Wednesday 25 April 2018

Cloud Zombie's Rimworld Survival Tips

Rimworld has become the new Minecraft for me. No, I haven’t forsaken Minecraft but I have sidelined it for a while so it doesn’t become stale for me. Having clocked 344 hours on Rimworld (at the time of writing this article) I can well and truly say that I’ve fallen for it hard! That, my friends, is 14 Days and 8 hours of good times. Before you judge me, think about what site you came to and then rethink said criticism. Most of us have played Minecraft at some point in our lives, and those of us who do most likely know how to survive our first night and not run screaming like a noob from a creeper in the darkness. The important things you need to get yourself through the first night and out the other side is:

  • Food
  • Shelter
  • Light
  • Tools

For fun, see: Paul Soares Jr’s How to Survive and Thrive

Now, the thing with Rimworld is that it pretty much depends on you getting stuck straight in. If you don’t I’m sure your story teller of choice will find a way to rip you a new one. The story teller you have really affects what and when something gets thrown at you. We have Cassandra Classic, Phoebe Chillax and Randy Random.

Cassie will give you a nice gentle poke and build up through time to more of a swift knifing to the buttocks. Phoebes will throw things at you but she is considerate by giving you time to relax and rebuild what you may have lost during whatever happens. Randy is like a tap dancer on thin ice, you never know when it’s going to break but when it does you will get a cold dunk under the ice.

Incidentally, I’ve seen in the mods that you can download H.P. Lovecraft as a story teller. Good luck with that!

The scenario you have chosen for yourself goes a long way towards what you’ve got to work with once you hit that final button. There are three pre-made scenarios to choose from, you can create your own or download them the usual way (my game is via Steam). These Scenarios are: Crashlanded, The Rich Explorer and Lost Tribe. All three are very different in their complexities, parameters and how well organised you can be.

A lot of the time I either go for Crashlanded, a mod scenario or one I have created for myself. The ZombieLand mod on Steam is extremely good fun but also can be unforgiving; it was more heart wrenching than Xcom 2. Those of you who have played it will know what I mean.

Rimworld has the adventure of Minecraft and the management style of a strategy that seems to draw me in more each time. You never quite know what each game will be like, can never be quite sure who in your colony will flip out and slaughter the colony’s prize Labrador or who is one step away from cooking other colonists on the BBQ. It can happen...seriously! I once had a colonist decide to kill the pet Labrador because his bedroom wasn’t big enough. First (albeit remote) world problems ahoy. #RimworldProblems #NotTheDog

Nobody wants Captain Fluffy-Tail to snuff it through unnatural means so let’s get down to Cloud Zombie’s Rimworld Survival Tips!

  1. Choose Your People Well – Being diligent when it comes to the wellbeing of your colony is a must. That is why you should choose carefully what kind of people you are going to be dumping in the middle of nowhere, unless you were going for that kind of challenge. There are so many traits, life stages and personalities that could cause your colonists' worlds to fall down around them.
  2. Food! – If you don’t get delivered to your planet with survival rations you need to be on the lookout for scattered food stuffs, edible plant life and of course unsuspecting animals. To hunt you will need a bow or a gun of some kind and be able to shoot. Be ready for when your prey decides it isn’t putting up with your shit and turns to hand your arse to you. You will have to build a butchering table as well as a fire or stove to cook any meat that you collect. Your colonists can eat raw meat but it will make them sick thus lowering their mood. Starvation can set in quicker than you think, don’t leave it till the last minute. Also prepare for growing time. Sometimes you’ll be able to grow all year round but on some parts of the map you don’t get that luxury. Those potatoes aren’t going to sow themselves!
  3. Build, Build, Build! – People will get sick of sleeping on the ground and sleeping in a shared room quickly. Sharing a bedroom (unless they are partners) will lead to loss of sleep and (you guessed it) lowering their mood. Bed rooms, a common room and a place to store food (preferably refrigerated) are a must.
  4. I’ve Got The Power! – Electricity makes everyone’s life much better to bear, especially when starting again from scratch. Lights illuminate rooms and boost moods, and refrigeration stops precious food from rotting away.
  5. Joy To The World! – Everyone needs to blow off steam, relax and do something fun. This is where job items come in handy for keeping the colony morale up and on the level. Who knew a game of horse shoes could keep away the stabby-dog blues. #RimworldProblems #NotTheDog
  6. Say Hello To My Little Friend! – If you have no weapons create a crafting spot and make some bows to help you to protect your colony and feed them.
  7. Knowledge Is Power! – Once you are in a good enough place build a research bench and get to it! Researching new things that will make your colonists lives easier, happier and more interesting is the way forwards!
  8. Pure Imagination! – Have fun, create a story for your colony and try to see it through to the end.

Now that I have bestowed my knowledge upon you, go forth to a planet of your own and begin your journey.

Thank you for reading if in fact you have made it down to the bottom of the post. Let us know if you liked this post in the comments below, on Twitter, on Facebook and somewhere in your imagination. If you have time take a look at some other posts on the site, click one of the posts in the ‘Why Not Try’ section, check out the podcast and of course our Youtube channel.


Kat (aka Cloud Zombie) is a daydreaming enthusiast and self-professed Minecraft/Sims junkie from Kent, England.

She blogs about her passions over at cloudzombie, covering everything from video games, movies and TV all the way to baking.






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