Alternative Playthroughs Guide

This page is for unusual playthroughs for a new RimWorld experience other than simply changing the starting scenario. Mods may be used depending on your favor.

It is recommended that you at least have some experience with a regular playthrough before you attempt the below. Hence, this guide will not go into detail the steps to building a base unless necessary.

Peacekeepers/faction domination

This playthrough is for those who wish to stay on the rim for an extended period while constantly encountering combat. The main rule is that you stay to destroy all enemy faction bases- which ones are considered as the enemy is up to the player to decide.

Starting scenario

The start isn't the main point of the playthrough, so it's alright to start with plenty of supplies, so you can begin sending attack squads earlier.

What you are recommended to start with:

10 colonists, the maximum allowed. They should have mastery of all skills between them, and preferably most if not all should be proficient at combat.
Enough food to last at least 1 quadrum, that is upwards of 300 packaged survival meals.
Lots of steel (1500 or above).
Lots of components (100 or above).
Sufficient weapons, armor and apparel.

First steps

After settling down and building a self-sufficient base, you will need to do the following:

Capture and recruit enough people to assemble an assault squad while leaving enough people to defend your base. Around 10 people are needed for a squad that can reliably take down a base without too many casualties, and ideally you would need half your colonists to remain at base for upkeep and defense, so you will need 20 colonists before you set out first.
Get enough resources to equip all soldiers with good equipment. Devilstrand clothing, flak armor and mid-game weaponry are recommended.

Nomadic survival

This playthrough deviates from the regular base-building experience of RimWorld, by the extensive use of caravans and base settling.

It is beneficial to use a Tribal start for this scenario. Tribal colonies forage at 170% in biomes and seasons where foraging is possible. They also start the game with pemmican and passive coolers already researched, which are useful to create long-lasting travel food and build short-term shelters every time they stop.

Rimworld is designed to have a colony remain in one place for a long time; some activities such as recreation, research and production can only be accomplished on a map. Even if your colony moves a lot, it is necessary to Settle from time to time. So the main way to approach this play style is to decide on a self-imposed time limit, such as a quadrum or a year, after which you will pack up your colony and move to a new tile.

To minimize how often you Settle or how long you remain in a particular place, you can also get some work done on the event maps that spawn when your caravan is ambushed. However, these typically last for a very short time. Event maps for world quests, or for faction bases you are attacking, last longer. To use this method, you will need to have strong hauling animals such as muffalo or elephants to carry your heavy furniture.

If you Settle on a tile that is within 4 tiles of another faction, it increases their hostility. During the times when you Settle, you will want to settle close to friendly or neutral faction bases to facilitate trading. However, every time you "Abandon" a tile, it becomes inaccessible forever. So you will need to plan carefully to make sure you don't use up all the best locations too quickly.

Another way to approach this kind of playthrough is by using mods. "Set Up Camp" in particular is ideal for a nomadic run. With this mod, a colony could abandon its starting tile immediately and only use temporary campsites. Tiles where a camp has been set up become usable again after a certain amount of time.

Guides

Progression: Quickstart Guides • Basics • Intermediate Midgame Guide • Advanced Endgame Guide • Ending the game
Scenarios: Lost Tribe Guide • Rich Explorer Guide • Naked Brutality Guide • The Mechanitor Guide
Survival: Extreme Heat Guide • Extreme Cold Guide • Extreme Desert Guide • Ice Sheet Guide • Sea Ice Guide • Events Guide
Combat: Defense tactics • Offense tactics • Weapon Guide
Construction: Colony Building Guide • Defense structures
Production: Food production • Money making guide
Other: Skill Training • Permadeath save conversion guide •
Ideology Min-Maxing

Permanent settlement

Although Permanent settlement is one of the main game options, most players use the "Leave as soon as possible" option. That's why I put it together (it's very likely that such a guide already exists, but I didn't find it).

Initial scenario:

The scenario somehow does not affect this way of playing. But a hard landing is recommended.

First steps:

The steps are basically the same until you start building a spaceship. Instead of building a spaceship, you will focus more on building sufficient infrastructure (organizing electrical cables, improving the quality of life or possibly building new apartments). The goal of this game method is to GET THE TITLE OF BARON AND WIN IN THE GAME.