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I got a bit bored of Rimworld and after taking a break I'm working on trimming down my mod list to make the game harder and also putting together a challenge run to try.

My general idea is a modified crashlanded start, where 2 of the starting pawns immediately pack up and found two nearby settlements. They can trade with each other, but each has to do all its own labor, recruiting etc. Only 1 colony can do a given quest/mission, and any particular rewards(weapons, artifacts etc) belong only to that colony. The starting gear will be modified so it can be split 3 ways, e.g. each colony gets 1 animal and 1 bolt-action, but resources like steel and wood are simply split. I'll also be using a mod to reduce map size, probably 100x100, which should reduce the benefits of sheer acreage- though tbh I play like that anyways so I can zoom all the way out without too much lag.

I like these rules as a start but I'm looking for input as to what I can add, and also advice how I should handle a couple things. For one, my tendency is to say that any of the three getting wiped is a game over; alternately if one of the others is far enough in to have a second pawn the lost colony might be reclaimed? I'm not sure I want to allow that. I'm also not sure if, once my colonies start getting access to pods, I want to allow them to aid in each others' defense during raids. A question I'm not sure how to handle is the end- if I get to ship-building, I think only one colony should build it. But, should the other colonies not come until the reactor is spun up, or should they all make the last stand together?

Please let me know what you think, if there are similar challenges others have done, or any ideas you have. Thanks!

I have a lot of mods installed and until I went through and fixed them all myself, every time I loaded the game my log was flooded with over a hundred of the yellow errors this generates(2 per mod with <targetVersion>.) I figure modders probably know what they're doing, so is there something to be gained by keeping the old syntax? Backwards compatibility maybe?

[years]

I want all of my food in the storage that's been designated for it for the same reason I don't want colonists randomly carrying wood or steel "just in case." Every one of my colonists clings to a spare meal like a teddy bear. I want them to stop.

Having searched for more than an hour growing ever more frustrated, let me tell you that a number of people have asked this exact thing for years on here, on steam, on reddit, and so on- and every such thread received 100% off topic replies. In the context of that ludicrous fact I'm forced to add a similarly ludicrous preface here. Please do not respond with:

• opinions on how to build tables or design bases
• opinions on how to manage colonists' mood
• opinions on why I shouldn't be allowed to want this
• anything else that doesn't specifically advance or support the stated goal of the title

Furthermore, I am aware that Combat Extended or whatever technically does this- I am not going to install a mod that completely changes the balance and mechanics of the game and conflicts with several of the mods I'm already using just to alter 1 misbehavior nor do I want to micromanage the exact contents of every colonists' pockets, that's clearly far out of scope.

[The exact walk speed of bushes is 30%.]

I made a thread asking about this and nobody could reply substantially, so I spent a couple hours this morning and did some testing.

Some generalizations:
Tall Grass and Brambles are not functionally different.
Negative terrain under contiguous plant cover doesn't slow pawns down further.
Plants do not have "clamber," unlike stone chunks.

Notice in test 1, lane 13 is identical to 9-11. With the lack of clamber, we can say that walk speed in marshy soil is equal to walk speed in brambles.
Notice in test 2, Lane 11 and 2 are equal. Grass and soil are both 87%.
Notice in test 2, lanes 12 and 7 are equal. Berry bushes and marsh are both 30%.

Conclusions:
A newborn(5% grown) plant and a fully mature one have the same walk speed.

The exact walk speed of bushes is 30%.
   - Needs testing for alternating bush/trees if possible.

The exact walk speed of tall grass and bramble is 46%, equal to marshy soil.
   - The answer to my original question. Less effective than alternating chunks but free in materials and labor, so sometimes worth it after all.

The exact walk speed of grass is 87%, equal to soil.
   - There's no point removing normal grass from soil, stony soil, rich soil etc.

The walk speed of trees is approximately 10%, but they cannot be grown in a solid row. The walk speed of alternating trees is approximately 15%.
   -Compared to chunks, trees give half the cover and impede movement around twice as much, making a corridor of alternating trees technically superior to one of alternating chunks, as long as they don't burn down. Obviously requires major planning ahead and fire control systems, but frees up stone supplies.

Speaking of fire control systems, I forgot firefoam. It might interact with some of these cases.

Code (Test Setups) Select Expand

13 identical pawns, 4.6 c/s ms, 29m test lanes
# test speed if known

-- Baseline Lanes --
1 Concrete 100
2 Soil 87
3 Chunk on concrete
4 Sand 76
5 Mud 52
6 Chunk alt concrete
7 Marsh 30
8 Chest Move Water 22

-- Test Lanes 1 --
9 Tall Grass Soil
10 Bramble Soil
11 TGrass Marshy
12 Bramble Alt Soil
13 Bramble Alt Marsh

-- Test Lanes 2 --
9 tgrass soil
10 poplar trees
11 grass
12 bbush
13 bbush alt

-- Test Lanes 3 --
9 poplar
10 pop alt
11 oak
12 "baby" poplar
13 "baby" tall grass



My game is modded to hell, but I don't think anything changes movement speed. I also likely made some sort of mistake. Feel free to try to falsify these results or test further. Feel free to put this on the wiki if I don't get around to it.

https://imgur.com/a/PBtBuqA

[attachment deleted due to age]

I'm talking about tall grass, brambles and the like. I'm playing a naked solo game and thinking stuff like, "should I cut that patch of bramble or leave it?" But that decision weighs on stuff like, "How much does it slow movement?" The game's display ignores it, the wiki doesn't mention it exists, it can't be selected(hence "minor") so I can't see its stats page. If it slows pawns down a lot, it might be worth cultivating strategically as natural barbed wire; if not, I need the space!

tl;dr What are the precise effects of tall grass, brambles and any other similar plants I'm neglecting to mention?