Managing your first colony in Rimworld will often end in starvation, immolation, or frustration. There is a lot to learn before you can achieve stability, but making it over that hill allows you to fully explore the heart of the game. Take the time to reach sustainability before you get too invested in trying to tame a megasloth.

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Once you get a handle on the basics, there are a lot of ways to increase the efficiency of your base and reduce potential headaches. Using the zoning tool effectively and creating more complex defensive setups will go a long way towards making you and your colonists happier. Life on the Rim is unforgiving, but that doesn’t mean you can’t eventually master it.

10 Undead Revival

The death of a colonist may seem like the closing of a book, but newer players may not realize there is a way to cheat death. Certain quests or ancient shrines will reward you with a resurrector mech serum. This marvel of technology has the power to bring a colonist back to life.

As long as a corpse hasn’t been desiccated, it can be made to once more walk among the living. Fresher bodies incur less side effects upon resurrection, so you will want to freeze your favorite colonist's body as soon as possible until a serum is acquired.

9 Strip Mining

When you first crash-land on a planet, you will notice exposed mineral nodes scattered all about the rocky areas of the map. These nodes will be your primary source of steel and components in the early game. However, these zones will inevitably run out. A great way to thoroughly exhaust all the nodes before seeking alternative sources is to strip mine.

Mine long straight lines into rock formations along both the X and Y axis. This will allow you to efficiently search for mineral nodes without wasting too much time.

8 Customizable Zones

Whenever you build structures in your colony, the designated ‘home zone’ expands in turn. This catch-all area will determine where colonists do tasks such as cleaning and firefighting. Zones actually have a much greater utility than glorified housekeeping. Creating custom zones will allow you to do all sorts of things, such as manage animals, regulate safety, and corral unruly guests.

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If you’re tired of your boomalope bringing a bomb hazard into your base, simply use a custom zone to designate indoor areas as off-limits. Or better yet, create a pen for your explosive buddy, so you can harvest that sweet, sweet chemfuel.

7 Use A Killbox

Having your base fully established feels great. Your food needs are covered, recreation is satisfied, and everyone has a bed. Getting your base burnt down because you lack effective security measures doesn’t feel so great. An effective method for reducing the difficulty of hostile raids is by creating a 'killbox.'

Wall off your entire settlement except for a single section of your choice. From here, create a snaking set of walls that slowly creep into your base. Lay down spike traps at frequent intervals, and have the last of your walls expand to create a hallway watched by barricades. The attacking AI will be enticed to walk through your traps to attack your base, since that section is not blocked off by a door. Any enemies who make it through the traps will find themselves caught in the hallway, and can be easily mopped up by colonists behind the barricade.

6 Indoor Agriculture

Crops don’t have to obey the seasonal laws of nature. By creating a greenhouse or researching hydroponics, you can reap the benefits of year-round agriculture. Indoor crops will no longer have to worry about the scorching sun or the freezing winters. Hydroponics basins also grow crops at a highly accelerated rate. For all the convenience that indoor growing offers, there is one major caveat — sun lamps. These are required to grow any roofed crops that don’t have access to natural light.

The problem is that these little balls of light require a massive amount of energy to maintain, almost as much as an entire geothermal generator. If you want to experiment with indoor agriculture, it is very important to consider all of your energy needs first.

5 Use Devilstrand Clothing

Fresh Rimworld players who want to beef up their colonists' personal defenses will likely turn toward flak jackets. They are a common piece of protective wear that are inexpensive to craft. Devilstrand dusters, and clothes in general, are a much better option. Devilstrand mushrooms can be grown after researching their respective tech block, and you certainly won’t regret it.

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The fabric made from devilstrand is very tough, and any clothing made from this material grants great protective bonuses. For example, a duster made from this material is stronger than flak jackets and doesn’t reduce movement speed. Hyperweave and thrumbofur are tougher materials than devilstrand, but they are also much rarer.

4 Day And Night Shifts

Disasters in Rimworld can happen at any moment, and if your doctor is sleep deprived during surgery at three in the morning, their mood break might be worse for the patient than a wound. Each colonist can be given specific hours for their tasks, including things like work, sleep, and recreation. If you’re feeling extra wild, you can even have them work for 24 hours — although they will likely collapse before their shift ends.

By setting your pawns' schedules to alternate, you can have certain roles working at specific times. For example, having one doctor work during the day and another at night will mean that your hospital will always be on duty. Or, to avoid needless mopping, your house-cleaning pawn can do all the dirty work at night after everyone goes to sleep.

3 Organize The Colonist Display

The top of your screen will always display your active pawns. This is a highly convenient feature to avoid searching for them on the map individually. The issue is that when you start having over ten colonists, each with different skills and specialties, it becomes a bit unwieldy to look at the display bar. Fortunately, right-clicking and dragging colonist portraits actually lets you reorganize them.

For example, you can arrange all your melee colonists on the right, with range on the left. Or, you can do things like group your pacifists separately from psychopaths.

2 Stack Wind Turbines And Solar Panels

The description for wind turbines says that obstructive objects will decrease power efficiency. This is true, as objects such as trees and walls will significantly hamper power production if they are within the designated turbine zone. However, what many new players don’t realize is that solar panels don’t actually count as an obstruction. You can place solar panels directly in the path of wind turbines without any interference.

This is great because it saves a ton of space, and doesn’t require extra wiring to connect the two power sources. Just remember to place fire-retardant gadgets, such as firefoam poppers, nearby. You don’t want the entire colony's power infrastructure to potentially burn down half of your base.

1 Remember To Use EMP Weapons

The early raids of Rimworld are usually quite tame. Unarmored bandits and club-wielding primitives won’t pose too much of a threat to your colony. Late-game raids are a whole different story. Raiders and mechanoids will start bringing shield generators to absorb gunfire. These can be devastatingly effective if you’re not prepared.

These situations demand the use of EMP weapons. While rather ineffective in the early game, they become much more useful when they can shut down shields and stun mechanoids. A well-placed EMP grenade can completely stop the human-hunting machines, and leave them vulnerable to retaliation.

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