Toughest normal biome?

[evrett33]

I like to generate really cold deserts for the lack of wood and animals. Do you think desert is the hardest start?

[Snowpig]

desert is quite easy, since you still have enough cactuses and animals.
For a very hard challenge, get the ice sheet mod to unlock the ice biome and find a nice map with a cold spot.

[windruf]

haven't tried ice sheet but tundra in January is a nice challenge.
but after you get your food supply running - it becomes as easy as other biomes. or even easier, cos you don't need to undress your parkas and sieges don't last long.

[UrbanBourbon]

I've had my best game experience so far with the ice sheet mod. Temps reach -80C at coldest, and I started at winter. Excited and nervous at the same time. I didn't notice it at first but I had turned off my music since the last I played. Lack of music gave it extra mood. The howling of the cold winds is the only music a real man needs! Arr! Anyway, I got extremely lucky however and got FOUR geothermal vents quite close to each other. I quickly walled off one of them and started from there. Almost starved to death. Funny that in such an extreme frozen wasteland it's not the lack of heat that almost got me but the starvation, even if I had a decent researcher and started going for the hydroponics immediately. Even more ludicrously, my colonists had negative thoughts for 'sleeping in heat'. Geothermal vents pack a punch when it comes to heat production, and probably humidity, too, if we think outside the actual gameplay elements. Gotta wonder what's it like to sleep in a sauna...

The only occasion I faced an almost hopeless situation was when a ship part crashed on the other side of the map in the middle of winter. 4 out of my 7 colonists collapsed on the way back due to hypothermia but they got all rescued. In hindsight, it might've been wiser to lure the mechs closer to the colony rather than engage them near the ship part.

Ice sheet isn't "normal biome" yet but it's quite special. (Will it be officially included though?) The other biomes don't offer much real challenge. It's almost boring that way but modding could be the solution to that.

[milon]

I love the Ice Sheet too.  I would also love to see it enabled by default.