasts aka space magic, a new type of mechraid called cluster and a fair expansion of quests. the empire as well psycasts both require more dedication to experience than biotech does with its content and is not suited for every kind of playthrough. the rest is a nice addition though.

anomaly is the newest dlc and a mixed bag. its a very catered experience but can be tough for new players. its a strongly themed dlc and therefore doesnt really provide a lot of replayability. on a technical level it doesnt much noteworthy things either and hasnt been used much by the modding scene either outside its own theme.

[Hades]

Royality is epic.
Biotech is ok.
The others don't really interest me. I have Ideology which feels more like "Rimworld with Restrictions To Make It Harder" so I rarely use use it's feature.

[kaiyl_kariashi]

yeah, out of the 4

Bio-tech and Royalty are my favorites.

I hardly use Ideology unless I have a really specific game focus in mind (I just use the setting that gives everyone the same ideology as vanilla but lets you use the other Ideology mechanics most of the time).

Anomaly I use off and on. Similar to Ideology I generally only engage with it if i plan to go all the way for one of the endings.

[Conflict]

royalty is amazing! biotech and anomaly are not for newbies at all.