Cover
Template:TNT
Cover can be anything that has the possibility to stop a fired bullet from hitting the intended target. Cover in RimWorld can be found in several forms, some examples are: Rubble, Sandbags, Walls, the Saguaro cactus, and even animals.
Cover can be divided in 2 ways, high/low cover or natural/artificial cover.
High cover usually provides better cover than low cover.
Artificial cover has a tendency to either start burning, exploding or both, natural cover will, at worst, burn.
High cover is something that you can lean around to shoot, low cover is something you can shoot over.
Natural cover is anything that can protect you on a newly generated map, artificial cover is anything you build, even debris that you move could potentially count as artificial cover.
| Contents: | High Cover | Low Cover | other/unknown |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial Cover | * Door * Walls |
* Sand Bags | * Buildings |
| Natural Cover | * Mountain walls * Saguaro cactus |
* Rubble * Bushes |
* Animals * Darkness |
Natural cover
Natural cover is anything that is generated when the map is created, and is almost everything you can find on a newly generated map.
Mountain walls
Mountains are a brown rock structure that you can mine into. The corners of the mountains are effective cover if the raiders come from the right angle. If they come from the wrong angle it can easily become a death trap.
Rubble
Rubble is littered all over the map and will be used by attackers to gain an advantage over you. You can also use rubble for protection, but the random rubble placement is unlikely to favour you, so it's advisable to use it as a last resort
Rubble, in combination with a dumping area, can easily give a turret some extra protection for free!
(New Alpha version)
- First place the turret blueprint
- Then drag a dumping zone around the turret
- Designate the desired amount of rubble to be hauled
- Wait for the rubble be hauled
- (optional, leave a 1x1 empty space next to the turret where a colonist can repair it while still being in cover)
(Old version, what version number?)
First designate a dumping area where you want your turret to be, then mark 16 rocks to be hauled to the area, when it is filed sell the dumping area and mark the middle 4 rocks to be hauled again but to another dumping area (designate a new area somewhere if you must), then build a turret inside the resulting square of rocks.
Rubble provides 40% cover.
Bushes
Bushes provide 25% cover.
Saguaro cactus
It's a large tree like cactus with 2 branches, see this page for a picture.
Animals
A last resort to cover if you have nothing else can be animal(s), by having animal(s) between your colonist(s) and the attackers, they can actually work as a makeshift cover by being hit instead of your colonists. (I learned this from personal experience, when a squirrel got in the crossfire and got hit from a raiders M-24 bullet, and instantly died which means the squirrel was a one time cover).
Darkness
Darkness will not stop bullets (obviously) but it will increase the miss chance. When in a firefight it helps to keep your colonists in the darkness while the enemies are in light areas.
Artificial cover
Artifical covers is anything that you can build, (in a sense rock rubble could be counted as artificial cover after you have moved it, and is using it as cover).
Sandbags
Sandbags are the easiest and cheapest method of protection. U shapes are good for one character to hide in. Zigzag patterns will allow multiple characters to cover close together, which is handy if you want to focus fire on a few attackers.
Sandbags enclosing a turret make a great attack point But keep the turret repaired, as it will explode when destroyed and can damaged nearby characters, a good practice is to leave a 1 tile gap (or make it a hole with sandbags on the back of the tile too) in the back (most protected side) where a colonist can stand and repair the turret and still be mostly in cover, but be prepared to make the colonist run away when the sparks begin to fly from the turret.
Sandbags provide 60% cover.
Walls
Walls can be used as cover as well. Characters will lean around them to shoot. Three wall blocks placed diagonally make a great sniper nest. Natural walls work in the same way.
Door
A door can be used as a high cover if it stands alone so a colonist can lean around it.
Buildings
Most things that you can build can also stop bullets, although they take damage and will eventually be destroyed, catch fire or explode, if not repaired in time.
- Battery
- Nutrient paste dispenser
- Geothermal generator
- Comms console
- Solar generator
- Auto-turret (will explode in a 3 tile radius if too damaged)
- Research bench
- Plant_pot (needs confirmation)
- Hydroponics table (needs confirmation)
- Chair (needs confirmation)
- Equipment rack (needs confirmation)
- Bed (needs confirmation, questionable cover)
- Sun lamp (needs confirmation, questionable cover)
- Standing lamp (needs confirmation, questionable cover)
Not Cover
To minimize confusion, see this page: Not Cover, for things that don't work as cover and you should stay away from during a fire fight.