Now that RimWorld beta 19 is officially out, I’ve switched from playing unstable to the stable branch. While the beta 19 is very good, even without any mods, I wanted to switch over to using some mods that I pinned during the last month. I really like tribal starts with five colonists and the lack of electricity or advanced technology. I like having about 25-30 pawns at the upper end. I’m also still learning, so I tend to start on lower difficulties.

The Rim World
  • Seed: “red bull bluff”
  • Coverage: 100% (with average rain/temp)

The year is 5500, the colony is starting in an unnamed temperate forest near “Old Hot Lenwasnabum”, and the following factions:

  • Blue Polar Bear (neutral, yellow tents): Guban (SW) and White Gorge (NE)
  • Rogues (hostile, dark red skull): Night Oasis
  • Ouen (neutral, light purple house): Cardsshaw (NE)
  • Purple Chincilla Banzo (hostile, green tents): Legua Gorge (NW)
  • Torture Pack (hostile, light red skull): Mortar’s Crag (NW)

There are a total of ten factions on the map: two neutral tribal, two hostile tribal, two hostile pirate, two neutral outlander, and two hostile outlander.

Starting colony location

We’ve settled in a place with permanent summer as the climate. So growing season is year-round which makes it a really easy map. Cold snaps are unlikely or impossible which is good for tribal colonies with limited clothing options at the start. There’s lots of hills which give natural walls and choke-points for defense. There’s a brook, but the only deep water for fishing is on the other side of a hill. The brook is wide enough to provide water-based power generation later once I unlock watermills.

Between the two geothermal vents and the ability to put maybe half-a-dozen watermills in place, I’ll have little need for windmills / solar panels / batteries.

Starting colonists

The colonists consist of a pair of siblings, plus a fifth colonist.

  • Doc (M, 38) and Zoci (M, 35)
  • Green (F, 22, Zoci’s lover) and Puma (M, 26)
  • Lotus (F, 29)

I don’t know whether Zoci/Green are a stable pairing, or if others will occur yet. I’ve installed the Psychology mod, so this could be a harmonious ride or a wild dark ride.

Some first steps that I need to take:

  • Roof over the two nearby structures, install wooden walls and wood doors.
  • Setup a cooking table, butcher table, crafting spot.
  • Setup indoor stockpiles for hides, pemmican, herbal meds.
  • Plant 5x5 corn, 5x10 rice, 5x5 potato, 5x5 strawberry patches
  • Only have a single hunter to start (Lotus), hunt only as-needed to avoid waste

I like to identify one to three 11x11 squares which can later be roofed over for a sun lamp if needed. There’s a bit of rich soil to the west side of a small hill where I can put a pair of 11x11 planning markers (Order -> Plan). To the west of that is a big mud patch, on top of which I’ll build housing.

I don’t actually have strawberry fields to start with, because VGP Vegetable Garden hides that until later. But I have corn, barley (from VGP), potato, and rice. Barley is blight-resistant, but I think putting up walls between the plots controls the spreading of blight.

5501 Apr 1st – The first year went quick, Green and Zoci are now engaged to be married. Been surviving on simple meals made from hunted meats until the harvests come in and we can start putting away pemmican for long-term storage. That’s working okay, because I need the leathers to make bedrolls and tribal garb.

5501 Apr 4th – A grizzly bear decided to hunt our pet dog (Bogdan-Kun, bonded to Green) and had to be killed. Puma was injured during the melee and Bogdan-Kun is now missing a front-left paw. Bear meat is on the menu! But also, getting a perimeter wall up is something we should tackle this year.

Starting colony location

5501 Apr 5th – Starting on the individual bedrooms. We have lots and lots of meat that will spoil, but no veggies with which to make pemmican. The land is bountiful enough with wildlife that I’m not too worried. Bedrolls for the single colonists have been made, but they’re still sleeping in a barracks room. Loci and Green do have a couple’s suite, but no bedroll yet.

5501 Apr 13th – Well, that was quick. Zoci and Green broke up due to talking about each other. Expecting Lotus and Doc to be the next possible pairing, but their jobs are quite different (Lotus is always out hunting), so I don’t know for sure. (Later on I realized that Doc has a Kinsey rating of six and would not be interested.)

5501 Jul 3rd – Heatwave, 40-42C during the day. Passive coolers for all the indoor spaces are enough to deal with the heat. This is a very temperate area of the map with very moderate temperature swings. The heatwaves do chase almost all the critters off the map, so there’s nothing to hunt for a few days.

5501 Jul 5th – Puma and Doc caught the Flu. That’s two of the three medics, Green will have to treat the two of them. It’s also both of the cooks; we’ll be living off pemmican for a few days.

5501 Jul 8th – Transport pod crash brings us Aerin (F, 22, Ouen faction) with a strong artistic intrest and moderate intrest in medical, social and intellectual. Puma has recovered from the flu and Doc will be cured in about a day. Even after they are up and walking around, it takes a day or two for the effects of flu to wear off.

5501 Jul 12th – Zoci and Green are lovers again. And Aerin is leaving the map. That’s a shame because she would have been useful. It gives us a +16 to relations with Ouen.

5501 Sep 1st – Tomoko (F, 62) being chased by Torture Pack pirates has been granted asylum. She won’t do dumb labor, but she can sit and research. Zoci rejected Green’s marriage proposal (it’s a very hot/cold relationship). Green then proposed again on the same day and now they are no longer a couple. Possibly a small bug in the Psychology mod that they don’t stop sharing a bed after a break-up.

5501 Sep 5th – Zoci and Green got into a big fight. Green still likes Zoci (+13), but Zoci really dislikes Green (-31) now. Doc and Puma are thick as thieves (+100 to each other). Doc has a Kinsey rating of 6 (very homosexual) while Puma has a rating of 0 (very heterosexual); so nothing should develop there. Might see Puma and Lotus get together as they are liking each other more over time.

5501 Sep 7th – A bulk goods caravan arrives from Orange Meadow Confederation with the grandfather (Tasca) of Zoci and Doc.

5501 Sep 14th – Three colonists come down with the plague: Tomoko, Zoci and Lotus. Tomoko is completely bed-ridden.

5501 Dec 2nd – Puma and Lotus are now lovers. Tomoko developed immunity to the plague, but is still bed-ridden.

5501 Dec 4th – Transport pod crash brings Quinn (M, 22, refugee) to the colony. Incapable of skilled labor, he’ll make a good hauler.

5501 Dec 11th – Lotus and Puma are now engaged.

5502 Apr 2nd – Lotus and Tomoko are stricken with malaria. Zoci and Green are lovers again.

5502 Apr 7th – Lotus and Puma get married.

5502 Apr 10th – Green proposed to Zoci, and Zoci rejected her again. They have broken up.

5502 Jul 8th – Green and Zoci are lovers, again. The plague has struck again, this time it’s Tomoko, Lotus, Quinn and Doc. That leaves Green as the only medical staff. A heat wave began a day later, with highs of 49C. I do need to research cowboy hats and dusters to protect from the heat. The heat wave caused Quinn to have an anti-social fit (wandering the map edge) a few days later due to the after-effects of plague plus the heat.

5502 Sep 2nd – Green and Zoci are engaged; but after the antics in 5500, we shall see if they follow through. A transport pod containing Keiko Weiss (F, 34, refugee) has landed. She is a bisexual misandrist, incapable of violence, with strong interest in crafting. But Keiko left after treatment.

5502 Sep 6th – The mayoral race has started. Puma has stepped up on a platform of no-drugs and only good citizens allowed. He’s rational, logical and intelligent according to his psyche profile. Very against drugs. May be a bad fit since I plan on starting hops / barley / smokeleaf production soon. Nobody else announced a candidancy by Sep 12th, so Puma is going to run unopposed.

5503 Apr 2nd – Galloway, a wild man (age 33) wanders into the area. A night-owl that loves rain and the outdoors with high shooting skill. We’re going to capture him and recruit him.

5503 Sep 9th – Next mayoral race has started, this time Puma is running against Tomoko. Tomoko wants a non-interference policy for what colonists do in their private time.

5503 Sep 11th – Tomoko suffers a heart-attack during the mayoral race. Because Tomoko is a valued member, I’ll unlock the medicine cabinet and provide access to the mid-grade (Medicine) instead of using Herbal Medicine. I also have some Glitterworld Medicine, but that’s reserved for future surgeries. Green took 6 attempts (skill:10) to fully cure Tomoko, but she’s up and walking.

5503 Sep 14th – Puma wins re-election.

5503 Dec 1st – Purchased Shark (M, 53) and Shield (M, 24) from the Orange Meadow Confederation faction’s slave trader in exchange for most of our herbal medicine and all of our pemmican. Shark has really high skills and interest in cooking, plants, animals, artistic and is a night-owl like Galloway. Shield is younger and far less skilled but is a socialite.

5503 Dec 3rd – It was cold overnight, 5 Celsius. Not a cold snap, but a cold snap would push us down into the -5C territory. The interiors are still 17-18C due to the use of torches for lighting. Tomoko unlocked electricity, but has to research watermills before we can start building out the power grid and using electric lamps and heaters.

5503 Dec 10th – Malaria strikes Quinn and Lotus. Construction has started on four watermills so we can setup the primary kitchen / fridge / freezer / deep freezer area. Quinn is having trouble fighting off the Malaria, so the good medicine has been unlocked.

5503 Dec 13th – Tomoko starts a fight with Quinn after a heated conversation.

5503 Dec 15th – We’ve offered refuge to Lily (F, 44), who is being chased by three drifters from The Rogues. She has the undergrounder and too smart traits (increased learning speed).

5504 Apr 14th – Tomoko suffers a fatal heart attack. She is our first colonist to pass away. Puma is planning on a funeral (from the Psychology mod) within the next day at her sarcophagus (which I had already built). I try to keep two or three sarcophagi prepared for unexpected events. Sadly, it was a sparsely attended event with only Puma showing up.

5504 Jul 4th – Heat wave, highs near 50C. It puts a strain on the four watermills (4400W), leaving me with about 700W to spare. I’ll need another watermill soon.

5504 Jul 11th – Green and Zoci have divorced. Green initiated it, so Zoci has the -20 debuff for 30 days.

5504 Sep 2nd – Purchased Mario (M, 59) off of the slavers. Another night-owl. With the high mining skill, he’ll probably work the quarry once I set it up.

5504 Sep 11th – Three candidates this time for the mayoral race: Puma, Green and Zoci. Zoci wins this time (on Dec 4th) with four votes.

5505 Apr 5th – Heat wave. About 45C for the high.

5505 Apr 6th – Captured a raider named Colonel (F, 64) from Torture Pack. She came within 10 seconds of dying, but Green kept her alive. A prison break on Jul 3rd results in her having a destroyed left lung from recapture. She finally agreed to join the colony on Jul 7th.

5505 Jul 9th – Puma and Lotus broke up after a bit over three years of marriage. The topic of contention was romance.

5505 Jul 12th – We are now allied (+79) with Arasussia after giving away all of the excess furniture we had laying around. Also picked up a cow and bull to start a farming herd for milk. Currently building out to 24 bedrooms.

5505 Sep 1st – Two candidates for mayor: Doc and Galloway. Doc is anti-drugs. Doc wins with six votes on Sep 7th.

5505 Sep 2nd – A hiveworld drone named Keiko (F, 41) has escaped from Purple Chinchilla Banzo and we are offering refuge. She is greedy and has an artificial nose.

5505 Dec 13th – Deep space miner running away from The Rogues named Lada (F, 57).

5506 Apr 7th – A mechanics engineer, Stone (M, 24), has been granted asylum. Captured Taya (F, 38) from the Rogues faction when they chased Stone. Building my 9th watermill as I am having power issues during heat waves. That gives me 9900W of power, and I’m using about 9000W.

5506 Apr 11th – Big outbreak of plague: Green, Colonel, Doc, Lotus, Galloway, Mario and Keiko. That leaves me with Puma and Shield for treating it.

5506 Apr 12th – Transport pod crash with Gill (M, 46) who is an oaf with an annoying voice. He belongs to the Western Minheia faction (hostile) so is a prisoner. Mario has cracked under the pressure of plague and is going to dig up a corpse. This means we get to see Tomoko again… Even better, he’s going to put it on the dining table in one of the prisoner cells. No, wait, he’s carrying it to the field dining table down in the southwest corner. It’s a seldom used dining room that I placed out there so colonists have a close dining room when far afield.

5506 Apr 14th – Doc has a -23 from being visited by constituents. Wonder if that means he will not run again in Sep. He finally had a tantrum (breaking random things) and has a +40 catharsis buff for three days. Quinn has successfully wooed Green and they are now lovers.

5506 Jul 3rd – Antoloy (M, 34) is offered refugee status due to escaping from The Rogues. Between the chemical fascination and sickly traits, he’s not likely to live long. He and Lada are both incapable of violence as well.

5506 Sep 1st – Doc decided not to run again. This time it is Taya and Green running for mayor.

5506 Sep 3rd – Quinn proposed to Green and she accepted.

5506 Sep 8th – Pecur (a wild woman, age 77) has wandered near the colony. She is the sister of Colonel. We’ll try and capture her. The election for mayor is over and Green won.

5506 Dec 4th – Green and Quinn have gotten married. Poor Quinn had food poisoning on his wedding day.

5507 Apr 6th – Toxic fallout! Time to build lots of roof area along open passageways, setup an “indoor” zone and restrict all colonists to it. I can’t fight fires while this is going on, unless they are indoors; but most walls are granite/slate and most flooring is marble.

5507 Apr 7th – Colonists with toxic build-up: Lotus, Zoci, Quinn, Shield, Lily, Keiko, Taya, Gill, Pecur, Colonel, Galloway, Shark, Stone, Lada. That is 14 of 19 colonists that all have 0-19% severity. Colonel with 15% is the worst, the others are 5-6% or lower.

5507 Apr 8th – Colonists over 4% toxins: Zoci (9%), Keiko (13%), Taya (8%), Gill (9%), Colonel (11%), Stone (4%). I keep extending the walkways between areas using slate posts and constructed roofs. A little short-term exposure in order to reduce long-term exposure (I hope). Culling of pets and livestock has begun so that we can stretch our kibble / silage supplies. I still have about 4800 pemmican, plus a few thousand corn/rice/potato in the freezer.

5507 Apr 9th – A heatwave has begun. Colonists over 4% toxins: Keiko (5%), Stone (7%). So far so good. I have about 4kW of spare power on the grid right now, I could setup some sun lamps to grow the basic food types.

5507 Apr 11th – The toxic fallout has ended, but the heat wave goes on. None of the colonists ended with over 4% and I don’t think any peaked over 15%.

5507 Jul 6th – Mario turns 62 and develops a bad back and asthma. He’ll be restricted to the “core” zone. Also, production of cowboy hats and dusters has started. Four orbital trade depots (big 15x15 internal rooms) are started too.

5507 Jul 9th – Refugee named Trey (M, 27) running from White Cod Crivelerbar. Unfortunately, a pyromaniac and cannibal, so he got banished right away. We did capture Frog (M, 19). That night, Pecur (F, 77) had a heart attack.

5507 Jul 15th – A wanderer named Lilith (F, 54) has joined. Strong passions for plants, animals, artistic and intellectual pursuits.

5507 Sep 1st – New lovers, Lily and Stone.

5507 Sep 6th – Late start to the mayor’s race, this year it’s Quinn vs Pecur. An inventor named Ef (F, 39) is escaping The Rogues and is offered sanctuary. Quinn wins election.

5507 Dec 5th – Refugee named Xandy (M, 42) is being chased by White Cod Crivelerbar. He is offered sanctuary.

5507 Dec 14th – Galloway and Keiko are now lovers.

5508 Apr 7th – Lily proposed to Stone, but Stone rejected the engagement. They are no longer lovers.

5508 Jul 8th – Colonel is now age 68 and has gained the frail trait.

5508 Jul 15th – Jackalope (F, 16) crashed in a pod. Ugly, night-owl, great memory. She left after a short while.

5508 Sep 1st – Keiko proposed to Galloway, but Galloway rejected the engagement. They are no longer lovers. Production of assault rifles has started with about five of good quality so far from Lily.

5508 Sep 4th – Keiko and Stone are now lovers. They ended up in separate bedrooms and Keiko ended up away from her custom bedroom with a silver tile floor. Things are better now that I’ve reassigned things. Lily and Colonel keep getting into social fights, so production of assault rifles has stalled.

5508 Sep 6th – Six candidates for mayor this year: Lada, Puma, Shield, Gil, Ef, and Xandy. Polls were held on the 11th. Winner was Puma with 6 votes.

5508 Dec 1st – Stone and Keiko have broken up.

5508 Dec 7th – Keiko and Puma are now lovers.

5508 Dec 14th – Keiko and Puma have broken up.

5509 Apr 2nd – Captured a wild woman, Abeniero (F, 32). Animals, mining and construction are her strong points. Also, eight colonists came down with malaria.

5509 Apr 4th – Purchased Marjot (F, 54) from the slavers.

5509 Apr 9th – Working on a rescue of Jackson (M, 34), father of Colonel and Pecur. Ugh, he’s a pyromaniac. As soon as Colonel and Pecur die, he will too.

5509 Apr 10th – Offered safety to Mitsuya (F, 38) being chased by Torture Pack.

5509 Apr 11th - Psychic ship landed and I tried to use mortars. Colonel and Shark were killed in action.

5509 Apr 15th – Galloway and Lotus are now lovers.

5509 Jul 4th – Anatoly and Lily are now lovers.

5509 Jul 13th – Nira (F, 49) is offered refuge.

(colony retired)