Scenario system
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The scenario system allows you to choose, randomize, and customize special situations to play in. Determine the starting situation, type of community (tribe, colony), permanent map conditions, starting items, animals, health conditions, traits, and change special rules. In the image on the right, you can see the window for choosing scenarios and the "Open Steam Workshop" button (if you are using the steam version of the game).
New Tribe vs New Arrivals
Starting scenarios can be roughly grouped into one of two types, determined by the faction type the player will inherit. These are:
- New tribes: Inherited by the "Lost Tribe" default scenario, and selectable in the scenario editor.
- New arrivals: Inherited by the "Crashlanded", "Rich Explorer", and "Naked Brutality" default scenarios, and selectable in the scenario editor.
There are some significant differences between the New Tribe and New Arrivals scenarios.
Research
The most significant difference is the starting research and the long term effects on research speed. New tribes begin with a different, and lower tech, set of research projects already completed, as described below. Note that that custom and default scenarios may also add additional technologies to these lists.
Furthermore, new tribes start with a tech level of "Neolithic" while new arrivals begin with a tech level of "Industrial". This increases the research needed for new tribes to research technologies above neolithic, with the penalty increasing as the tech level does. Note that a great majority of techs on the research tree are classified as Industrial or higher.
| Starting Research | |
|---|---|
| New Tribe | New Arrivals |
| Project tech level | Research cost multiplier | |
|---|---|---|
| New Arrivals | New Tribe | |
| Neolithic | 100% | 100% |
| Medieval | 100% | 150% |
| Industrial | 100% | 200% |
| Spacer | 100% | 200% |
| Ultra | 100% | 200% |
Other differences
- Tribals forage 70% more food while traveling. More info about how this affects nutrition can be found on the Caravan page.
- Tribals can build the hoopstone ring and Game-of-Ur board. Arrivals can build the horseshoes pin and chess table.
- Horseshoes pins cost half the material as a hoopstone ring, and are otherwise the same. The chess table costs twice the material as the Game-of-Ur board, but is stronger for recreation.
- Tribals can craft the tribal headdress and war mask.
- Tribals have a harder time recruiting from outlanders and pirates, and Arrivals have a harder time recruiting from tribal factions. Recruitment difficulty is increased by 32%, which increases prisoner resistance (see Starting Resistance for details).
- Tribal starting pawns will all have backstories from the "Tribal" category, which often have the Natural meditation focus. This allows most tribals to meditate at the Anima tree
.
- Any children
of a tribe also gain the natural meditation focus, unless Vatgrown for enough time. - They also have a 2% chance to have one of the following artificial body parts: Denture Peg leg Wooden foot Wooden hand
- Any children
- New arrivals starting pawns will all have backstories from the "Offworld" category.
- They also have a 3% chance to have one of the following artificial body parts: Aesthetic nose Cochlear implant Denture Drill arm Field hand Peg leg Prosthetic arm Prosthetic heart Prosthetic leg Wooden foot Wooden hand
Default Scenarios
These four scenarios are in the base game. Each offers a different set of challenges, and encourages different playstyles to a certain extent. For example: you could start off as a 'rich explorer' who came from a high-tech glitterworld but yearned to explore the universe, or you could also start as a desperate tribe that's on the brink of starvation after fleeing from a devastating group of 'blood machines'. On the other hand, you could be managing a few crashlanded civilians who barely escaped an assaulted passenger liner with their lives.
Here are the four scenarios listed in order as shown in game:
Crashlanded
Summary: Three crashlanded survivors - the classic RimWorld experience.
Description: The three of you awake in your cryptosleep sarcophagi to the sound of sirens and ripping metal. You barely get to the escape pods before the ship is torn apart. Some time later, you land on this unknown rimworld.
- Start with three people, chosen from eight
- They will be New Arrivals
- Arrive in drop pods
- 50% chance of having cryptosleep sickness (reduces consciousness, affects motor skills, causes frequent vomiting. Only lasts 3.2 to 4.8 in-game hours)
- All potential options will have backstories from the "Offworld" category.
- Start with one random pet
- Has a 100% chance of being bonded with a random colonist
- Start with technology already researched
- Start with three normal-quality weapons
- Start with three pieces of armor (in addition to synthread clothes)
- 1 plasteel flak helmet
- 1 flak pants
- 1 flak vest
- Start with basic supplies
- 800 silver
- 50 packaged survival meals (around 6.25 days worth of food)
- 30 components
- 30 medicine
- Start near basic building materials
- Various resources scattered around the map
- 3 ship chunks
- 720 steel
- 7 packaged survival meals
Lost Tribe
Summary: Five lost tribespeople attempt to rebuild. Difficult.
Description: Your tribe was destroyed by the great blood machines sent by the gods. Five of you managed to escape. Now, it's time to build up a new home. Note: Since you'll start poor and research slowly, this is a difficult scenario.
- Start with five people, chosen from eight
- They will be a New Tribe
- They have a 50% chance of starting with malnutrition
- Severity ranges from 20% (minor) to 40% (moderate)
- They have a 100% chance of having a less satisfied 'food' need
- Satisfaction is set to 0-10%
- All potential options will have backstories from the "Tribal" category.
- Start with 3 random pets
- Has a 100% chance of being bonded with random colonists
- Has a 100% chance of being bonded with the starting colonist
- Start with technology already researched
- Start with 6 weapons
- 2 short bows
- 1 bundle of pila
- 1 wooden club
- 1 steel ikwa
- 1 Jade knife (unique item to this scenario only)
- Start with basic supplies
- 200 silver
- 400 pemmican (slightly more than one day's worth of food, 300 pre-Beta 19)
- 20 herbal medicine
- Start near basic building materials
- 500 wood
The Rich Explorer
Summary: One rich explorer out to experience the universe. Extra difficult.
Description: People called you crazy for leaving your glitterworld home, but you always yearned to explore the stars - outside the neurosimulator. Now you're at the end of your long journey in cryptosleep, landing on an unknown rimworld to see what it's like. Note: Since your starting character will lack some skills, this is an especially difficult scenario in the early game.
- Start with one person, chosen from eight
- They will be New Arrivals
- Arrive in drop pods
- All potential options will have backstories from the "Offworld" category.
- Start with one random pet
- Has a 100% chance of being bonded with the starting colonist
- Start with technology already researched
- Start with a high-tech weapon
- Start with advanced supplies
- 2,000 silver
- 40 packaged survival meals (around 20 days worth of food)
- 30 components
- 30 glitterworld medicine
- 30 gold
- Start near basic building materials
- 450 steel
- 300 wood
Naked Brutality
Summary: Naked, alone and utterly unprepared. Can you survive?
Description: You went under anesthetic for a minor surgery. Now you've awoken in a drop pod crashing into a distant planet. You're naked, alone and utterly unprepared. Can you survive?
- Start with one person, chosen from eight
- They will be New Arrivals
- All potential options will have backstories from the "Offworld" category.
- Start with no items (except for 1 to 2 metal slag chunks from the drop pod)
- Colonist arrives naked
- Start with technology already researched
The Mechanitor
 | This section relates to content added by Biotech (DLC). Please note that it will not be present without the DLC enabled. |
Summary: One mechanitor and a few servant mechanoids.
Description: You knew you could only achieve greatness with help. People were too unreliable, so you chose to take on mechanoids as your servants, workers, and warriors. As you gained strength, others became fearful. It became clear you needed to get away from the influence of humanity. Now you've migrated to this sparsely-populated rimworld with some of your metallic helpers. Finally, you have the space to grasp your true potential!
Note: Since your starting character will lack some skills, this is a difficult scenario.
- Start with one person, chosen from eight
- They will always be a mechanitor
- They will always have the Recluse trait, and never have the Body purist trait.
- They will always be capable of Intellectual
- They will be New Arrivals
- They will always be equipped with:
- 1x Flak vest
- 1x Duster
- 1x Button-down shirt
- 1x Pants
- 1x Airwire headset
- 1x Masterwork Biocoded Autopistol
- Arrive in drop pods
- All potential options will have backstories from the "Offworld" category.
- Start with 1 Lifter
- Start with 1 Constructoid
- Start with technology already researched
- Start with supplies
- 1,000 silver
- 40 packaged survival meals (around 20 days worth of food)
- 55 components
- 10 medicine
- 100 plasteel
- 900 steel
- 300 wood
- 5 Basic subcore
- The exostrider remains that usually spawn on the starting map will also be disabled.
The Sanguophage
| This section relates to content added by Biotech (DLC). Please note that it will not be present without the DLC enabled. |
Summary: One crashlanded sanguophage needing blood to survive, and one human colonist.
Description: When a dark stranger offered you a cure for your cancer, you were ready to agree to anything. He made you into a sanguophage - an immortal blood-drinker hated by a thousand religions. You hid your condition for years, but eventually a hunter tracked you down. Stowing away on the first starship leaving the system, you barely escaped alive.
Note: Sanguophages have unique strengths and weaknesses, which makes this a difficult scenario.
- Start with one adult/children sanguophage and one baseliner colonist of any age.
- They will be New Arrivals
- Arrive in drop pods
- Start with technology already researched
- Start with supplies
- 2,000 silver
- 30 packaged survival meals
- 10 components
- 30 Hemogen pack
- 20 medicine
- 100 plasteel
- 200 steel
- 200 wood
- 1 Masterwork Steel Longsword
Scenario editor
The scenario editor looks somewhat like the default scenario choosing window except for the left side of the page has changed, there are now three buttons: Load, which you can use to load your previously saved custom scenarios. Save, which is used to save your custom scenarios. And randomize seed, which is used to randomize the scenario. Under these buttons is the Edit mode, which you can toggle to open a window like the one on the bottom-right.
Edit mode
In this mode, you can change a scenario however you want. Each of the parts on the right of the window is explained below, including the possible inputs.
Mandatory parts
- (B) denotes Biotech DLC-exclusive scenario
| Part name | Description | Possible inputs |
|---|---|---|
| Title | The title for the scenario. | Text |
| Summary | A short version of the description for the scenario. | Text |
| Description | The description for the scenario. | Text |
| Player faction | The type of faction you will run. (changes what research you have and don't have) | New Arrivals New Tribe |
| Starting people | The number of people you will start with. | Number (max 10) |
| Starting people (B) | The number of people you will start with and what kind of xeno races. (More can be added) | Number (max 10) Racetype Required? (Cannot go below 1) |
| Arrival method | How your colonists will arrive. | Standing Drop pods |
Voluntary parts
- (B) denotes Biotech DLC active required to show up.
| Part name | Description | Possible inputs |
|---|---|---|
| Allowed age range | The biological age range of your colonists. | Number slider (min 15, max 120) |
| Characters explode on death | Self explanatory. | Number (max 1000000000) and type of explosion (bomb or flame) |
| Create incident | Creating of an incident for the colony, with the option to repeat every X days. | Number (max 1000000000) Repeat checkbox |
| Disable exostrider remains (B) | Disable chance of exostrider remains showing up. Recommended not to start without Mechanitor as this disables the ability to get the required implant for Mechanoid control. | None (Only can be added once) |
| Disable incident | Disabling of an incident for the colony. | Every incident |
| Disallow building | Disallows a building from being built. | Every building |
| Forced health condition | Forces the characters specified to have a specific health condition. | Type of health condition Severity of the condition Chance for having the condition Who will have the condition |
| Forced trait | Forces the characters specified to have a specific trait. | Trait Chance for having the trait Who will have the trait |
| Game start dialog | Text shown at the start of the game | Text |
| Naked | Chance of colonists or planet inhabitants being naked | Chance of nudity Who will be naked |
| Permanent game condition | Forces the world to have a constant planetary effect | Game condition |
| Permanent map condition | Forces the map to have the specified map condition permanently on | Map condition |
| Planetkiller weapon incoming | Makes the game end after a specified amount of days | Number (max 1000000000) |
| Scattered randomly | Makes the game scatter the specified items randomly around the map. | Item Number (max 100000000000) |
| Set need level | Sets the starting level of need until the characters can restore themselves. | Need Severity of need Chance Who the need is applied to |
| Start near | Makes the game spawn the specified items near your starting location. | Item Number (max 100000000000) |
| Start with | Makes the game drop the specified items to your starting location. | Item Number (max 100000000000) |
| Start with animal(s) | Makes the game start you with the specified animals as pets. | Number (max 100000000000) Animal |
| Start with mechanoid (B) | Makes the game start you with the specified controllable mechanoids | Number (max 100000000000) Mechanoid |
| Start with research | Makes the game start you with the specified research. | Research |
| Stat multiplier | The multiplier for Stats | Number (max 10000) |
These parts are self explanatory and require no input: Cannot mine, cannot sow, cannot tame and cannot hunt.