This RimWorld beginner guide starts with a simple rule: research must serve survival before ambitious late-game plans. The common mistake is building too wide, choosing a tempting technology, then finding out too late that the colony has no food buffer, mood control or raid answer.
Key points
- RimWorld is available on PC through its official Steam page.
- The game is developed and published by Ludeon Studios, whose official site centralizes RimWorld and its expansions.
- A stable start depends first on survival needs: food, shelter, mood, defense and power.
- Research choices should follow the colony’s immediate problems instead of a fixed universal order.
This guide focuses on a classic PC start with three colonists, a temperate map and a reasonable difficulty setting. The goal is practical: secure food, organize work, build a useful lab and choose early research that keeps the colony alive.
RimWorld Beginner Guide: Key Takeaways
- Build small first: barracks, storage, kitchen and workshop before private bedrooms.
- Secure food before research: rice for emergencies, corn or potatoes for longer stockpiles.
- Give one colonist a high research priority once vital tasks are covered.
- Choose research that solves immediate problems: batteries, cooling, crafting, weapons or power.
- Prepare simple defenses before expanding: corridors, barricades, traps and firing positions.
- Protect mood through basic needs: meals, sleep, beauty, temperature and clothing.
Pick a Start That Will Not Collapse
A good RimWorld start begins before the first wall goes up. Choose a temperate biome while learning. It gives longer growing seasons, available wood, readable wildlife and fewer extreme survival checks.
For colonists, aim for a complementary team instead of one perfect pawn. You want someone decent at construction, someone who can grow crops, someone who can handle medicine and at least one pawn with acceptable combat skill.
- Pick a site near fertile soil, mountain cover or reusable ruins.
- Place roofed storage early so food and components do not deteriorate outside.
- Build a clean barracks before chasing individual bedrooms.
- Plan a simple kitchen, separated from butchering when possible.
- Place a table and chairs on day one.
Food First: Secure Meals Before Pretty Buildings
Food is the first real win condition. While your stockpile is falling, everything else is secondary. Rice grows quickly and saves the opening weeks. Corn gives strong yields later. Potatoes perform better on weaker soil.
The safest method is to mix crops. A small rice field covers emergencies. A larger corn field prepares the next phase. A few healroot plants help with injuries.
| Priority | Choice | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency | Rice | Fast growth prevents early starvation. |
| Stockpile | Corn | High yield if the growing season is long enough. |
| Poor soil | Potatoes | More reliable on less fertile ground. |
| Health | Healroot | Reduces dependence on starting medicine. |
Add a freezer once power is stable. Without a freezer, cook only a few days of meals and keep ingredients raw when possible.
Mood: Remove Easy Penalties Before Chasing Luxury
In RimWorld, a colony often dies to a mental break before it dies to a raid. Basic needs matter more than an early luxury room. Start by removing simple penalties: darkness, filth, sleeping outside, eating without a table, extreme temperature and worn clothing.
A decent barracks is enough early if it is clean, lit and not cramped. A shared room with a table, chairs and recreation covers a lot of mood value for a low cost.
- Check the Needs tab whenever a pawn drops into low mood.
- Set schedules with at least one recreation block per day.
- Keep corpses and waste away from living spaces.
- Replace badly worn clothing once you have textiles.
- Do not recruit faster than your colony can feed everyone.
RimWorld Beginner Research Order: Survive First
RimWorld beginner research should answer your current problems. If you lack reliable power, batteries matter more than flashy advanced tech. If raids are dangerous, weapon crafting, turrets or machining can be more urgent than comfort.
Build a simple research bench once the barracks, kitchen and fields are underway. Put it in a lit room near the core base, then assign a pawn with high research priority.
| Situation | Research priority | Expected result |
|---|---|---|
| Unstable power | Batteries | Store solar or wind power. |
| Heat wave or cold snap | Temperature control as needed | Protect food, sleep and health. |
| Risky raids | Weapon crafting or turrets | Improve defense without waiting for loot. |
| Component pressure | Machining later | Prepare repairs and advanced production. |
| Stable colony | Microelectronics | Unlock orbital trade and stronger research paths. |
Keep one rule: a technology should unlock something you can build soon. There is little value in chasing expensive equipment without steel, components or labor.
Defense: Win Early Raids Without Building a Fortress
Starter defense should channel enemies and protect shooters. You do not need a massive killbox during the first week. You need firing lanes, safe corners, sensible traps and colonists who can retreat.
Use walls to force raiders through readable angles. Place sandbags or barricades for your shooters, but avoid giving the same cover to enemies.
- Identify the most likely approach to your bedrooms and stockpile.
- Close secondary openings with walls or doors.
- Create an approach corridor with spaced traps.
- Put shooters behind barricades, with a nearby door for retreat.
- Keep a melee pawn or animal ready to block an enemy who reaches the line.
- After each raid, rebuild traps before starting large projects.
Work Priorities: Stop Everyone From Doing Everything Badly
Work priorities decide whether your colony moves or stalls. Enable manual priorities and give pawns clear roles. The best grower plants before hauling stone chunks. The best builder finishes walls before cleaning a room that is already acceptable.
A beginner colony runs better with three profiles. One pawn handles building and repairs. One handles growing, harvesting and cooking. One researches, doctors and helps with urgent hauling.
| Role | High priorities | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Builder | Construction, repair, light mining | Sending them away during fires or raids. |
| Grower-cook | Growing, harvesting, cooking | Cooking in a dirty room or without stable supplies. |
| Researcher-doctor | Medicine, research, urgent hauling | Letting them ignore patients to finish a tech. |
Mistakes to Fix Before the Second Season
The second season exposes weak opening choices. If your base is too large, walking time eats the day. If storage is outside, resources deteriorate. If defense depends on one armed colonist, a single injury can bring the colony down.
Before expanding, run a quick audit. Do you have enough meals for several days? Medicine? A clean room? Working weapons? A plan for heat or cold? Research that solves a real problem?
- Do not hunt dangerous large animals without a retreat plan.
- Do not store components outside: they are too valuable.
- Do not recruit faster than your food production can handle.
- Do not leave batteries in the rain.
- Do not mix a dirty kitchen, butchery and constant foot traffic.
- Do not spend all your steel on walls while power and weapons are waiting.
To track official updates, the Steam page lists availability and expansions. The Ludeon Studios site centralizes the game and its content. On jeu.video, you can also follow latest news, gaming articles and video game updates.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I research first in RimWorld?Pick based on the immediate danger: batteries for power, cooling for food and health, or defense tech if raids are risky.
Rice is best for emergency food, corn is better for larger stockpiles, and potatoes are safer on poor soil.
Keep several days of meals plus raw ingredients at minimum. On cold maps, build a larger reserve before fall ends.
No. A clean, lit barracks is enough early. Private rooms should come after food, defense and storage are stable.
Remove easy penalties first: eating without a table, filth, darkness, sleeping outside, extreme temperature and visible corpses.
An approach corridor, a few traps, barricades for shooters and a retreat door are usually enough before heavier raids arrive.
Start it once food, power and defense are already stable. It unlocks strong options, but it is too slow if essentials are missing.
Use the official site, the Steam page and the Ludeon blog.
Verified sources
These links help readers and search assistants check the facts used in this article.
