[Guide] 25 Best Rimworld Tips and Tricks

Updated:

16 Apr 2024

1. Build a Storage Room.

Your items will deteriorate if you leave them outside. Items like food, medicine, apparel, and weapons will deteriorate if you leave them exposed to the elements. You need these items to survive so you need to keep them safe under a roof.

Solution

Build a room with a roof. Your items will be safe inside. It’s that easy to get your game started on the right foot.

Pro tips

The only items you can safely leave outside are raw resources like silver, steel, and stone blocks.
Play around with the priority system of the stockpiles so you can organize your items better.
Wild animals will eat your food items if you leave them out in the open.

Step-by-step Guide

Build a room.
Create a stockpile.
Haul all items that will deteriorate inside.

2. Build Bedrooms.

Your colonists will need places to sleep especially on their first night. Keep in mind that colonists don’t like sharing a room. You also have to maintain the room’s temperature between 21° Celsius and 25° Celsius.

Solution

Build a room for each colonist. For the first night, a simple, undecorated room will suffice. You just need your colonists sleeping under a roof.

Pro tips

In the early game, you should build a campfire and a passive cooler per room.
Replace the campfire and passive cooler with a heater and cooler later on.
Decorate and clean your colonists’ rooms. Beautiful and tidy rooms will increase your colonist’s mood when they sleep in them.
Build one dresser and one end table for each bed. This adds to the level of comfort your colonists get when sleeping.
Get quality beds. Don’t settle for ‘normal’ quality down to ‘awful’, only keep beds that are ‘good’ quality to ‘legendary’. The better the quality, the higher the comfort.

Step-by-step Guide

Build bedrooms.
Build beds.
Build a campfire and a passive cooler. (Early on) / Build a heater and a cooler. (Later when you have electricity)
Decorate with carpets, fine tiles, and statues.
Have a designated cleaner if you can spare one.

3. Meat.

You have to process an animal before you can cook its meat. Your colonists will grow hungry so you have to hunt animals. Planting crops takes time and harvesting berries isn’t sustainable for the long term.

Solution

Build a butcher table. The butcher table allows you to process fresh animal corpses and turn them into chunks of meat. Only then can you cook the meat in your campfire or stove.

Pro tips

Create a small stockpile designated only for animal corpses near your butcher table. This makes it easier for your designated cook to process the meat.
Do not butcher too many animals in the early game until you have a walk-in refrigerator. The excess meat will rot and disappear if left unrefrigerated.
Some animals fight back when hunted so choose your prey carefully.
Store excess fresh animal corpses in your walk-in refrigerator (More on this later).

Step-by-step Guide

Hunt animals.
Build a butcher table.
Assign a cook.
Process the meat.

4. Refrigeration.

Oh no! You butchered too many animals in one sitting. Now, you have all this meat that will rot in the next three days.

Solution

Build a walk-in refrigerator. You need to build a big room with coolers to do this. You should store all food items, especially meat, in the refrigerator so they won’t rot.

Pro tips

Build the walk-in refrigerator close to your kitchen. This makes storing and transferring food items more efficient for your colonists.
The bigger the room, the more coolers it needs. Keep that in mind.
If the climate is too hot, build another door right behind the walk-in refrigerator’s entrance. This way, you lock the cold air inside while keeping the hot air outside much more effectively.
Make use of the stockpiles’ priority system to better manage your food items.

Step-by-step Guide

Build a big room near your kitchen.
Construct coolers. (Build 2 coolers for optimal refrigeration especially during the summer or when a heatwave strikes.)
Set cooler temperature to the lowest temperature possible.
Designate stockpiles in the refrigerator as ‘Important’ and then designate the stockpiles in your kitchen as ‘Critical’. This automates your colonists to have food ready to cook at all times.

5. ATE WITHOUT A TABLE!

That’s not good. You just let your colonist eat in the open and not on a table. This is considered a war crime in Rimworld so the game punishes you with the ‘ate without table’ debuff.

Solution

Build a table with a chair beside it. It doesn’t matter if the table is outside or inside. The important thing is that you don’t let your colonists eat without tables.

Pro tips

Build your main dining room near your kitchen and walk-in refrigerator. This allows your colonists easier access to their refrigerated meals.
Make your dining room big. Make sure your main dining room has extra space for decorations, and additional tables and chairs.
Decorate and clean your main dining room. A beautiful and tidy dining room will give a mood boost to colonists who eat inside of it.
Build tables and chairs on your colonists’ usual routes to their assigned jobs. Your colonists need lunch breaks too, you know. It’s okay if these tables and chairs aren’t under a roof.
Have a designated cleaner for your dining room if you can spare one.

Step-by-step Guide

Build a room.
Build tables and chairs inside the room.
Decorate the room with fine tiles and statues.

6. Farming.

Food supplies run out faster and faster as you add new members to your colony. You’re running out of animals to hunt and foraging for berries isn’t enough. Your pet dog is starting to look delicious.

Solution

Congratulations, you won’t have to eat your dog because your colonists know the ancient art of farming. Establish growing zones and plant different kinds of crops. This will feed your colony better in the long term.

Pro tips

Find and secure areas with ‘rich soil’; they will have a darker brown color than regular soil.
Avoid planting crops on stony soil. Crops grow significantly slower in stony soil.
Plant more than you need. Keep the long term in mind and plan for the future. It’s always good to have a surplus just in case a cold snap hits.
Plant rice for the short term as it is the fastest growing crop.
Plant corn for the long term as it is the highest-yielding crop but takes longer to grow.
Surround your crop fields with stone walls so enemies can’t burn them. (Make sure you remove the roof)

Step-by-step Guide

Establish growing zones, prioritizing rich soil.
Assign farmers.
Plant different crops.
Secure your fields by building stone walls around them.
Store your crops in your walk-in refrigerator.
Make sure you have a surplus of vegetables.

7. Clothes.

Your colonists’ clothes wear out over time. They wear out if they’re not stored properly, degrade naturally, or when your colonists take damage. When the clothes’ hit points go down to 50%, your colonists will suffer the ‘ratty apparel’ debuff which lowers their moods.

Solution

Get them new clothes. Your colonists can create new clothes using the tailor bench. Keep your colonists comfortable and stylish with the latest fashion.

Pro tips

Trading with traders and looting down enemies are other ways of attaining new clothes for your colonists.
Make sure that your colonists’ attires are appropriate for the current season and or climate they’re in. For example, you wouldn’t wear a parka in the middle of the desert or when it’s summer.
Use the appropriate textile for the appropriate clothes. For example, you might wanna use muffalo wool in creating parkas and jackets, and then camel hide for making cowboy hats.
Some textiles are thicker than others. The better the textile, the more protection they give against attacks. Keep this in mind.

Step-by-step Guide

Build a tailor bench.
Assign a tailor.
Create a stockpile for textiles only near your tailor bench.
Create new clothes.
Switch your damaged clothes with the new ones.

8. Tamed Animals.

You tamed some animals but have nowhere to put them. They will roam freely around the map like wild animals would. This leaves them vulnerable to raids and predators.

Solution

Build a fence. This allows your colonists to rope your tamed animals inside a designated area. This also makes managing your animals much easier.

Pro tips

Make sure your animals have enough grass to eat.
Plant hay.
If the grass inside the fenced area isn’t enough, then hay will be a good replacement.
Build a barn inside the fence for animals to sleep in.
Surround your fenced area with a stone wall so your animals are safe during raids.

Step-by-step Guide

Build your fence.
Assign an animal handler.
Let your animal handler rope in your animals.
Build a barn for your animals to sleep in.
Keep them fed.

9. Recreation.

Your colonists’ moods are low due to lack of recreation. This makes them vulnerable to mental breakdowns. They need breaks too. (They are people after all)

Solution

Build a recreation room and make sure they are scheduled for recreation in the assignments tab. This allows your colonists to have fun. This improves their moods so they won’t suffer those dreaded breakdowns.

Pro tips

Decorate your recreation room. A well decorated rec room adds a bonus buff that improves your colonists’ moods even more.
Allow your colonists 6-hour schedules for recreational activities.

Step-by-step Guide

Build a recreation room.
Assign recreation time for your colonists.
Decorate your recreation room.

10. Basic Research.

Your colony lacks technology. You need to unlock better technology to improve your colony’s combat capabilities and quality of life. You won’t get to create that spaceship if you ignore this.

Solution

Create a research room/laboratory. This allows your colonists to research those technologies you don’t know yet. The more you research, the better your colony grows.

Pro tips

Build sterile floors in your research room. Cleaner research rooms mean faster research.
You can have more than one researcher and research room.

Step-by-step Guide

Build a research room.
Assign a researcher.
Choose a technology to unlock.

11. Raids.

You’re under attack! You must defend your base and keep your colonists alive. Fight like their lives depend on it.

Solution

Build your death maze. Home advantage is a thing in Rimworld. Make it harder for your enemies to kill you and make it easier for your colonists to stay alive.

Pro tips

Make sure your base isn’t completely sealed behind walls. If you completely wall up your base, there is a high chance that your enemies will send sappers to break down those walls.
Leave one entrance open for your Death Maze.
Create your Death Maze, then plant as many traps as you can fit in it.

Step-by-step Guide

Build a maze.
Build traps in the maze.
Let your enemies come to you.

12. Prisoners.

You’ve incapacitated an enemy. They beg you not to let them die. Do you leave them for dead?

Solution

Build a prison cell. Capture the enemy raider. Treat their wounds and injuries.

Pro tips

Keep your prison cells away from your armories and weapon stashes. When prisoners escape, they will always attempt to arm themselves first before fighting their way out.
Strip your prisoners of their armor. This makes it easier to incapacitate them again when they try to break out.
Injure your prisoners every now and then so they can be easier to incapacitate when they try to escape.
Only take in prisoners with useful traits and high skill levels.

Step-by-step Guide

Build a prison cell.
Build a bed.
Designate the bed for prisoners.
Arrest prisoner.

13. Injured Colonists.

Your colonist is injured from the raid. He’s bleeding; he’ll bleed to death eventually. If he’s just badly injured but not bleeding, he’ll be inefficient with his assigned job.

Solution

Build a hospital. Hospitals are designated rooms for injured colonists. Keep them clean to avoid infection.

Pro tips

Keep your hospitals clean. Clean hospitals lessen the chance of infection.
Preferably use sterile tiles for your hospital floor.
Create a stockpile in the hospital and designate it only for medicine. This lets you tend to emergencies much more quickly.

Step-by-step Guide

Build a hospital.
Assign a doctor.
Send your injured colonists to your hospital.
Apply medicine. (You can still tend to injuries and wounds without medicine tho)

14. Corpse Disposal.

Dead enemies mean bad business. Colonists who see human corpses get a debuff that lowers their moods. Rotting human corpses give your colonists an even worse debuff that lowers their moods even more.

Solution

Get rid of the corpses. Burying them won’t be sustainable in the long term. Do something to dispose of them permanently.

Pro tips

Use your strongest-willed colonist to handle the dead. They will be less likely to suffer a mental breakdown.
Create a room made of stone walls. Stockpile corpses inside. Throw a molotov then lock the door. The fire will do the rest.

Step-by-step Guide

Build a crematorium.
Create a stockpile designated only for human corpses.
Burn the dead.

15. Fire.

If your structures are made out of wood, then fire is your worst enemy.. Wildfires, lightning strikes, and enemy raiders will be the bane of your wooden structure

Solution

Use stone blocks instead of wood. Stone buildings aren’t flammable. A wildfire may be raging outside but your colonists will be safe inside.

Pro tips

Granite is the strongest stone in the game. They have the highest points so they make for great defensive walls.
Create a stockpile and designate it only for stone chunks. This makes it easier for your stonecutter.

Step-by-step Guide

Build a stonecutter’s table.
Designate a stonecutter to create stone blocks.
Deconstruct your wooden walls then replace them with stone.

16. From Enemes to Friends.

More and more raiders show up to your colony. Your colonists are working two or more jobs and they’re not even passionate about them. You’ll need more people to defend and develop your colony soon.

Solution

Recruit your prisoners. Your former enemies are your newest friends. Don’t worry, they won’t stab you in the back later on.

Pro tips

You can get new colonists from quests too!
You can also purchase new colonists from traders.

Step-by-step Guide

Assign a warden.
Task your warden to recruit your prisoners over time.

17. Weapons and Armor.

You will need better weapons and armor soon. Your enemies will attack with better weapons and armor as well. You must be prepared.

Solution

Build a smithy and a machining table. They allow your colonists to create better armor and weapons. Your colonists deserve only the best so they can protect the colony.

Pro tips

Add a minimum of 2 tool boxes near your smithy and machining table. Tool boxes allow your colonists to forge a little bit faster.
Build your smithy and machining table room near your stockpile of resources. This makes forging more efficient.

Step-by-step Guide

Build a smithy.
Build a machining table.
Assign two smiths.
Forge new weapons and armor.

18. Kill Box.

There are too many enemies. Your death maze isn’t enough to stop all of them. They’re getting inside of your base.

Solution

Build more defenses. Build a kill zone/box at the end of your maze. Make use of sandbags and turrets.

Pro tips

Build firefoam poppers beside your turrets. These will extinguish any fires that can damage your turrets.
Don’t just rely on your turrets! Get those colonists in the fight behind those sandbags.

Step-by-step Guide

Establish a perimeter using sandbags.
Build turrets.
Defend

19. Low Power.

Your turrets are down. You don’t have enough electricity. That single wood-fired generator just isn’t cutting it.

Solution

Find alternative power sources. Burning wood for fuel isn’t sustainable in the long term. Harness the elements to get the electricity you need to operate in your base.

Pro tips

Construct walls around your geothermal vents, solar panels, and windmills to protect them from raiders.
Create 2 power lines that connect to your main just in case one gets destroyed.
You can also turn off facilities that you’re not using to save electricity.

Step-by-step Guide

Research alternative sources of power.
Build geothermal vents, windmills, and solar panels.
Connect these alternative sources to your main powerline.

20. TOO MUCH POWER!

You have a surplus of energy. It’s all going to waste. You have to find some way to store it all.

Solution

Build batteries. Batteries store all your excess electricity. The more you have, the more prepared you’ll be just in case the power goes out.

Pro tips

Build batteries inside a room with stone walls. This keeps them safe from fires and raiders.
Build small groups of batteries in different rooms. This ensures that you’ll have more than one source of backup power.

Step-by-step Guide

Build a room for your batteries.
Build batteries.
Connect them to your main powerline.
Store power.

21. Advanced Research.

You need to research even more advanced technology. It won’t be long before your enemy outguns and outmatches you with better tech.

Solution

Build a hi-tech research bench. This allows you to finally research advanced technology in your tech tree. Building that spaceship won’t be that long now.

Pro tips

Like with the simple research bench, build a room with sterile tiles for the hi-tech research bench.
You can have more than one researcher and research room.

Step-by-step Guide

Build a room for your hi-tech research bench.
Build sterile floors.
Deconstruct your simple research bench so your researcher will use the new one.

22. Hi-tech Weaponry.

You’ll need even better weapons and armor to proceed into the late game. Revolvers, swords, and plate armor will only get you so far. It’s time to make the best weapons and armor in the game.

Solution

Build a fabrication bench. This is a smithy and machining table rolled into one. Forge the best weapons and armor.

Pro tips

Build tool boxes near your fabrication bench. Tool boxes increase work speed.
Build your fabrication room near your stockpile or vice versa. This makes your colonists more efficient.

Step-by-step Guide