Rimworld - Colony 1: Part 4 - Blight

Current Objectives:

• Finish building the new stone structure: This will be key to do before winter hits, as I am starting to doubt I'll have enough time to make the parkas before the temperatures drop. We'll have to see, though; anything is possible in Rimworld.

• Fortify the Colony: While stonewalls would be ideal, I don't have nearly enough stone to pull that off just yet, so I'll likely throw up wooden palisades. Enough to funnel basic enemies into firing lines and stop them beelining for stuff I want to protect.

• More Colonists: I know I am likely at the mercy of the AI director for that and just RNG in general. Sure, capturing wounded raiders is usually the way people do it, but every raider I've had so far died instantly rather than being downed.

• Resources: Specifically, steel and components, there are several mineable nodes around the area, yet I have a sneaking suspicion they will not be enough to build what I need. Just means I'll need to find a way to make them myself or trade for them, neither one feels like its happening anytime soon.

Day 16

During the night, Ara tended to Hermine, who had contracted the flu; luckily, it wasn't winter, or the cold weather might've made it worse for her. However, she would be the one building the new structure, including the likely needed heaters to keep it warm when the snow came.

Hermine's skill at building was steadily increasing, ensuring that very few mistakes were being made constructing the walls of their new abode. Though being the only one really competent at construction work made it rather slow going despite her abilities. More food was harvested by Ara, making their modest surplus into a true stockpile capable of getting them through the winter. Bowman still felt like hunting some more meat would likely help, just in case the corn didn't finish growing before the ice stopped any farming. Ara was reasonably confident it would be ready before the temperature dropped, even if it did seem like it was going to be a close call.

Despite her best efforts to power through, Hermine had to retreat into bed to rest after constructing what she could before her flu halted her work. Ara and Bowman took turns researching tree sowing, preparing meals and checking on Hermine, who, to her credit, continued to keep working in between bouts of feeling ill.

Day 17

The plan seemed solid and was only held back by the fact that Hermine was the only competent builder among them, meaning that they were a long way from their new home being ready. Beds, chairs, tables, various workbenches, lighting, heating and likely a slew of other things needed to be built. More people would be required sooner rather than later, with food being less of an issue now.

Hermine's flu genuinely slowed down construction to a crawl as she routinely needed to stop and rest or have Ara treat her as best she could with their limited medical supplies. Though progress was still being made steadily throughout the day. Even if the majority of the work would be the interior and furniture required.

They opted for wooden doors despite them being less durable in case of an attack, the idea of them lugging open a stone door every morning felt like needlessly making things harder when they had far better ways to consider defending themselves.

Fox Note: Wooden doors generally open faster than stone doors, less of an issue with auto-doors, but that is a long way off and assuming this colony even survives that long. I'm pretty sure the AI director isn't going to so much as throw a wrench into the works as a Molotov into the kitchen.

Day 18

Things seemed to be going well, everything was quiet, there were no raids and no unusual events as the 18th day started, beyond a squirrel deciding to be Hermine's friend. Construction continued at a pace, and given their abundance of food, Bowman opted to ensure they had more meals ready to eat rather than simply keeping a stockpile of raw food.

By the late afternoon, the first sections of roof were being added to the new building, and many of the doors had been fitted, meaning Hermine was making good progress in ensuring they'd be rehomed by the winter. There were other issues to deal with, such as heating and ventilation, though Hermine was opting to wait until she'd finished before knocking walls out for vents and heaters.

Some more traders from the Sebo Accord passed through as well, though hopefully, there would be no incidents with angry animals, making them seem poor hosts. Bowman glanced through their inventory but found little of use for them to purchase and nothing they had was of value to the trader for sale either. While medical supplies and components would always be something they'd want to keep an eye out for, Bowman was more interested in acquiring weapons and armour. There were a lot of things they'd need before they'd be making anything of their own beyond simple bows and blades.

Fox Note: Machining will require smithing and then several more techs researched to get access to various firearms, but it was worth considering doing sooner rather than later. Just in case something nastier than a crazy guy with a club comes visiting.

Whether it was the increased foot traffic or something else, the Sebo Accord traders managed to rile up a cougar who promptly attacked them, causing a couple of them to be wounded. Luckily, this time they didn't hold it against the Survivor's Alliance, likely due to the angry glare they got from Bowman about the whole thing.

Day 19

Wounded Sebo accord member passed out from his wounds as the traders were leaving, meaning Bowman had to carry him to the medical bed to stop him bleeding out in the dining room. Sadl,y they were too late as he died from blood loss before Ara could finish tending his wounds. Given that he'd been sitting down to eat, it took them all by surprise when he suddenly keeled over.

Luckily for the rest of the day, it wasn't quite so exciting in the same way, at least. Hermine practically finished the main structure of the new building, and Ara began to harvest some of the healroot, giving them some basic medical supplies. Sure, they wouldn't match the medical supplies they had from their ship, but something was better than nothing when it could make the difference between life and death. Bowman was reasonably sure if they found the right people, they could refine far better medical supplies later with those same herbs they just lacked the means at the moment.

With the walls and roof done, work moved to the interior, beds, tables, chairs and some shelves for the moment as they decided to whether or not to keep using their current home despite the risks wood brought for a while. As if reading their thoughts, that night was a lot more pensive due to a thunderstorm, the bright orange glow of distant fires from lightning strikes reminding them their current abode was literally a wooden box.

Day 20

Despite the storm, their worryingly flammable home survived the nigh,t despite the fire wiping out a vast swathe of trees to their north-west. The rain that followed largely doused the flames but using concrete or paving of some kind felt like a wise call in the future to give their new home a firebreak. If it wasn't thunderstorms, raiders with incendiary weapons were certainly something Bowman worried about.

The second field of potatoes was also harvested, ensuring they had quite the food surplus, and while they were tempted to make fancier meals, Bowman figured it'd be best to wait and see how their stockpile looked by the time the growing season ended.

Fox Note: I did pick an area with a long growing season, as that just felt wise to ease myself back into this. Boreal Forests, for example, have a much shorter growing season and a harsher winter, usually. Whereas in the Jungle biome, you can grow food year-round, with the downside being you have to worry about heat and diseases more.

Day 21

Fall, the season which meant all hands on deck to get every last scrap of food stored away safely, crops harvested and animals hunted to ensure that hunger was one less worry, compounded by the coming cold.

A bumper harvest from the potatoes ensured that avoiding any disasters they'd likely have enough food for the winter even without another harvest. The corn was taking its time to grow, though Ara suspected they might get another rie harvest. Bowman decided that, nearer to the time the temperatures dropped, she'd hunt to supplement their diet with meat.

Then a message from the AI of their old ship got in touch, claiming to have a ship hidden on the planet, the only downside was that it was a long way to travel and would need to be defended during power up. If things got bad enough, it was nice to know they could attempt to leave, they just lacked the means. Minimal weapons and armour, plus a lack of food fit for travelling long distances. There fortune with food continued to be on the up as a small set of ambrosia sprouts was found nearby, while Ara worried they might not be ready before winter even getting a handful would help turn even the sourest mood around.

Day 22

With fall came the feeling of some reflection on everything that had happened since they'd crashlanded on the planet that was now their reluctant home. They'd spent their first days worrying about starving or being mauled by wild animals. Now, they were looking for more people, researching new technologies and preparing relatively successfully for the winter. Raids from hostile factions had been small, poorly armed and almost laughable, though Bowman still worried they would get worse. She felt like the handful of opponents they'd faced had been stragglers from larger raids stumbling over their home rather than planned.

The resources they now coveted were steel, components and anything that would improve what they had. Better power generators, better weapons and whatever else they'd need to survive a world that was, fortunately, largely indifferent toward them for the time being. Steel was needed in large quantities, though as luck would have it two large veins of it lay nearby, allowing Hermine to build a second power building to fuel their new home, though she was adamant they move on from wood-fired generators sooner rather than later.

None of them were really adept at mining, with Hermine only having some vague skill due to her construction-focused skills. Once again, the issue became that they needed more people with a wide array of skills if they were to survive or even escape the RimWorld.

Day 23

Food wasn't a huge concern in terms of whether they'd starve or not but their meals were very simple things, something Bowman opted to rectify. Setting out to hunt some of the less dangerous game in the area, she hoped to bulk out their supplies with some variety and cook some fine meals for the winter to improve everyone's mood. While Hermine sought to address their critical steel shortage and go some way toward finishing their new home, though without extra power, they'd likely have to make do with their current wooden cabin. Mainly as they'd need heating and the new structure would require far more heaters and vents than their current abode.

More rice and strawberries were harvested, and the corn was still going strong enough that Ara was reasonably sure they'd at least harvest some of it before the winter prevented crops from growing. All that busy work was interrupted by yet another raid from a new tribe, the Lavego tribe, though, as before, it was a single raider armed with a club. Though it wasn't the only event of note to occur that day, a friendly group passed through the area, and another cryopod crashed nearby with Ara's son aboard: Jeffers, quite how he'd come to be shot was a mystery, though Hermine quickly rescued him.

It caused a bit of a scramble as the raider began his attack, leaving only Bowman at the barricades to defend their home while Ara tended to Jeffers' wounds. The raider managed to evade a hail of rifle fire from Bowman, causing her to retreat as Hermine closed into melee range with her knife. Once Ara had finished tending to Jeffers, she emerged and began firing at the raider as well, and between the three of them, they took him down, even if it took several direct hits and even a shot to the head to bring them down.

The day ended with the visitors leaving a small gift of silver in thanks for hosting their caravan, and Jeffers wisely decided to join the colony. His skills weren't exactly amazing, but one more person would still help.

Objective Complete: New Colonists. (Sure, it's only one for now, but still!)

Day 24

Events seemed to be coming at them thick and fast as Ara awoke to the healroot plants all suffering some kind of blight, so she had to cut them all down to avoid it ruining any of their other crops. Sadly, the blight was far faster than her, and for every three plants she cut down, another two would be blighted by the time she got to them. Bowman tried to help.

As Jeffers recovered and Hermine began to ensure they had a decent enough steel stockpile to potentially finish their new home, the majority of the focus began on what appeared to be a losing battle against the blight.

Day 25

The battle against the blight continued with Bowman taking a break from hunting to try to help Ara in battling the rapidly spreading pestilence among their crops. It proved to little avail, however. The blight spread almost as fast as they could cut down and replant the crops, and while food wasn't a worry that had been before they had an extra mouth to feed.

This led to Bowman deciding to go do a lot more hunting just to be safe while Ara harvested what crops she could to at least give them as much of a food buffer as possible. Hermine offered up a suggestion that once they were able, she'd build a geothermal generator on the nearby vent and they'd be able to use the abundant power to run a hydroponic greenhouse and grow crops year-round.

Would the Survivor's Alliance manage to survive the coming winter? Would they have enough food and heating to make it into the spring? Only time would tell.