Rimworld

This is a /v/ related article, which we tolerate because it's relevant and/or popular on /tg/... or we just can't be bothered to delete it.

This article is a stub. You can help 1d4chan by expanding it

The universe maybe completely different from Dwarf Fortress, but the inhabitants are just as equally retarded.

Rimworld is what happens when Dwarf Fortress, Firefly, Dune, WH40k (think somewhere between Age of Terra and Dark Age of Technology), and several other space operas had an intense orgy and this is the result. She's prettier than her predecessor, but doesn't necessarily have the same depth...at least at first. Playable alphas were released sometime in 2013, and the game was released in full late 2018. Primarily designed by Tynan Sylvester (who wants you to buy his books). The main objective of the game is to manage a dwarven fortress space colony until one can escape the hellhole in a spaceship. Or they can choose to make their colony viable enough that it can participate in galactic society at large.

The sci-fi setting allows for elements that dwarf fortress can't have (though the toady one can find a way to include most of them). Some of these elements include but are not limited to: forceful organ harvesting, cannibalism, catching carcinomas from toxic fallout, cargo pods dropping on your favorite thing, swarms of super beavers capable of leveling entire forests, exploding deer, exploding rats, people going on murder sprees simply because they have no bed, and pirate-killing turkeys. And that is with just the vanilla game!

WIP

Overview

By default, you start with 3 colonists out of 8 potential choices, and tweak your chosen rimworld and landing site to your liking. Along with a pet and just enough resources to build some rudimentary shelter, your main objective is to build a spaceship and return to the stars, or you can just rough it in the wilderness and try to flourish. Later updates added some additional starting scenarios;

• A quintet of tribals who barely survive an attack from murderous machines (a couple of extra hands sure, but you'll be stuck with a research speed penalty for the rest of the run),
• A single colonist who leaves the comfort of high technology to strike it rich in the rim (only one guy, but at least you can build gun turrets right off the bat and start with a blaster rifle), or
• One unfortunate schmuck who's left for dead in his birthday suit and nothing else (unless you count the scraps of your droppod "nothing else").

In addition you have a scenario editor that lets you tailor-make a scenario. One particular option is the presence of a Planet Killer, which blows up your planet after enough days have passed, making time of the essence.

After that you choose between 3 AI Storytellers and their level of sadism difficulty, ranging from showering your colony with gifts and significantly reducing the likelihood of colony assaults to kicking you till you're down, kicking you while you're down, and kicking you all the way down. Your choices are;

1. Cassandra Classic: the vanilla storyteller. A gradual ramp-up of threat level based on the difficulty. Great for beginners;
2. Phoebe Chillax: the tsundere storyteller. Peaceful periods for colony-building broken up by threats, she can hit just as hard as Cass given the right difficulty so make sure you've fortified your positions; and
3. Randy Random: the random storyteller. Sneers at concepts such as "logical progression" and "fair play" and sets off whatever event he fucking wants. One moment, you receive a surprise cargo drop of bearskin trousers, the next moment he sics a herd of manhunting elephants onto your colony. All this at any point in your playthrough, be it potentially at the start of the game or when you're well stocked on textiles and food. Will most likely be your primary storyteller once you've gotten the hang of the game.

Once you're planet has loaded up, you basically direct your colonists in gathering supplies, researching, and just generally surviving. Of course, you're not the only humans on this planet;

• Outlander Unions: Remnants of whatever used to be the dominant ruling power, now fragmented and trying to survive much like you. Will generally use contemporary technology like firearm usage or, if you've really cheesed them off, artillery bombardment and droppod launches;
• Tribes: Humans who decided to take a step back in technology for whatever reason. Weak equipment (unless you're dealing with spearthrowers or longbowmen, who can easily take off a limb or vital organ with a well-placed shot unless you're armored up) but make up for it via sheer numbers;
• Pirates: permanently hostile assholes. Will generally raid your base for shits and giggles, and come in Outlander and Tribe flavors; and
• Mechanoids: those above-mentioned killing machines, who cannot be bargained with nor reasoned with. Incredibly potent within their chosen combat role, but near-helpless outside of it.

Barring the Mechanoids and Pirates, these factions can be friend or foe depending on how you interact with them, and when starting a game you are guaranteed to get a visit from a neutral group.

Gameplay

Just like the ASCII dorfs of Armok, Rimworld has you commanding your colonists (referred to internally as "pawns", which also applies to animals) for day to day activities. Harvesting food, research, production, you name it, and they're even vulnerable to mental breakdowns if they get too stressed out. Colonists also have traits and backstories that determine their specializations and attitude towards others, and coupled with the random generation this can result in some interesting scenarios. Your head chef's ex-boyfriend is the leader of that Outlander Union you are at war with? That refugee you just took in is actually the younger sibling of your middle-aged tailor? Crap like that. They can even tame and befriend animals either as livestock, beasts of burden, guard animals, and pets.

A glance into any given Rimworld community will discuss frequently about the war crimes they perform on every playthrough, and with good reason. You can capture any person from any faction (either visitors or raiders) and they're completely at your mercy. Working them to death into labor camps is scratching the surface. Using them as guinea pigs for your fledgling surgeons to practice on is a common activity, as is harvesting their organs. Hell, a common tactic for pirate prisoners is to replace a hand or foot with a cheap prosthetic and let them go: in the event they come back, their movement is impaired and they're even more of a burden during an attack. And player can get real creative on how their living quarters are, such as filling their prison cells with a hundred cats and oceans of beer, so they're constantly vomited on by inebriated felines, and the overall mess made of vomit, blood, and generic "dirt" will drive them insane several times over. Keep that door locked.

This page is still being worked on, mind you.