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So I had a look at the world map... god, this planet is an iceball.  But it gave me a thought.  Instead of building a ship to get off, why not hike overland to the nearby mountains once you have manufactured enough long pork sausages to survive the journey?

We all have our own definitions of victory.  He wanted to escape, you want to move to more hospitable terrain, I want to be the QUEEN OF THE ANTARCTIC!

[Engie XVIII Continued!]

Engie XVIII Continued!

Day 66: A second bulk goods trader.  When it rains, it pours.

Day 67: Accept a call for help, business as usual, but I stupidly think I can shoot down four guys with personal shields.  Engie loses a finger, and blood loss becomes a thing.  Fortunately, a wanderer joins immediately and patches her right up, but Engie's gonna operate a permanent 90% manipulation until I get her a bionic arm.

Day 68: Ungrateful little snot went and mental break'd on me RIGHT after I saved her.

Day 69: Psychic ship.  As soon as Helene (second colonist) stops sad wandering, we're gonna pick up a couple rifles and go on a hunt.

Day 71: Ship was easy to kill, Helene dies to hypothermia.   WTB: Better colonist!

How'd you get enough steel to have a smelter going by day 35? Lucky ship chunk drops?

This time, yes.  I think it was two drops, one at 3, one at 4.  My components are through the roof.  Not that it mattered, though.  The sheer amount of steel required for the heaters, batteries, power generators, and the basins themselves make it negligible in comparison to the first bulk trader you need to get 'em going.

What are you doing with graves that is prevented by fail-to-constructs?

Nothing.  If I'm mentioning fail-to-construct, it's on the first building only.  It causes hypothermia to go to serious level, which eats up a veritable ton of time.

I make graves during the waking hours to increase constructor level, so when the bulk trader DOES come, I have a better chance of comfortable furniture.

And agreed on the orbital bulk goods trader. On average, there's only one per year, which can mean a long, long time to wait for enough steel to do anything significant.

I know, right?  This bulk trader was crap, too.  only 950ish steel and 1300ish wood.  No stone blocks to pretty up the room, make speedy walkways around the base, or to make ZZZT-proof walls with.  But seriously, I can't complain.  It allowed me to actually set up the hydro-basin and start to actually sustain.

[Run 17]

I'm really getting to dislike "You need a bulk goods trader to show up" becoming an integral part of winning this challenge.

Run 17:  Starts well.  ..Until day 10, when Engie's fiance drops out of an escape pod.  Unrescuable, even if I wanted to save him, I couldn't.  Bring on the mood penalty

Day 11: Exotic goods trader.  Not bulk, but I'll take it.  They buy my glitterworld meds and sell me a normal quality bed.  Gotta get the mood boosts where I can find them.

Day 14: Behind sandbags and under a roof, Engie eats two consecutive headshots from a survival rifle.

RIP Engie XVII - Cause of death, gunshot to head.

Run 18: Fail-to-construct introduces frostbite, but Engie survives it.  Makes it hard to get that 4,000 constructor exp each day, though.

Day 13: Zzzt.  Only kills a conduit, but damages a lot of things.  This is easily the scariest thing that can be thrown at me when I have only one pawn.

Day 18: Sparkles showed up.  normally my favorite colonist, but I'm simply unable to support her.  Not after what I went through a few hours ago.

Day 21: Pirate merchant shows up, and I had a raid.  Managed a slave sale out of it for a whopping $60, because he was in bad shape.  Probably shouldn't have done it, since it'll affect my relationships with future settlers.

Day 30: Low on food, but I've got my smelt on.  I'll eventually be able to sustain if I don't starve beforehand.  Also, zero bulk traders thus far.

Day 35: Gettin' pretty hungry here.  The slag harvesting and smelting is taking too long.  I'll never get enough for an operable hydroponic farm in time.  Gonna have to start eating human corpses.

Day 37: Tasty tasty raw cannibalism!

Day 38: Replacing wood walls with silver walls, so I can at least butcher and cook the humans I dig up.

Day 40: Metal Break - Hide in room.  It turns out Engie is not much a fan of butchering humans.  Still no bulk trader.

Day 44: Catharsis wears off, and Engie hides in room again.  Reeeeeally really need a bulk trader.  like.. a season ago.

Day 46:  A Thrumbo appears!  This should allow me to stave off the cannibalistic urges for at least a little while.

Day 51:  About time!  Time to buy all the wood, steel, and meals they have.

Thanks.  That's gonna make things MUCH easier.  In that 90 day run I had, I *still* hadn't finished machining.  That 0 research was quite a kick in the jibblies.

Run 16: Heck of a start.  Two fail-to-constructs gets three cases of frostbite.  Can't do the grave-constructing to gain constructor experience like I used to
Fortunately, it doesn't even matter, as infection sets in.  Next game!

Run 17: a passion for research solves the joy problems I was having, and the 6 in research to start solves the science problems I was having.  This should be much easier now.

Day 6:  Easily the best start I've ever had in this challenge.

Not only did the pirates buy her for 900 silver, but she was also wearing a shoddy muffalo wool parka.  -188F cold tolerance GET!

Day 8: Guy calls for help, wearing hyperweave.  I go out to lure the pirates closer to my base so I have a shorter haul trip to make.  A max range survival rifle headshots engie.  I check the shot chance.  "Shot by pirate: 1.9%".  Fortunately, new guy makes it close to base, engie rescues him, he recovers from hypothermia, heals Engie, then goes off to die.

Day 12: It's really early to gamble my remaining food on another colonist, but this one has a lot going for him.  Capable of all relevant tasks, good passions, solves the "infection=death" problem, and provides a mood boost to Engie.  I've made worse gambles.  Welcome to the team!  Unfortunately, the one shot I have at building a double bed comes up shoddy.  Good job, Engie


Day 19: Out of food.  I may have made a mistake, but Electric Smelting is done, which wasn't even done at the end of my best run over a year in length.

Day 22: Neurotic lover is a break risk.  There is only one option.  Euthanize him and eat his corpse!  Engie does not approve.  Like.. super-duper does not approve.


Day 24: Still no bulk goods trader, and Engie's been cruising the edge of extreme break for days.  While I'm debating eating another human corpse, or the thrumbo corpse, Zzzt happens and destroys everything.  Thus ends the saga of Engie XVI.

Rimworld is the only 'early access' game I trust. Seen far too many just become abandoned.

Crypt of the Necrodancer panned out, and that started selling in early access.

Srsly, though, I totally agree with you on this point.  "Early Access" seems to be a tag put up by lazy developers that say "I've gotten enough money out of this game, and working on it isn't fun anymore... bye!"

Day 70:  What a scumbag.  Engie's a decent people, and you break up with her while trying to survive on the single most inhospitable climate imaginable?

Sharing a bed and a permanent mood boost was the only reason I kept this non-doctor around.  Next passable colonist that appears is gonna replace this guy now


She did NOT need this in her life.


Day 73:  Stuff just went sideways.  In my zeal to kill of Flais, I accepted a call for help when I was ill prepared for it.  Flais ran out to save the new person by stripping nekkid and giving the newcomer his parka and weapon, but the pusuiers were too well prepared.  three personal shields proved too much and I ended up having my charge rifle, thrumbo horn, and glitterworld medicine stolen.  Flais died, the newcomer got an infection, and Engie lost her foot.  That ends this run


--
Also, this is a thing.


--
Run 15 was going well.  TWO wool parkas coming my way on day 15!  Unfortunately, the guy with the incendiary launcher was a crack shot.  Engie does not fight well while on fire.

https://youtu.be/kWc-oJvn7ig

One whole year.  Woo.
-Breaking just about even on food.  One more hydroponics bay should net me a gain of food.
-No energy problems at all.
-Engie's a good enough constructor that the bedroom is impressive, and the furniture is comfortable, so no mood penalty.

Goals:
-I've only had one bulk trader.  A second would be nice, because I need steel, wood, and stone blocks.
-Another animal-hair parka for Engie's husband.  Got the thrumbofur, just need the tailor bench.
-Another doctor.  It turns out Engie's husband can't doct.  if she catches the plague, the game is over.

Run 12:  Fall 8 - Engie catches a Pila in the kidney and bleeds out.

Run 13:  fail to construct first room, frostbite, infection, death.

Run 14:  Bulk goods trader on Winter 3.  First one I've seen.  Caught the flu on Winter 10, but beat it by wasting days in bed.  Winter 14, I've got hydroponics spawning rice, and take on a second colonist.  Almost finished a year, and then THIS happens.

I'm not entirely sure I can feed three people.  I don't even have a good parka on my second guy yet.  Maybe I'll kill off the other guy and Engie can get her sex on.

The last winner of Germanys next Topmodel will not ruin her nails with hauling rusty steel around.

She's presently in Germany, getting paid to be a model.  If she was a lone survivor in RimWorld, she might consider the merits of dirtying her nails to move food to a refrigerator to keep it from rotting.

I still suggest to step up your game.

This sort of comment is simply uncalled for, friend.  I'm trying to explain the incongruity of "incapable of hauling", not to compare e-peens on who plays the harder difficulty.

Run 9 cont
Day 7 : Useless pawn joins with an awful tattered parka and a tuque.  Hopefully I'll find a better one later.

WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?

Wouldn't keep him even if I could.  Incapable of dumb/skilled, neurotic and lazy.  At least it's only -8 for father dying, instead of -20 for husband, but the fact I keep getting her relatives is unnerving.

Day 8: Thrumbo appears.  It's too warm to die to hypothermia, and I'm not risking shooting it.  Sad face.  That horn would have been really nice.

Day 9: Escape pod, abrasive child star incapable of anything good drops.  Also, wearing only synthread pants.  I let him die.  I'll take his pants to sell later.

Day 10: Female psychic drone.  Just what she needs after seeing her father die.

Day 11: A doctor asks for help.  If I accept, I'm really just going to let him die, which will tap out Engie's mood even further, but I kinda need more stuff to sell to traders. YOLO!

Doctor's got a hyperweave shirt, which Engie replaces her synthread one with.  Psychic drone ends, and eclipse happens.  I now have a megasloth wool parka which will allow me to survive even if a solar flare happens.

Day 13: Finish Hydroponics.  Engie's research skill is up to 3!  *final fantasy victory fanfare*

Day 14: Raid from two pirates.  Still no trade ships, though
Caught a stray bullet that ended up with an infection.  Game over, man!

Run 10: Early frostbite, but Engie recovers.
Day 7: An addiction counselor with 3 fine meals and otherwise miserable gear comes by.  He goes for a naked dance on the ice.
First raid is a single pirate with more bad gear.  I miss my megasloth parka

Day 8: Guy being chased by pirates!  Could be a parka!  I mean.. useful addition to my colony!  One had a muffalo wool parka, but he escaped.  Present minimum comfortable temperature: 80.9F

Day 11: Zzzt!  Destroys my battery, research bench, my heater, and my comms console.  Game over!

Run 11:  Solid start.  No fail to constructs, and I can spend a fair amount of time constructing graves in the base early.

Day 7: Rubber joins.  Incapable of 7 things, one of which is dumb labor.  a tattered awful cloth tuque, and a shoddy cloth parka.  A truly unfortunate start.
A second wanderer joins.  His cloth tuque is at least not tattered, but he's also worm food.
a THIRD wanderer joins, this one is wearing only a hat an an armor vest.  What the heck, Cassandra!
Finally, a raid from the cockroachs[sic].  More useless gear.  wtb wool parka

Day 8: Yet another wanderer joins.  I think I broke RimWorld.  But this one has a camelhair parka!  Present minimum comfortable temperature: 80.9F.  Some poor micromanagement on my part gets Engie frostbitten, but the wanderer kindly picks up the glitterworld medicine and heals her up before anything bad can come of it.  Then the wanderer dies.

Day 9: A cult child is being chased by pirates.  Why can I never get this many random joins in a normal game?  One of the pirates has a normal megasloth wool parka.  Now I can withstand up to -233, and the lowest I've seen was -225.  I think I'm totally safe from the elements now.  Oh yeah, and the kid died.



Day 12: Solar flare.  But I'm sleeping in a parka, so poo on you!
Eclipse in the same day, and I'm running a solar generator.  Still immune to cold.  Nyeah nyeah!  Engie and parka BFF~

Day 13: Cassandra calls me out on my trash talk.  Zzzt! destroys my solar generator.  I need to dissassemble my heater to make another one to power the comms console.

Day 14: Engie still tired from fighting the exploding circuits, and a raid comes.  three guys, one with a shotgun.  Her shots are on point, though.  She kills 'em without incident.
Then another wanderer joins, drops off her 3 simple meals, then hops into a grave.
Then an escape pod happens.  What is this? 8 potential colonists so far?

Day 15: Yet another wanderer joins.  I wish I was recording this run.

Day 16: Crashed escape pod.  What is it that's so appealing about this particular chunk of the north pole that just DEMANDS people come to it?

Day 17: First ship in comms range is a pirate merchant.  Go figure.  Can I build walls out of mortar shells?  Upside is that I have a veritable ton of silver for whenever a good merchant DOES come by.  Seconds later, a raid is happening.  Three guys with ranged weapons, two of which are LMGs.  If stuff goes south, I can just buy one of the slaves off the pirate and have him use glitterworld medicine on Engie, then die because I sold all the warm weather clothes to buy him.

Nevermind.  They all died to hypothermia en route to my summer home.  More stuff for me!

Day 20: Two more escape pods, within minutes of each other.

Day 21: 76% resistant to meditative joy, and no bulk goods trader in sight.  Engie burns the last of her steel to make a horseshoes pin.

Day 22: Person being chased by pirates asks for help.  Business as usual.  Kill 'em all, take their stuff.

Day 24: Another escape pod.  I'd like to ignore these, but hyperweave clothes sell so nice.

Day 25: Two more escape pods.  It's raining men!  One's wearing only synthread pants, the other is totally nude.  I leave them to (very slowly) rot, as Engie still hasn't finished Hydroponics research, due to all the hauling she's been doing.

Day 26: Another escape pod.  This guy's in hyperweave, so he's getting farmed.

Day 28: 10 meals left. Another escape pod. Still no bulk goods trader.

Day 31:  5 meals left.  Winter has come, and so has an exotic goods trader.  Unfotunately, I can't eat the 7000 silver I have.

Day 32: 3 meals left.  Engie's eating like a pig.  Also, she caught the plague.  Gonna wait it out and see if a pirate comes to sell me a slave to glitterowrld her, or if another random wanderer joins.

Day 32: Someone begs for help!  Get your butt in here and heal Engie!
...No such luck.  He was not dressed for the weather, and collapses before making it to the cabin.

Day 33: Dead to plague.

If I had gotten a single bulk goods trader, I'd have been able to set up a hydroponics basin and take on some of these colonists

[However, she will refuse to grab 75 berries while she's out there and bring them back to the kitchen/freezer to make her life easier]

I don't mind if "incapable of dumb labor" is kept in.  refusal to cut trees or clean is acceptable.  My issue is that hauling is qualified as dumb labor.  They will haul materials to sculpt, craft, construct, or cook, but not for anything else.

Example:  A cook is incapable of hauling, and the kitchen says "Make fine meal: Forever".  Tons of meat in the fridge, no vegetables.  GUESS WHAT?!  A ton of berries just ripened!  The grower is over there picking hundreds of berries and leaving them outside on the ground!  The cook, alerted to the ability to make fine meals, rushes to the scene, grabs exactly 5 berries, runs through the freezer, to the kitchen to make a fine meal.  She runs back out, grabs exactly 5 more berries, then runs back to make another fine meal.  However, she will refuse to grab 75 berries while she's out there and bring them back to the kitchen/freezer to make her life easier.  No.  THAT part, she's incapable of.  However, running through the colony to grab 5 at a time?  That's just fine.

Of course, one might say "but lifting 7% of a max load isn't really hauling!", until you realize that same cook will also drag a thrumbo carcass from across the map to butcher it, but is incapable of dragging that same thrumbo carcass to the dumping stockpile, which is on the way.  Or the same cook, who is also a builder, bringing several full loads of steel to a geothermal generator to start work on that.

Incapable of hauling is simply an exceedingly powerful disability that simply isn't justified.  A person with pyrophobia is incapable of fighting fires because they break down at the sight of fire.  A person averse to violence does not make exceptions and pick up a gun when the base is under attack.  Non-haulers can haul just fine.

If a special needs child can be taught "Put your lunchbox in the red basket", a fully grown, fully functional adult in a life-or-death scenario can be taught "Bring me that wood".

Hmmm, actually, that might be an even better way of doing it.  Just prohibit a priority rating below "4", so they'll almost always go do something else instead.  Or "3" for those who tolerate but dislike a task.

"Sorry guys, I know the base is on fire right now, but I'm going to go have a chat with the prisoners instead."

Too easy to cheese this.  "Oh, you wanna chat with the prisoners?" *wardening disabled*  "Now get your smelly ass over here."  Additionally, it feels very immersion breaking to screw with work priorities to game the system.

Run 6: I get greedy, trying to make my starting room too big.  I get two fail-to-constructs, and it takes the fire too long to heat.  I lose two digits to frostbite and bleed out.

Run 7: First wandering join was her husband again.  I decide to restart instead of fight with -25 mood again.

Run 8: Serious hypothermia gives way to two frostbites in the first room, because of a fail-to-construct.  One of these becomes infected.  I'm getting to think the beginning part of this challenge may be more luck than not.

Run 9: Good start.  No fail to construct, don't touch serious hypothermia.  I spend the whole time constructing and deconstructing graves in the house while waiting for the body temp to come back to normal (and hit 10 construction on first day.  Slick).  Got everything roofed and researching hydroponics.  Just gotta debate whether or not I wanna call in traders just to watch 'em freeze.

Also, in your video, perhaps I saw the wrong thing, but do you have 6 in research with burning passion on Engie?  On the save I have, she's 0 with no interest.  Not like it matters, though.  You get a lot of downtime, and the only critical tech is Hydroponics, which you get long before you can use it.

[torso]

I roll a respectable starting group.
Dr. Feelgood - 9 shooting (interested), 11 medical, 10 social, 8 growing.
Dr. Bob - 8 construction (burning), 9 research
Martha Stewart - 9 shooting, 6 cooking

And my first wandering colonist is Alyssa Sparkles, the name-in-game person that comes with 11+ in crafting, and easily one of my favorite pawns thus far.  I like to train this one up to 15 or so on tailoring/stonecutting, then craft some high quality guns.  All my bases are covered, and life's lookin' good.

As per my usual start, I rush Microelectronics and Geothermal, because the flying traders have much more silver on hand than the wandering traders ever do, and the bulk traders will take masterwork furniture off my hands for a veritable ton of cash.  (Spoiler alert: I see zero traders in comms range this game).  Geothermal second because lightbulbs take a disturbingly large amount of energy, but they're mood boosters.

Next wandering colonist joins.  Incapable of nearly everything except mining.  Fortunately, I always have use for a miner!  I put her in the cave and she gets to work.

Someone wants help recovering from bandits.  All right!  I'll save you!  .. Huh.  You're incapable of a lot of things, too, AND you're a brawler!  How could this possibly go wrong?

Escape pod drop, the vaunted covenant child sheriff.  This person becomes a guinea pig for medical experimentation for three rounds.  Dr. Feelgood fails catastrophically three times at installing a peg leg.  The third time resulted in death by stab wounds in the torso.  Wrap your head around that.

--
Time goes on, I have a colony of 8, and 4 refuse to haul, clean, or basically help out.  I have bedrooms with superior (or better) furniture, and an enormous storage spot full of beds, tables, chairs, and apparel just waiting to be picked up by the first trader that comes into comms range willing to pick 'em up.

A thrumbo comes into range, and I've got 6 guys that can shoot, my useless brawler, a hippie that refuses to help fight, and a nice minefield for the guy to run through.  Let's DO IT!  LEEERRROOOOOOOOOYYYYY A-JEEEENNKKIIIIIIIINS!  ..Huh.  He managed to dodge absolutely every deadfall trap.  How about that.  I throw my brawler at it while the firing squad goes to work.  Brawler dies.  Oh well.  Fair trade.  Bad pawn for a ton of meat and a horn.

A manhunter pack of two rhinoceros come into range.  "I can handle this!", said General Specific, as she ordered her troops to the sandbags to begi... huh.  these guys can sense deadfall traps, too, huh?  That's.. unfortunate.  I threw my hippie in front to take the hits while my (slightly) more useful pawns finish 'em off.  And then there were six.

A boomalope has gone mad!  No big deal, I have slate everywhere.  Fire is no big deal.  Let's just walk my remaining guys up here a...
PSYCHIC WAVE!  All the hares in the area have gone berserk!.  Lol  Ok.  I can handle this.  I run my guys up to the sandbag to deal with the incoming boomalope and suddenly  a couple hares are in range.  "I'll just melee 'em down.  No need to risk shooting my other colonists in the face, right?"  Then a couple more hares are in range.  Then a couple more.  In the end, it was six colonists versus eleven hares.  Two get downed, and I rush them off to bed while Dr. Feelgood and Martha Stewart plunk down the boomalope.

Everyone rushes back to bed, and everyone gets a 1 priority in doctoring.  My normal medicine gets unforbidden and everyone that's able to walk gets right to work healing up the myriad bunny-bites.  Sparkles, Dr. Feelgood, and my two less-useful pawns all get infected.  The other doctors get to work in a tornado of gauze, tapes, and gel, but will it be enough?

Sparkles has three infections, she'll beat two of them, but one was at 99% vs her 97% immunity.
Dr. Feelgood only had one infection, but it was in his un-removable torso, and the less-skilled doctor did not do a good job patching him up.  He gets smoted.
Both of the less useful pawns, each with two infections, both survive.

So what I have left is Martha, Dr. Bob, and a couple of joke peons.

I quit this round out of spite.  Survive a Thrumbo, survive a complete lack of trade, survive rhinocelots, die to rabbits.

----

That feel when...


"Save me from pirates!"
"Sure.  Can you carry things from one place to another?"
"You should want to save me because I'm awesome and because you're decent people, not because you actually want me to DO stuff for you!  Sheesh!  People these days!"