Desert

Desert

A very dry area which supports little life. There is very little arable land, and animal life is very sparse. Deserts can be hot, or quite cold.

Base Stats

Type

Biome

Texture on World Map

Allows colonies

Yes

Allows Roads and Rivers

Yes

Animal Density

0.4

Plant Density

0.05

Disease MTB Days

90 days

Movement Difficulty

1^[Note]

Forageability

25%

Wild Plant Regrow Days

35 days

Min Temperature

0 °C (32 °F)

Max Temperature

N/A

Rainfall range

0mm – 600mm

Swampiness range

N/A

Max Fish Population

360

Weather Commonalities

Clear

18

Rain

2

Dry Thunderstorm

1

Rainy Thunderstorm

1

Soft snow

4

Hard snow

4

Gray Pall

1

Sandstorm

1

Desert is a hot and dry biome in RimWorld.

Summary

With so few animals to hunt, growing crops is a priority on one of the few arable patches. The hot temperatures can cause problems for colonists and tamed animals. This biome has patches of soft sand which prevent building, but can be removed with moisture pumps.

If Odyssey is installed, sandstorms will occur in deserts, bothering colonists and creating sand on the ground which slows movement like snow.

In the lists below the number in brackets represents the relative commonality.

Flora

• Agave (0.25)
• Bush (0.25)
• Dandelions (0.5)
• Drago tree (0.45)
• Grass (6)
• Pincushion cactus (1)
• Saguaro cactus (1)
• Gray grass  (5)
• Pebble cactus  (1)
• Reeds  (1)

Fauna

• Boomalope (0.6)
• Cougar (0.07)
• Donkey (0.15)
• Dromedary (0.7)
• Emu (0.6)
• Fennec fox (0.07)
• Gazelle (0.6)
• Guinea pig (0.01)
• Iguana (1.2)
• Ostrich (0.6)
• Armadillo  (0.2)
• Monitor lizard  (0.5)
• Vulture  (0.5)

Additionally, these animals can spawn in coastal maps:

• Hermit crab  (0.1)
• Stone crab  (0.1)

If the map is polluted, then the game may choose to spawn in wild animals from this list instead:

• Iguana (1)
• Megascarab (1)

Diseases

Desert has a disease MTB of 90 days. The following diseases can occur in a Desert:

Disease	Commonality
Flu	100
Plague	80
Gut worms	60
Muscle parasites	60
Fibrous mechanites	30
Sensory mechanites	30
Animal flu	100
Animal plague	80
Organ decay	10

Fish

The table below contains the list of all of the fish that can be caught - as well as where they can be caught.

Fish	Water body	Rarity
Guppy	Freshwater	Common
Tilapia	Freshwater	Uncommon
Bluefish	Saltwater	Common
Tuna	Saltwater	Uncommon

Analysis

Deserts can be difficult to start out in due to having low soil and plant life, as well as temperature extremes depending on the exact tile.

• Food and Growing: Moderate to Difficult Deserts have relatively limited soil and no rich soil, but still have a few large patches of regular soil to grow on. In warm/hot deserts, once the first batch of crops finishes, food should not be a major issue for a mid-size colony. Cold deserts have growing seasons around the same length as boreal forests while not having nearly the same amount of soil or animal life.

• Disease: Easy to Moderate - Disease events are uncommon, although no wild healroot grows there, meaning medicine supplies can run low if there is no grower that can plant healroot.

• Temperature: Moderate to Difficult (normal world settings), or Extreme (hot world temperature) - As the biome's description states, temperatures can range from hot to cold. Some desert tiles have temperate biomes with year-round growing while not being too hot save for heat waves. Hot deserts can cause heatstroke during the summer and are especially dangerous if a heat wave occurs. Cold deserts reach dangerously low temperatures naturally during the winter. In either case, the lack of wood means that passive coolers and campfires are harder to build in an emergency without electricity.
  • If the world temperature is increased, deserts can get even hotter. Note that cooling the world temperature won't result in the same effect, as deserts can be replaced by tundra tiles if cold enough.

• Fires: Easy - There is minimal plant life, so flashstorms are not a concern unless lightning hits your colony directly, and wildfires essentially don't exist. Rain is rare, so if a manhunting boomalope or a raider lights your flammable base on fire, it is unlikely that rain will naturally happen.

• Predators: Easy - Predators are small and sparsely populated.

Overall, deserts are moderate-to-hard difficulty. In hot deserts, while food should not be a concern outside of Naked Brutality, the lack of wood or animals for leather can make temperature dangerous in the early game. Cold deserts are harder as crops can only be grown for a limited time. Once indoor farming and hydroponics basins are established, the overall difficulty will be easier than temperate biomes due to the lack of diseases and a normal amount of minable resources.

Gallery

• 

  A Desert

• 

  Desert's texture on the world map

Version history

• 0.6.532 - Added

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Biomes

Temperate

Temperate forest • Temperate swamp • Scarlands

Hot

Tropical rainforest • Tropical swamp • Arid shrubland • Desert • Extreme desert • Glowforest • Grassland • Lava field

Cold

Boreal forest • Cold bog • Tundra • Ice sheet • Sea ice • Glacial plain • Orbit

Water

Lake • Ocean

Pocket map

Underground • Labyrinth • Metal hell • Undercave • Insect lair