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Getting Started in RimWorld

By ScotPublished Updated Sources checked

Tactical Quick Answer

Hit the spacebar to pause the moment you land, then plan before you let time run. Zone a roofed stockpile so your supplies stop deteriorating, put everyone in a single barracks instead of individual bedrooms, and lock down food with hunting, wild berries, a cooking fire, and a rice growing zone. Finally, switch the Work tab to Manual Priorities and set Firefight, Patient, and Bed Rest to priority 1 for every colonist.

Welcome to the Rim. This is a story generator masking as a sci-fi colony sim. Your first colony will fail, and that is part of the design. Here is how to keep your next one alive just a little longer.

The Core Loop​

RimWorld is about managing chaos. You start with limited resources, a handful of colonists, and an environment that actively wants you dead. The core loop revolves around:

  1. Securing Basics: Food, shelter, and temperature control.
  2. Assigning Work: Setting up work priorities so the right pawn does the right job.
  3. Expansion: Building workbenches, defenses, and better rooms.
  4. Handling Threats: Surviving raids, disease, and environmental hazards driven by your chosen AI Storyteller.

Day One Priorities​

The moment you land, hit the spacebar to pause. Do not let time run until you have a plan.

1. Zone Your Stockpiles​

Many supplies deteriorate if left outside and unroofed, though not all of them: metals, stone, and minified furniture are immune, and anything on a shelf never deteriorates at all even under open sky. So your day-one steel and stone pile is fine where it is, and it is the organics and manufactured goods that need cover. Create a Dumping Stockpile Zone away from your main living area for chunks and corpses. Create a regular Stockpile Zone near where you plan to build, set it to accept all raw resources, and get a roof over it reasonably soon.

2. Secure Shelter​

Find an existing ruin or build a simple wooden structure. Do not build individual bedrooms yet. A single barracks is fine for the first few nights. Throw down sleeping spots or wooden beds inside the room.

3. Establish a Food Source​

A standard Crashlanded start gives you 50 packaged survival meals, but they run out fast. Other scenarios differ sharply: Lost Tribe lands with pemmican instead and Naked Brutality lands with nothing at all.

  • Check the wildlife tab and hunt passive animals. Alpacas and deer are the textbook targets because neither ever turns on a hunter, though both are biome-restricted and you will not find them in a desert or on ice.
  • Find wild berries and set them to be harvested.
  • Build a campfire or a fueled stove to cook simple meals. Raw food carries a 2% chance of food poisoning per meal, but the reason to cook is the mood hit: eating raw costs 7 mood for a full day, every time.
  • Lay down your first growing zones. Rice is the fastest-growing human food crop and gets you food security early, but it is enormously labor-hungry: rice and corn cost identical work per plant while corn yields nearly four times the food. Switch to corn for your main supply once the colony is stable and you can afford the longer growing cycle.

4. Work Priorities​

Open the Work tab. Switch it to "Manual Priorities" by checking the box in the top left. This gives you a 1 to 4 numbering system instead of simple checkmarks. Set Firefight, Patient, and Bed Rest to priority 1 for everyone who can take them. Pyromaniacs are the exception, since they are incapable of firefighting entirely and the game will not let you assign it. After that, assign roles based on skills. Put your best cook on Cooking priority 1, your best builder on Construction priority 1, and so on.

Early Game Traps​

New players often fall into these specific pitfalls.

  • Building completely out of wood: Wood is fast and cheap, but it burns. A raider with a molotov ruins your entire base if it is entirely wooden, as does a flashstorm on any difficulty from Base Builder upward, since extreme weather events do not fire below that. Upgrade to stone blocks as soon as you research stonecutting.
  • Over-recruiting: Taking on every pawn that crashes in an escape pod seems like a good idea. It is not. Every pawn adds to your colony wealth and to the separate pawn-count term, both of which raise raid strength, and every pawn eats. If a pawn has terrible stats or a trait like Pyromaniac, let them leave. That said, do not overcorrect: pawns also fight, and wealth only becomes worth actively managing at high threat scales.
  • Ignoring Mood: A mental break at the wrong time ends colonies. Build recreation early, make sure your pawns sleep in comfortable beds, and decorate the dining room instead of merely scrubbing it, because dining room mood comes from impressiveness and not cleanliness. A horseshoes pin is the cheapest recreation building, though it needs Medieval tech, so a tribal start builds a hoopstone ring instead.

Frequently Asked Questions​

What should I do first in RimWorld?

Pause with the spacebar the moment you land. Zone your stockpiles under a roof, secure shelter in a ruin or a simple wooden barracks, get a food source running, and set work priorities before you unpause.

What is the best starting crop in RimWorld?

Rice, because it grows fastest and gets you food security early. It is also the most labor-hungry choice: rice and corn cost the same work per plant while corn yields nearly four times as much. Switch to corn once the colony is stable enough to wait out the longer cycle.

Should I build my base out of wood?

Only at the very start. Wood is fast and cheap but burns completely, and a raider with a molotov can take out an entire wooden base. Move to stone blocks as soon as you research stonecutting. Steel is a middle option, burning at 40 percent against wood's 100.

Should I recruit every pawn I can?

No, though do not overcorrect either. Every colonist raises colony wealth and the separate pawn-count term, both of which drive raid strength, and every colonist eats. If a pawn has terrible stats or a trait like Pyromaniac, let them leave. Extra pawns also fight, so this only becomes worth managing carefully at high threat scale.

How do work priorities work in RimWorld?

Open the Work tab and check Manual Priorities in the top left to swap checkmarks for a 1 to 4 numbering system, which is not configurable in vanilla. Set Firefight, Patient, and Bed Rest to 1 for everyone who can take them, noting that pyromaniacs cannot do firefighting at all, then give your best cook Cooking 1 and your best builder Construction 1.

Once you survive your first week, you need to expand your knowledge of the simulation's deeper systems: