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Combat & Defense

Peace is a temporary state in RimWorld. The storyteller calculates your colony's wealth and throws increasingly difficult raids, mechanoid clusters, and insect infestations at you. If your defenses fail, the colony dies.

Defensive Structures​

You cannot defend a sprawling, open base in the mid-to-late game. You need to control where the enemy attacks.

The Perimeter Wall​

Enclose your entire colony in a double-thick stone wall. Granite is the best choice for its high hit points. Leave one or two openings in this wall. AI raiders prefer pathing through an open door rather than breaking down a wall. This funnels them exactly where you want them.

The Killbox​

The killbox is a structured entryway designed to strip the enemy of their numbers advantage.

  1. The Funnel: Create a long, winding tunnel leading into your base. Fill it with sandbags or barricades spaced one tile apart to slow enemy movement.
  2. The Firing Line: At the end of the tunnel, open into a wide courtyard. Build a line of barricades for your pawns to stand behind.
  3. Turret Placement: Place automated turrets on the flanks. Make sure they have clear lines of sight.

When a raid triggers, draft your pawns, place them on the firing line, and let the enemy file into the killbox one by one.

warning

Killboxes do not work against drop-pod raids (which land directly inside your base) or sappers (who mine through your walls). Always keep internal choke points inside your base corridors to fight off these threats.

Weapon Loadouts​

Equip your pawns based on their shooting and melee skills.

  • Low Shooting Skill (1-5): Give them chain shotguns, heavy SMGs, or miniguns. Miniguns use a "forced miss radius" that acts as area suppression, while heavy SMGs provide high burst counts that guarantee some hits despite low accuracy.
  • High Shooting Skill (10+): Give them sniper rifles, assault rifles, or charge lances. They will reliably pick off dangerous targets like rocketeers before they get in range.
  • Melee Pawns: Equip them with shield belts to block incoming ranged fire, and arm them with plasteel longswords or uranium maces. Use them to block doorways and intercept enemies who breach your firing line.

Managing Threats​

Different enemies require different tactics.

Human Raiders​

They break and flee when you kill or down about half of their numbers. Focus fire on enemies carrying doomsday rocket launchers or triple rocket launchers immediately. A single rocket can wipe your entire firing line.

Mechanoids​

Mechanoids do not feel pain, do not flee, and have heavy armor.

  • Scythers: Deadly in melee. Do not engage them in melee combat unless you are in heavy marine armor. Gun them down before they close the distance or use EMPs.
  • Centipedes: Massive tanks with heavy weapons and immense sharp armor. Use EMP launchers or grenades to stun them, then destroy them using uranium maces for blunt force trauma or concentrated plasteel longsword attacks.

Insect Infestations​

Insects spawn randomly under overhead mountain roofs. They multiply quickly and destroy base infrastructure.

  • Choke Points: Do not fight them in the open. Fall back to a single-tile doorway. Put three heavily armored melee pawns immediately behind the door, and stack your shotgunners behind them. The insects have to fight your three melee pawns one at a time.