Colonist
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Colonists are the living inhabitants of each RimWorld colony. Each colonist has specific skills, positive and negative traits, 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 is the only information that does not alter a colonist. The age can cause Cataracts, a bad back, and Frailty. Traits can cause mood disruption, psychic resistance, increase in skills, and so on.
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.
For a comprehensive list of backstories, see here
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. Upon generation of a new colony, starting characters will generally be outfitted with synthread t-shirts and pants.
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.
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.
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.
Thoughts
The Thoughts tab shows whatever your colonist is thinking, whether good or bad. These thoughts can increase or decrease mood.
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.
- Food - the need for food.
- Beauty - the need for a desirable place to live.
- Space - the need for space to move (natural claustrophobia).
- Comfort - the need for comfortable places to sleep, eat and relax.
The Needs tab also shows the current effectiveness of the colonist, and also whatever filth they are carrying around with them (dirt, sand, ect.)