Drafting
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Drafting is RimWorld's primary combat mode, an immediate call to action for any capable pawn to begin fighting.
How to
To draft a colonist, select them, and press the toolbar gizmo marked with two crossed swords or press the R button.
Capable colonists, even those unarmed or incapable of violence, slaves
, and friendly mechanoids
are able to draft instantly on command. Those who are downed, otherwise incapable of movment, or under a mental break are unable to be drafted. While a pawn lit on fire will still be drafted, the player will lose some control of them during the panic.
Summary
Drafted pawns are able to be ordered to a precise location. Select a pawn, and right click the desired location. A group of pawns can be sent to one location (simple right click), or ordered to create a line (right click & drag). Multiple orders can be assigned sequentially by holding shift (ex. move to place A then place B).
Drafted pawns will remain stationary, ignoring their needs entirely, and overriding the threat response setting. Pawns with ranged weapons will attack enemies so long as Fire at Will remains enabled, and will take cover from adjacent buildings. Any pawn capable of violence will begin melee with enemies 1 tile away.
When drafted, pawns will enter a state of collision, if they haven't already. During collision, pawns cannot pass through each other. If they were already on top of each other, pawns will radiate outside, even bypassing walls in extreme circumstances.
If left alone for 10,000 ticks (2.78 mins) without any threats or orders, then drafting will automatically end. Mental breaks and downing will also immediately end the draft state.
Work
Drafted pawns can do a limited amount of work, outside of combat:
- Arrest colonists, slaves, and allied/neutral guests.
- Douse adjacent fires, even if outside of the home area.
- Carry and/or rescue downed pawns, even if incapable of Hauling.
- Place downed pawns at a specific location.
- Tend pawns anywhere, with or without medicine, even if not assigned to Doctoring.
- Medicine must be carried in the inventory to be available.
- Equip weapons/apparel, consume food, and take drugs.
- Repair damaged buildings.
Work interruption
If currently performing any action, drafting will immediately interrupt what they're doing, and pawns will immediately wake up. Any work progress they've made that is represented by a yellow progress bar will be lost, while pausable work such as crafting and construction will not. Work priorities will be re-assessed after the pawn is undrafted.
Pawns will drop any held items and pawns they were carrying, to make use of their weapon. Babies are a special exception: the first draft will consider a held baby a draft-carried baby, and give a warning. If undrafted, the second draft thereafter will drop the baby.
Fire
The effects of fire take precedence over drafting. Whilst on fire, the ignited pawn to run around wildly instead of fighting, without collision. Drafted pawns can still be given commands, but they will go to their intended location first (which is often water, to douse the fire).
Animal Handlers
When a colonist is drafted, any animals assigned to this colonist will disregard their allowed areas to follow and defend their master against nearby enemies. If the colonist has any animals trained for Release, clicking the 'Release animals' button will let animals leave their master's side to attack enemies up to a certain distance.
Tips
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- Watch out for drafted pawns needs, as mood can quickly diminish as they starve or get tired.
- It can be used to prevent starving colonists from immediately consuming raw food. Careful use of drafting and undrafting can give a cook time to make meals for starving colonists and avoid any "Ate raw food" mood penalties.
- A colonist who spends a long time drafted will accumulate mood penalties from various unmet needs, which will negatively impact their mood and increase the risk of a mental break. The potential penalties from witnessing death or being near corpses exacerbates this.
- Draft colonist(s) if they sleep during fire
- Draft colonist(s) if they prevent manual prioritization of orders
- Draft colonist(s) to urgently feed otherwise malnutritioned pawns...
- Draft colonist(s) to stop them from feeding unwanted and malnutritioned pawns...
- Draft colonist(s) to change their rescue destination. This can be true if death on the doorstep because of Blood loss or similar.
- Draft colonist(s) high toxic buildup to stop from going outside during toxic fallout
- Draft colonist(s) to defend harvest or trees from dendrovorous animals (like Alphabeaver and Thrumbo)
- Draft and undraft colonist(s) to update their current schedule or work after changing priorities, canceling some orders...
- Draft and undraft colonist(s) to combine incomplete stacks...
- Draft a colonist with "Night owl" trait to get +16 mood bonus during night (23:00 - 06:00) for whatever reason...