Sea ice

Sea ice is a cold biome in RimWorld.

Summary[edit]

Sea Ice maps do not have geothermal vents or ruins (except in ancient complex sites). Deep drills cannot dig up stone chunks and moisture pumps will only generate more ice, although archean trees can still convert ice into fertile soil. You will need to do hunting, trading and cannibalism until you get a heater, a sun lamp and a hydroponics basin. It is worth mentioning that Sea Ice was designed to not allow colony building, only to allow traveling in the area, even though it is possible.

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

Flora[edit]

None.

Fauna[edit]

Arctic fox (0.1)
Arctic wolf (0.1)
Muffalo (0.1)
Polar bear (0.1)
Snowhare (2)

Additionally, these animals can spawn in coastal maps:

Penguin (0.1)
Walrus (0.1)

If the map is polluted, then no wild animal will spawn.

Diseases[edit]

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

Disease	Commonality
Flu	100
Plague	80
Fibrous mechanites	30
Sensory mechanites	30
Animal flu	100
Animal plague	80
Organ decay	10

Fish[edit]

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
Salmon	Freshwater	Common
Frostfish	Freshwater	Uncommon
Salmon	Saltwater	Common
Cod	Saltwater	Common
Dogfish	Saltwater	Uncommon

Analysis[edit]

Food[edit]

Human meat, from both raiders and would-be colonists, is a surprisingly consistent source of food in the early game, as the storyteller will send raids and events at the normal frequency. If there is only one colonist, the storyteller will prefer to generate colonist recruitment events like transport pod crashes due to their population intent. This makes solo colonist cannibalism feasible for a long time, especially if electric cooking is available. Once the colony is developed to the point that mechanoids appear, cannibalism is less reliable as mechs can't be eaten.

Fishing is the other consistent source of food accessible in the early game, although it requires research if not starting as a New Tribe. Fishing in a heated area is possible year-round, by creating an enclosed room with a body of water inside it. This can be done by enclosing a lake, or by using bridges to create a room on top of the lake. If colonists have enough cold resistance to survive staying outside in the winter, fishing outside with seawater is also possible.

Animals are infrequent, but a snowhare is typically generated in each new sea ice map, and bigger animals can wander in. Trading can be used, but the sea ice lacks ways to make money, so this can only be relied upon so much.

Once a hydroponics farm is established, food is no longer an issue so long as the farm remains operational.

Temperature[edit]

In Crashlanded (or any similarly advanced scenario), heaters can address the temperature issue quickly if power can be sustained. Warm clothing should still be obtained for when the power goes out. For Lost Tribes, campfires will need to be used, burning the limited supply of wood, until sufficiently warm clothing is found to survive the cold.

Pawns will typically come with parkas and other warm clothing, and with enough clothing and a not-too-cold tile, it is possible to survive without heating. Xenotypes can further improve the minimum comfortable temperature.

Other challenges[edit]

If a polar bear or another predator spawns, it will likely start hunting colonists once it gets hungry. Avoid getting eaten by staying inside.

Resources are hard to acquire, with trading being one of the main ways to get building materials, metals, and components. It is easier to start closer to a neutral settlement, but caravans and comms console (once researched) can come in handy. An electric smelter is also very useful for harvesting steel, and meteorites can spawn over time. In the late game, a long-range mineral scanner or a trading network will work for getting mass resources.

Under default world settings, sea ice will generate near the poles, where summers are bright and winters are dark for ~24 hours. This means that solar generators are less useful as they'll be practically be off for a long time. However, the world temperature can be decreased so sea ice generates closer to the equator, where this no longer applies.

Once the colony is big enough that mechanoid raids can spawn, expect to fight mechs more often, since human raids will not generate if mechs can spawn and it is below -40 °C (-40 °F). Especially cold sea ice tiles will only get mech raids, while warmer tiles can get human raids during the spring or summer. This also means that cannibalism cannot be solely relied upon.

Gallery[edit]

A Sea Ice
Sea Ice's texture on the world map

Version history[edit]

0.11.877 - Added

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