Nothing quite shakes up a gameplay experience like adding some mods. With Rimworld, that can be a chore with how vast its options are available. Here are a few prime cuts off the myriad of available options that are sure to perfect your next colony.

15. Rimdeed® - Pawn Recruitment by Chicken Plucker

Ever get tired of the fact that Rimworld only allows you to get new pawns in the grimmest ways? Trading for slaves, kidnapping raiders, or maybe the occasional random event and quest. With Rimdeed, you can just hire and sell pawns through the comms console like any reasonable organization. 

• Build a comms console to purchase applicants to your colony.
• After 1 day, Rimdeed will provide up to 5 (based on what plan you purchased) pawns for you to hire.
• You can also sell your own pawns off, slavery-free!
• Prices for buying applicants are adjustable to your own game difficulty preferences.

Get the mod here.

14. DocWorld by Dr Zhivago

Here’s one for those of us who already have over a hundred or so mods installed. DocWorld feels almost like an essential piece with large modded games as it cleans up the clutter so you don’t get lost in a bloated screen of options. It doesn’t just wrestle back control of your menu, but also includes many patches to have mods run smoothly together. Thanks, Doc!

• Overhauls the architect menu to support numerous mod content.
• Reorganizes furniture tabs based on their function.
• Adds dropdown menu for “stuffed” versions of the same item.
• Custom textures for compatibility.

Get the mod here.

13. Radworld by Declinedkilr, Red Recruit, Taranchk & Sir Lalapyon

Overhauls of Rimworld come in many flavors, but a fallout experience is something hard to pass up. With Radworld, all biomes are irradiated and you can really stretch the realms of your masochistic challenges through a healthy dose of that radiation. Put that gas mask on and scrub yourself clean!

• All vanilla biomes are converted irradiated, making it much more difficult to survive in.
• New biomes that offer better protection against radiation are available.
• New irradiated animals and insects, new factions, new apparels, and even new quests!
• Mutations can develop as pawns get exposed to radiation. 

Get the mod here.

12. Do Your F****** Research by Captain Muscles & Kriptobaam

Research is a slow and steady race in Rimworld, but sometimes the pawns assigned just prefer to mill about rather than work. With this mod, you can now force prioritize the research task without the need to sit around and wait until the researcher feels like it. Not sure why a mod is needed to have this otherwise important option. 

• Research can be prioritized.
• Keep in mind that since it can be prioritized, your pawns can work themselves sick.
• Get that research going!

Get the mod here.

11. LWM's Deep Storage by lilwhitemouse

Storage is an eternal struggle in Rimworld. With all its complex rules in both temperature and cleanliness, often a colony’s complexity is based on its storage rooms. With Deep Storage, you can have containers that allow stacks to stack upon themselves, greatly reducing the space needed to maintain a healthy stockpile come next winter!

• Provides numerous storage furniture.
• Storage furniture can stack stacks!
• Storing items in storage furniture takes slightly more time.
• Mod settings are available for tweaking storages.

Get the mod here.

10. VGP Vegetable Garden

At this point, this mod has become the staple to nearly all curated mod lists out there. Vegetable Garden is a whole slew of content that focuses on food that you can plant and cook. Tons of crops and trees for those with a green thumb itch! There are also a lot of add-on mods that add even more variety for those who yearn to do more.

• Crops! Lots and lots of them.
• New food items and recipes that provide powerful benefits.
• Defensive plants that make it difficult for raiders to traverse.
• More meat substitutes for vegetarian diets.

Get the mod here.

9. Genetic Rim by Sarg Bjornson

Mad scientists rejoice! It is once again time to play God by messing with genetics to create your very own monstrosity. With Genetic Rim, you can extract the essences of various pawns and creatures and fuse them to create an entirely new hybrid. Boomalope elephants, anyone?

• Create hybrid creatures by extracting and mixing genes.
• Build implants produced from mixed genes.
• Evolves existing creatures to a new level.
• Control animals with remote control stations.

Get the mod here.

8. Quarry by Ogliss

Stones and metals are the foundations for any lasting base, but sadly that can be a limited resource based on what biome you land in. Quarry offers a new early stage way of collecting resources straight out of the ground at the cost of labor. Stone chunks, steel, plasteel, and more are waiting just beneath the dirt for you to dig up. 

• Low cost, labor-intensive workstation to provide essential resources
• Quarried resources are automatically set to hauling, saving you time.
• The amount of resources produced is based on mining, which can also be trained at a quarry.

Get the mod here.

7. Simple Slavery by MarkSill

Rimworld is a cruel world and slavers are everywhere. And since you can’t beat’em, there’s an option to join’em. By crafting collars at a smithy table or other similar workstations, you can capture raiders and enemies of similar nature rather than subject them to prison. Slaves move and work much slower, as well as have the habit of trying to escape. However, unlike prisoners, you can control them like any other pawn to do labor. Works great with the Quarry mod!

• Capture hostile pawns to turn them into slaves!
• Slaves will try to escape if unhappy or given the opportunity.
• A slave’s willpower will reduce over time, reducing the chance of escape attempts
• Sell slaves like any other prisoners, or keep them around as cheap labor.
• Be sure to have wardens to nab any that try to leave!

6. Run and Gun by roolo

Says on the tin. Your pawns can now use their ranged weapons while on the move. It comes with a few accuracy penalties but allows for infinitely finer control and tactics when out hunting or going into combat. Keep in mind that enemies can do the same too so it may just spike up the difficulty of raids as a consequence. 

• Pawns are able to use ranged weapons on the move
• Run and gun feature can be toggled for individual pawns
• Weapon types can slow pawns down while running and gunning.
• Enemies can fire back while fleeing, making chases more difficult.

Get the mod here.

5. Trader Ships by AUTOMATIC

How come you have to always build a comm station in order to trade with trade ships from orbit? How come the trade ships won’t come down to you to trade? With this mod, trade ships now land near your colony to trade and have a much larger inventory and wealth that would make sense on a ship of its size. 

• Trade ships will land near the colony by random or in designated spaces.
• Trade ships are wealthier and have greater inventory.
• Trade ships come in various designs and inventory still corresponds with trader type.
• Trade ships may occasionally crash, which lets you loot whatever survived!

Get the mod here.

4. Character Editor by VOID

A mod that allows you to edit nearly every feature of your pawn before you land their drop pods. No longer will you have to hope that the randomizer gives you a reasonable roll before starting a colony. Great for players who are looking to set up specific scenarios for their colony theme! It also comes with options to change pawns mid-playthrough in case there are minor kinks you need to smooth out. 

• Edit body, head, hair, skin color, apparel, gender, name, age, skill, etc.
• This can be used in-game to even heal or save pawns from the brink of death.
• Change factions, race, skills mid-playthrough!

Get the mod here.

3. Dubs Bad Hygiene by Dubwise

This mod adds new needs related to hygiene. From a glance, it seems to just be more busywork as a colony, but within this mod lies a whole system of water management, sewage treatment, central heating and air conditioning. Great for those who enjoy having a more immersive and complex experience.

• Draw water from available sources in order to have working showers and restrooms.
• Clean and satisfied pawns are happier!
• Treat sewage to get a reliable source of chemfuel.
• Manage temperature within your colony with central heating.
• Use water to improve farm plots and the quality of your food.

Get the mod here.

2. Rimefeller by Dubwise

Oh, I do love the smell of chemfuel in the morning! With this mod, stake out potential oil deposits and extract it out of the land to refine into all sorts of useful materials. Beyond just chemfuel, the oil you draw can be processed into a plethora of items that can push your colony to the end game!

• Draw oil from underground to refine into chemfuel.
• Refine oil into plasteel or medicine.
• Create materials such as synthamede, a wonder material that is both cheap and extremely sturdy.
• Produce napalm to really show those raiders what for.

Get the mod here.

1.  Rimatomics by Dubwise

True power lies in that sweet sweet nuclear generator. If you’re looking to power up your whole colony with a single facility, this is your one and only stop. Rimatomics provides a whole new tree of research that lets you tap into nuclear energy, providing a huge surge of energy that can last for years on end. Not just that, but there are also new weapons and home defense that rely specifically on these massive power reserves to dominate the battlefield. 

• Research and construct nuclear power sources to keep more than just the lights on for your colony.
• Create energy weapons that will melt raiders away.
• Tap into microwave emitting turrets that melt and disorientate raiders.
• Super artillery pieces that can rain death to enemies both at home and in other parts of the planet!
• Nuclear bombs!

Get the mod here.

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