i've always been super interested in dwarf fortress, but alas, could never parse through its dense mechanics and somewhat archaic (but charming!) ascii aesthetics. when i heard that rimworld was a game that was both more accessible, and had a fun 'western space punk' vibe, i decided to give it a try. honestly, really glad i did. it might be my new favorite game i've bought this year.
i went for a temperate forest, just to get a sense of the game. i'm playing with quite a few mods -- mostly qol ones to make life easier. and dual wielding. gotta have dual wielding. after this campaign i want to dabble into some other mods. it's been so far, so good, though not without its challenges. here's how my base looks r/n:
i had an arctic wolf, zino, who didn't survive the winter + toxic fallout wombo combo. i can't bear to destroy her bed, though. that was a rough one. had to subsist on insect meat and insect jelly to live. that weird entrance with rice plants in it is part of my desperate efforts to survive. it didn't work. i'm thinking of turning it into a comms center. hopefully another toxic fallout doesn't hit winter again, because otherwise, we should be able to subsist easily on the wildlife. i'm considering making a hydroponics center just in case. but i think i'd like to make a proper comms center, a crematorium, and a hospital room first.
things have been good since winter, however. power has been something of an issue, but there's a nearby lake, so i'm thinking of making a watermill generator. i might have to cave and make a second battery, though. i'm a little afraid of that because if they catch on fire, shit gets bad real fast.
the yaks keep starving when i don't give them free reign of the pantry-- fat chance-- so i'm trying to whip up some haygrass for them. for some reason the boomalope never has this issue. go figure.
a game like this is only as good as its stories and characters, however, and i manage to get a very color cast of characters for the ride.
blackjack wakefield: a space pirate searching for the assassin that killed his parents and left him abandoned-- seriously jesus i wasn't expecting the bios to be this involved-- and the de facto leader of the group. his shooting, social, and medical (???) are pretty off the charts, so he's essential to home camp. are dual autopistols the most efficient thing he could do? no. is it cool? hell yeah. recently i've discovered that he's something of a unrepentant lady killer, even though he has a wife. that's also at the base.
gecko decktar: oh, boy. this guy. he escaped a mysterious plague as a child, and instead of being traumatized, decided that science is way past cool. he's also essential to the team, with a whopping 19 in science and growing, and his hard worker trait, with his help i utterly breezed through researching microelectrics early. unfortunately, he's also a little bit of a psychopath, with a bit of a knife obsession, and has a tendency to get into fights with anyone that's not his wife or sister, especially--
gleb tate: a wilting, lazy artist who's 'too smart' for hard labor. at first i thought i was making a mistake picking him up. with his double passion in cooking, though, he proved to be an assert. when he's not keeping everyone alive, he makes art of excellent or masterwork quality that sells like hotcakes. him and gecko have some weird frenemy thing going on, i can never tell if they're pals or worst rivals.
zoya decktar: gecko's wife, a machinist, who crash landed nearby, evidentially from a rival faction. don't ask me how that works. zoya was a tough nut to crack, despite the fact that she was happy to see her husband again and blatantly wanted to sleep with him. eventually though, she caved, and now makes most of the camp's weapons and machinery. the fighting has gone drastically down with her around, leading me to believe she's the rock in gecko's life. gleb is trying to persue her, because i guess he has a death wish, lmao.
priscilla wakefield: blackjack's wife and a tough as nails space miner. literally just showed up one day and made herself at home. just the kind of person she is. she's taken up the construction and mining parts of the operation with gusto. there's a nearby gold and jade mine on the map, so she + gleb and have really been raking in the silver. unfortunately, she's also heavily scarred, and not the lady she used to be, which leads us to...
minla decktar: gecko's sister who crash landed nearby. nursed back to life. whatever that plague was, evidently it put minla into a coma for years. unfortunately, this means she's not very skilled at... anything. but she's extremely passionate, not to mention kind, and seems more willing to help out than the other pawns, so i kept her around to see her potential grow. she is, however, stunningly beautiful, which has led to a heap load of trouble.
maisie wakefield: recently it has been discovered that blackjack's mother is not dead, but in fact still very much alive, as a slave on this very planet. will they ever find her? find out next, on rimworld z?
i have even more stories beyond that, but it just goes to show the great fun of these games -- creating your own narrative out of thin air. i think, after playing this game, i might give dwarf fortress another try. i think i understand the mechanics of a game like this far, far, far better now than i did before.
i don't want to discount rimworld as a second rate, more accessible dwarf fortress, however. it's a wonderful game on its own. the ost alone is worth the price of admission -- and you can buy it on steam! i'd highly recommend it.
EDIT: ah, shoot. my bad. can a mod move this over to gaming side, please? thank you!
i went for a temperate forest, just to get a sense of the game. i'm playing with quite a few mods -- mostly qol ones to make life easier. and dual wielding. gotta have dual wielding. after this campaign i want to dabble into some other mods. it's been so far, so good, though not without its challenges. here's how my base looks r/n:
i had an arctic wolf, zino, who didn't survive the winter + toxic fallout wombo combo. i can't bear to destroy her bed, though. that was a rough one. had to subsist on insect meat and insect jelly to live. that weird entrance with rice plants in it is part of my desperate efforts to survive. it didn't work. i'm thinking of turning it into a comms center. hopefully another toxic fallout doesn't hit winter again, because otherwise, we should be able to subsist easily on the wildlife. i'm considering making a hydroponics center just in case. but i think i'd like to make a proper comms center, a crematorium, and a hospital room first.
things have been good since winter, however. power has been something of an issue, but there's a nearby lake, so i'm thinking of making a watermill generator. i might have to cave and make a second battery, though. i'm a little afraid of that because if they catch on fire, shit gets bad real fast.
the yaks keep starving when i don't give them free reign of the pantry-- fat chance-- so i'm trying to whip up some haygrass for them. for some reason the boomalope never has this issue. go figure.
a game like this is only as good as its stories and characters, however, and i manage to get a very color cast of characters for the ride.
blackjack wakefield: a space pirate searching for the assassin that killed his parents and left him abandoned-- seriously jesus i wasn't expecting the bios to be this involved-- and the de facto leader of the group. his shooting, social, and medical (???) are pretty off the charts, so he's essential to home camp. are dual autopistols the most efficient thing he could do? no. is it cool? hell yeah. recently i've discovered that he's something of a unrepentant lady killer, even though he has a wife. that's also at the base.
gecko decktar: oh, boy. this guy. he escaped a mysterious plague as a child, and instead of being traumatized, decided that science is way past cool. he's also essential to the team, with a whopping 19 in science and growing, and his hard worker trait, with his help i utterly breezed through researching microelectrics early. unfortunately, he's also a little bit of a psychopath, with a bit of a knife obsession, and has a tendency to get into fights with anyone that's not his wife or sister, especially--
gleb tate: a wilting, lazy artist who's 'too smart' for hard labor. at first i thought i was making a mistake picking him up. with his double passion in cooking, though, he proved to be an assert. when he's not keeping everyone alive, he makes art of excellent or masterwork quality that sells like hotcakes. him and gecko have some weird frenemy thing going on, i can never tell if they're pals or worst rivals.
zoya decktar: gecko's wife, a machinist, who crash landed nearby, evidentially from a rival faction. don't ask me how that works. zoya was a tough nut to crack, despite the fact that she was happy to see her husband again and blatantly wanted to sleep with him. eventually though, she caved, and now makes most of the camp's weapons and machinery. the fighting has gone drastically down with her around, leading me to believe she's the rock in gecko's life. gleb is trying to persue her, because i guess he has a death wish, lmao.
priscilla wakefield: blackjack's wife and a tough as nails space miner. literally just showed up one day and made herself at home. just the kind of person she is. she's taken up the construction and mining parts of the operation with gusto. there's a nearby gold and jade mine on the map, so she + gleb and have really been raking in the silver. unfortunately, she's also heavily scarred, and not the lady she used to be, which leads us to...
minla decktar: gecko's sister who crash landed nearby. nursed back to life. whatever that plague was, evidently it put minla into a coma for years. unfortunately, this means she's not very skilled at... anything. but she's extremely passionate, not to mention kind, and seems more willing to help out than the other pawns, so i kept her around to see her potential grow. she is, however, stunningly beautiful, which has led to a heap load of trouble.
maisie wakefield: recently it has been discovered that blackjack's mother is not dead, but in fact still very much alive, as a slave on this very planet. will they ever find her? find out next, on rimworld z?
i have even more stories beyond that, but it just goes to show the great fun of these games -- creating your own narrative out of thin air. i think, after playing this game, i might give dwarf fortress another try. i think i understand the mechanics of a game like this far, far, far better now than i did before.
i don't want to discount rimworld as a second rate, more accessible dwarf fortress, however. it's a wonderful game on its own. the ost alone is worth the price of admission -- and you can buy it on steam! i'd highly recommend it.
EDIT: ah, shoot. my bad. can a mod move this over to gaming side, please? thank you!
