One of the best ways to make sure that your colonists survive in RimWorld is to prepare the perfect circumstances for them.
You will have to choose the best location for your purposes, a really useful ideology, and, most importantly, you will need to select which colonists to bring on your playthrough.
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You will have a long list of possible candidates, but you will also have the chance to randomize them to get better colonists. Some players may even use mods to customize pawns however they want and select them for the journey.
The best starting colonists in RimWorld will need to have no health issues, be capable of all tasks, and have at least a burning passion for the most important skills in the game.
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All RimWorld Starting Colonists Stats Explained
To figure out what makes a pawn good in RimWorld, and a suitable choice as a starting colonist, we will need to go through all the possible stats that they can have:
Age
Though age might not seem that important in a sci-fi game where you can reverse age effects, it can be very problematic at the start.
Since old colonists will get age-related diseases and health problems, it might be best to roll again if you get someone with a biological age over 50. Also, children can’t use most skills, so they are also a bad choice at the start.
Colonists with that age will get health problems extremely fast in the playthrough, even if they don’t have them from the start. Cataract, which lowers the pawns’ vision, dementia, and frailty are some of the problems that come with old age.
Of course, age can be combated with the help of technology, but you shouldn’t be able to access such important resources from the start. And, it might be better to help new recruits in RimWorld with such problems rather than your vital starting colonists.
So, the best age for your starting colonists in RimWorld should be somewhere around 17 to 50.
Childhood, Adulthood, and Incapable of
The reason we put all of these together is due to the childhood and adulthood backgrounds of colonists only affect one thing that matters: the “Incapable of” category.
Yes, they also influence some of the skills of the colonists and will help that person keep a stat at a higher level without degradation easier. However, skills can be maintained through work.
One thing you cannot change from a background is a lack of skill. If a pawn is incapable of “dumb labor,” or any other important skill, they should instantly be replaced.
You might sometimes think that you can ignore your scientist/medic not being capable of violence, until your first dangerous raid.
Not being able to do tasks is horrible and this can only be forgiven if the pawn can’t do Artistic or Cooking tasks. Those will usually need to be done by highly skilled individuals, so it might be negligible if one pawn can’t do those jobs.
In general, avoid pawns that are incapable of violence, dumb labor (cleaning and hauling), and social, as these are the most annoying to deal with. As long as your starting colonists in RimWorld are capable of those tasks, they are good to go, no matter their backstory.
Traits
For some RimWorld players, traits are the second most important aspect when choosing a colonist. They might even select them sometimes, even if they have bad skills, due to an amazing trait combination.
In general, you should aim to get colonists that don’t have bad traits. If they don’t have interesting traits, that isn’t necessarily a problem. Traits can often cause more problems than they solve. As long as they aren’t pyromaniacs, you should be able to handle any trait.
However, if you bump into a colonist with two or three of the best traits in RimWorld, you would really miss out on an amazing opportunity.
In general, you should look out for pawns with the Jogger, Quick Sleeper, Iron-willed, or Sanguine traits, as these are incredible and will always help.
Skills
The skills are the most important part when you need to decide which starting colonists are the best in RimWorld. Usually, you should try to form a balanced team with skills that bounce off each other.
Don’t get 3 burning passion Intelligence colonists. It would just be a waste. The exact number for the skills won’t be as important as the existence of passion. Yes, you should be wary if you get a doctor with 2 Medical and burning passion.
However, that doctor can easily level up their skill with enough operations on prisoners and will do a much better job than a 0 passion, level 10 Medical doctor long term.
So, the most important skills that should be present in your starting colonists in RimWorld are the ones listed below, in order of significance:
- Construction
- Plants
- Medical
- Intellectual
- Social
Burning passion in Construction is a must-have for your starting colonists. You can even get two that are good in Construction at the start, as it will be a full-time job.
As long as you aren’t in a desert biome, you will also plant a lot of crops. Since this is also a full-time job, try not to get someone with plants that is also good at something vital, as they won’t have a lot of time for it.
Most players usually forget about the Medical skill when choosing their starting colonists in RimWorld. However, they must have forgotten how it is to lose a pawn to the flu. Since doctors often also get sick and injured, you can aim to get at least two people with the Medical skill.
A lot of RimWorld fans will also suggest getting a pawn with amazing Shooting and one with incredible Melee, but that is not necessary. You should be able to handle most raids at the start without killing machines on your side.
Health
This category might be the simplest to keep an eye out for, as all you want to see here in RimWorld is “no health conditions.”
As long as a colonist has no health conditions, they are good to join the team. You might sometimes be tricked by their health problems since they sound minor.
A simple scar or gunshot wound in the leg will make that pawn slower until you replace that leg with a bionic one.
The most annoying simple wounds are to the eyes, legs, arms, fingers, and toes. These body parts, if damaged, will ruin that pawn’s ability in most of the normal skills in your base.
Though the game won’t specify it, these wounds will have negative effects on the pawn’s move speed, manipulation, and vision. So, a colonist with 78% efficiency for their left leg will move slower, even if it isn’t specified, as it would be for a disease.
Also, try to avoid “aching” wounds, as those will give the pawn constant pain forever. This will keep them in a lower mood all the time and will also increase their chance to faint fast in battle.
So, in general, try to avoid any colonists with health conditions and only accept them if their wound doesn’t lower their move speed, manipulation, or vision.
Relations
The last part of the stats screen for starting colonists will be the Relations category, which won’t even appear for some.
This will tell you their relationship status with other colonists you have created/randomized. Unfortunately, this doesn’t matter at all.
Depending on how you play, a colonist having a family member or lover from the start can be either very nice or annoying. This is purely based on personal preference and shouldn’t really affect your choice before pressing the “Randomize” button again.
The Best Starting Colonists in RimWorld
Here are all the requirements your starting colonists in RimWorld will need to meet to be considered the best:
- Age between 17 to 50.
- No “Incapable of” tasks and skills.
- No low-quality traits. Preferably, at least one high-tier trait.
- No health conditions.
- At least one pawn with passion in Construction.
- At least one pawn with passion in Plants.
- At least two pawns good in Medical. Only one needed with passion.
- At least one pawn with passion in Intellectual.
- At least one pawn good in Social (for trade and recruiting prisoners).
- At least one pawn good in Cooking (to avoid food poisoning).
That’s everything you need to know about the best starting colonists in RimWorld!
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