RimWorld - a game about worlds on the rim of the galaxy, not licking buttholes

[OwO What's This?]

RimWorld is a colony sim game similar to Prison Architect and Dwarf Fortress - in fact it's been often regarded as a fusion of the two. You have relatively simple graphics, and much easier to understand gameplay than Dwarf Fortress, making it a very nice gateway into this emerging genre.

Unfortunately it has a rather hefty pricetag, but if you can get a hold of the game, it's a ton of fun, and there's a lot of mod support available on the official website's forums that really do a lot to enhance the gameplay. It is still technically in alpha, but every finished build is stable, and there's still a lot more updates to come.

I might even put together a Kiwi Farms modpack if there's interest.

 

[Kablamo]

The one-man dev team is consistently active and continues to add ambitious new mechanics. Definitely worth checking out.

 

[Bagronkleton]

I picked it up on the endorsement of another fellow Farmer in the Zoe Quinn thread. I figured if Five Guys Burgers 'N Fries would chimp out over a mechanic that is so minor to the exclusion of everything else then it must be a good game. Hell, the relationship and gender shit is so minor I forget that it's even there ninety percent of the time.

Anyway, bought it and got sucked in. Lost track of time just farting around and had to pry myself away some five hours later.

There's a bit of a learning curve but it is designed very intuitively as to not be super intimidating. Having an easy to access in-game help glossary goes a long way. Only time I check out the wiki is for more specific info, but even then I rarely need to.

Great game. 10/10 would shoot a boom rat in a summer heat wave again.

 

[DuskEngine]

I'm gonna shill the Call of Cthulhu Cults mod. It's a bit unbalanced (all of my colonists ended up joining the cult pretty early on) but there are a lot of interesting dramu features, like anti-cultist pawns scheming to assassinate preachers, human sacrifices of prisoners, and sanity effects.

 

[DuskEngine]

So a16 is out, and omg

You can even create splinter colonies and start caravans to raid other settlements and stuff. It's great.

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

buy this game it is gr9 which is better than great... I shelled out over $100 to back this game and don't regret.

 

[DuskEngine]

buy this game it is gr9 which is better than great... I shelled out over $100 to back this game and don't regret.

are you going to make kengle the pirate king

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

are you going to make kengle the pirate king

lmao look out for the Raiders of Port Asperger

 

[alphamale22]

Anyone know if this ever goes on sale? As in, should I buy it now or is it worth waiting to get cheaper?

 

[Dr. Meme]

the only rim world i need is grindr

 

[Sanshain]

I'm a complete Dwarf Fortress addict (well, lapsed addict, waiting for the next big update). Is RimWorld a decent competitor? I love games that have ridiculous amounts of complexity.

 

[OwO What's This?]

I'm a complete Dwarf Fortress addict (well, lapsed addict, waiting for the next big update). Is RimWorld a decent competitor? I love games that have ridiculous amounts of complexity.

It's not as complex as Dwarf Fortress - not nearly, and in many ways it's also more random than Dwarf Fortress, or at least in ways that is harder to recover from.

But since A16, it's finally implemented something DFers have wanted for years: travel. You can now have your little dudes all over the place on different maps and form your own trade caravans. So it's really coming into its own as an entirely different game.

 

[bird]

Anyone know if this ever goes on sale? As in, should I buy it now or is it worth waiting to get cheaper?

I saw a post about this on the steam discussion forums and the general consensus is Tynan doesnt want to put it on sale, which is p lame because while I think this is an amazing game 30$ is a lot, mostly because i am a poor asshole

 

[Null]

It's not as complex as Dwarf Fortress - not nearly, and in many ways it's also more random than Dwarf Fortress, or at least in ways that is harder to recover from.

The problem is that the game has staged events, which are bad things that just happen at random. The absolute worst ones involve electrical failure. You can be set up on an Ice Sheet in absolute comfort with a perfectly functioning hydroponics farm and then suddenly there's a solar flare, one of 50 that year, and the electricity goes out for an entire day, instantly killing all your crops. Even batteries don't help, and the game actively punishes you for using batteries by having them explode all the fucking time.

In Dwarf Fortress, that doesn't happen. Toady doesn't just pull the screws out of your magma floodgate and flood your fortress. A dwarf goes insane or a gremlin can use a lever, but that only happens if you didn't protect the lever. There's no counterplay, and that's the really important part of any game. You have to feel in control against the oppression presented, and there's no counter play to "bad shit just happening", there's only cleanup or game over. That's punishing you for doing well.

And yes, the new travel mod is interesting and fun, but the big thing the game is missing is a sort of culture. You should be able to pick if cannibalism and slavery is acceptable in your culture. If it is, cultures that don't accept those things take a relationship penalty towards you, and those who do like you more and will cooperate with you. Right now, if you want to do a cannibal slave trader run, you have to make every single character in the game a "cannibal psychopath", and that's just dumb and it doesn't play into neighbors at all.

 

[OwO What's This?]

The problem is that the game has staged events, which are bad things that just happen at random. The absolute worst ones involve electrical failure. You can be set up on an Ice Sheet in absolute comfort with a perfectly functioning hydroponics farm and then suddenly there's a solar flare, one of 50 that year, and the electricity goes out for an entire day, instantly killing all your crops. Even batteries don't help, and the game actively punishes you for using batteries by having them explode all the fucking time.

In Dwarf Fortress, that doesn't happen. Toady doesn't just pull the screws out of your magma floodgate and flood your fortress. A dwarf goes insane or a gremlin can use a lever, but that only happens if you didn't protect the lever. There's no counterplay, and that's the really important part of any game. You have to feel in control against the oppression presented, and there's no counter play to "bad shit just happening", there's only cleanup or game over. That's punishing you for doing well.

And yes, the new travel mod is interesting and fun, but the big thing the game is missing is a sort of culture. You should be able to pick if cannibalism and slavery is acceptable in your culture. If it is, cultures that don't accept those things take a relationship penalty towards you, and those who do like you more and will cooperate with you. Right now, if you want to do a cannibal slave trader run, you have to make every single character in the game a "cannibal psychopath", and that's just dumb and it doesn't play into neighbors at all.

I agree with you to an extent. The events can be brutally unfair. But they're also a great catalyst to put you in situations you wouldn't normally encounter. I think a big problem with Dwarf Fortress is it's too easy to settle into a formula that 'just works', and you'll end up getting rather burnt out if you can't find an interesting way to force yourself to change things up. So it's hard to strike a good balance.

I think it's also important to keep in mind that the RimWorld at the start of this year pales in comparison to the RimWorld we have now. The game has been improving drastically in such short periods of time and it's getting even better still, and unlike Dwarf Fortress this game is VERY easy to mod. All sorts of great content is coming out of the modding community. So even if Tynan were to stop developing the game tomorrow, you would still see some amazing stuff that completely changes the game in unexpected ways.

 

[Null]

I agree with you to an extent. The events can be brutally unfair. But they're also a great catalyst to put you in situations you wouldn't normally encounter. I think a big problem with Dwarf Fortress is it's too easy to settle into a formula that 'just works', and you'll end up getting rather burnt out if you can't find an interesting way to force yourself to change things up. So it's hard to strike a good balance.

Except that's not even a problem in RW because what makes DF such a routine is that the fortress is essentially impenetrable. All I do in a map is dig one layer down, build a 11 unit drawbridge, and then channel that 30 stories down into a pit. At that point my fortress is impenetrable. Enemies must always play by your rules.

In RW, they routinely break through walls and there's 1Z level. The challenge of raids is never gone and if your caravan is attacked you're given no preparation time what so ever.

 

[OwO What's This?]

Except that's not even a problem in RW because what makes DF such a routine is that the fortress is essentially impenetrable. All I do in a map is dig one layer down, build a 11 unit drawbridge, and then channel that 30 stories down into a pit. At that point my fortress is impenetrable. Enemies must always play by your rules.

In RW, they routinely break through walls and there's 1Z level. The challenge of raids is never gone and if your caravan is attacked you're given no preparation time what so ever.

The odd thing about that argument is that I could make the same one but it would be in such a way that I'd be saying why I preferred RimWorld sometimes. I do play both games, but I rather enjoy just how unfair RimWorld can be. It makes for a good story.

I would not be surprised if Tynan made the default storyteller a bit more reasonable to counterplay against, however, while people like me can stick with good old Randy Random to show us a murderous good time

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

The problem is that the game has staged events, which are bad things that just happen at random. The absolute worst ones involve electrical failure. You can be set up on an Ice Sheet in absolute comfort with a perfectly functioning hydroponics farm and then suddenly there's a solar flare, one of 50 that year, and the electricity goes out for an entire day, instantly killing all your crops. Even batteries don't help, and the game actively punishes you for using batteries by having them explode all the fucking time.

In Dwarf Fortress, that doesn't happen. Toady doesn't just pull the screws out of your magma floodgate and flood your fortress. A dwarf goes insane or a gremlin can use a lever, but that only happens if you didn't protect the lever. There's no counterplay, and that's the really important part of any game. You have to feel in control against the oppression presented, and there's no counter play to "bad shit just happening", there's only cleanup or game over. That's punishing you for doing well.

And yes, the new travel mod is interesting and fun, but the big thing the game is missing is a sort of culture. You should be able to pick if cannibalism and slavery is acceptable in your culture. If it is, cultures that don't accept those things take a relationship penalty towards you, and those who do like you more and will cooperate with you. Right now, if you want to do a cannibal slave trader run, you have to make every single character in the game a "cannibal psychopath", and that's just dumb and it doesn't play into neighbors at all.

If hotwheels can make rape mods for prison architect I'm sure you're capable of making cultural mods for rimworld

 

[Null]

If hotwheels can make rape mods for prison architect I'm sure you're capable of making cultural mods for rimworld

I definitely could, but I'm busy being a fat piece of shit.

 

[r00]

You should be able to pick if cannibalism and slavery is acceptable in your culture.

That would be great. I find myself clicking for ages to find three psychopaths before starting a game, because its colony policy to feed prisoners on nutrient paste made from the flesh of their fallen friends.

Rimworld is so fucking awesome.