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RimWorld: A sci fi colony SIM driven by an intelligent AI storyteller

231 points by singingwolfboy 4y ago

smoldesu 4y ago
Heavily recommended to any management-sim fans. It takes the best mechanics from games like The Sims, Factorio and Dwarf Fortress without watering them down or limiting the modding community. The price is on the steep side, but the developer is great and works with the community plus releases native builds for Mac, Linux and Windows.
- kortex 4y ago
  My partner and I have our own copies of base game and both expansions. Worth every penny. We've both sunk uncountable hours (actually we started way back in alpha 15 with a pirated copy so steam hours doesn't mean much) and done many campaigns with many mod loadouts. Yet to actually "beat" the game (it's not really the kind you "beat" though, it's very sandboxy). So entertainment/$ is astronomical.
  - smoldesu 4y ago
    My big problem is starting a base, playing it for 10-20 hours, and then feeling guilty for trying to push my luck any further. It's very easy to end up in situations that seem too cruel to continue.
    - Aeolun 4y ago
      How so? I guess my base has only ever become better over time.
    - elcomet 4y ago
      For me it's more like playing it for a few hours, then thinking why I am waisting my time improving a virtual base instead of improving my life or my skills
chanandler_bong 4y ago
Rimworld is great. Almost 2,000 hours in and I am still learning and evolving my gameplay. Some people play hardcore/survival mode with hundreds of combat-related mods, others play it as a version of Stardew Valley. It is totally up to you how you want your game to be.
KaoruAoiShiho 4y ago
I found this storyteller thing incredibly difficult to understand when first i heard about this game. But it turns out it's basically just a difficulty level and isn't interesting at all.
- scotty79 4y ago
  Not really ... it's more of an event scheduler that gives you challenges and positive events and some padding in between so you can recover after negative events.
  - andrewxdiamond 4y ago
    They also have different scales for what types of events come when. For example, Casandra Classic aims for you to have 5 colonists. If you have less, you’ll get more opportunities to recruit. If you have more, raids get more violent and your colonists die easier. The story teller is a very advanced and configurable difficulty scaling system that enables different styles of play. Mods even add in new story tellers to change the game focus entirely.
    - KaoruAoiShiho 4y ago
      That's literally just scaling easy mode. But I recognize that not calling it that may have some good value in terms of player appreciation.
      - andrewxdiamond 4y ago
        But the difficulty is separate from these characteristics. Cassandra always tries to push you to 5 colonists. The events she chooses are separate from the difficulties or quality of the events.
        scotty79 4y ago
        Are you sure it's always 5? On my playthrough I had no trouble growing to around 10. Didn't feel to be specifically limited to 5.
iamthirsty 4y ago
This game has been out for ever. If it hasn't been posted on here many times before I'd be shocked.
- OnionBlender 4y ago
  I get the impression OP saw the Dwarf Fortress post 30 minutes earlier and thought, "me too".
- kllrnohj 4y ago
  The Biotech expansion only recently came out I guess if you want to be charitable. But this doesn't mention that, either, it just links the homepage...
focusgroup0 4y ago
One of the deepest, most replayable strategy and sim games. So many subsystems that mesh together for unique emergent behavior.
- enraged_camel 4y ago
  I like it but I never got around to adopting the mindset of “your colonists are disposable, just roll with it if (when) something terrible happens to them.” I think my issue is I treat these types of games (X-COM is another example) as RPGs and get too attached to the characters.
  - ravi-delia 4y ago
    That's what makes Rimworld great! It's honestly not challenging at all if you are willing to be the right amount of sociopathic. But actually being nice to the little guys makes it more interesting- obviously harder too, but that's where the magic comes from.
  - kortex 4y ago
    You don't have to play with that mindset, though "attachment leads to suffering" is a valuable mantra for this game. I play fairly risk-averse and I'm willing to save-scum to avoid the death or even grievous injury of a favorite pawn (pets not cattle, if you will). There's really no wrong way to play. That style works particularly well with the nobility expansion.
  - vbezhenar 4y ago
    That's my issue as well. I spend enormous time playing something like single colonist on the north pole. It never ends well. Sometimes some stupid bear one-shots me through all defenses, sometimes raiders are getting stronger and stronger until they just overcome me and my pack of huskies. It was a time spent well, but I don't play anymore because I like something like WoW when you can't really lose forever. That's not the case with rimworld (unless you're restoring old saves which I don't like) and it's even designed to kill from what I understand. For example I'll spend lot of time building my perfect castle. Not necessarily with defenses but with art and stuff like that. That pushes cost of my colony higher and causes stronger raiders. Playing on peaceful is not interesting either.
karaterobot 4y ago
Dwarf Fortress and Rimworld are currently on the front page. I don't know why, but I like it.
- ketzo 4y ago
  Lotta games talk today if you include the Diplomacy bot. Guess everyone’s on break this week :D
- nostromo 4y ago
  It's a long weekend in the US -- and a time when a lot of folks buy games on Steam or other platforms.
- blueboo 4y ago
  Let’s get Cogmind and Caves of Qud up here too
  - johnsillings 4y ago
    Caves of Qud is GOATed
    - lelandfe 4y ago
      As someone who has played loads of roguey games (ADOM, ToME, CDDA, etc), I found Qud to be pretty miserable. I just don’t think it is possible to play it without watching or reading long tutorials from other people. In my opinion that is AKA a poorly-made game.
      - Natsu 4y ago
        Yeah, I'm a big roguelike fan, too, but Qud just click work for me. I say that as someone who has ascended multiple times on Nethack, gotten deep endgame in ADOM, etc. I got really bored with Qud and never went back.
  - udkl 4y ago
    Other similar Indie games : Clanfolk & Necesse Necesse is more similar to Terraria, but it's the game I'm enjoying most right now.
drexlspivey 4y ago
The graphics seem almost identical to Prison Architect so I assumed it's the same company but no. What's the story here?
- Kinrany 4y ago
  Tynan explained somewhere that this is due to design constraints. There aren't many ways to draw top-down, small and light on detail but clearly visible humanoids.
- debesyla 4y ago
  It's just a coincidence, lack of creativity, and it was an inspiration, as said by the Rimworld author himself (Tynan) at https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=23.msg49#msg49 https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=23.msg49#msg49
- MrFoof 4y ago
  The reality is the simple graphics is what allows you to keep things very easily distinguishable as you zoom out to a great distance. Additionally, they required less time to create. Last, the other point of keeping things as relatively abstracted icons is that it forces players to tell the story in their mind and create emotion from there, where the player fills in the blanks themselves.
- yreg 4y ago
  >I drew some inspiration from Prison Architect. Moreso from its own inspiration, Dwarf Fortress. >We don't share any tools. Chris at IV has his own tech foundation; I built this one on Unity. >But they do look somewhat similar; that's my fault. I'm not a good enough artist to come up with a really good original look. There are only so many ways to render characters on a tiny grid without using animations. >I hope the differences between the game will be enough for people to look past the aesthetic similarities. And if I get some funding at some point I can get an artist to help develop a more unique look. >I do think the similarities are skin-deep. In gameplay the game resembles DF much more than PA. – Tynan, creator of Rimworld
Kiro 4y ago
Another generic post about an extremely well-known colony simulator, with a title downplaying the significance. Both RimWorld and Dwarf Fortress are genre-defining cultural phenomenons. It's like posting Linux and making it sound like something unknown. What's going on?
- debesyla 4y ago
  The submission guidelines suggest to use original titles (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html).
p1necone 4y ago
Rimworld is fantastic, but I never manage to play it for more than a few hours without getting a strong urge to stop and play Dwarf Fortress instead.
- skrowl 4y ago
  I like to spend 5 hours downloading and updating mods, then play for 2 hours
  - mod 4y ago
    I still play vanilla. I've never beaten it.
    - kllrnohj 4y ago
      I've seen I think a single one of the RimWorld endings and honestly "beating the game" is so not interesting to me at this point after hundreds of hours played. Starting up new colonies and getting established to the point of "yeah I can handle all the raids thrown at me at this point" is when I move on to start a new colony with a new religion/race/theme. Actually going from "solidly established colony" to "you win!" credits is I think the weakest part of RimWorld, although I haven't tried being a nomad yet which has what sounds like a way more interesting path all the way through to the victory screen.
      - mod 4y ago
        What's a nomad? You caravan around and settle new tiles? I vaguely know that's possible, but I don't venture out a lot honestly.
        deathanatos 4y ago
        I wonder if they meant a tribal start. They're a bit tougher to play.
        4y ago
cube2222 4y ago
RimWorld is excellent! The only problem I have with this kind of game though is that time flies by really quickly for me with it. I think it's been 10 minutes while it's actually been an hour; next time I look at the clock it's 3am. I only have this with games like RimWorld or SimCity (city builders, simulators) and it's actually the main reason why I play them so little. They're too "just one more thing". So yeah, recommended but with a caveat.
- hallux 4y ago
  Agreed. I don't play RimWorld that often anymore (though that's about to change again as I'm about to get the new Biotech DLC), but when I do, I go out of my way to clear my whole weekend of any obligations just so I can immerse myself in the game for a couple of days.
- cm2187 4y ago
  Time flies when you spend the night rimming.
  - Yahivin 4y ago
    We had a great Halloween stay pegged everyone.
- TobTobXX 4y ago
  There's a setting to show a real-world clock on the right side. Just goes to show that it's something common.
- Aeolun 4y ago
  I think my bigger problem with that is that it always feels like you’ve barely accomplished anything in 3 hours. My first playthrough is at 50 hours, and I still haven’t finished.
- cardy31 4y ago
  I have the same problem. I play it a lot less than some other games simply because it is so addictive. My pitch to people is “if you ever wanted to play a game where your colony’s economy can be built around farming illegal drugs and turning prisoners into hats, then this is the game for you!”
hristov 4y ago
Rimword -- if Dwarf fortress is a little too complicated for you.
- andrewxdiamond 4y ago
  “Impersonal” would be a more accurate term. Rimworld tries to get you emotionally attached to colonies in a way that Drawf Fortress does not.
  - OkayPhysicist 4y ago
    I think the key difference to me (as someone who enjoys both) is that Rimworld is more interesting from a moment to moment standpoint, the sheer depth of simulation in Dwarf Fortress produces far more memorable events. Put another way, I don't remember any specific events in Rimworld, but I'm more than happy to tell you about the dwarf who pathologically elected to engrave the walls of the fortress exclusively with depictions of a particularly delicious piece of cheese he ate.
    - outworlder 4y ago
      I have read about a dwarf that engraved pictures of rats (and just rats) on a particular room. Turns out he disliked the noble the bedroom belonged to, and that noble was afraid of rats.
SeanAnderson 4y ago
This game inspired me to get into simulation video game development as a hobby! :) Easily one of my favorite games of all time. Do not let the graphics and dense UI turn you off. It's worth the effort.
oneshot-a4yukdk 4y ago
Greedy bustards hiked price in regional currencies (28% in my case) right before I decided to buy a dlc! Even Factorio (legendary for no sale policy) haven't hiked yet. Great game btw. [0] https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/294100/view/3422199945667315104 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/294100/view/34221999...
atum47 4y ago
I used to watch a YouTuber doing a video series on RimWorld, he was able to "tell" a really good story that was happening in his world [1]. I want to someday start playing it, right now I'm not because: I rather play on the console laying on the couch, I'm working to much to invest in the game. It seems to have a step learning curve. 1 - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_lgEqY9K6UXUVco5XysDNAeUnCqSFcqS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_lgEqY9K6UXUVco5XysDNAeU...
- kortex 4y ago
  Ah, Cambiar the Cannibal! 10/10 would absolutely recommend this playthrough series, especially as chill/background audio. Super enjoyable and you don't have to be 100% tuned in to keep up. I often have this on while doing chores.
  - PebblesRox 4y ago
    Wow, I just listened to a few episodes while baking. This Cambiar is surviving in the Arctic wasteland by eating the corpses of all the misfortunate humans that keep wandering into the area. (He doesn't even have to actively kill most of them; the exposure is typically enough to do them in.) He's preserving their bodies by keeping them stockpiled outside in the below-zero weather and every time he eats an (uncooked, presumably still frozen solid) meal, he gets a boost to his mood! Because he has the cannibal trait so it gives him a happy thought! In retrospect, maybe not the best show to listen to while baking pies! :)
- ninth_ant 4y ago
  The learning curve is not as steep as you might think from watching youtubers. The game adapts to how well you're doing, so as they advance quickly because of their experience their challenges will escalate in difficulty as well. As a newcomer you'll advance slower so won't face as many obstacles as soon as you've seen them happen. I mean, you'll still lose your first colony. And the next 10 after that. But each time you learn a bit more.
- andrewxdiamond 4y ago
  PeteComplete does a great job of adding narrative depth to his play throughs. Here’s a run exploring the games Ideology DLC playing as a tribal village. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_lgEqY9K6UVooXatQRca5Rw-5meQhDHx https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_lgEqY9K6UVooXatQRca5Rw-...
PointyFluff 4y ago
A single threaded heap of hot garbage-collection.
- r2vcap 4y ago
  And this is one of those successful PC games made with the Unity engine.
- outworlder 4y ago
  Except for the garbage-collection, single threaded code is extremely common across all "simulation" games. Too many interdependencies makes it difficult to parallelize. Dwarf Fortress was looking into offload fluid computation to other cores, not sure if it was done.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 4y ago
    I personally have not had a lot of performance issues with the base RimWorld game after a patch that was released targeting performance a year or two ago. Much more often it’s a poorly optimized mod that causes issues. I don’t often play very far into the insane late endgame though (200+ colonists/raiders on the map at once etc). I could easily see it being a problem at that point.
flatiron 4y ago
I was hoping it was on sale! Today is the first day of the autumn steam sale. I bought enough to wait until the next one.
cwkoss 4y ago
If you like RimWorld, I recommend checking out Stardeus. The feel is very similar to Rimworld, but the setting is that you're a spaceship's AI system, and you have a bunch of humans in stasis. The goal is to find a habitable planet for them to colonize. Was released last month and is still in Early Access, but it's definitely in a playable state. The asteroid fields are brutal, build your ship like an onion with thick walls ;-)
- WrtCdEvrydy 4y ago
  Damn it... here we go again! /me downloads Stardeus.
- Rzor 4y ago
  I can finally larp as a Culture Mind!
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- candiddevmike 4y ago
  Here I was thinking I never heard of this game and it's already on my wishlist.
  - davidpfarrell 4y ago
    LOL Same ! "Oh its on my WL already, sweet"
- Kaibeezy 4y ago
  Now with more post-singularity cosmic enlightenment?
- JokerDan 4y ago
  As an aside, the developer of Stardeus streams themselves making the game almost (if not) every day. https://www.twitch.tv/dev_spajus https://www.twitch.tv/dev_spajus
pdntspa 4y ago
I love Rimworld but this game's idea of "fun" is perpetually moody colonists doing stupid shit the moment one of their myriad needs aren't met. They have no chill, and no decorum, and YOU the player get to clean up their messes. In this universe, the role of God -- you -- is to be their magical space nanny, master planner, and babysitter. That and the difficulty curve skyrockets the moment mechanoids or the bugs show up, and they always show up way. Too. Early. (At least now I can easily turn them off without having to make my own scenario) I love this game but it is a frustration generator, not a story generator. And the way the creator gets about "storytelling" reminds me of how certain Hollywood directors simply can't shut up about the supposed "magic" of entertainment. Blegh. edit- I also have a bone to pick with the way the creator ruthlessly works to eliminate anything that makes the game easier... whether its sappers that magically know exactly where to dig tunnels to get around your killbox, or artillery being gimped because it was a way to punch up a few classes with regards to some of scenarios, or turrets now ignoring prisoners/slaves turned hostile. It feels like the game that the creator wants and the game I want are dramatically different, and continuing to diverge.
- jstarfish 4y ago
  > I love Rimworld but this game's idea of "fun" is perpetually moody colonists doing stupid shit the moment one of their myriad needs aren't met. They have no chill, and no decorum, and YOU the player get to clean up their messes. I've seen "Parenting Simulator" touted as an alternate title.
- 29athrowaway 4y ago
  Depends on the storyteller. There's one that generates favorable events, another one that generates problems, another one that's random, another one that increases difficulty over time.
  - pdntspa 4y ago
    Usually I do Pheobe Chillax, but sometimes I will switch it up with the default storyteller if Phoebe isn't throwing anything interesting my way. But, with her, when it rains it pours, and the story arc of "coming back from the brink of annihilation" gets tiresome.
robohydrate 4y ago
I didn't particulary find RimWorld to be very fun, but I did end up enjoying Oxygen Not Included, which is a side-scrolling 2d colony management sim that's a bit less serious and way more quirky.
- poulpy123 4y ago
  I just bought oxygen not included few days ago and I'm enjoying it a lot. I like the silly aspect of it
- MaxikCZ 4y ago
  All these games are fun until I hit something akin "make sure your colonists cant take a route from toilet thats not trough lavratory, otherwise they wont clean up their hands if they happen to choose that route". For gods sake if they clean hands 100% of times when passing lavratory, making them 100% of times go to lavratory after toilet should be an option too.. Its just feels like instead of playing the game I must combat it.
  - outworlder 4y ago
    The lavatory thing is easy to workaround, at least. One entrance, and as many sinks as you have toilets. You can have a large bathroom, rooms with a bathroom attached, etc. As long as there's one way out and the sinks are there. Much more annoying are the suits (and now, gas masks). If you are not careful with settings they will drop them elsewhere, or will enter the perfectly breathable base with suits still on.
- spiffytech 4y ago
  I found Oxygen Not Included engrossing, but I had to cut myself off when I realized I kept spending each evening in the same mental state as when I firefight production outages.
YesBox 4y ago
If you're interested in playing a new game in this genre, I've been developing a city builder game over the last year, heavily inspired by Dwarf Fortress, Rim World, Cities: Skylines, Sim City, etc. My game will have more granular demand (not just vague "you need more commercial zones"). The player will see the interior of buildings and will be able to watch their sims live their lives. Im working on getting version 0.2 release by Q1 2023. The game is isometric now! Working on releasing a new vlog to show it off. I developed a new path finding algorithm to build big cities. Here's an old version of the game path finding 1,000,000 units to their own unique destinations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0HCnQqF5K4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0HCnQqF5K4 Subreddit: https://reddit.com/r/Archapolis https://reddit.com/r/Archapolis
shin_lao 4y ago
Rimworld is one of my favorite games ever. Wanna lead a team of misogynistic cannibals? You can. Wanna be a mad scientist that extracts the brain of his prisoners to create deadly robots? You can. Wanna build a village of drug-friendly pacifists? You can. What's fantastic about this game is how many things are optional. You don't have to care about climbing the ladder of the empire if you don't want to. You don't need to build the space ship. You don't need to go to war with your neighbors. Two big "flaws". The AI can sometimes throw at you problems that are too hard, like enemies to strong as it not always estimate correctly your strength, which brings me to the biggest flaw of the game: combat. Your characters can literally throw themselves into enemy fire and need a lot of micromanagement for combat. Worse, the combat model is such that a guy in a power armor can be defeated by tribesmen with bows and arrows, that's because projectiles and armor isn't really simulated entirely. An extension called "combat extended" attempts to remedy this, but I find it has its own problems. That's me being pedantic, the game is incredible, go for if the idea of building your own base and story is attractive to you.
Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
Also known as "War Crime Simulator" In that game, if I get raided, then I try to capture as many as possible. If they have crappy skills, I'll just harvest their organs and turn their skin into leather to make sand bags. If they have good skills, I'll feed them the leftover human meat from the organ harvesting until I eventually convince them to join my cause.
jacksonkmarley 4y ago
I got this on steam, started with the tutorial, and after a few minutes couldn't imagine getting any enjoyment out of playing this. What am I missing? The level of micro-management seems so high, and simple actions seem to require clicking through like 4 sub menus.
- marak830 4y ago
  For me the fun is getting a colony to a self sustaining state where I don't have to micro manage it. Then grabbing two colonists and go off exploring, trading etc.
  - jacksonkmarley 4y ago
    The micro-management goes away somehow as the game goes on? I should cancel the refund claim LOL?
    - procinct 4y ago
      I would say in general you’re able to automate most things using the ticket system for production and work priorities. Unless you’re really trying to min/max, you don’t really need to micromanage. Military action is generally very manual though (for your pawns anyway, you can automate smaller military problems with turrets).
    - marak830 4y ago
      It does, and once you get useto how priorities work even on a new game I rarely need to override a pawn.
SergeAx 4y ago
I bought RimWorld year ago, but looking on its' silly graphics and cannot make myself to download and start to play it. I have no problem with ONI, because its'silliness is a part of gameplay. I am really glad that Factorio received a graphics boost before 1.0 release.

Heavily recommended to any management-sim fans. It takes the best mechanics from games like The Sims, Factorio and Dwarf Fortress without watering them down or limiting the modding community. The price is on the steep side, but the developer is great and works with the community plus releases native builds for Mac, Linux and Windows.

kortex 4y ago
My partner and I have our own copies of base game and both expansions. Worth every penny. We've both sunk uncountable hours (actually we started way back in alpha 15 with a pirated copy so steam hours doesn't mean much) and done many campaigns with many mod loadouts. Yet to actually "beat" the game (it's not really the kind you "beat" though, it's very sandboxy). So entertainment/$ is astronomical.
- smoldesu 4y ago
  My big problem is starting a base, playing it for 10-20 hours, and then feeling guilty for trying to push my luck any further. It's very easy to end up in situations that seem too cruel to continue.
  - Aeolun 4y ago
    How so? I guess my base has only ever become better over time.
  - elcomet 4y ago
    For me it's more like playing it for a few hours, then thinking why I am waisting my time improving a virtual base instead of improving my life or my skills

chanandler_bong 4y ago

Rimworld is great. Almost 2,000 hours in and I am still learning and evolving my gameplay. Some people play hardcore/survival mode with hundreds of combat-related mods, others play it as a version of Stardew Valley. It is totally up to you how you want your game to be.

KaoruAoiShiho 4y ago

I found this storyteller thing incredibly difficult to understand when first i heard about this game. But it turns out it's basically just a difficulty level and isn't interesting at all.

scotty79 4y ago
Not really ... it's more of an event scheduler that gives you challenges and positive events and some padding in between so you can recover after negative events.
- andrewxdiamond 4y ago
  They also have different scales for what types of events come when. For example, Casandra Classic aims for you to have 5 colonists. If you have less, you’ll get more opportunities to recruit. If you have more, raids get more violent and your colonists die easier. The story teller is a very advanced and configurable difficulty scaling system that enables different styles of play. Mods even add in new story tellers to change the game focus entirely.
  - KaoruAoiShiho 4y ago
    That's literally just scaling easy mode. But I recognize that not calling it that may have some good value in terms of player appreciation.
    - andrewxdiamond 4y ago
      But the difficulty is separate from these characteristics. Cassandra always tries to push you to 5 colonists. The events she chooses are separate from the difficulties or quality of the events.
      - scotty79 4y ago
        Are you sure it's always 5? On my playthrough I had no trouble growing to around 10. Didn't feel to be specifically limited to 5.

iamthirsty 4y ago

This game has been out for ever. If it hasn't been posted on here many times before I'd be shocked.

OnionBlender 4y ago
I get the impression OP saw the Dwarf Fortress post 30 minutes earlier and thought, "me too".
kllrnohj 4y ago
The Biotech expansion only recently came out I guess if you want to be charitable. But this doesn't mention that, either, it just links the homepage...

focusgroup0 4y ago

One of the deepest, most replayable strategy and sim games. So many subsystems that mesh together for unique emergent behavior.

enraged_camel 4y ago
I like it but I never got around to adopting the mindset of “your colonists are disposable, just roll with it if (when) something terrible happens to them.” I think my issue is I treat these types of games (X-COM is another example) as RPGs and get too attached to the characters.
- ravi-delia 4y ago
  That's what makes Rimworld great! It's honestly not challenging at all if you are willing to be the right amount of sociopathic. But actually being nice to the little guys makes it more interesting- obviously harder too, but that's where the magic comes from.
- kortex 4y ago
  You don't have to play with that mindset, though "attachment leads to suffering" is a valuable mantra for this game. I play fairly risk-averse and I'm willing to save-scum to avoid the death or even grievous injury of a favorite pawn (pets not cattle, if you will). There's really no wrong way to play. That style works particularly well with the nobility expansion.
- vbezhenar 4y ago
  That's my issue as well. I spend enormous time playing something like single colonist on the north pole. It never ends well. Sometimes some stupid bear one-shots me through all defenses, sometimes raiders are getting stronger and stronger until they just overcome me and my pack of huskies. It was a time spent well, but I don't play anymore because I like something like WoW when you can't really lose forever. That's not the case with rimworld (unless you're restoring old saves which I don't like) and it's even designed to kill from what I understand. For example I'll spend lot of time building my perfect castle. Not necessarily with defenses but with art and stuff like that. That pushes cost of my colony higher and causes stronger raiders. Playing on peaceful is not interesting either.

karaterobot 4y ago

Dwarf Fortress and Rimworld are currently on the front page. I don't know why, but I like it.

ketzo 4y ago
Lotta games talk today if you include the Diplomacy bot. Guess everyone’s on break this week :D
nostromo 4y ago
It's a long weekend in the US -- and a time when a lot of folks buy games on Steam or other platforms.
blueboo 4y ago
Let’s get Cogmind and Caves of Qud up here too
- johnsillings 4y ago
  Caves of Qud is GOATed
  - lelandfe 4y ago
    As someone who has played loads of roguey games (ADOM, ToME, CDDA, etc), I found Qud to be pretty miserable. I just don’t think it is possible to play it without watching or reading long tutorials from other people. In my opinion that is AKA a poorly-made game.
    - Natsu 4y ago
      Yeah, I'm a big roguelike fan, too, but Qud just click work for me. I say that as someone who has ascended multiple times on Nethack, gotten deep endgame in ADOM, etc. I got really bored with Qud and never went back.
- udkl 4y ago
  Other similar Indie games : Clanfolk & Necesse Necesse is more similar to Terraria, but it's the game I'm enjoying most right now.

drexlspivey 4y ago

The graphics seem almost identical to Prison Architect so I assumed it's the same company but no. What's the story here?

Kinrany 4y ago
Tynan explained somewhere that this is due to design constraints. There aren't many ways to draw top-down, small and light on detail but clearly visible humanoids.
debesyla 4y ago
It's just a coincidence, lack of creativity, and it was an inspiration, as said by the Rimworld author himself (Tynan) at https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=23.msg49#msg49 https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=23.msg49#msg49
MrFoof 4y ago
The reality is the simple graphics is what allows you to keep things very easily distinguishable as you zoom out to a great distance. Additionally, they required less time to create. Last, the other point of keeping things as relatively abstracted icons is that it forces players to tell the story in their mind and create emotion from there, where the player fills in the blanks themselves.
yreg 4y ago
>I drew some inspiration from Prison Architect. Moreso from its own inspiration, Dwarf Fortress. >We don't share any tools. Chris at IV has his own tech foundation; I built this one on Unity. >But they do look somewhat similar; that's my fault. I'm not a good enough artist to come up with a really good original look. There are only so many ways to render characters on a tiny grid without using animations. >I hope the differences between the game will be enough for people to look past the aesthetic similarities. And if I get some funding at some point I can get an artist to help develop a more unique look. >I do think the similarities are skin-deep. In gameplay the game resembles DF much more than PA. – Tynan, creator of Rimworld

Kiro 4y ago

Another generic post about an extremely well-known colony simulator, with a title downplaying the significance. Both RimWorld and Dwarf Fortress are genre-defining cultural phenomenons. It's like posting Linux and making it sound like something unknown. What's going on?

debesyla 4y ago
The submission guidelines suggest to use original titles (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html).

p1necone 4y ago

Rimworld is fantastic, but I never manage to play it for more than a few hours without getting a strong urge to stop and play Dwarf Fortress instead.

skrowl 4y ago
I like to spend 5 hours downloading and updating mods, then play for 2 hours
- mod 4y ago
  I still play vanilla. I've never beaten it.
  - kllrnohj 4y ago
    I've seen I think a single one of the RimWorld endings and honestly "beating the game" is so not interesting to me at this point after hundreds of hours played. Starting up new colonies and getting established to the point of "yeah I can handle all the raids thrown at me at this point" is when I move on to start a new colony with a new religion/race/theme. Actually going from "solidly established colony" to "you win!" credits is I think the weakest part of RimWorld, although I haven't tried being a nomad yet which has what sounds like a way more interesting path all the way through to the victory screen.
    - mod 4y ago
      What's a nomad? You caravan around and settle new tiles? I vaguely know that's possible, but I don't venture out a lot honestly.
      - deathanatos 4y ago
        I wonder if they meant a tribal start. They're a bit tougher to play.
        4y ago

cube2222 4y ago

RimWorld is excellent! The only problem I have with this kind of game though is that time flies by really quickly for me with it. I think it's been 10 minutes while it's actually been an hour; next time I look at the clock it's 3am. I only have this with games like RimWorld or SimCity (city builders, simulators) and it's actually the main reason why I play them so little. They're too "just one more thing". So yeah, recommended but with a caveat.

hallux 4y ago
Agreed. I don't play RimWorld that often anymore (though that's about to change again as I'm about to get the new Biotech DLC), but when I do, I go out of my way to clear my whole weekend of any obligations just so I can immerse myself in the game for a couple of days.
cm2187 4y ago
Time flies when you spend the night rimming.
- Yahivin 4y ago
  We had a great Halloween stay pegged everyone.
TobTobXX 4y ago
There's a setting to show a real-world clock on the right side. Just goes to show that it's something common.
Aeolun 4y ago
I think my bigger problem with that is that it always feels like you’ve barely accomplished anything in 3 hours. My first playthrough is at 50 hours, and I still haven’t finished.
cardy31 4y ago
I have the same problem. I play it a lot less than some other games simply because it is so addictive. My pitch to people is “if you ever wanted to play a game where your colony’s economy can be built around farming illegal drugs and turning prisoners into hats, then this is the game for you!”

hristov 4y ago

Rimword -- if Dwarf fortress is a little too complicated for you.

andrewxdiamond 4y ago
“Impersonal” would be a more accurate term. Rimworld tries to get you emotionally attached to colonies in a way that Drawf Fortress does not.
- OkayPhysicist 4y ago
  I think the key difference to me (as someone who enjoys both) is that Rimworld is more interesting from a moment to moment standpoint, the sheer depth of simulation in Dwarf Fortress produces far more memorable events. Put another way, I don't remember any specific events in Rimworld, but I'm more than happy to tell you about the dwarf who pathologically elected to engrave the walls of the fortress exclusively with depictions of a particularly delicious piece of cheese he ate.
  - outworlder 4y ago
    I have read about a dwarf that engraved pictures of rats (and just rats) on a particular room. Turns out he disliked the noble the bedroom belonged to, and that noble was afraid of rats.

SeanAnderson 4y ago

This game inspired me to get into simulation video game development as a hobby! :) Easily one of my favorite games of all time. Do not let the graphics and dense UI turn you off. It's worth the effort.

oneshot-a4yukdk 4y ago

Greedy bustards hiked price in regional currencies (28% in my case) right before I decided to buy a dlc! Even Factorio (legendary for no sale policy) haven't hiked yet. Great game btw. [0] https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/294100/view/3422199945667315104 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/294100/view/34221999...

atum47 4y ago

I used to watch a YouTuber doing a video series on RimWorld, he was able to "tell" a really good story that was happening in his world [1]. I want to someday start playing it, right now I'm not because: I rather play on the console laying on the couch, I'm working to much to invest in the game. It seems to have a step learning curve. 1 - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_lgEqY9K6UXUVco5XysDNAeUnCqSFcqS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_lgEqY9K6UXUVco5XysDNAeU...

kortex 4y ago
Ah, Cambiar the Cannibal! 10/10 would absolutely recommend this playthrough series, especially as chill/background audio. Super enjoyable and you don't have to be 100% tuned in to keep up. I often have this on while doing chores.
- PebblesRox 4y ago
  Wow, I just listened to a few episodes while baking. This Cambiar is surviving in the Arctic wasteland by eating the corpses of all the misfortunate humans that keep wandering into the area. (He doesn't even have to actively kill most of them; the exposure is typically enough to do them in.) He's preserving their bodies by keeping them stockpiled outside in the below-zero weather and every time he eats an (uncooked, presumably still frozen solid) meal, he gets a boost to his mood! Because he has the cannibal trait so it gives him a happy thought! In retrospect, maybe not the best show to listen to while baking pies! :)
ninth_ant 4y ago
The learning curve is not as steep as you might think from watching youtubers. The game adapts to how well you're doing, so as they advance quickly because of their experience their challenges will escalate in difficulty as well. As a newcomer you'll advance slower so won't face as many obstacles as soon as you've seen them happen. I mean, you'll still lose your first colony. And the next 10 after that. But each time you learn a bit more.
andrewxdiamond 4y ago
PeteComplete does a great job of adding narrative depth to his play throughs. Here’s a run exploring the games Ideology DLC playing as a tribal village. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_lgEqY9K6UVooXatQRca5Rw-5meQhDHx https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_lgEqY9K6UVooXatQRca5Rw-...

PointyFluff 4y ago

A single threaded heap of hot garbage-collection.

r2vcap 4y ago
And this is one of those successful PC games made with the Unity engine.
outworlder 4y ago
Except for the garbage-collection, single threaded code is extremely common across all "simulation" games. Too many interdependencies makes it difficult to parallelize. Dwarf Fortress was looking into offload fluid computation to other cores, not sure if it was done.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 4y ago
  I personally have not had a lot of performance issues with the base RimWorld game after a patch that was released targeting performance a year or two ago. Much more often it’s a poorly optimized mod that causes issues. I don’t often play very far into the insane late endgame though (200+ colonists/raiders on the map at once etc). I could easily see it being a problem at that point.

flatiron 4y ago

I was hoping it was on sale! Today is the first day of the autumn steam sale. I bought enough to wait until the next one.

cwkoss 4y ago

If you like RimWorld, I recommend checking out Stardeus. The feel is very similar to Rimworld, but the setting is that you're a spaceship's AI system, and you have a bunch of humans in stasis. The goal is to find a habitable planet for them to colonize. Was released last month and is still in Early Access, but it's definitely in a playable state. The asteroid fields are brutal, build your ship like an onion with thick walls ;-)

WrtCdEvrydy 4y ago
Damn it... here we go again! /me downloads Stardeus.
Rzor 4y ago
I can finally larp as a Culture Mind!
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
candiddevmike 4y ago
Here I was thinking I never heard of this game and it's already on my wishlist.
- davidpfarrell 4y ago
  LOL Same ! "Oh its on my WL already, sweet"
Kaibeezy 4y ago
Now with more post-singularity cosmic enlightenment?
JokerDan 4y ago
As an aside, the developer of Stardeus streams themselves making the game almost (if not) every day. https://www.twitch.tv/dev_spajus https://www.twitch.tv/dev_spajus

pdntspa 4y ago

I love Rimworld but this game's idea of "fun" is perpetually moody colonists doing stupid shit the moment one of their myriad needs aren't met. They have no chill, and no decorum, and YOU the player get to clean up their messes. In this universe, the role of God -- you -- is to be their magical space nanny, master planner, and babysitter. That and the difficulty curve skyrockets the moment mechanoids or the bugs show up, and they always show up way. Too. Early. (At least now I can easily turn them off without having to make my own scenario) I love this game but it is a frustration generator, not a story generator. And the way the creator gets about "storytelling" reminds me of how certain Hollywood directors simply can't shut up about the supposed "magic" of entertainment. Blegh. edit- I also have a bone to pick with the way the creator ruthlessly works to eliminate anything that makes the game easier... whether its sappers that magically know exactly where to dig tunnels to get around your killbox, or artillery being gimped because it was a way to punch up a few classes with regards to some of scenarios, or turrets now ignoring prisoners/slaves turned hostile. It feels like the game that the creator wants and the game I want are dramatically different, and continuing to diverge.

jstarfish 4y ago
> I love Rimworld but this game's idea of "fun" is perpetually moody colonists doing stupid shit the moment one of their myriad needs aren't met. They have no chill, and no decorum, and YOU the player get to clean up their messes. I've seen "Parenting Simulator" touted as an alternate title.
29athrowaway 4y ago
Depends on the storyteller. There's one that generates favorable events, another one that generates problems, another one that's random, another one that increases difficulty over time.
- pdntspa 4y ago
  Usually I do Pheobe Chillax, but sometimes I will switch it up with the default storyteller if Phoebe isn't throwing anything interesting my way. But, with her, when it rains it pours, and the story arc of "coming back from the brink of annihilation" gets tiresome.

robohydrate 4y ago

I didn't particulary find RimWorld to be very fun, but I did end up enjoying Oxygen Not Included, which is a side-scrolling 2d colony management sim that's a bit less serious and way more quirky.

poulpy123 4y ago
I just bought oxygen not included few days ago and I'm enjoying it a lot. I like the silly aspect of it
MaxikCZ 4y ago
All these games are fun until I hit something akin "make sure your colonists cant take a route from toilet thats not trough lavratory, otherwise they wont clean up their hands if they happen to choose that route". For gods sake if they clean hands 100% of times when passing lavratory, making them 100% of times go to lavratory after toilet should be an option too.. Its just feels like instead of playing the game I must combat it.
- outworlder 4y ago
  The lavatory thing is easy to workaround, at least. One entrance, and as many sinks as you have toilets. You can have a large bathroom, rooms with a bathroom attached, etc. As long as there's one way out and the sinks are there. Much more annoying are the suits (and now, gas masks). If you are not careful with settings they will drop them elsewhere, or will enter the perfectly breathable base with suits still on.
spiffytech 4y ago
I found Oxygen Not Included engrossing, but I had to cut myself off when I realized I kept spending each evening in the same mental state as when I firefight production outages.

YesBox 4y ago

If you're interested in playing a new game in this genre, I've been developing a city builder game over the last year, heavily inspired by Dwarf Fortress, Rim World, Cities: Skylines, Sim City, etc. My game will have more granular demand (not just vague "you need more commercial zones"). The player will see the interior of buildings and will be able to watch their sims live their lives. Im working on getting version 0.2 release by Q1 2023. The game is isometric now! Working on releasing a new vlog to show it off. I developed a new path finding algorithm to build big cities. Here's an old version of the game path finding 1,000,000 units to their own unique destinations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0HCnQqF5K4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0HCnQqF5K4 Subreddit: https://reddit.com/r/Archapolis https://reddit.com/r/Archapolis

shin_lao 4y ago

Rimworld is one of my favorite games ever. Wanna lead a team of misogynistic cannibals? You can. Wanna be a mad scientist that extracts the brain of his prisoners to create deadly robots? You can. Wanna build a village of drug-friendly pacifists? You can. What's fantastic about this game is how many things are optional. You don't have to care about climbing the ladder of the empire if you don't want to. You don't need to build the space ship. You don't need to go to war with your neighbors. Two big "flaws". The AI can sometimes throw at you problems that are too hard, like enemies to strong as it not always estimate correctly your strength, which brings me to the biggest flaw of the game: combat. Your characters can literally throw themselves into enemy fire and need a lot of micromanagement for combat. Worse, the combat model is such that a guy in a power armor can be defeated by tribesmen with bows and arrows, that's because projectiles and armor isn't really simulated entirely. An extension called "combat extended" attempts to remedy this, but I find it has its own problems. That's me being pedantic, the game is incredible, go for if the idea of building your own base and story is attractive to you.

Sohcahtoa82 4y ago

Also known as "War Crime Simulator" In that game, if I get raided, then I try to capture as many as possible. If they have crappy skills, I'll just harvest their organs and turn their skin into leather to make sand bags. If they have good skills, I'll feed them the leftover human meat from the organ harvesting until I eventually convince them to join my cause.

jacksonkmarley 4y ago

I got this on steam, started with the tutorial, and after a few minutes couldn't imagine getting any enjoyment out of playing this. What am I missing? The level of micro-management seems so high, and simple actions seem to require clicking through like 4 sub menus.

marak830 4y ago
For me the fun is getting a colony to a self sustaining state where I don't have to micro manage it. Then grabbing two colonists and go off exploring, trading etc.
- jacksonkmarley 4y ago
  The micro-management goes away somehow as the game goes on? I should cancel the refund claim LOL?
  - procinct 4y ago
    I would say in general you’re able to automate most things using the ticket system for production and work priorities. Unless you’re really trying to min/max, you don’t really need to micromanage. Military action is generally very manual though (for your pawns anyway, you can automate smaller military problems with turrets).
  - marak830 4y ago
    It does, and once you get useto how priorities work even on a new game I rarely need to override a pawn.

SergeAx 4y ago

I bought RimWorld year ago, but looking on its' silly graphics and cannot make myself to download and start to play it. I have no problem with ONI, because its'silliness is a part of gameplay. I am really glad that Factorio received a graphics boost before 1.0 release.