(A16) Wildfire: A full story of a rimworld adventure with plenty of pictures

[MiniKeeper]

If you link my stories, you can read more of them by clicking the link in my signature.
Be warned, there a lot of images in this post. You might want to wait a few seconds for them all to load.

Storyteller: Randy Random on intense difficulty with permadeath.
Scenario: Crashlanded
Landing point: Mountainous temperate forest with year-round growing.
Starting colonists: 

Pi:
His traits are green thumb and too smart.
Notable skills: 9 construction, 9 growing, 17 research.

Magnum:
Traits include: Neurotic, psychically dull, and optimist.
Notable skills: 6 social, 5 medicine.

Hurtle:
His traits are kind, nervous, and green thumb.
Notable skills: 9 melees, 9 shooting, 7 crafting, 6 social.

A picture of the world:


Day 0:
Our progress so far.


Day 1:
Our first event. A flashstorm. I love starting games with half the map consumed by flames.


Day 2:
Our first raid! It's a lone raider with a shiv.


Hurtle easily downs the raider. I want to recruit him, since he has good construction skill and good traits, but he's a pyromaniac. Given my previous experience (cough Barron cough) I don't know if it's worth it...

Day 3:
I get the popup to name my community and faction. I name my faction Blaze and the community Wildfire.

Later that day, a pirate merchant arrives. I didn't consider the possibility of selling my pyromaniac prisoner...


Day 4:
We sold Flores for 486 pieces of silver. Was it really worth it?

Day 5: Turning point
Some visitors are coming to trade.


Normally I would use the ol' predator trick, but I'm actually going to attack them. Here is my reasoning:
First, I could arrest the best one and hopefully get a new colonist.
Second, I could use some extra guns and stuff.
Third, and most importantly, the only faction that is hostile to me is one pirate faction. This means raids will either be from pirates or mechs. If I make enemies with an outlander town (who have about the same raiding strength as pirates) I reduce my odds of getting attacked by mechs.

I'm sorry, my visitor friends. It's you or me, and I'm not letting Randy win again.


We captured two prisoners. Both are recruitable. We got some decent guns too. I hope this decision was worth it.

Day 6:
A thrumbo arrives. We could use the food, and luckily, we have machine guns to use against it.


Day 7:
A chased refugee event occurs. It's a young low wage worker. This is a decent backstory and age combo, but I don't really have enough food right now.


But, if I accept I can sick the thrumbo on my enemies...
I decide to accept.

Our new recruit, Odile, is incapable of violence. Despite this, good stats make him okay. He'll be the cook and farmer.


Traits: Nervous, prosthophobe, and hard worker.
Notable skills: 8 cooking, 7 growing. Otherwise his skills are pretty decent.
Prosthophobe is a sucky trait, but he won't be a combat pawn, so it doesn't matter. Odile is okay.

Then, comes the raid.
It's two raiders with sniper rifles. Good targets for a thrumbo.


The thrumbo kills one of the snipers, and the other one flees after my colonists shot him up a couple times. Then, with some kiting, we take out the thrumbo without a scratch.
Thrumbo's would be a lot more frightening and challenging if they could break down walls or something.


Day 8:
Late during the night, two huskies join the colony. A male and female. I've got three dogs now if you count Bloody the warg.


Day 9:
Following the husky's, one of our outlander prisoners joins us. Fedon, joined us with a 6.8% recruit chance.


He'll be our new head cook, part-time researcher, warden, and doctor. Things are really looking up.
Traits: Pessimist, Nervous, Psychopath.
Notable skills: 11 social, 12 medicine, 15 cooking, 10 research.

But, late into the night, while all the colonists are sleeping, the other outlander, Blitz, stages a breakout.


Luckily though, he is quickly mobbed and beaten into submission by Fedon, Pi and Hurtle.

Day 12:
A pack of manhunting muffaloes is attacking. I'm not an expert, but I thought pack usually implies more than just two muffaloes?


We easily take out the muffaloes with the help of our huskies, who have been trained in battle by Fedon.

Day 14:
We get the location of the hidden ship revealed.


It's pretty far off. It may not be worth travelling to.

Day 15:
A horde of alphabeavers has arrived. Time for free food.


Day 16:
A tribal visitor is passing by. Good thing there are plenty of wolves nearby...


Later that day, Blitz finally joins us.


Traits: Industrious, Psychically dull, and Ascetic.
Notable skills: 5 medicine, 11 construction, 6 growing.

And, it turns out my female husky is pregnant. Hopefully we can get husky puppies for a hauling workforce soon.

Day 16: The beginning of the end
Uh oh. The outlanders have come back for revenge.


This is going to be quite the battle.

It was bloody, but we survived and got a great prisoner.


Day 18: The Last Stand
After a whole day spend bandaging and rescuing, some pirates attack.
Including this pretty tough raider:


Tragically, our husky had a miscarriage due to being shot up during the battle.

One of the pirates shot Magnum at close range with a machine pistol, causing moderate brain damage (5/10) and making him into a trauma savant.


Somehow, the pirates are repelled thanks to Blitz and Fedon. But, as Pi bleeds to death inside of the rooms due to his injuries, Odile goes to treat him.
On the way, her left arm is blown off by a sniper rifle, then she has a mental break.


Despite the best efforts of Blitz, who is the only one left standing, Pi bleeds to death.

The flames begin to consume the base, killing a downed Sterling. Rest in peace, husky.

Magnum then dies of blood loss, causing his warg, Bloody, who was completely unharmed during the gunfights, to go berserk.


Bloody incapacitates a heavily wounded Hurtle who was resting, and Fedon, before attacking Blitz. Blitz, due to his go juice high, stabbed the warg into submission, but not before having his ear torn off.


Bloody gets up, and walks into the flames. This is probably bad pathing, but I'd like to think he couldn't live without his master.


Once Fedon has healed, he too goes berserk.


Meanwhile, Odile collapses from blood loss due to his missing arm. Despite having it bandaged by Blitz, he still bled to death. I'm not really sure what happened.


After Hurtle bandages up Blitz and goes to build a butcher table, our prisoner, Onesan burns to death.
While this is a shame, it turns out she also had major Alzheimer's.

Most of our base burned down as the result of an incendiary-launcher wielding raider. Luckily, I made sure to use stone to build my bedrooms, so not all is lost. However, the 3 remaining pawns will still need to leave as soon as possible. We need to reset our wealth and move on from this doomed place.


Day 19:
A heat wave is coming in. This is never a good event.


Day 21:
Another band of outlanders has arrived. We have no food, but it's time to pack up and leave.


The outlanders begin to sack the base, while Fedon and Blitz try to escape. However, due to difficulties forming the caravan (they seem to leave through the dumbest exists) things are challenging.
Hurtle had to be left behind since he was having a mental break.

For some reason, in order to form the caravan, they need to meet up in the centre of the base. They have all the gear, and the base is occupied by the enemy.
I guess I'm screwed because I can't form the caravan and escape.


Fedon is shot to death as he tries to make a last stand. I feel cheated out of my escape.

I then find out they reason they had to go to the base was because Blitz wanted to eat the 7 boomrat meat there. Once I forbid that, he happily left.

He escapes to the next nearest tile and I immediately settle it. Back at the old base, a tribal bulk goods trader arrives just as the outlanders give up and leave.


I'm pretty salty Fedon died because Blitz wanted to eat some boomrat meat.

Day 23:
I get the chased refugee event. I accept, knowing one colonist can't survive alone at the new base. It's also Engie, who is a pretty decent backstory character.


She joins and sure enough, I get a decent colonist.


Traits: Masochist and steadfast.
Notable skills: 11 shooting, 8 construction, 8 crafting.

A three person raid team followers her. This could get ugly.


Luckily, we repel them without major loss. Engie is good at wielding the LMG Blitz brought with him. Fun fact, this is the same LMG we got from the outlanders at the start of the story.


Day 23:
Another tribal trader, a slaver this time, arrives at the old base. I guess nobody told them about the whole we-kidnapped-some-outlanders-which-led-to-them-eradicating-us thing?


But, Randy is never one to be outdone, so he sends a trio of manhunting wargs at me. I think this is the end.


Blitz is mauled, but thanks to the power of the AI thinking incomplete structures are complete, Engie manages to box herself in, safe from the wargs.


During the night, Blitz gets an infection in his arm. Blitz is not going to survive this.
Engie was bitten in the torso by the wargs after an accident, but is still safe inside her box.
But, it doesn't matter, Blitz dies of blood loss near the end of the night.

Day 24: The end?
Engie gets an infection from her bite in the torso. This is the end.

But, while Engie wastes away in her box of solitude, Randy gives me a signal it isn't over yet...

Back at the main base, a wanderer named Sam joins.


Sam is pretty mediocre, but he is the last hope of survival.
Traits: Green thumb and Barron Syndrome pyromaniac.
Notable skills: 6 shooting, 5 construction, 11 growing.
Incapable of research, art, crafting, and firefighting.

Day 25:
Engie dies of infection.


Day 27:
Sam has busy days ahead. Most of the base is intact, the last while was spent planting crops and repairing some of the houses. It may be possible to return this base to its former glory.

A portion of the corn crop survived, so there is food for the time being.

Day 28: Pyromaniac club
I knew it wasn't over yet. Another colonist joined. Grub, the sightseer.


This is great, expect he's a pyromaniac. Good thing I named this location Wildfire.
Traits: Pessimist, pyromaniac, and chemical fascination. (These are some seriously bad traits).
Notable skills: 5 growing, 5 crafting.
Grub kind of sucks, but he's an extra hand.

Late that night, over at the new (and now abandoned colony) an escape pod lands containing a blacksmith named Narda, who happens to be the deceased Fedon's mother.


Day 31:
Slowly but surely, the old colony is coming back from its ruined state.


Grub cuts stone, while Sam builds. Potatoes, rice, and healroot are all growing semi-far apart from each other in order to prevent a fire accident.
Once we finish the buildings, we will begin building some fortifications.

But, during the night, a duo of sappers attack.


And, surprise, they're outlanders.

The fight lasts 15 seconds. Sam guns down one of them and the other flees. We aren't injured at all.

Day 34:
We get a call from a 69-year-old paramedic running from pirates. He's too old to be of any use.


Day 35:
As the two pyromaniacs restore the original base to it's former glory, another escape pod lands at the new base.
It contains a somewhat poor pawn, but with a crazy 18 crafting.

Later, Sam has the first fire starting spree of the new generation of colonists. Good thing he did this in the rain.


Day 36:
A thrumbo has arrived. It might be time to get some silver from a thrumbo horn.


Then, after the thrumbo, some gold lands at the new base in a cargo pod. Thing could be what we need for a multi-analyzer.


Day 38:
An ibex doe self-tamed itself. Unfortunately, the doe is at the new base.


Later, another escape pod crashes, this time in the right colony. We capture her.


Day 39:
Some tribal visitors arrived. We sold them some of the junky clothing and weapons laying around.


But, after selling the things, a trio of raiders arrives.


I would have used the thrumbo against them, but turns out it already left.

We repel the raiders, but a fire breaks out. Luckily, my anti-pyromaniac measures partially control the fires. Always invest in stone walls.


Day 41:
We recruited Erika, one of the pawns who crashed from an escape pod. She's pretty decent, despite her inability to firefight and fight. At least she isn't a pyromaniac.


(It was a 9.8% recruit chance).
Traits: Chemical fascination and Ascetic.
Notable skills: 10 medicine, 11 art, 14 research.

Back at the new base, a rare occurrence happens: a pawn in an escape pod gets up and walks off the map.


Day 43:
A chased refugee event occurs. It's a novelist, which I believe is an art based backstory that disables dumb labor. No thanks.


Day 44:
Late at night, some cargo pods deliver some medicine. This will help protect against disease or infections that will inevitably come. Our herbal medicine will be used for wounds while the stronger industrial medicine will be for emergencies.


Day 47:
The base has been rebuilt, and is greater than its former self in some ways. Mainly, it's 90% fireproof now.


Day 48:
Randy will not stop sending me escape pods. The problem is, most of the pawns from the pods are trash.
One such subject is Hampton, who as it turns out is the wife of the deceased Odile.

Ironically, Hampton got up and decided to rest in our hospital bed.

Day 49:
A wander named Lumpy joins the colony. She is Sam's wife.


Traits: Too smart and masochist.
Her notable skills include: 9 animals, 11 mining.
Overall, not the worse colonist in the world.

Because this post is over 20,000 characters, I actually have to split it into smaller parts. The rest of the story is below.

[MiniKeeper]

Day 50:
Another thrumbo is passing by. Perhaps this is my time to actually get my hands on a horn for once.


Day 51:
Plague strikes the colony, infecting Erika and Lumpy.


Good thing we have a bunch of medicine. In the meantime, I've decided against killing the thrumbo since increasing wealth for a small chance to actually sell the horn isn't worth it

On the bright side, the colony is coming along nicely. Fortifications are in progress.


Day 52:
The plague is brutal. Lumpy is probably going to barely survive and I think Erika is doomed.

Later that day, Erika is sadly euthanized. She was a good colonist. She researched a lot of techs, including: smithing, passive coolers, autodoors, firefoam, geothermal power, electric smelting, electric cremation, and most of machining.
It was a sad decision, but the plague was always a good 10% ahead of her immunity rate.


But, shortly after Erika passes, outlanders attack.


But, before the raid can arrive, a chased refugee radios us. I would accept, but I can't afford to take chances with a double raid.


Luckily, our turrets easily repel the outlanders. We kill one and capture another.
After the raid, Lumpy gains immunity from the plague.

Day 57:
As the colonists continue to build the base and attempt to recruit our outlander prisoner, a toxic fallout occurs. Luckily, it strikes in the new colony. This may harm the tame ibex doe.
However, thanks to the small shack Engie constructed so long ago, the doe will be safe.


Day 58:
A tribal bulk goods trader has arrived. We'll be able to sell some of our junk.


After we sold them some of our stuff, a wild boar self-tamed itself at the new colony. It's an animal party over there.

And, after the boar, and doe became domesticated as well. I think the 'toxic' fallout is making the animals smarter.

Day 60:
A hare has self-tamed itself at the new colony. I herby name the new colony Fort Critter.


Later that day, we finally recruit our outlander prisoner. His name is Whitaker.



(It was a 12% recruit chance, and it took so long to get this guy).
Traits: Trigger-happy, neurotic, ascetic.
Notable skills: 12 mining, 10 art, 6 research.
He is incapable of dumb labor. Age: 56.

My logic behind recruiting this guy is to use him as the new researcher until I get a better one. Then he can become a crafter and miner.

Shortly after I recruit him, some alphabeavers arrive at Fort Critter.

At the end of the day, the hare that recently joined dies of toxic buildup because he decided to sleep outside despite his allowed zone being inside. Oh well.

Day 61:
Finally! A good pawn from as escape pod!

Hopefully we can recruit Bee.

Day 62:
Some pirates (not outlanders for once) are attacking the colony. There are 6 of them and they are pretty well armed.

Fortunately, we repel the raiders without a scratch and obtain 1 mediocre prisoner and a charge rifle.

Day 63:
A tribal slaver arrives at Fort Critter. This is just Randy being obnoxious since I currently have 2 prisoners back at the original colony.


Day 64:
The toxic fallout at Fort Critter finally ends.


Day 67:
We recruited Bee at last. Looks like he'll be an artist and hauler.


(It was an 18% recruit chance).
Traits: Green thumb and optimist.
Notable skills: 10 social, 10 art, 7 melee, 7 research.

A picture of our stone block base so far. I may have went overboard with anti-pyromaniac measures.


The hospital is finished, along with my second sealed geothermal generator. The prison is slowly being built. All we need to do is survive long enough to build the ship and escape.

Day 68:
Another animal joins Fort Critter. This time it's a muffalo.

Day 71:
Our prisoner from the raid a while ago has joined us. He's a 36-year-old man packing a joywire, which should hopefully balance out his volatile trait.


Other than volatile, his other trait is ascetic.
Notable skills: 7 shooting, 10 art.

But, late at night on day 71, a group of five outlanders attack!


We easily dispatch the outlanders. The loot is great. A plasteel gladius, and 800 units of raw silver. We also get some guns and a prisoner.

Day 72: A new beginning?
Fort Critter gets it's first colonist in a long time due to a random wanderer. Said wanderer just happens to be Grub's sister.
Menear is a pretty good colonist too.



Traits: Pretty, too smart, and psychically sensitive.
Notable skills: 9 shooting, 7 cooking. Otherwise she is decent all around.
Immediately once she arrives, the popup to actually name the colony arrives. I name it Fort Critter.

Day 75:
Poor Menear. I don't think she'll going to last long here alone. Once she recovers from her mental break, I think I'll send Yakov over there to bandage her and bring her back here.
I can almost guarantee she'll die of hare bite induced infection.


Day 76:
I sent Yakov and he managed to save Menear. They are going to stay at the base, mining components and taking some of the resources there before heading back to the main base. Unfortunately, though, we have a BIG problem.


But, Randy takes pity on me and sends 3 Labrador retrievers to Fort Critter.


Day 80:
Our prisoner Grill joins us. He'll be needed to keep the colony running. Mental breaks are constant, but soon the ship will be destroyed. We just need a little longer to finish setting up our traps.


Traits: Chemical interest and too smart.
Notable skills: 10 social, 9 medicine, 9 art, 7 crafting, and 9 research.

Day 81:
Bruised, starving and almost insane, Menear, Yakov and the animals arrive at the base. Hopefully they can stay sane long enough to help beat the mechs.


After they arrive, we finally complete the traps. It's time to see if this works. If it doesn't we may have to migrate to a different map for a while.


After Sam fires his rifle, the mechs emerge. 1 centipede and 3 sythers.


Despite not all of the traps being tripped, they serve their purpose. 2 scthers go down and the centipede is heavily injured.


Shortly after I take the picture, the last syther trips an IED and goes down. Operation traps: successful.

From there, Sam just shoots the centipede, backs up, fires, and backs up. The centipede is incapacitated in only a few shots. The mighty psychic ship has been bested.

Now I have an AI core. Things are looking up.


Day 83:
Another wild boar has self-tamed at Fort Critter. I'm not even surprised about these random taming's anymore.


Day 84:
A band of pirates is attacking. This could be a challenge.


The pirates destroyed two of our turrets, but the colonists are unharmed. We captured a single prisoner who won't be getting recruited due to a missing arm.

Day 85:
Those raiders must have been a diversion, because now a siege squad is coming for us. This is bad news.


However, to the left is an ancient danger. Perhaps we could open it and redirect the wrath towards the raiders...
Fun fact: one of the raiders is related to the dead Blitz.

Surviving the siege has been rough. One of our geothermal generators was destroyed, along with our comms console. Luckily though, Sam has been harassing the raiders from long range using the sniper rifle. He blew up their incendiary mortar, the thing causing the most trouble, along with killing one of the raiders and shooting an arm off one of their snipers.


Along with this, using his rifle he opened up the ancient danger, which contains 6 caskets.'

Day 87:
The raiders dropped the siege and attacked. But, by some miracle, we beat them back with only 2 wounds. Not even by the raiders either, our only turret that was active (the siege wrecked our power grid) had a friendly fire accident.


Day 91: The Battle of Fort Critter
Just as I thought I had recovered some outlanders attack us! By "us" I mean the animals at Fort Critter. They send 2 melee raiders to kill my animals. My money is on the animals.


The cowardly raiders attack my small medical hut built by Yakov so long ago. Using zoning, I have my animals charge them.


I send the herd forth to defend the lowly hut.


My animals prove victorious. They even take a prisoner. The only loss is Doe 1, who is now missing a leg. I think I'm going to send Yakov over there to bandage up the animals and grab the prisoner.


I knew taking care of the animals would be worth it. But, tragically, Doe 1 died of blood loss as Yakov was treating her. Rest in peace.

But, as Yakov is heading back to treat the prisoner, who only has bruise wounds, she stages a prison break!

Luckily though, Yakov takes her down with a single shot from his heavy SMG.

Day 92:
Yakov arrives back at the base with our prisoner, Lupa. She has decent stats and a 74% recruitment difficulty.


Day 95:
Time for an update on the colony. Things are going very well overall. We are trying to recruit Lupa, which may take a while. Otherwise, Whitaker is researching the last 2 ship techs, Sam is planting a small crop of devilstrand and tending to the crops, Grub and Menear are stonecutting and smelting slag, Yarkov is hauling steel, Lumpy is mining all the steel veins on the map with the help of Bee, and Grill is making everyone new clothing using our vast supply of textiles.

The only problem is we lack plasteel and uranium in order to build the ship. Otherwise, we may want to open the tombs when we have fewer prisoners.

Day 96:
Back at Fort Critter, wild boar 2 gives birth to two new boars.

On top of this, my two female Labrador retrievers are pregnant.

Late at night on day 96, a volcanic winter occurs.


Day 97:
Well, today is off to a bad start.

Time to use the old IED trick again.

And, 3 outlanders decide to attack Fort Critter. They have guns this time too.


Luckily, the animals again prevail by using zoning to charge the raiders once they split up. They even managed to take out one of the raiders with a gun! They took another prisoner too.


I prepare to send over Yakov to once again grab the downed raider and patch up the animals.

Unfortunately, the raider recovers, so I won't be sending over that caravan after all. On the bright side, two thrumbos have arrived.


Day 98:
I get the chased refugee event. I haven't gotten one of these is quite a long time. I refuse since recruiter disables doctoring for only +5 melee and +3 social. Not really worth it.


Day 98 part 2: The Great White Menace
Right after I decline, a trio of centipedes attacks us.


As the centipedes move in, the thrumbos are in literally the worst position. One wrong shot and they both go manhunter.


Crap! I was right. But thankfully one 1 aggro'ed.


Thankfully, thrumbos go down really quickly with 8 turrets firing at once.


Then, the other thumbo aggro's after WALKING DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF MY TURRETS.


If these are supposedly the wisest creatures in the universe, they really must gain something by walking in front of turrets during an intense firefight.

The thrumbo downs Lumpy, but we kill it. During this dramatic chase, I notice the centipedes are stacked up in a great shape. I send Bee to grab the triple rocket launcher we got from the siege a while back.

Luckily though, we kill the centipedes without using the rocket launcher. Sam lost a thumb, and 1 turret is destroyed, but we are all alive.

The aftermath of the battle.


Day 99:
Everyone is healing up. We sold a ton of our junk clothing to a bulk goods ship and get 244 silver.

Day 100:
We've done it. 100 days is a pretty big achievement. Anyway, the traps around the ship are set, we'll trigger the ship later today. In other news, Lupa joined us. It was an 11% chance.

Traits: Neurotic and lazy.
Notable skills: 8 shooting, 10 melee, 10 medicine, 5 mining.

Sadly, after we recruited Lupa, wild boar 2 (the mother of the two baby boars) died of malnutrition. I think she was trying to heal for a while and passed out from starvation, then died.

Right after this, a wanderer named Ali joins. He's only 18 and is okay.

I feel like I should send him to be the guy running Fort Critter.
Traits: Fast walker, careful shooter, psychopath.
Notable skills: 7 growing. Otherwise he's pretty poor.

After he joins, a hare self-tames itself in the big colony. There's a first for everything.


After the hare joins, Sam blasts the ship with his sniper rifle. Inside are five centipedes, two of which have inferno cannons.

And, as this is happening, a racoon is self-tamed back at Fort Critter.

I end up getting a good shot of the IED's detonating.


The ship is destroyed instantly.

Sam is shot and incapated by the inferno cannons. As Grub rushes to save him, a muffalo is self-tamed at the big colony.

Luckily, all the centipedes are heavily damaged.

We lose 3 turrets, but the centipedes are defeated.

[MiniKeeper]

Day 102: Cycle of Pain
Give me a break Randy. First a poison ship, then centipedes, now a horde of boomrats. This is going to get ugly.


Fireproofing this base was the most important decision in this entire story.

Somehow we survived the boomrat attack without any losses.
The fire did claim one victim though. It destroyed Erika's excellent casket.

Day 104:
Our Labrador Emilia gave birth to 3 lab puppies. I hope we can sell them for some extra cash.


Day 106:
I want to sell some of our stuff, so I sent 900 silver to the local tribal faction so we can get cheap traders. Then I spent another 300 silver to call over an exotic goods trader. Hopefully we can sell the thrumbo horns and some of the sculptures.
Then I discover exotic goods traders aren't available for some reason. Oops.
Luckily, there is 1 friendly outlander union, who, with one gift of silver offer me cheap trader caravans.

And with that, I ask for an exotic goods trader. There goes 1800 silver.
Honestly, I don't think it's a waste though. It's good to be friends with people.
Fun fact: Yakov Li is the father of Yutong Li, the leader of the outlanders who hate us.

Day 107:
Yakov and Menear have come together and are now lovers. This seems fitting ever since Yakov rescued her so long ago.

Day 108:
The exotic goods trader has arrived. We may need to buy a bionic eye, since Menear had a berserk rampage and got a minor eye scar (7/10) from a hare.

Day 109:
Unfortunately, the exotic goods trader didn't have nearly enough silver to buy all our junk. I sold the 2 thrumbo horns and bought a telescope and 13 components. We came away with 3000 silver. I was hoping to sell the puppies and the self-tamed hare, along with some of our sculptures. They didn't have any bionics, which sucked.


Day 110:
Dolly the dog has given birth to two more puppies. I'll take this as a sign it is time to open the ancient cryptosleep caskets.

Everyone is in position, except Bee, who is there to man the base in case things go wrong.


Grill opens the caskets. No hostiles. So far so good.


The megascarbs are harmless, and there are two spacers downed.

But, the spacers refuse to be arrested. I really want them to join us, or if they won't, I want their stuff.


But spacers are immediately gunned down before they can fight back. Sam apprehends the other one.

Grill tries to arrest the last spacer as he stops to vomit from cryptosleep sickness, but he resists.


I let him escape. After all, he is walking directly into my turret field.


In the ultimate anti-climax, the turrets don't fire. I think it's because the action he is taking (resting) is neutral, confusing the turret targeting AI.
Yay for bugs?

Grill ends up beating him to death. Rats, I really wanted that guy's bionic leg.

After we arrest the spacers, a combat supplier arrives from the only friendly outlander town.


Day 112:
The volcanic winter is over. I think I'm going to call over a tribal slaver and another exotic good trader. That way I can get rid of the puppies (which are wormholes for food) and stop feeding so many prisoners.

Unfortunately, our hospital expansion has had a bit of a delay. I knew it was a possibility that an infestation would happen, but it still sucks.


Luckily though, my 9-man gun squad systematically eliminates the petty insects. You'll have to try harder Randy.


And, as my gun squad is ripping apart the hives with their bare hands, Yakov proposes to Menear. How romantic.


Day 112:
The day starts with a boomalope self-taming at Fort Critter.
I hope I get a bear soon, or a thrumbo.

Day 114:
Both traders (exotic goods and a slaver) arrived at the same time. It's time to shop.


We sell two of the prisoners, Katten (the pirate prisoner) and Montreuil (one of the spacers). We get 1476 silver.

To the exotic goods trader, we sell all the puppies, the self-tamed hare, some beds and dinning chairs, and a statue. We get 1421 silver.
I considered buying their psychic animal pulser, but decided against it. If the colony dies, it'll probably be against mechs or a manhunter pack. I also considered buying their painstopper, but I don't really have anyone to put it on. They don't have any bionics.

After this consideration, I spend 543 silver on a prosthetic leg. Today was a good day for profit.

Day 115:
Whitaker finally finished researching all the techs needed to build the ship. Now we just need a ton of plasteel and uranium.
And as a plus, an ibex doe self-tamed.

As if to celebrate, a tribal combat supplier has come to the base.

I then realize despite appearing on my side of the map, they are at Fort Critter for some odd reason.


Day 117:
Another chased refugee event. Well, the test subject backstory sucks, and he's only 16. That's a definite "no".

Later that day, 6 alphabeavers arrive. Free food.

But, this normally boring event has some mystery to it. 2 of the alphabeavers have burns, and this one is bandaged. How did that happen?

My best guess is they arrived at Fort Critter, got burned, and were patched up by Yakov when I wasn't paying attention. But that theory is a longshot.

Late that night, a slaver arrives at Fort Critter. I wonder if it's worth sending over Yakov to sell the one prisoner I don't want.


Day 118:
As the search-for-plasteel mining operation continues, Whitaker begins to research deep drilling and its prerequisite. At Fort Critter, Rat 1 dies after being eaten by a warg.

Right after that, Yakov throws a party, and while that is taking place, a boomrat is self-tamed at Fort Critter to replace Rat 1.

I really should expand the dining room.

Day 119:
A tribal bulk goods trader has arrived. I don't know what we can sell them though.


We sell them some of the insect meat and the ibex doe to get 861 silver.

Day 120:
Raccon 1 is killed by the same warg who willed Rat 1. I think I may need to send Yakov over there to straighten things out.

Day 121:
Uh oh. A team of 10 raiders all with personal shields. This is really bad.


Yakov and Lumpy get trapped outside the killbox, but this is good since it temporary distracts the raiders, allowing us to cause minor damage and get 2 pawns behind their ranks.


We survive without a scratch, but they destroyed 4 turrets.

I think it's time to begin building a trap hallway.

After the raid, Bee recruits one of the spacers, Dan.


He'll be a miner/hauler and the backup crafter.
Traits: Volatile, chemical interest, and optimist.
Notable skills: 6 shooting, 6 melee, 10 mining, 8 crafting.
It was an 8.8 recruit chance.

But, I soon find out these people never join in groups of one, as Lupa's father, York, joins the colony as a wanderer.

Despite his old age, he has no negative health conditions.
Traits: Optimist, teetotaler, and psychically sensitive.
Notable skills: 11 melee, 9 animals.
He isn't that bad.

Day 122:
A rat is self-tamed and joins the big colony. The initial construction for the hall of death begins.

Day 123:
Wild boar 3 is torn to death by the infamous warg. This is out of control. I think this warg will kill my whole animal kingdom if left unchecked.
Later that day, a pirate merchant ship passes by. We sell our last prisoner, along with some junk clothing. We buy 8 medicine and 8 components, and net 116 silver.

Day 124:
Bee made this sculpture:

It's a grand granite statue with a description that reads:

"This carving shows a warg brutally murdering a wild boar with quick, efficient, movements. The sun is setting behind them in a symbolic echo of the event. A locust off to one side seems to symbolize loneliness. This image somehow both represents gaiety and power. This portrayal refers to the killing of the wild boar by the warg on the 15th of winter, 5502."

I knew I wasn't the only one who cared.

Day 125:
A group of 5 mechanoids is attacking the colony. 3 centipedes, 2 with inferno cannons, and 2 sythers. Luckily for me, it's raining, and my hall of death is complete. 17 granite deadfall traps await the sythers.

One syther goes down from the traps, the other is gunned down by Ali and Dan, who are exploiting the sythers tunnel vision towards the turrets (literally and figuratively).

After the sythers go down, it's only a matter of bobbing in and out to keep the centipedes trapped in the tunnel while my snipers shot them.
In the end, we are barely injured.

Day 126:
The warg strikes again. This time he kills wild boar 4.

[MiniKeeper]

Day 127:
We finally finish researching the ground-penetrating scanner. Hopefully we can get some plasteel now.
Later that day, Emilia the dog gives birth to her second litter. 3 new puppies have joined the colony.

Day 128:
Some uranium falls from drop pods. This is great, now we can build cryptosleep caskets for the ship.


Later that day, Lumpy has a party. However, she decided to insult Lupa, which resulted in her getting beat up and the party getting called off.

Nothing makes a party great like an unnecessary fistfight where none of my other pawns intervene to break it up.

Day 129:
I call in an exotic goods trader from the outlander town. We can sell some statues and the puppies.

And, despite the fight that broke up yesterday's party, the colonists come together to celebrate Yakov and Menear's marriage.

But then Whitaker starts a fistfight with Bee because of course he does.

However, the fight ends shortly, with neither being knocked down.

And, the two colonists get married.


Day 131:
The deep drilling is going well. I'm pulling in a slow but steady supply of plasteel. And, to top it off, the exotic goods trader has arrived.


We sold the puppies, some sculptures, and some of the personal shields from the melee raid (we kept the best ones though). In return, we got a prosthetic arm, a bionic arm, and 423 silver.

Day 134:
The deep drilling for plasteel has been very successful so far. Dolly the dog also gave birth to her second litter, containing one puppy.

Day 135:
We now have more than enough steel to build the ship. We only need a more elusive resource now: uranium. It's only a matter of time before our deep drills locate it. At the end of the day I call for a bulk goods trader, in hopes we can get some uranium. A thrumbo also showed up at Fort Critter.

Day 136:
A tribal slaver showed up at Fort Critter. They have no uranium.


Day 137:
The uranium search is getting hot. We've found steel, plasteel, gold, jade, but no uranium.

Later that day, the bulk goods trader arrives.


We bought a whole 30 uranium and 7 medicine from the trader. So close, yet so far.

Later on day 137:
Another chased refugee. I'm not taking chances with unnecessary raids when I'm this close to winning.


As the caravan left, we bought 6 components.
My plan now is to spam outlander bulk goods traders while I drill for uranium. I hope I can build the ship between a giga raid comes.

Day 138:
Whitaker finally reached level 20 in research. This is a pretty huge achievement.

Day 139:
As Operation: "spam bulk goods traders" continues, Randy sends the ultimate challenge. Unless you spam IED's.


Day 140:
The 14 IED traps are rigged... I hope this works...
Luckily, boom! The AI core is destroyed, but we already have one. Only 1 centipede is left standing of the 2 centipedes and 2 sythers.


Sam takes out the centipedes in 2 shots from his sniper rifle. Nice try, Randy.
And, right after we take out the ship, an emu self-tames itself at Fort Critter.

Later that night, Grill, who in binging on psychite, develops an addiction.

Day 141:
A tribal bulk goods trader has arrived. I don't think they have uranium.


Later that day, Ali's mother lands in an escape pod. I'm going to capture and release her so she won't join us, but he won't get the mood penalty from her death.


Near the end of the night, the outlander caravan arrives. They have uranium!


We spend 754 silver and buy 13 components and 47 uranium. So close, yet so far.

Day 142:
Uh oh. Here comes a horde of 15 boomalopes. I really do not regret my whole 'fireproofing the base' decision.


However, my hallway of death is too effective. It blows up one boomalope, lighting all the other ones on fire.


They never even made it to the turrets. What a joke.


Day 144:
Yikes, Yakov accidentally sprung a trap. He's missing one eye and has severe damage to the other. His other eye is 4/10.


This probably shouldn't ruin the game, but it sucks. Yakov was one of my favorites.

Day 146:
Another outlander trader has arrived. Time to buy more uranium.


I buy 10 components and 48 uranium. I'm getting closer...
I only need about 100 more uranium for the cryptosleep pods.


Day 148:
Oh boy. Grub is addictied to psychite now too. Sigh.


Day 149:
Two thrumbos have arrived. I may need to kill them to fuel my uranium buying habit.

Later that day, we finish all the research in the tree. Good job Whitaker.

But, by far the most important discovery is a uranium spot. I'm so close to the ship...


Day 150:
The bulk goods trader has arrived. However, we have enough uranium. Only a few more days until we finish the ship...


Day 151:
The ship building begins. Fun fact: you can get around a teetotaler colonist's inability to take drugs by just administering them medically.

The base so far. It has definitely risen above the ruin that it was in when Sam and Grub first arrived.


At the end of the day, we spend 683 silver to buy 20 wake-up to fuel the ship-building operation.

Sadly though, we had to deconstruct some things to get some extra components to the build the ship.

Day 152: To space.
128 days. That's how long Sam has been a colonist. Since there are 15 days in a season, and 4 seasons in a year, 1 season is about 3 months. Therefore, there are 60 days in a Rimworld year.
That means Sam has been working for almost 2 years to survive. He started as a regular wanderer, a pyromaniac with mediocre stats that wouldn't be welcome in a traditional colony. However, the colony he joined was in ruin, and it was up to him. One pyromaniac with good construction and growing skills, to single-handedly bring a colony back to its former glory.
He did it.
Him and Grub, who literally built the colony brick by brick, are the heroes. Sam was probably one of the best colonists I've ever got. While he was a pyromaniac, he never broke during raids, and has only spent 3 days and 17 hours in mental states over a 2 year career as a colonist.

The early days were rough, but they did it. Grub cutting stone, and Sam laying bricks. They survived long enough to restore hope to me that this run wasn't doomed.

If you had told me that this adventure would end with me writing a decently sized eulogy/memoir about 2 pyromaniacs who originally didn't even have a stat over 12, I wouldn't have believed you.



Now, for the colonist overview:
Sam:
The leader of the colony if there ever was one. He literally built 90% of the colony with his superb construction skills and provided fuel for the nutrient paste dispenser for a long time with his crops. He was good in combat too, becoming proficient with a sniper rifle and decent at medicine over his military career.
Notable skills: 10 shooting, 18 construction, 14 growing.

Grub:
Despite being less useful as the colony grew, Grub was essential to making it this far. While Sam may have built the colony, Grub cut the stone blocks with build the colony. He was the main stonecutter and was a good general worker, despite his semi-frequent mental breaks towards the end of the story.
Notable skills: 6 animals, 8 construction, 5 growing, 5 mining, 6 crafting.

Lumpy:
A great miner and decent soldier and animal handler. While I didn't really trait animals after the colony was restarted by Sam and Grub, Lumpy could often be seen milking and shearing the muffaloes. She was a super good mining too, carving out huge chunks of mountain on the map. She was the wife of Sam.
Notable skills: 8 shooting, 9 animals, 18 mining.

Whitaker:
When I first got him, I was afraid he would soon be crippled by birthdays, but luckily that was not the case. He was originally going to be a temporary researcher, but since I never got anyone better he became the main guy. He was great at it too. While he did diversify his talents a little bit, becoming decent at construction, he was a good researcher.
Notable skills: 8 construction, 11 mining, 10 art, 20 research.

Bee:
The colony warden who recruited 4 people. He was also a part-time farmer, but his most prominent role was art. He was a good overall pawn, with good skill distribution. His art was everywhere in the colony and generated a lot of silver for the colony.
Notable skills: 8 melee, 11 social, 9 growing, 15 art.

Yakov:
One of my favorite pawns. Over a year and 1 season career as a colonist, he had 0 mental breaks. Yakov did almost any job, from shooting at raiders to chopping trees. His journeys to Fort Critter were great too. He saved Menear from death at Fort Critter and eventually married her at the main colony. His joywire was his secret, and even made his volatile trait tolerable. It was a really pity he lost his eyes at the hands of a trap, but at least he can be referred to as Yakov one-eye.
Notable skills: 8 shooting, 7 construction, 10 art.

Menear:
Originally came from Fort Critter, but was a great colonist back at the main base. She mostly did crafting, she would smelt steel slag while Grub cut stone, or vice-versa. Otherwise, she hauled stuff. Overall a decent colonist. She was also great with a sniper rifle.
Notable skills: 12 shooting, 7 melee, 8 cooking, 8 crafting.

Grill:
Despite his drug habit, Grill was a good colonist. He did a lot of tailoring, and made mostly of the dusters, pants, button-down shirts, and cowboy hats that belong to the colonists. He was also our main doctor. My biggest complaint was that he had so, so many mental breaks.
Notable skills: 10 social, 11 medicine, 9 art, 12 crafting, 9 research.

Lupa:
While she spent a decently long time as a prisoner (9 days), she was useful as a colonist. She was a good miner, doctor, and was great with a sniper rifle. She was essentially Lumpy's mining assistant.
Notable skills: 9 shooting, 10 melee, 10 medicine, 13 mining.





Ali:
Ali the cave child joined right after Lupa. He was a decent hauler, but he mostly tended the crops. He wasn't bad in a gunfight either.
Notable skill: 10 growing.

York:
Lupa's father. He did a fair share of hauling, but also helped build the hall of death and the ship. He had a high melee, skill, but I never got to use him in melee combat.
Notable skills: 11 melee, 9 animals, 10 construction.

Colonist overview (deceased):

Erika:
A good researcher and doctor. It was a real blow to the colony when she died of plague. Even though she wasn't a fighter, she researched a lot of stuff.
Notable skills: 10 medicine, 11 art, 7 animals, 16 research.

Engie:
The founder of Fort Critter. She died of a semi-preventable death. If this was alpha 17, she would have been able to tend her own wound, but, she tragically died of infection. I think she would have been great if she lived.
Notable skills: 11 shooting, 8 construction, 8 crafting.
Blitz:
The outlander we kidnapped at the start of the story. Looking back on him, we could have prevented all those outlander raids. Blitz was great though, good constructers are always decent. Shame he got eaten by wargs.
Notable skills: 6 medicine, 12 construction, 6 growing.

Fedon:
Oh Fedon, you died because of some stupid pathing stuff. Dying to bugs or bad pathing is one of the worse ways to die. Fedon was a great researcher, cook and doctor. He was also a good negotiator.
Notable skills: 12 social, 7 animals, 12 medicine, 15 cooking, 10 research.

Odile:
I think Odile also died to a bug. Despite his arm being bandaged, he still bled to death. This may have been me not paying attention, but who knows. Odile was alright, but he mental break near the end was a crappy way to die.
Notable skills: 9 cooking, 8 growing.

Magnum:
Poor Magnum. He died of blood loss after being brain-damaged by some outlanders. He was a decent colonist.
Notable skills: 5 shooting, 6 medicine, 7 social.

Pi:
He was an amazing researcher before he died of blood loss at the end. He would have been a must-have pawn if he had lived.
Notable skills: 14 construction, 10 growing, 18 research.

This was by far the longest story. It took up 195 pages on Microsoft word (mostly because of pictures) and has about 8300 words in addition to around 200 pictures.
It was a wild ride, but I finally won. It wasn't on extreme, but I won.

Endgame statistics:
Play time: About 1 day, 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Colonists killed: 8
Major threats: 24
Enemy raids: 18

Farewell, colony of stone:


And so, it ends.


Seriously. If you made it through this entire thing, hardcore props to you for reading it all. This took several hours to post, so I hope somebody enjoys it. I sure did.

[OFWG]

Wow, that was a heck of a run!

Good read, thanks!

[IceCoolNinja]

Hi, I made an account just so I can make this reply/comment.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and hope to see more.

[Vlad0mi3r]

Glad you kept at it when things got really tough. Its always better to triumph after the harder road. Thanks for sharing.

[Sephorin]

Epic story! Thank you for sharing.