Loading screen

Since 1.1, the loading screen for RimWorld during save loading and world generation now includes loading screen tips.

Tips

Below is the list of tips that appear in-game.

• You can dismiss letters by right-clicking on them.
• You can hold the shift key to queue orders on your colonists.
• You can right-click and drag to reorder colonists on the colonist bar.
• You can select previous/next colonist with the , and . keys.
• Many menus allow you to click and drag a setting to 'paint' it over many entries. This even works for things like outfits or food restrictions.
• In the work tab's manual priorities mode, 1 is first priority, while 4 is last priority.
• Each colonists' mood is displayed in the background of their icon in the colonist bar at the top of the screen.
• Shift-clicking the name of a work type in the Work tab changes settings for all colonists at once.
• Right-clicking a number in the Work tab using manual priorities will reduce the priority instead of increasing it.
• In a gunfight, always be behind cover!
• In a gunfight, spread your colonists out! Bunched-up targets are easy to hit.
• Smoke totally prevents turrets from detecting targets, but people can still shoot with reduced accuracy.
• When designing defences, assume enemies will get inside using drop pods or tunnels. Build internal defensive positions.
• Foggy or rainy weather reduces the accuracy of ranged weapons.
• You can analyze the chance a shot will hit by selecting the shooter and placing the mouse over the target.
• Turrets explode when they take a lot of damage. Don't put them too close together, and don't put your people too close to them.
• Some animals explode upon death. You can use transport pods to drop animals on enemies. Think about it.
• If you need help in a fight, call your allies using the comms console.
• Maddened animals will attack any human, including your enemies. You can use this.
• EMP bursts will temporarily disable turrets and shields.
• EMP bursts instantly break personal shields.
• The hunter stealth stat reduces the chance of animal attacks. It is affected by the hunter's animals and shooting skills.
• Animals are more likely to attack when harmed from close range. Long-range, slow-firing weapons are safest for hunting.
• Entire herds of animals may attack you when you try to hunt them. Accept the risk before hunting, or choose weaker prey.
• If you hunt boomrats and boomalopes when it's raining, their deaths won't cause forest fires.
• Carefully-slaughtered animals yield more meat and leather than those who were killed violently.
• Place a caravan packing spot to designate where you want your caravans to form up.
• Single-person caravans can be very useful in certain situations.
• Faster animals make faster caravans.
• Smaller caravans will be attacked less often because they're less visible.
• Before forming a caravan, collect the items you want to send in a stockpile near your caravan packing spot. This will make packing much faster.
• If you have untrained animals in your caravan, you can split them into a separate caravan before attacking an enemy, to keep them out of the fight.
• RimWorld is a story generator, not a skill test. A ruined colony is a dramatic tragedy, not a failure.
• Some colonists are worse than useless. Bad allies are part of the challenge.
• If you can't defend against a threat, make a caravan and run. You may lose your home, but your story can continue.
• Avoid using stone for doors. They open very slowly, which wastes your colonists' time.
• Put chairs in front of workbenches so workers can sit comfortably while working.
• Mechanical structures break down and require replacement components. Don't build things you don't need.
• Be careful what you construct on bridges. Bridges collapse easily under explosions, and your buildings will go with them.
• Clean rooms increase research speed, improve medical outcomes, and reduce food poisoning. Sterile tiles make rooms extra-clean.
• Building your whole colony in one structure saves resources, but also makes it difficult to contain fires.
• Terrain affects movement speed. Build floors to help your colonists get around quicker.
• Different terrain has different inherent cleanliness levels. Tiles are inherently clean; dirt is inherently dirty.
• You can give prisoners as gifts. Giving a prisoner back to his own faction will be highly appreciated.
• You can request specific types of trade caravans using the comms console.
• You can use transport pods to send gifts directly to other factions' bases - even your enemies. This improves faction relations.
• Keeping prisoners together saves space. However, prisoners kept together will try to break out together.
• Enemy faction bases are very well-defended. You don't need to attack them - but be well-prepared if you choose to try.
• Cute tame animals will nuzzle your colonists, improving their mood.
• Assign your herbivorous animals to areas with lots of grass. They'll eat the grass and spare you the need to feed them.
• If someone has a serious infection in a limb, you can remove the limb to save their life.
• Sloshing through water makes people unhappy. Build a bridge when you can.
• Luciferium can heal scars - even those on the eye or brain. It is, however, a permanent commitment.
• Work and movement speed are affected by lighting. Everything is slower in the dark.
• Deep underground caverns have a naturally stable temperature, even if it's very hot or cold outside.
• Mountain bases are easy to defend. The downside is that people go crazy spending too long underground. And giant insects.
• Prisoners will join much quicker and attempt fewer breakouts when they're in a good mood.
• You can have multiple researchers working simultaneously at multiple research tables.
• Geysers heat up rooms if enclosed. This can be dangerous, or useful.
• Explosions extinguish fires in their blast radius. This makes artillery shells useful for stopping fires when there is no other choice.
• Even serious setbacks don't mean the game has to end. Try playing out a lost battle - often the best stories come from the darkest situations.
• Clean labs with sterile tile give research speed bonuses.
• You can change storyteller and playstyle at any time through the options menu.
• The more factions you are allied with, the more random traders and military aid you will receive.
• You can use drug policies to have your fighters carry combat drugs like go-juice. A quick dose at the start of combat can win the battle.
• Set schedules with long stretches of one activity to minimize travel time.

Royalty Tips

These tips only appear if the Royalty DLC is installed.

• Some royal titles allow the holder to call for military aid. This can save you in a tough moment.
• Higher royal title holders have a special need for authority. They satisfy it by reigning from a throne.
• Higher level royal colonists won't eat food that is below their expectations, unless they're starving.
• Power armor, cataphract armor and psyfocus apparel will satisfy the apparel requirements of royal titles.
• If a royal title holder dies, their title goes to their chosen heir.
• You can change the heir of a royal title holder through the comms console. However, this requires completing a ritual.
• The Empire bestows a free psychic amplifier upon anyone who earns the title required to use it.
• You can upgrade and downgrade an installed psychic amplifier through surgery.
• The Empire restricts usage of certain implants to those with specific royal titles. Using them illegally may lead to diplomatic consequences with the Empire.
• The psychic silencer implant masks psychic signatures, preventing authorities from detecting illegal psychic powers.
• Installing a new level of psychic amplifier grants knowledge of one psycast.
• Psycasts can give you significant advantage in combat.
• Performing a psycast on an ally will harm faction relations - but only if the psycast has negative effects.
• The invisibility psycast's effect doesn't wear off when you attack.
• Going over your psychic entropy limit can save you in a desperate situation - but the health risks are severe.
• Creatures with higher psychic sensitivity are affected more by psycasts.
• Fitting your psycasters with psyfocus gear will increase their psychic entropy limit and regeneration rate.
• When fighting a mech cluster, try shooting their power cells. They explode, dealing heavy damage to surrounding creatures and structures.
• Some mech clusters remain dormant until disturbed. Use that time to prepare your attack.
• The Imperial royal tribute collector arrives twice per year, and accepts prisoners and gold in exchange for royal favor.
• You can safely walk right past a dormant mech cluster, as long as you don't attack it or trigger a proximity activator.