Messages

Thanks Serenity.

new question.  How long do Tremors last.  My base has been subjected to a quandrum and more of ceiling collapses due to tremors.  I'm getting 6-8 per day.

Well, I figure I should write up a story, although I'm relatively new to Rimworld and making so many mistakes.
So. I'm going to describe my fourth and fifth attempts to get a game started.  The first was very experimental and I stopped after learning a few things about setting up the base.  The second was more successful, but I opened up a wall to an ancient structure without realizing what I was doing.  The insect hive inside wiped out my small colony fast.  I think I had just five people at the time.
My third was successful, but was still with the vanilla game, and when I found the mods I decided to start over.  (the fact that 2 of my best colonists had suffered brain injuries from gunshots discouraged me from continuing.  I had to take my top builder off construction after too many failures.)
So we get to my forth game.  I had uploaded the combat extended, medieval times, hospitality, recon and discovery mods as well as a bunch of other small QOL and display changes like additional hairstyles and the Osarran (sic) race add on.
So I started my forth game.  And for the first time decide to set up on arid scrubland with a river and a road passing through the tile. (all previous attempts were in temperate forest with no road or river.)  I did this after watching a couple of Youtube playthroughs, although I did set up on plains rather than hills or mountains, which appear to be more popular.
The game started slow.  It took my people a while to get the base set up, and I made a couple of mistakes. However, I was mostly happy even while I couldn't get anyone to join the colony.  I seemed to kill the few raiders I saw and none of the visiting groups had someone I wanted enough to accept the loss of favor with the faction they were part of.
Then I get notified of a "trade fair" being held just a short distance away.  I still don't have extra people, but I send my best negotiator with my only muffalo as a pack animal.
At the trade fair, he runs into a slaver and is captured.  The colony got overrun by raiders a short time later.  So... time to start over, and this time no solo caravans.
So my current game.  I'm new so I run with Phoebe Chillax as a storyteller at "some difficulty".  The usual 3 colonists.  Landing in arid scrubland with a river and an ancient stone road.  The land scans say that granite, slate and sandstone are in abundance.
My colonists on landing are:
Kevin – great social, growing, medicine and research.  Melee of 3, no shooting.  He's going to be my negotiator and trader as well as my doctor.  He got the plasteel knife.
Kane – good cooking, shooting of 5, interested in construction.  She's my cook and builder as well as the holder of the rifle.
Ray – not great at any skill, and can't do social, but has at least a 2 in everything else.  Only 2 shooting.  She got the pistol
Augusta – Kane's bonded pet rabbit.
**
It wasn't a great group, and I worried about the low shooting, but I could cover all requirements.  We looked at the tile (large 300X300).  I saw at least 2 ancient structures or at least the hints of ones based on walls embedded in hillsides.  One was in a hill that had a lot of steel. (curses).  Fortunately steel was available, there was another small hill about 8x10 that appeared to be mostly steel.  It was on the north side of the river.  The best fertile soil was just south of the river and to the northeast of the road.  I decided to set up on the east side of the fertile area.  My first orders were to put in a wind turbine while a 12x12 wooden building went up.  The building quickly had coolers added. 
That would be my only wooden building.  As soon as I could I had Ray cutting granite blocks.  The first rooms were small, but after 3 days Kevin, Kane and Ray had roofs over their heads.  Kevin even had plots of rice and corn growing.  (I don't use the mod that makes seeds necessary, yet.)
I did have some visitors, but of course, no guest beds or real amenities.  The only joy found was a horseshoe pole set up near the small room that had originally housed all my people, but was now just Kane's. 
So for the next 2 seasons (I didn't track days, might have been more.)  Ray cut up granite and she and Kane would build walls that eventually formed a large almost rectangular enclosure.  The western end was mostly farm plots with 3 wind turbines supplying power to the base. 
At this point I'm still at just 3 people.  I did set up a barracks for guests.  It has six beds.  Right after I opened it a raid to occured.  The raid was stopped and I took 2 prisoners who I placed in what had been the guest barracks.  (I didn't have any other beds in place.  Bad planning on my part.)
One of the prisoners was not useful.  I played "catch and release with him", but the other, a teenage female named "Bowman", looked useful, mostly as a backup for Ray, although with melee skills.  Kevin was working on her when a group of visitors arrived.
I'll admit I panicked and released Bowman at this point, so the room could be turned back into a hotel for the visitors.  By now I really wanted more people and I looked over the group.  None were great, but I decided to have Bowman try to recruit a pawn named "Orange."  She had shooting of 4, but also had some animal and mining skills that could be useful.  This time Kevin worked his magic and I finally had a fourth colonist.
Oh, the raid that occurred where Bowman was captured did result in some harm to the colonie's animals.  Kane's bonded pet rabbit refused to stay near her and was killed, and the colonies only Alpaca suffered a crushed jaw.  (How she eats I have no idea, but she's still going.)
Anyways, Kevin had been amazing as a farmer.  I had over 1000 rice and 2000 corn in storage and was running out of space in the walk-in freezer/food-prep area.   And there was a friendly outlander colony just a day's walk up the road.  This will be totally safe I thought.
So I had Kevin (plasteel knife) and Orange (sling) load up our one alpaca and head west down the road...
Where I promptly ran into raiders who demanded everything or else.  Me being stupid I fought.
Now the alpaca stayed out of it (the injury).  The 3 raiders included 2 with improvised guns.  And by the time two raiders were dead and the third ran away, Kevin was dead.
So I lost my colonie's grower and negotiator.  (Kane by this time had improved in medical enough to be effective.)
I did purchase a second alpaca from the settlement, but then had Orange rush back to camp.  My plans were definitely going bad in a hurry.
But things weren't over yet.  Bowman sent word that she was willing to join if we protected her from bandits.  We agreed and she arrived on the tile at one end of the road north-west of town.  I rushed all three of my colonists to the gun ports I had built into the north-west corner of the settlement.  By this time there were just 5 ways to enter the base.  2 on the north, 1 on the east and 2 on the south side of the colony.  The west wall is solid stone except for gun ports.
Bowman turned away from the road and followed the river along the north side of my base until reaching the ford leading to my first entry on that side (my fishing pier is set up there.)  Three of the bandits followed her.
One didn't and I sent Ray to take care of her.  Ray failed and was knocked down.  The bandit also broke one of the colony's batteries.  Fortunately the resulting explosion caused no significant damage.  (granite walls are tough and I don't put batteries next to each other. – However, the other battery sites next to my original, still wooden building, but the raider never made it to that one.)
Orange was also hurt during the attack before we drove off the last of the raiders.  We did capture 2.  Giggles and Sheep.  Kane and Orange were going to try to recruit them.  (Yes, with their social skill of 1 and 1.)
However, just as I got them settled in a group of traders arrived from the south.  They disrupted what little work I was doing.  I couldn't even get all of Ray's wounds healed before raiders joined in the growing party.  This time they came from the North.
They came directly for the boardwalk entrance.  Kane and a still recovering Ray raced to the gun ports to the west of the entrance.  Orange headed to a port just to the east.  Bowman, now armed with a club was waiting behind the walls to the east.
The raiders had someone with good aim.  Kane and Ray got one, but were then forced back from the gun port, with Kane taking damage.  Orange was also forced back and two melee fighters got inside.  The visitors mostly watched as Bowman was downed, before I was able to rally.  We captured Marjot as well as acquiring a boar spear (normal) and a long sword (excellent.).  Another downed raider died before Kane could treat them after we captured them.
In the end we had 3 raider bodies stacked in the discard stockroom.  (I later discovered that another raider had died far to the north.)   And 3 more in individual cells.  (I had learned from the last time, although Marjot's room was actually the brewery.  It was the only remaining finished room where I could stick a bed.  – that bed was later moved to a new room at the southwest corner of the current base.)
So with everyone hurt, I now have to recover and try to recruit 3 raiders despite having no one with social skills. 
I did decide that the openings into the colony need to be closed.  The one at the boardwalk went first.  It was just two spaces wide.  In went a granite door and more granite walls.  We also added a pair of gunports facing west since a number of raiders approached by wading up the river from the road and this port would cover that route the whole way.
Granite near the colony is now in short supply.  I had to scan for a nearby cluster of granite chunks.  The next planned expansion is from the northeast opening.  This is a full expansion as the colony will be adding about 125 tiles.  The actual doorway area is built up, with a small pocket of gun ports just north of a west facing doorway.  The rest of the wall still needs to go up, but granite blocks are in short supply.  Ray has been recovering from her injuries as well as trying to hunt for some meat.  Which got her dropped by an angry kangaroo.  (another mod I run to add Australian animals.)
Then in a miracle, Kane talked Giggles into joining.  But... Giggles is a melee fighter with some crafting and not much else.  Oh, well, I set her to making some shields and more sling stones for Orange and Ray.  Bowman has the boar spear and Giggles took a steel club.
But now we have tremors occurring.  Sections of roof fall on a regular basis.  Bowman and Orange are spending most of their time repairing and cleaning damage as well as trying to get the growing areas going again.  (I had shut several down when my foot storage overflowed.)  Sadly, one loss with Kevin's death was felt here.  I have plots for the healing root as well as hops, but no longer have a good enough grower to plant these.  And the recent fights cost me more than 20 units of medicine.
But we march on.  Sheep just signed up.  She's another melee fighter, but that should give my range fighters a bit more survivability since its melee attacks that have caused me the most trouble and I now have three of my own to use to keep them away from my range fighters.
I'm still hoping for Marjot, as she has great social and research skills and would fill the hole Kevin's death created there.
The tremors did cause one surprise.  I got an alert that a falling piece of ceiling damaged a Scyther.  The go to location was within an adobe walled ancient structure embedded in a hillside.  ( the one with a big deposit of steel, one of the few on the map.  Curses.  Oh, wait.  Don't I have some EMP grenades.  Would those work here?)
So now, about 2 years in.  (again, I haven't tracked days.)  I have a base, but it isn't perfectly enclosed yet.  I have a severe shortage of workers, but I'm trying to improve that.  I lack shooting.   But I can say I'm having fun.

The roster for now: 
Kane - Herbalist - shooting 8, animals 7, medicine 10, cooking 14, construction 16, growing 7.  Primary cook and medic.  Used to be primary builder as well.  Carries the Lee-enfield rifle.

Ray - Chemist - shooting 3, melee 5, animals 6, mining 8, crafting 8.  Was primary miner and crafter for the colony.

Orange - Warrior - shooting 5, melee 9, construction 11, growing 5.  New top builder (she's passionate about building.)

Bowman - Pilot fan (teenager) - shooting 0, melee 4, animals 4, growing 4, intellectual 5.  mostly a grower and cleaner right now.

Giggles - traumatized youth (teenager) - shooting 2, melee 7, medicine 5, growing 5, crafting 4.  She's been a backup crafter since she was recruited.

Sheep - Cave Tender - shooting 0, melee 4, medicine 10, cooking 8, crafting 4.  nothing special.

Kane has my highest social, at 3 after her time spent wardening.

And hopefully soon.
Marjot - scientist - shooting 4, melee 12, social 4, intellectual 10, medicine 9.  And master diplomat.

And the supporting zoo.
2 alpaca – both female.  (injured one - bonded to Kane.)
1 desert rabbit
1 rabbit – found due to the "what's up doc" event added by a mod - bonded to Ray.
1 hen

I like, can I get this through Steam?

Try out Megafauna mod. It adds huge animals.
https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=34432.0

I'll definitely be adding this one to a future playthrough.

I'm a fairly new player and find that I have a few questions.

Things the game doesn't detail very well and I'd like to know before I make more mistakes.

1)   Do turrets shoot over walls?  So far I haven't built any, but reading the stories it seems like they will be extremely necessary in the future.  Can I have them inside my defenses or do they go outside?

2)   Cassandra v Phoebe v Randy?   So far I've run Phoebe on base-building or some difficulty.  I do this because the descriptions of Cassandra suggest that the difficulty increases over time and the description of Randy makes me wonder what would happen.  But recently I read a few posts saying Phoebe can be the worst storyteller.  How do I know which one to use?

3)   What events exist?   I've only seen the basic "raid", "visitor", "Mad animal", "visiting alphabeaver swarm".  I've read about some kind of insect hive infestation, but haven't understood that.  I've also seen people post about psyche ships and poison ships.  What are these and how can I prepare good defenses?

4)   So far I've always built on flat terrain and had to build walls all around my base eventually.  I've seen videos suggesting that building in caves is better, but then a suggestion that insect infestations become more common.  What is everyone thoughts on this?

5)   How do insect hive infestations work?  What can I do to prevent them?

6)   How many pawns named "Diver" have you seen in one game.  I think I'm up to 8 in my current playthrough.  He leads one faction and is a guard with just about every visiting caravan.

I'm sure I'll think of more, but that's it for now.

I don't know what, if anything, I'm doing differently, but my survival rifles, lone shotgun, and turrets seem to leave a good number of living, downed raiders (vanilla game).

I started several games in vanilla before switching on some mods.  My rifles seemed to get a lot of head shots and instant kills.  Or they missed until the raider forced a fight at melee.

I guess since I joined the forums today and started playing a week ago, I should add my comments.

-What introduced you to RimWorld? Or to this style of game in general?

I've loved management style games for years.  I love starting with little or nothing and building something.  The fact that you can tell a story with the game is only another factor.  I found it just checking on Steam for simulation/base-building games.

-What's your favorite other game?
It varies depending on my mood. 

-Most embarrassing gaming-related story?
I refuse to admit to accidentally sending a single pawn to a "trade fair" only to have him captured by slavers."

-What kind of breakfast cereal is the best?
I stopped eating cereal years ago.   I make omelets most mornings.

In my experience not killing a raider is partly lucky, partly weapon.  It seems that if I end up in melee I kill the raider most of the time, but ones being shot at have a chance of falling down and still being alive.

But my problem is my record of recruiting is terrible.  Most of the time I have less than a 2.0% chance and eventually I decide to release them.  I even had one recently where I really wanted to recruit a raider who I had captured, only to have visitors.  Because I was still building out my base I had put my prisoner in the room I usually use for guests.  (I run the Hospitality mod.)   I had to let the prisoner go so that my visitors had a place to sleep.

In every play I've done I've planted and harvested at least one growing season's worth of haygrass.  I've taken the hay along on caravans and left it out for my herbivores.  None will eat it.  They'll munch on my kibble before they touch the hay.

What is the signal than an animal eats hay.  I checked a couple of animals I know eat hay in real life.  Here's their list of "foods".

vegetables
seeds
live plants
meals
processed foods
kibble
liquor

I don't see Hay, and they don't seem to see the hay waiting for them to eat it.

And the last part of my thoughts.  (for now.   )


- Social fights shouldn't result in destroyed limbs.
I agree, but I haven't had one that did.

- Add fences for animals, to make a pasture.
there are at least 2 mods that add fences.

- Colonists shouldn't have the option to use a neurotrainer if the associated skill is disabled for them.
true.

- Customize the "hunt" command.
there is a mod that adds a wildlife tab and you can assign animals to hunt from there.

- Blood should disappear quicker from unroofed areas.
true in real life, but this is rimworld.

- "Favored weapon" traits.
Not a huge factor for me.

Part 2 of my thoughts.

- Reduce the time it takes for moisture pumps to increase their radius.
I'd say they should be slow.  After all what created the mud to begin with?

- Add an option to allow pawns to turn stone ground into farmable earth.
There is a tilled soil mod, you have to research, but once you have you can lay soil on rock.

- Allow pawns to haul more than one drug item to the crematorium.
so a pawn inventory?  I think there is a mod, but not sure it would have them grab multiple drugs to burn.

- There should be a "forage" option for caravans.
Herbivores in caravans will forage.  So its a matter of planning, or stopping to "settle" and pick berries/hunt.

- Downed/sleeping animals seem much harder to hit with a ranged weapon than.
agreed.  Its funny to watch a hunter shoot a downed animal 5 times to kill it.  It should never take more than 1.

- Add a "Victory!" mood buff when the colonists fend off a raid/siege.
I like this.

- Add an "organize items" command to order pawns to stack similar items together on the same tile up to the maximum.
There is a mod that does this.  Stackmerger I believe.

- Add an "edit caravan inventory" to allow the player to correct any mistakes in caravan preparation.
Caravans need extensive fixes regarding organization.  They take far to long to put together.

- Add a "recraft" option for items with quality modifiers.
Nope.  I don't like this idea.

- Buff Component Assembly Bench in some way.
Ah, but perhaps you could be trading for them. 

- Add a "banish colonist" option, for when you want to get rid of someone.
interesting. 

- Setting IEDs next to a crashed ship part should not alert the mechanoids within.
agreed.

- Lengthen the time it takes for a drafted NPC to undraft themselves.
good idea.

- Increase the detection radius for fire poppers to go off.
makes sense.  although I think the poppers are supposed to be like sprinklers.

- Add an option for doctors to surgically fix shattered ribs/femurs/etc, either with surgery or adding a splint.
surgery yes, splints don't work for ribs or femurs.

- Add a cheaper, less effective version of the personal shield belt for early/mid game melee pawns.
I think the medieval times mod adds shields.

- NPCs should repeat a prioritized action more before returning to their regular AI path.
or just a better way to set up prioritized actions.

- You should be able to prioritize an NPC to sleep.
yes, by clicking on their assigned bed, please.

- You should be able to manually prioritize multiple NPCs at once.
like organizing a group of troops in any RTS.

- NPCs in medical beds should not get "disturbed sleep" debuff from doctors.
true.

- NPCs should not drop the item they're hauling when reprioritized.
nah.  you told them to "drop everything and do this."

- Non-combatant NPCs should automatically avoid the combat area when a Raid, Siege, Manhunter Pack, or other dangerous event is triggered.
set them to flee and they will.

- An additional option for NPC outfit presets to prevent them from wearing deadman's clothing.
Mine never seem to use deadman's clothing.

- Nemesis system.
interesting idea. 

- Remove the "Area Revealed" notification for areas that are 1x1 or 2x2 in size.
yes.

- Add a deadman's apparel toggle for stockpile zones.
just don't strip corpses and bury them with their boots on. 

- Nerf or remove prisoner execution mood debuff, or extend the time it takes for "guilty" to wear off.
choose faster. 

- Doors should automatically open if set to "hold open".
These aren't automatic doors, at least not until you research them.  No.

- Add more "reinstall" functions for most constructable items.
It makes some sense.  The larger items probably can't be uninstalled without damaging them. 

- Show NPC efficiency percentages next to "overview" stats.
Nah.  I like it how it is. and there is a mod adding a full medical tab that provides this.

- Show skill efficiency with "overview" stats calculated in.
Too much.  You need to get to know your pawns.

- Fix pod launching.
sounds like the problem with caravan loading.

- NPCs should not shoot "Berserk" NPCs.
I believe you can fix this in the settings to that only melee weapons are used to subdue a berserk pawn.

- A simple "Hope" mood buff to all NPCs when a rocket piece is built.
Makes sense.

- Mid to late game plastic surgery to (partially?) fix disfigurement, like shot off ears and noses.
So plastic surgery.  would need research I think, but it might work.

I'm new to playing, but I want to add my thoughts.  This will definitely take multiple entries.


- Pawns with miniguns shouldn't automatically fire if an ally is in their line of fire. Friendly fire should also be retooled.
I don't agree with this.  This is a frightening world to the pawns and most aren't military.  I can see them firing wildly.

- Add market value parameters for smithing, destroying, etc. so the player can keep stuff worth selling.
Considering how low things sell for.  This isn't useful.

- Add an option to recruit family/lovers from allied factions without incurring badwill. Or something simple like a "hey, want to join our colony?" while they pass by.
I believe the Hospitality mod allows this to some extent.


- Pawns should never walk through fire.
True, the pathfinding isn't great.

- Option to spay/neuter animals.
Again, I believe a mod exists for this.

- More miscellaneous items like telescopes and glow pods.
Would love this, right now you only have sculptures.

- (BUG) Pawns won't haul grenades to stockpile zone that are set to restrict item quality.
Haven't seen, can't comment.

- "Doctor needed" event.
Good idea.

- Craftable bionic parts during the late game.
There are a couple good bionic/prosthetic mods.

- Animals put into a frenzy due to the "revenge" event should lose their "manhunter" status after downing/killing the pawn that triggered the event.
Nope, again, this is Rimworld and the animals have some modifications.  I like this.

- (BUG) Hunter pawns that are incapable of hauling will haul the animal they hunted, but not when you tell them to manually.
that's hunting.


- Craftable hearing aids. Functions just like peg legs, but for hearing.
I can see this.

- Allow pawns with higher social to attempt to snap people out of mental breaks.
With the risk of a fight, sure.

- Tornadoes, hurricanes, and other dangerous weather.
I could see this.  Right now you only have the thunderstorms.

- Allow pawns to release a prisoner if the prisoner is sleeping.
overkill.  the current method works.

- Add more implants to enhance a pawn but disable skills like Social.
Not for me.  Others might like.

- Add painkillers that can be crafted at a drug lab, to help with pain.
So Aleve for your pawns. 

- Berserk and Animal Revenge should put the game at 1x speed the second the alert pops up.
My first reaction when the alert signals is to hit space to pause the game.  Not sure this matters that much.

- Nerf Muscle Parasites.
No, its part of the fun that is diseases.

- Allow the player to arrange the order of pawn icons at the top of the screen.
could be useful.  I just tolerate the order.

- Fix caravans going the exact opposite direction of their objective when traveling on the world map.
Caravans try to go the quickest way, so I can see them moving away if it gets them to a road or avoids mountains.

- Buff penoxcycline or switch up its effect.
No drug should always work.

- Add a late-game multivitamin to automatically boost NPC immunity by 5-10%.
interesting idea.  Could be useful.

- Swap the "master" column and the bonded animal follow options column in the Animals tab.
I wouldn't use this.

- Outdoor temperature should rise/fall with the weather.
yes.

- Uninstalling/reinstalling should be able to use Construction and/or Hauling.
ever moved and had to disassemble something.  Many don't go back together easy.  I think this should remain Construction.

- Add a "study" option for pawns, or a study bench.
No.  You can't learn shooting by reading a book.  Experience is the best teacher.

- Different stages of Torso Frailty/Hearing Loss/etc.
Makes sense.

- Add the ability to capture an NPC without having to build a house during caravaning or raiding.
So you drag him along in chains?  I guess I could see that.  But most NPCs have to be hurt bad before you can capture them.  Most would die when you started moving.

- Disable "Fire!" alerts when its raining.
Maybe have a size filter, but leave it in.  Sometimes the rain stops before the fire is out.

- Make "Overhead Mountain" removable.
Makes sense to me.

- Make neutroamine craftable.
It is a pain to get. 

- Smelting certain advanced guns should give one component each.
haven't done this.  I don't have an opinion.

- Ability to direct a tamed animal to attack a certain target without involving the animal's master.
tamed animals should obey their master.  leave this alone.

- Dismiss alerts without having to click "Ok".
Someone said you can right click to make them go away.

- Add a "short range mineral detector" that can show whether or not mountains on the map have ore inside them.
could be useful.

- Tamed animals shouldn't get food poisoning.
agreed.

- Other faction types besides tribal, outlander, and pirate.
The medieval mod adds factions, as does the beastman tribes mod.  Check out mods for this.

- (BUG) Colonist won't stay in their hospital bed, even when prioritized and with Patient and Bedrest set to 1.
yes, I agree.

- No instant death when a colonist's liver is destroyed/removed.
I have no opinion on this.

- "Deep Space Beacon" alternate ending/game mode.
some might like this.

- Fire extinguisher item.
yes, even a fire blanket could be nice.

- Give Research more uses besides just upgrade unlocking.
many mods add a lot more to research.  This is still developing.

- Work stations should list what skill they require.
once you get them memorized it doesn't matter.

- Animals should not be able to stun players when they attack.
Nope, that's part of the danger of hunting.

- Something to lower the chance of random binges from chemical fascination.
haven't had this happen, so I don't know what to say.

- Ability to set a "firefighting" zone.
agreed, or you can build fire breaks using flagstone.

- Late game Research option that reduces the chance of machine breakdowns.
yes

- "Replace with" command. Say I want to replace my walls for my fridge.
There is a mod that allows wall replacement.

- Pawn schedules in the Restrict tab should not take precedent during a raid/siege/manhunter pack.
That seems more like patient wasn't set high enough.

- Prioritized actions should override NPC combat AI.
I use the combat extended mod, and haven't had this problem.

- Doctors should never prioritize anything over doctoring when their priority is set to 1.
Doctors need rest too, but I agree, they should prioritize better.

- Switch up "ugly environment" debuff.
I agree that its very hard to get the environment up.  Seems puzzling to me.

- Arresting someone (say, for starting fires or binging) removes the pawn from a bed's ownership.
same with sending someone with a caravan.  It does make sense though.

- Don't force the player out of a raided map once the fighting is done.
true

- Categorize wounds/dismemberments by the limb they're attached to, and not sort by the type of dismemberment. Its slightly confusing to see "left finger, right finger, left femur, right shoulder". A menu with a body silhouette showing what limbs are missing would also be helpful.
Overkill

- Bigger, more intricate NPC colonies and camps.
This is a dangerous world, populations will be small.

- Faction "capitals". Each faction should have a larger, better defended location to serve as their capital, with better trade options and better fortifications.
Interesting idea.

- Arresting an NPC who started a social fight either becomes less likely to do it again.
interesting idea.

- Add more traps besides deadfall and IED.
several mods add more traps.

- NPC factions should not lose goodwill if the player was not involved in their NPC's death.
had this happen to me when 2 visitors ran into a cougar right at the edge of the map, agreed.

- Combine "colored lights" with "microelectronics basics".
nah, its part of making a choice.  I'd rather the colored lights improved the environment a bit more though.

- Add camping tents, an alternative to beds when on the go.
A mod adds this already.  Tribal Basics, I believe.

- Allow NPCs to tend to others without the need for a bed or sleeping spot by selecting a doctor.
Yes, please.

- Rebalance sandbags to be either cheaper to make or more effective at cover than walls.
Well, you can shoot over sandbags, and with the combat extended mod the bags become even more useful since you crouch when behind cover.

- Lower sterile tile cost. 15 silver per tile is quite a steep price.
It should be high, but it does seem a bit excessive.

- More combat-based challenges in Rimworld.
I just want more of everything. 

- Conquest mode: an additional game mode focused on defeating a faction or defending your settlement(s) and doesn't involve escaping the planet.
I'm here for the basebuilding.  But I know others like to campaign and conquer.


- Underground maps.
Not sure i'd use, but there are mods.

Canute,

Thanks.  I had missed a couple of those you suggested.

I just got Rimworld recently, and my girlfriend is a bit mad at me because I have been playing it so much. 

That said, I'm noticing that the vanilla game does kind of run out of things to do once you get a colony set up (even if you really mess it up like I have). 

I've already uploaded a lot of the mods in the suggested lists found here and in the reddit for Rimworld.

What I'm looking for now are the ones that add what I'd call color.

More animal types
Races other than humans
More things to research
etc.

I'm not too excited by the combat and weapon upgrades and right now I'm avoiding the bionics.  Yes, I know they can improve the game, but I'm looking for things that make the game more interesting by adding story, not interesting because I've raised the difficulty from challenge, to "OMG! what was I thinking"

Hopefully you'll have some suggestions.  Right now I'm browsing the list of mods on steam, but there are quite a few and I am not sure what will fit what I'm looking for.

Edit:  I do want to know if there is a good mod for adding more factions to the start of a game.  The most I've seen in the base game is 5, and that is usually 2 trading factions, 1 tribe and 2 pirate gangs.  I'd love to see more variety here.