Tips and Tricks for Rimworld

[hyperkiller]

If you're a fan of Mountain bases, and your base is burrowed into a mountain which touches the edge of the map, save space by placing the cooler on the last row of constructible tiles and store your perishable items past the boundary.

Also, if you have a lot of space, mine out your base leaving one layer of stone between every room (even if you use current walls) as this prevents the spread of fire from room to room.

Make sure your colonists can interact with as many structures as possible, in case of fire. Leave research benches and power generators a tile away from walls, and keep lights and plant pots out of corners.

I lay my colonies out with the infirmary/prison the closest to the main entrance as possible--as I've lost many dying pawns in hallways--with the kitchen and dining areas next closest, and colonist beds furthest away.

I use Limestone brick walls, there both have a flammability chance of 0

[christhekiller]

If one of your colonists gets touchy and decides to bail ship, you can arrest them and set their mode to "release" in the prisoner tab, which will make them a part of your colony again without convincing them.

It gives them a -15 (approximately) buff, however. It's better than having them leave or try to break the arm of another one of your colonists, though.

And if they're "Dazed and wandering" Just let them wander about for a bit. They'll eventually get bored and get back to work without you having to arrest them

[milon]

I use Limestone brick walls, there both have a flammability chance of 0

That doesn't prevent fire from spreading. It just prevents the wall from igniting.  Fire can spread 2 tiles in any direction, which means it can literally jump through a wall that's only 1 tile wide.

And if they're "Dazed and wandering" Just let them wander about for a bit. They'll eventually get bored and get back to work without you having to arrest them

Either that, or else they'll wander right off the map and leave your colony permanently.  I had that happen back in Alpha 4 or 5, and ever since I've arrested colonists who are about to go bonkers.  (Not sure if they still leave for good, but I don't see any reason that would have been changed.)

[Rokdog]

An oldie but a goodie: The most efficient food-crop is strawberries, because they can be used as both meals and eaten as raw food. Potatoes on the other hand will not be eaten raw. This means potatoes are effectively pointless, because they have to be cooked.

Disclaimer: If potatoes grow better/faster year-round or can now be eaten raw, this is new information to me and this tip is moot. Otherwise, strawberries are the only food-crop I ever grow.

[Cimanyd]

An oldie but a goodie: The most efficient food-crop is strawberries, because they can be used as both meals and eaten as raw food. Potatoes on the other hand will not be eaten raw. This means potatoes are effectively pointless, because they have to be cooked.

Disclaimer: If potatoes grow better/faster year-round or can now be eaten raw, this is new information to me and this tip is moot. Otherwise, strawberries are the only food-crop I ever grow.

I'm not sure what you mean by "efficient." Potatoes have a higher yield, so growing them gives more food. The only reason to ever grow berries is that they don't lower morale when eaten raw, like all other raw foods (including potatoes) do. Even if potatoes couldn't be eaten raw, how would that make them pointless? Eating raw plant food (including berries) is definitely not efficient, it has low nutrition so it's wasteful.

[wooaa]

This may seem crazy, but going into melee with centipedes is a good idea. Each time a centipede is hit it resets its weapon cool down. I set one guy to punch it, and the others to shoot it. If i do it right, the centipede never gets a shot off. There is a  risk of friendly fire, but it is still less than if the centipede managed to fire its mini gun or inferno cannon.

[wolfman1911]

I would advise caution on the melee attacking centipedes bit. I lost an entire colony once in alpha 6 to the advice that centipedes couldn't melee attack. They can, some of them, at least, and they pack a punch. Though you can have a couple of people with low cooldown weapons kill them easily so long as they keep hitting it.

The advice I will give is keep your growing zones manageable. It can be very tempting to set up your growing zone at the size needed to feed fifteen people, but if you need your grower to do anything but manage the fields all day every day (and if he's one of three, you almost certainly will), then you are going to be disappointed.

[christhekiller]

An oldie but a goodie: The most efficient food-crop is strawberries, because they can be used as both meals and eaten as raw food. Potatoes on the other hand will not be eaten raw. This means potatoes are effectively pointless, because they have to be cooked.

Disclaimer: If potatoes grow better/faster year-round or can now be eaten raw, this is new information to me and this tip is moot. Otherwise, strawberries are the only food-crop I ever grow.

I'm not sure what you mean by "efficient." Potatoes have a higher yield, so growing them gives more food. The only reason to ever grow berries is that they don't lower morale when eaten raw, like all other raw foods (including potatoes) do. Even if potatoes couldn't be eaten raw, how would that make them pointless? Eating raw plant food (including berries) is definitely not efficient, it has low nutrition so it's wasteful.

It's best to grow a mixture. Early game I like to grow strawberries in case I don't get cooking or a nutrient paste dispenser up quick enough. Late game I usually mix up the fields. I'll have a large(ish) stockpile of Berries should I run out of meals mid-solar flare or mid-eclipse (I always turn off the stoves during exlipses to save some power). You just forbid all the potatoes and let them eat berries.

I would advise caution on the melee attacking centipedes bit. I lost an entire colony once in alpha 6 to the advice that centipedes couldn't melee attack. They can, some of them, at least, and they pack a punch. Though you can have a couple of people with low cooldown weapons kill them easily so long as they keep hitting it..

When mechanoids were first introduced they couldn't melee attack. But that was either fixed immediately in a hotfix or by the next alpha. I can't rightly remember. I had a visitor this alpha who went to melee attack and centipede and he ended up getting killed with a single blow from the centipede.

[Kilderon]

An oldie but a goodie: The most efficient food-crop is strawberries, because they can be used as both meals and eaten as raw food. Potatoes on the other hand will not be eaten raw. This means potatoes are effectively pointless, because they have to be cooked.

Disclaimer: If potatoes grow better/faster year-round or can now be eaten raw, this is new information to me and this tip is moot. Otherwise, strawberries are the only food-crop I ever grow.

I'm not sure what you mean by "efficient." Potatoes have a higher yield, so growing them gives more food. The only reason to ever grow berries is that they don't lower morale when eaten raw, like all other raw foods (including potatoes) do. Even if potatoes couldn't be eaten raw, how would that make them pointless? Eating raw plant food (including berries) is definitely not efficient, it has low nutrition so it's wasteful.

The whole Strawberries vs Potatoes discussion is more complicated then that. This is my understanding, with a little backing from the vanilla xmls.

Yes, Potatoes yield 4 units of food per fully grown plant. Strawberries only yield 3.

However, Strawberries grow faster. Both have 600,000 tick lifespans, however where Potatoes gain a 0.4 Fertility Factor Growth Rate, Strawberries get 0.6. 50% more, meaning strawberries gain much more from being planted on fertile soil. Note, this doesn't mean strawberries grow 50% faster, just gain 50% more out of however much fertility affects growth times.

Not positive if this makes up for the yield difference on regular soil, but I'm almost positive you will get more over time in Hydroponics growing Strawberries over Potatoes. (Regular soil has fertility 1. Rich soil: 1.4, and Hydroponics: 2.3)

The caveat to this is that it requires enough available labor to immediately harvest and replant whenever the plant is fully grown. If you leave crops in the ground for a bit, the higher yields for potatoes and the wasted time in ground removes much of the benefit of the quicker growing strawberries. (You also risk blight rolling by and wiping all your crops...)

Then you have to consider refrigeration. Do you have it, because if you don't: Potatoes take 30 days to spoil, where berries only get 14.

Strawberries have the unique benefit of not giving you a mood penalty for being eaten raw. Potatoes CAN be eaten raw, but you get the raw food debuff, which is a -10 for 20,000 duration, which I think is a couple days. This can be stacked 3 times. Making berries a good thing to have on hand when you have power outages and your stove dies, or if your cook had his head blasted off in the raid that day.

Strawberries are also worth slightly more in trade, at 2.1 vs 1.9 market value. However, there was a point a few alphas back where traders wouldn't buy berries, not sure if that time has passed or not. Theoretically they're worth more per unit... if you can sell them again. Therefore, potatoes may still have the benefit of being the cash crop...

So in summary, as a newbie tip: Grow different crops according to your situation.

Have you got a nice patch of fertile soul near your base? Probably should plant Strawberries there.
Are you in a harsh climate and growing food in hydroponics in your mountain caves? Strawberries will give you more bang for your buck.
Are you making massive fields of crops on marginal land that you get to when you get to? Plant Potatoes my son.
Are you in the very early game, worked to death and living from hand to mouth, eating as soon as you harvest? Blessed be the Berries!
Possibly: Are you planting to sell to traders? You might not even be able to sell Strawberries... but honestly, the more then double spoilage timer on Potatoes probably makes it safer to stockpile for traders, worth the slightly less market value, unless you're living in a frozen biome. Because you can't refrigerate a trade stockpile, and it's entire too much micromanagement to rush potatoes out of refrigeration to the beacon every time a trader rolls by. (EDIT: On further thought, if you made a dedicated food trade beacon, you could probably just add and remove no roof zones to give it refrigeration with a little work...)

Additionally you should always cook before eating if possible. Both Potatoes and Berries are worth 5 nutrition per unit. Even the simple meal, the lowest nutritionally is worth 85, or the equivalent of 17 raw foodstuff, for the price of 10. (Paste has nutrition 90, and you can research to only need 9 raw food per meal... but has a -8 mood debuff. Survival and Fine meals are both 90, and lavish is 100.)

Ignore Agave, for it is the heathen's food which shall not be planted! ...until they let us make Tequila out of it that is.

[Fruit loops]

Simple, always have more power than you need. and i don't mean battery's, no no no i mean extra power suppliers.


Simple enough