Colonist

Colonists are the new people of each RimWorld colony. Each colonist has specific skills, limitations set and a character background. In general, colonists are every human except for raiders/travelers/prisoners. The colonists come in various outfits based on their background, which can be seen by looking at the 'Character' tab in game.

Creation

Main Article: Characters

Upon creating a new colony, a screen where 3 colonists can be randomized individually is shown. Each of the colonists has a name, an age, a backstory, limitations, traits, and skills. The name, age, and traits all seem to not have any effect on the colonist.

Typical character creation screen

Backstory

Each colonist will have two parts to their backstory: childhood and adulthood. Each trait has a small story to go along with it, with the name of the colonist filled in for each story. Each different backstory has different effects on the colonist such as: increasing stats, decreasing stats, and disallowing certain tasks. Such information is important to consider when creating the first three colonists for the new colony, as future colonists can sometimes be hard to come by.

ExpandChildhood traits
Medieval Lordling -1 Construction -1 Growing -1 Mining +4 Social	Urbworld urchin +2 Shooting +4 Melee	Midworld nerd +4 Research -3 Social	Vatgrown soldier +4 Shooting +4 Melee -4 Social Warden disabled Doctor disabled	Medieval slave +2 Construction +2 Growing -3 Research +2 Mining
Frightened Child +3 Cooking +3 Medicine Firefighting Disabled	Shelter Child -2 Construction +3 Research -2 Mining +2 Social +3 Medicine	Caveworld Tunneler +1 Construction +6 Mining -2 Shooting Researching Disabled Crafting Disabled	History Student +2 Social +2 Artistic +2 Crafting	Trader's Child -2 Construction -1 Growing +1 Social +1 Crafting
Son of a Huntress +2 Shooting +2 Melee +2 Cooking +1 Medicine +1 Crafting Researching Disabled	Coma Child -2 Construction -2 Mining +5 Social	Scout +1 Construction +3 Shooting +2 Crafting Researching Disabled Art Disabled	Caveworld Tender +4 Growing +2 Mining -3 Shooting	Farm Boy +2 Growing +3 Mining +4 Melee -3 Social -2 Cooking
Feral Child +2 Growing +4 Melee +1 Crafting Researching Disabled Warden Disabled	Mechanoid Nerd +2 Construction +3 Research -2 Social +2 Crafting	Sickly Child -2 Construction +4 Research -2 Melee -2 Social +5 Medicine	Student Socialite +6 Social Cleaning Disabled Hauling Disabled Art Disabled Crafting Disabled Plant Cutting Disabled Mining Disabled Growing Disabled Repairing Disabled Constructing Disabled Cooking Disabled Doctoring Disabled	Pampered +2 Research -3 Melee +3 Social +3 Medicine Cooking Disabled
Student Engineer +2 Construction +4 Research -2 Mining -2 Cooking -2 Artistic +4 Crafting Cleaning Disabled Hauling Disabled Plant Cutting Disabled	Aspiring Pop Idol -2 Mining -4 Shooting -4 Melee +4 Social +4 Artistic Cleaning Disabled Hauling Disabled Plant Cutting Disabled Mining Disabled Growing Disabled	Amateur Engineer +2 Construction +2 Research +1 Mining +1 Shooting Cleaning Disabled Plant Cutting Disabled Growing Disabled	Vatgrown Medic +3 Shooting +3 Medicine Art Disabled Crafting Disabled Cooking Disabled Warden Disabled	Disciplined Farmer +2 Construction +3 Growing -1 Research +2 Mining Cooking Disabled Warden Disabled
Street Child +3 Social	Rebel Slave +1 Construction +1 Growing -2 Research +2 Shooting +2 Social +2 Crafting Art Disabled Mining Disabled	Noble Ward +4 Research -1 Shooting -2 Melee +3 Social Cleaning Disabled Hauling Disabled Plant Cutting Disabled Mining Disabled Growing Disabled Fire Fighting Disabled	Core Dilettante +2 Research +2 Social +2 Artistic Cleaning Disabled Hauling Disabled Plant Cutting Disabled Hunting Disabled	VR Addict +2 Research +1 Shooting +1 Melee +1 Artistic +1 Crafting Warden Disabled
Wild Child +4 Shooting +6 Melee -2 Social -3 Cooking Researching Disabled Cleaning Disabled Art Disabled Doctoring Disabled	Urbworld Hooligan +2 Shooting +3 Melee -3 Cooking Plant Cutting Disabled Growing Disabled	Urbworld Criminal +2 Shooting +3 Melee +1 Medicine	Fire-Scarred Child +1 Mining +1 Melee -2 Cooking Cooking Disabled Fire Fighting Disabled	Awkward Nerd +5 Research -2 Melee -2 Social +4 Crafting Fire Fighting Disabled
Hillbilly Prodigy +2 Shooting +2 Melee -2 Social +2 Medicine Cleaning Disabled Art Disabled Warden Disabled	Military Child +2 Construction +3 Shooting +1 Melee +2 Medicine -3 Artistic	Construction Grunt +4 Construction +1 Social +2 Crafting Cleaning Disabled Plant Cutting Disabled Growing Disabled	Farmer Boy +1 Construction +4 Growing +1 Mining -3 Social +2 Crafting Warden Disabled Doctoring Disabled Fire Fighting Disabled	Test Subject +2 Research +2 Melee +1 Cooking Plant Cutting Disabled Mining Disabled Growing Disabled Warden Disabled
Stable Boy +2 Mining +2 Melee -2 Social +2 Artistic +1 Crafting Warden Disabled	Cat Herder +2 Social +3 Cooking Cleaning Disabled Hauling Disabled	Shunned Girl +2 Shooting -2 Social	Vatgrown Assassin +2 Construction +4 Shooting +1 Melee Art Disabled Plant Cutting Disabled Growing Disabled Cooking Disabled Doctoring Disabled	Officer Cadet +1 Growing -3 Research +3 Shooting +3 Melee +1 Social +1 Medicine -3 Artistic Researching Disabled Art Disabled

ExpandAdulthood traits

Playing

The game starts of with three colonists being dropped in on escape/transfer pods (as can be somewhat seen on the right) on the map. This is how the majority of colonists are introduced onto the map, although some will also walk into the map from the border. Colonists have a wide variety of outfits based on their job, which is determined by their backstory. In general the less manual-oriented colonists will have lab coats on, while the more labor-intensive colonists will wear a solid color.

Equipment

Main Article: Weapons

Colonists can be equipped with various items which are shown on their information panel while individually selected. They can only be equipped with one item at a time, and their skill with that item is determined by their skill with Shooting. An example of this can be seen below.

File:ColonistEquipped.png

Entrepreneur colonist equipped with a pistol

Overview

The overview screen allows the setting of what tasks each colonist is allowed to perform. Colonists will have a natural aptitude at a task, and have no check-boxes for tasks they are unable to perform. With the default prioritization, the priority of the tasks is preset, and can't be changed. An example of this can be seen below.

File:ColonistOverview.png

With default prioritization

As of build 243, one can prioritize a colonist's actions manually. To do this, one goes to the Overview menu, and checks the Manual Priorities box in the upper left-hand corner. The colonist has the numbers 1-4 in each check-box available, with 1 being the highest priority. If two or more tasks have the same prioritization number, then the colonist will do the task on the left of the menu first.

With manual prioritization selected

Thoughts

The Thoughts tab shows whatever your colonist is thinking, whether good or bad. These thoughts can increase or decrease happiness, increase or decrease fear, or sometimes do a mixture of the two.

For a more detailed list of thoughts, click here

Needs

Colonists have basic needs that, if not met or if met beyond expectations, affect their Thoughts.

The needs, both shown and not shown in the Needs tab, are:

Rest - the need for sleep.
Saturation - the need for food.
Beauty - the need for a desirable place to live.
Clearance - the need for space to move (natural claustrophobia).

The Needs tab also shows the current effectiveness of the colonist, and also whatever filth they are carrying around with them (dirt, sand, ect.)