Summary
Choosing a colonist with a decent backstory is surprisingly challenging inRimWorld. The colony sim has lots of stories, but you don’t get to pick and choose. They randomly generate, so you’ll have to wish for some luck or get used to pressing the randomise button until you get something good.
Backstories tend to come with boosts in chosen skills; they can also come with some hindrances. Some may give an increase to a skill while disabling others. Getting a good balance is imperative, especially when you’ve just landed. We’ve gathered the best ones to help you get the best start in your new colony.
Skill Impact
Mining +8
Mining is a necessary skill for making a mountain base, and there are many benefits to settling inside a mountain, mainly because it forces raiders to attack from one angle. The major downside is that it can take a while to dig rooms.
Planetary Miner is a great backstory that massively boosts the mining skill, which can make it much easier to assign someone to dig out rooms quickly. If you’re not settled in a mountain, the skill can still be used later when you’re searching for materials or using the deep drill.
Mining +6
Plants +6
If you want someone good at a couple of things, Landworker is a great backstory; this raises the mining and planting skills, which can be valuable early on.Growing cropsis one of the most important things to get started on quickly, so having a colonist dedicated to the task is crucial.
Mining is only initially helpful if you’re setting up inside a mountain, but the skill can be used later when you’re looking for materials. It’s worth having colonists skilled in more than one area, especially when you don’t have many.
Intellectual +8
The intellectual skill is detrimental throughout your entire RimWorld experience; you’ll need intellect to advance your colony and discover new structures and projects. Since there are so many things to learn, having a dedicated researcher from the beginning is a must.
The Navy Scientist background increases your colonist’s intellectual skill by eight points, so if you can build a research bench early enough, you can start researching to expand your colony quickly. Since researching is a long-term task, ensure your other colonists can keep up with other jobs like growing crops and building.
Social +7
Disables dumb labour and skilled labour
Every colony needs to defend itself, and it won’t be long before enemy factions take an interest in your progress and try to take your possessions for themselves. Having a dedicated soldier who can protect your colony when danger arrives means your other colonists can sleep in peace.
Medieval Lord goes above and beyond with its increase; your colonists can handle a rifle or club, or smooth-talk their way out of trouble and into good deals. The major downside to this backstory is that it disables dumb labour and skilled labour, so your colonists won’t be able to do tasks like hauling, cleaning, building, or growing, along with a few others.
Plants -3
Disables intellectual and cooking
Building is another essential aspect of RimWorld, and whether you’re simply building bedrooms or constructing a technologically advanced structure, a builder is needed. Construction Engineer provides a nice increase in their construction skill, which can be pivotal early on; certain structures require a specific construction level, so it’s good to have a high skill as soon as possible.
Construction Engineer decreases the planting skill and disables intellectual and cooking. While these skills can be worthwhile, other colonists can complete those tasks, even at lower levels.
Shooting +9
Recon Sniper is one of the best backgrounds for a colonist dedicated to fighting. With an additional nine points in shooting, you can rely on these colonists to take out significant threats.
Shooting isn’t just for defending, either. Your resident shooter can hunt animals to provide food for your colony. This can be helpful if you can’t grow crops properly because of the temperature or general climate; overall, in a colony that will always need to defend itself, the shooting skill is a necessity.
Cooking +7
Plants +2
It’s surprising how much your colonists can eat during the day, so a designated cook is required. Preparing meals with a competent cook is critical for maintaining a healthy colony, as low-level cooks will create poor-quality meals that can cause food poisoning and hinder their workflow.
The Royal Cook backstory ensures you have nicely cooked meals from the start. If you manage to build up a stockpile, you’re able to assign the cook to planting duties to maintain the food supply.
Crafting +7
Later in the game, when you’ve unlocked machining tables and fabrication benches, crafting becomes a highly desired skill. A higher crafting skill means your colonist will create high-quality weapons and armour that will last longer and cost more money.
This backstory can help when you need to create weapons for all your colonists; when you need to start building components, which can be hard to come by, the crafting skill becomes essential for fast production. Even if the skill isn’t important early on, you can still assign the colonist to hone their skills on other tasks.
Medicine +7
A good medic is vital for any colony; when you’re defending your home from constant raids and aggressive animals, there are bound to be some bumps and bruises along the way. Having a medic will help your colonists rest easy when the injuries flare up.
There are lots of ways for your colonists to be hurt, and from gunshots and stab wounds to diseases, there’s always something out to get your people. Infantry Medic is one of the best backstories to have, as you’ll be getting your fair share of scrapes when initially settling down, just make sure you’ve got enough medicine on hand.
Social -4
Disables artistic
The Defector backstory is all about healing and killing, which is what RimWorld is all about. Boosts to the shooting and medical skills are great for when you first land, as it means your colonist can take on more than one role.
While this backstory disables the artistic skill, it’s not the end of the world, as the skill allows your colonists to create high-quality artwork, like statues. These can be sold or make rooms more impressive toincrease colony happiness, but they’re not vital to the colony, and you’re better off with an on-field medic to help in your colony’s most pressing times.
