Scarlands

Scarlands is a temperate biome in RimWorld added by the Odyssey DLC.

Summary[edit]

Scarlands biomes have multiple unique traits compared to other biomes. All water bodies in Scarlands are toxic, and tox rain can occur, which will cause toxic buildup to exposed pawns. Though they share properties such as temperature, growing season, and rainfall with other temperate biomes, scarlands have a significantly lower amount of wild plants and animals, the latter of which have a 50% chance to spawn with scaria. Additionally, soil is scarce and rich soil does not spawn^[Verify], which when combined with the lack of food sources makes this biome a challenge to settle in.

Players entering Scarlands will be greeted by a large complex of ancient ruins. Most buildings are empty, though some contain treasures, traps, or dormant mechanoids.

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

Flora[edit]

Berry bush (0.02)
Brambles (1)
Bush (0.6)
Dandelions (0.5)
Gray grass (2)
Ripthorn (0.8)
Witchwood tree (0.5)
Snagroot tree (0.4)
Thornvine (8)
Yellow grass (2)

Fauna[edit]

Boomalope (0.4)
Boomrat (0.4)
Panther (0.07)
Pig (0.07)
Raccoon (0.5)
Rat (1)
Bog hound (0.5)
Crow (0.5)
Monitor lizard (0.5)

Additionally, these animals can spawn in coastal maps:

None.

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

Boomalope (0.1)
Boomrat (0.4)
Raccoon (0.5)
Rat (1)
Warg (0.05)
Toxalope (0.4)
Waste rat (0.1)
Monitor lizard (0.5)

Diseases[edit]

Scarlands has a disease MTB of 50 days. The following diseases can occur in a scarlands:

Disease	Commonality
Flu	100
Plague	100
Malaria	100
Gut worms	50
Fibrous mechanites	30
Sensory mechanites	30
Muscle parasites	50
Animal flu	100
Animal plague	100
Organ decay	10

Fish[edit]

Water bodies spawned inside of scarlands do not contain fish.

Analysis[edit]

The scarlands present a unique risk/reward dilemma. The buildings can be used for free shelter to settle and build into from day one, and they can contain valuables like components, steel, and chemfuel scattered throughout. The downside is that much of the growable soil is replaced with a unique ancient megastructure tile that acts like concrete; additionally, there are no natural trees or harvestable plants, and the few animals that exist are often contaminated by scaria. This means that you need to rely on scattered patches of low fertility soil for food. Additionally while the buildings can provide shelter and resources, they also can contain deadly mechanoids and hunter traps that can easily kill or cripple unprepared colonists. And there is also the innate contamination of the scarlands, causing acidic smog every ~200 days that blocks out the sun, causes toxic buildup, and slows plant growth further, as well as toxic water bodies. If the Biotech DLC is active, pollution will also be present. Overall the scarlands can bring unique challenges and rewards compared to other biomes, but it's not recommended unless you have some experience with RimWorld.