Your favorite basic scenario tweaks - and why

[Limdood]

So I felt like sharing some of the changes I put into the scenarios when I play Rimworld.  I had two ideas, which will be two separate forum threads, just for clarity and ease of looking at one specific type of scenarios.

This thread I made for people to post the tweaks they tend to repeatedly put into most of their games when they start a new game, by altering the scenario in the scenario editor.  Maybe you have a certain event you hate, or love, or you really think a certain game value should be higher or lower.  I'll share some of my ideas, and would love to hear what other people like to change, and why, because I never know when I'll hear something I'd never thought of and would love to try (The other thread will regard extreme, weird, or crazy scenario ideas.  This is just for your go-to, normal tweaks).

Events:
I tend to disable single animal insanity and self-tame (where a single animal randomly becomes tamed).  The reason for this is because the events feel insignificant or JUST annoying to me.  a single animal going manhunter never feels like a threat (yes, it COULD be a day 2 elephant or rhino, or coincide with a thrumbo migration, but 99% of the time, its a completely insignificant thing), AND as is evidenced by reloading a save from right before a given event, when the game reaches the time that event happened in the past game, you'll get a new, similar but different event.  This implies that the game will still roll up a minor negative (my own term) event, but it'll pick something other than single animal manhunter.  I notice that my games have seemed a bit more interesting and dynamic with this (and a couple others) event disabled.  As for disabling self tame, it's often a pet I don't want, and again feels insignificant.  I leave on both "farm animals join" and "mass animal insanity" because those DO feel more impactful (that being said, I have gotten cool self-tames before, like a panther day 2, but like the earlier reason, it's rare enough to not feel worth it to me).

I disable short circuit and solar flare (and I would disable random electronic item breakdowns if there was an option to) because they happen SO often in the base game, and I'd rather my electronics be reliable....sure I might have an eclipse or a dead-wind period leave be blacked out, but that feels like MY failure, rather than losing a freezer of meat or a crop of hydroponics because the game rolled up a short circuit.  Oddly enough, I don't disable blight.  Not sure why, but it doesn't annoy me as much.

I occasionally disable toxic fallout or volcanic winter, but not lately.  I used to hate just having my colonists wander around indoors for days on end.  Felt like it just limited the game for no reason to me for a while.  Now I just play them out.  They feel shorter, but maybe I'm just better at keeping occupied.

I usually CREATE a recurring trade ship visit.  Usually a 15-30 day interval.  I enjoy interacting with the game economy, and using items i can produce to get CONSISTENT access to items I can't produce.  It makes the game feel more interactive.  I've considered playing a no/reduced trading game before, but I almost always change my mind because it feels like it'd be less fun.

Stat modifiers:
I run with a stack size modification mod and crank allowable stack sizes way up...around 3000 or more often.  I just hate sprawling, gigantic storage rooms.  To that end, I always run with "carry capacity" modified to 1000% (allows colonists to carry 750 at a time instead of 75).  Just a QoL improvement in keeping with the stack size change.

I like to modify "sleep effectiveness" to approximately 150%.  Yes - I get that modelling sleep is realistic and necessary, but having my pawns awake a little bit longer in each day...just makes it more fun to me.  Does it make it easier?  i suppose yes, they're getting the same sleep in less time, but it feels more active, and that's a plus to me.

I also tend to modify "mass" to about 20-50% which reduces how much objects weigh for the purposes of caravans.  It ties into liking to trade.  I often constantly have caravans visiting and buying and selling, and this opens up easier transport and purchase of things like steel and wood without dozens of draft animals, and lets me haul back bodies from nearby combat encounters (for burning into fertilizer with Rainbeau's Fertile Fields mod, and recycling clothes into 20% of their materials with "Mend and Recycle" mod).



I have other things I try from time to time, but those are the big ones...the ones I tend to use in almost every Rimworld game I play.

[Kirby23590]

I don't know if these count but...

Something like preferring to Disable the Starting Research stuff and using mod those where you don't get air conditioning and no electricity but you have to research them or go play a tribal play through...

And also sometimes i pick 4 or 5 starting people and colonists, and throw in a tamed animal like a muffalo or a alpaca and sometimes prefer having some Huskies or Labradors retrievers since dogs are more versatile helping out in the colony in defending it or freeing your hauling at the start, while alpacas mostly for their free wool and muffalos as well but with benefits of getting milk along with meat, and using them in caravans as well...



I mostly don't change or remove the Scenario Events, but there's a chance of me disabling those freakin' Infestations, though i know how to deal with them by avoiding them by not opening those caverns or by using traps and high defenses or even putting freezing temperature and a large freezer in the mountains or hills, but i will still disable them i find them annoying or want a easier play through...



I also prefer changing weapons like replacing the revolver for a autopistol or the bolt-action rifle for a pump shotgun, or if have any weapon mods i would of course replace some of them if they were balanced or lower tier like pistols and small revolvers...

There's a good reason why i mostly play with the Playable Outlander Settlers mod that i formerly made for myself, They start with hats but with cloth instead of synththread and have starting 4 people with some tamed chickens and pigs that can freely butchered for meat or the part they have the research electricity to start building a real colony, feeling more an easier version of the Lost Tribe with it's own twist...

Though of course i would tweak them in the Scenario Editor with my mod, for you know... Spicing things up or handicapping for more of a challenge.

[Limdood]

I don't know if these count but...

Something like preferring to Disable the Starting Research stuff and using mod those where you don't get air conditioning and no electricity but you have to research them or go play a tribal play through...

That sounds pretty cool...I like to play tribal a lot...not as a dedicated tribal playthrough, but as a game where i get the awesome 5 starting pawns to get things done efficiently right away, and because I tend to make a lot of research benches and set everyone to research lowest priority, so I often have otherwise idle pawns contributing an extra 2-3 bodies to researching.  Those first few techs can take a little bit, but once I get microelectronics, it tends to snowball and I have every tech researched in no time after that. 

Tribal start helps alleviate that by making techs cost WAY more, AND makes those first few techs you research even MORE meaningful, as I find myself prioritizing research higher so I can sleep in beds, or make real clothes, and eventually finally getting a freezer.

So I definitely see where you're coming from there

[Dargaron]

I generally disable the Refugee, Transport Pod and Man in Black events. If I want more pawns, I have to fight for them (from Chased Refugees or Rescue Quests), capture them (from raids) or purchase them (from slavers). Well, I also occasionally build them, because I use the Androids mod, and eventually, I'll get a colony functioning enough to clone them w/ Questionable Ethics.

[Aerial]

For a long while I was playing Randy Random but adding regular raids because it could be whole seasons between raids (even on Savage) and it got boring.  Now I've discoverd Rainbeau's Rainbeau Flambe storyteller and he provides just about the right mix.

I also like to do very cold worlds (not quite the sea ice challenge because that's too much micromanagement for me) but I give the colonists starter parkas that are good through the summer months and disable the pet.

[Limdood]

I also like to do very cold worlds (not quite the sea ice challenge because that's too much micromanagement for me) but I give the colonists starter parkas that are good through the summer months and disable the pet.

I agree, every now and again (maybe 1 out of 4 games i start) I like to do a "cold" game...sometimes sea ice lethal outdoors, sometimes just no-growing-season tundra, but It's always a different game from temperate starts.

I never much cared for "too hot" biomes...not terribly sure why, they just never felt as interesting for some reason.

[BLACK_FR]

I have the whole thread about my way of playing: https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=46290.0
In short:
I start with 1 pawn.
I make all his skills at zero and no interests or traits.
He starts naked with no items.
Difficulty is merciless with no save/load, of course.
I disable all good and neutral events (I only leave trade caravan to guarantee myself advanced components in future). Full list in post in my signature.
I forbid myself to get other pawns.
I forbid myself to use current wealth mechanic regarding health of items and bulidings.

It took me roughly 11 years to launch the ship. It would be sooner if tribal research of ship wasn't so slow or if I had better pawn.

[Pangaea]

I mostly don't change or remove the Scenario Events, but there's a chance of me disabling those freakin' Infestations, though i know how to deal with them by avoiding them by not opening those caverns or by using traps and high defenses or even putting freezing temperature and a large freezer in the mountains or hills, but i will still disable them i find them annoying or want a easier play through...

I like the base game, but goddamnit, those infestations. I sometimes turn them off too (but keep the deep drill variant). They're such a pain to deal with, and by that I also mean the colossal cleanup afterwards.

Apart from that, I like to use tribals, and sometimes pick a pig as an animal, so I at least get one useful one (the two others are then random).

[Crow_T]

I disable single animal insanity, that is the most consistent.

If I have a map with caves on it I will seal it up with double stone walls/doors and put like 6-8 wooden stools near the entrance, if bugs show up sneak in, burn the stools, and cook em all. I don't care about jelly, just ending the bugs quickly.

[Pangaea]

Reading over this thread again, and seeing several people mentioning it, I've disabled single animal insanity for the next save. Usually only happens in the early game, but it's worth trying out.

Agree that single animal self-tame is usually pretty lame, and they end up as meat, but I wanted to keep it because I love the extra flavour a game gets if you happen to get a self-tamed rhino, or bear, or cougar, or megasloth, or any of those tough-to-tame animals.

Since I like to interact with the trading part of the game, I've decided to add an orbital trade ship every 20 days, and a trade quest every 30 days. I hope this won't be too much, as I presume that "regular" occurrences of these will still trigger by the game, so these will be in addition. And by having more of them, there should be more instances of trade quests that are actually worth doing, even in the late game. As a tribal, the trade ships won't be "seen" for a very long time, but I imagine it should be fun once we get those beacons built.

Looked over some other options, and there would be some fairly tricky stuff, like a constant flashstorm or toxic fallout

[LWM]

I disable solar flares because I don't like any of the options for mitigating them....and I have an idea for a mod that WOULD I think work well.  I just haven't gotten to it.

I tried the solar flare shield mod once....and torched my entire mountain base because I had it in the very back of the cavern.  ...I guess it scarred me watching everyone light up like torches and run around screaming until the superheated air killed them.  It didn't take long.  So, uh, yeah.

If there are other mods that offer options, I haven't found them yet.

I also tend to disable bugs because I find them annoying to fight.  (I'm a builder, not a fighter!)

As far as others' go....I really like the single animal tame.  It's kind of like "Hey, the colonists adopted a pet turtle that has NO value to the colony, but everyone likes it, so ah....no turtle soup, right?  (Unless of course, toxic fallout)"  I considered it a minor nuisance with good story value.

Constant Flashstorm was a lot of fun - I would not mind making a reprise of the New Venus Hell scenario with some mods for animals and plants that could actually survive that.

--LWM

[Pangaea]

Disabled infestations in the new save I'm going to try out as well, because I'd like to try another mountain base, and although it's cheesy to remove maybe the main threat, they're such a pain to fight, and then the giant cleanup afterwards. I'd rather not have to deal with that, and instead focus on building a base and defending regular threats.

I'd probably keep a turtle too if one self-tamed. But it tends to be squirrels and stuff like that, which I just cut up and throw in a soup. Overall it adds flavour to the game, though, so I don't want to remove it.

Solar flares are usually quite brief. They're certainly annoying, especially during heatwaves and raids (in the late game when you rely more on turrets), but other than that I don't mind them too much. Zzzzt is probably more frustrating to me, because they seem to happen so frequently.

[LWM]

There's that advanced fuses mod that makes short circuits much more bearable to me ^.^

[RoboticManiac]

I like my mountain bases, so I disable the insect hive events. Sometimes I start a map with permanent toxic fallout and volcano ash. Also with around 80% research speed.