I’ve been getting back into Rimworld after a few years. I’ve played a bit but never gotten very far. I’m a huge fan of colony management games in general (Dwarf Fortress, Oxygen Not Included, etc.) but Rimworld has always been tough to me. I think part of it is that the tech tree just doesn’t make sense in my head.
I think I’m more used to medieval style games with clear “Minecraft like” material progression (can’t think of a better term lol). Plus a lot of games I play a gun is just already the highest tech you’ll get, so it’s this weird thing where I view my weapons as really strong then they’re really early game things. Further, I probably think of other weapons I see that are powerful as being super late game weapons.
Can someone give me a breakdown of what techs to research over the first year or two of gameplay? I also might not be researching enough in general. I am 3 seasons in and only have one tech unlocked, batteries. Is that a good pace? I know later it will be faster.
Right now I mostly die to things in the second year it seems like. My new game I am playing with Phoebe Chillax on Adventure Story. Seems like Cassandra Classic on Strive to Survive is the “default”. But going over the things they actually change it seems like this will mostly give me smaller raids and events slightly less often, as opposed to doing things like giving me more food from crops. I’m mostly dying to external threats at the moment so I’m trying to make that a teeny bit easier as I learn.
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RimWorld is meant to tell a story, so “despite our best efforts, we all lied on the ground, bleeding and dying as we watched everything we built burn around us. While the world continued to turn, indifferent to our struggles.” Is a perfectly fine way for a story to end (though I will admit it doesn’t always feel great to watch a colony die).
On a general note, weapons in RimWorld tend to be suited to different roles and fighting styles, and very rarely is it just a matter of “get guns (or whatever research), win game” (I’m pretty sure some bows can out DPS a gun, depending on the quality/ range (be sure to take a look at the info window on your weapons).
That said, other than the blanket advice of looking at each story as a lesson, it might help to know what kind of external threats are wiping you out.
What is it that’s wiping you? If it’s just regular raids, you need to work on your defenses. As far as research goes, the automated sentries are a huge help. To be honest with you though, with a thorough understanding of the mechanics, I think you can survive indefinitely without any particular research.
I always rush Shield Belts, Long Blades, Flak Armor, and Gun Turrets in that order. It doesn’t matter what else you have in your colony if you can’t defend it. Beyond that, Biofuel refining is mandatory for Mortars (and generators, though I usually keep them as emergency power and transition to other power sources when I have the time), then IEDs.
With all these various avenues of defense, you can start branching out into the Sterile Tiles and Hospital Beds to upgrade your cleanrooms.
Psychite Tea, Beer Brewing, and other complex drugs are then important to maintain your pawns mental health. Flake and Yayo should seem repulsive due to their unsafe addictiveness, but research them anyway. You can sustain a psychite addicted pawn harmlessly with tea. And Go-Juice (a fantastic painkiller for emergencies) requires yayo.
After that, you’re gonna want some mining tech, as you’ve likely depleted your metal deposits on your map at this point.
Then? Research whatever. I like grabbing jump packs at this point and upgrading my melee pawns to locust armor and plasteel swords / uranium hammers. But maybe you want marine armor and pulse charged rifles for your gunners. Or better turrets for your automated defenses.
Don’t neglect the combat support items like Smokepop and Firefoam packs either, they’re worth the trouble.
Biofuel refining is mandatory for Mortars
Boomalope farms tho
You want to focus on power generation, batteries(you got good instincts), and air conditioning. With air conditioning you can make freezers to preserve food (pemmican is not bad either early). You can speed up research if your research bench is in a well lit area and if sanitation is high (put it on at least a wooden floor ideally sterile flooring).
Also just turn off raids until you get a handle on the game.
I’m a little past that lol, coolers are a starting tech! Also I tried building under a mountain this game and everything has been nice and comfy. My freezer is working well, it’s on the edge and exhausts through a hole like it should.
Gotta watch for insects under the mountain. There’s some ways to cheese this, but I personally like the semi break risk it brings. I do advise avoiding plasma swords for your guys. Its too easy to start fires by accident, and in a large mountain base, a bad fire is death.
