As I have over 7000 hours of Rimworld I thought it is only fair to write a quick guide so you can all make the same mistakes as I have. Because trust me, whenever I start a new game, those 1000s of hours of experience go straight out the window. So here’s 10 easy steps for you.

(abc = optional/alternative)

1. Get the game

2. Run the game. Let the fun begin

2b. Get a load of incompatible mods and spend hours trying to get the game to load, or even actually start

2c. Use the scenario editor to prepare a game, using anything but the the default settings

3. Start a new game, (optionally using the scenario you just made), pick any storyteller/difficulty.

4a. Pick a spot on the map that looks visually appealing or just hit random, or;

4b. Spend hours looking for the perfect tile, trying different map seeds

5. Create some colonists by clicking random buttons until you think, “yeah, this isn’t going to work”, or;

5b. Spend half an hour tweaking your starting colonists until they form a perfect ensemble for losing the game like a boss

6. Wait for the game to start, depending on how many mods you use, from 30 seconds to 3 hours.

7a. Turn on dev mode if you want to be, or are, a dev

7b. Turn on god mode if you are a god

8. Start clicking like a maniac on all the buttons, colonist, animals. Pick any game-speed, pause whenever you feel like it

9a. Follow the tutorial, or;

9b. disable the tutorial

10. Watch total chaos unfold when bad things start happening. Watch your colony burn to the ground. Say “Oh well, better luck next time.”

10b. Start over, or;

10c. Savescum to try again, or;

10c. Actually complete one of the ways to win the game and actually finish it. I have probably done this 5 times, out of the 100s of games I have started

There is no right way of playing Rimworld. People saying “that’s not the way Rimworld is meant to be played” do not know what they are talking about.

Design your base with “production near consumption” in mind and your pawns will spend less time doing the same tasks than they would otherwise. For example: crops near storage, storage near kitchen, kitchen near dining room.

It’s fine if your bedrooms are slightly far away from the rest of the stuff. Your pawns should only walk it exactly twice a day.

It’s useful to designate an area for raider corpses that is 1) roofed, 2) open (not a room), and 3) without flammable materials nearby. Then you can simply throw a Molotov there and get rid of the problem.

Human leather is poor clothing material, but it’s great for armchairs.

Use armchairs everywhere that pawns spend a lot of time on. For example, in the front of production tables.

Keep spare shock lances, berserker lances, animal manhunter pulses. They’ll save your day.

EMP against mechs.

If you must build out of wood, extend the roof two tiles over and then cut all plants below the roof. It works as a decent firebreaker.

You can queue up pawn command by holding shift.

You can change the order of your colonists in the bar on top by right clicking and holding it.

You can keep prisoners from eating your fine meals by creating a new food restriction for your colonists. Now just remove everything you don’t want prisoners to eat from the standard food list.

Double clicking an item will select all similar items on your screen.

You can dismiss notifications by right clicking on them.

Put the dinning, recreation, and throne room buildings into the same room to save space and wealth.

You can plant dandelions in your animal pens for extra food. It really helps early game when you’re struggling with hay production.

organ harvesting is a very lucrative enterprise

If you raise pigs or wild boars, you can dump bodies of raiders in the pen with them. Bodies are another food source. Ideally you’d build a small building for them and if you’re resource rich, cool the building so they last a while.