Beginner-Friendly Vanilla RimWorld - Ep 1 (No Mods, No DLC!)

RimWorld mods are GREAT, but the base, vanilla gameplay is also excellent -- and a great way for new players to learn the game! This is going to be a combination Tutorial / Let's Play series!
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New to the channel? I do Let's Play videos -- these are like walkthrough guides of gameplay with continuous English commentary trying to explain my decisions and what strategy I use. If you're looking for hacks or cheats, you're in the wrong place!

[@unclegreybeard3969]

I have waited a loooooong time for someone to explain this game, most youtubers and their fanbase HAVE to use mods & hardest settings and expect viewers to know what the hell they're talking about. Thank you so much and great explanations too.

[@seeess925]

Yes. I don't really mind harder difficulty settings that much. But adding in mods is super obnoxious.

[@GewelReal]

cope

[@TravMenace]

after finally picking up this game and putting about 200hrs into it, the mods are necessary. the game is a great skeleton but there's a fair amount of gaps that can't be plugged without even a handful of mods. you'll come to find this out on ur own if/when u play

[@arthas640]

I actually like grand strategy games and management games to have an easier setting and a slower pace and for more complicated games it's also nice since it lets you figure out more by watching lets plays. The lack of DLC and mods is also great since with some games the DLC radically changes game play (I love Paradox games but the all the DLC can double the game play or radically change how the game is played).

[@rustyhowe3907]

I have found this very problem endlessly, one simply can't learn a game when the only answer offered is "there's a mod for that". I've nothing against mods personally but the hell are we supposed to 'git gud' when we're expected to use mods to problem solve the basics?

[@Wilmar112]

Hey quill, Last time i watched your video's i was around 17 years old. I am now 27, married and have bought a home and i have a baby boy now.. I wanted to say i really loved your video's back then. And you haven't changed one bit! I am going to try picking up gaming again for an hour or two a day.. Have a great day quill, i will watch you regularly again (:

[@PerfectGames.]

Lucky

[@arthas640]

I'm jealous, at 27 I barely had the time and money for a dog much less a wife and son :/

[@ronancasey]

Same here. Happy Father's Day!

[@longliveliljay1670]

I'm 21 and still here

[@r6_rogue_spear]

Congratz!

[@Mathmachine]

I find it a little funny that Rimworld has gotten so many big and high-profile mods that a no mod run is now attention grabbing.

[@mikkosaarinen3225]

Yeah, the idea was kinda shocking 😄

[@shinkicker404]

Yeah

[@lexistential]

minecraft is the same way. most games that last this long do it because of mod support

[@JacksonOwex]

@@lexistential I watch MOSTLY vanilla Minecraft!!! In fact I have recently stopped watching someone because he started doing way more modded stuff! Well, that and he keeps starting new series after about a dozen episodes or so!

[@JacksonOwex]

Wasn't Rimworld recently-ish on sale on Steam?! That's always a decent time to do a vanilla tutorial for anyone new who might come in! I also could be wrong and think it was because I got it a couple of months ago.

[@KVMusic416]

This is EXACTLY what I was looking for to get into this game. Thank you!

[@kingcos19]

Same here

[@lawrence9764]

did you get into it?

[@freakindirt12341]

This is fantastic, I think people get really intimidated, but you make it digestible.

[@ichifish]

For folks new to RW, welcome! You're gonna love the game. Quill is a great streamer to watch because he doesn't try to be perfect. As an experienced player I see a lot of small mistakes, but he shows you how to have a great time without obsessing over details, and that's the most important thing. Some comments: 1. Play to find out what happens Rimworld sells itself as a story-generator. Often the story is "things were going well and then everything went to hell." I really started to love the game when I stopped worrying about winning and just focused on the story. 2. The UI can be frustrating If you haven't played a colony sim, the UI can be frustrating at first. Even after watching a bunch of streams it was still hard to figure out the unintuitive things, like not being able to direct pawns to pick things up or haul things (because you can only get pawns to do this by setting a stockpile zone, and then they do it when they don't have other jobs). A couple of comments about picking pawns: 1. Passions (flames) When picking your pawns passion is VERY important for mood, not just learning speed. Simply put, a pawn with a double passion (two flames) in a job they do a lot (cooking, constructing, planting and chopping down trees, etc.) will usually be quite easy to keep happy. A pawn without a passion will be hard to keep happy. Some jobs (researching, cooking, etc.) are all-day jobs (pawns can do it all day). Other jobs (shooting, melee, medical), are as-needed, so having passions in those is great for learning fast, but not as useful for keeping people happy. 2. Losing skill points You don't lose skill points under 10 points. That is, if a skill is over 10, it will gradually decrease to 10 if the pawn doesn't do that job, and then stay at 10. This isn't really a big deal. 3. Starting pawn traits and skills Don't sweat these too much as you'll get new pawns, but it's important to make sure you have the basic skills covered: planting, cooking, and especially construction and social (to help you recruit more pawns) are important, and somebody who can do medical is necessary. You often get a mixed bag of traits, like "tough" (great) but "slow learner" (terrible), or "very neurotic (troublesome) but bloodlust AND kind" (OP combo), which makes the game fun.

[@prototype102010]

For some reason, number 1 is the hardest part for me. I KNOW failing is fun, but it still always feels frustrating. Than again, you do get some great stories. Last run I did (like... a year and a half ago?) 3 pawns hanging out. One got majorly injured in a bandit raid (he was also the doctor), so the other two are trying to keep the place going, crafting, doctering etc. Suddenly I get the infamous zzzzAP or whatever event. Batterly blew up, set my tree farm on fire, which set a wall on fire, which set something else on fire, another pawn was injured in the fire, the 3rd pawn is taking care of the fires but than a raid happens and he's taken out. The doctor is left in a one man stand against the bandits and the fire. It's fun to look back at now, but I was frustrated at the time because "I couldn't have stopped it." I really need to learn to enjoy the story haha.

[@deimosvoralius2988]

I keep getting recommended this game, but cannot get past the graphics. For the $$$, really expected better. Using this video to see why my friends are obsessed in what is objectively obese stickmen.

[@ichifish]

@@deimosvoralius2988 Yeah, the graphics are pretty basic. I can't get past the graphics in Kenshi, so I totally get that it doesn't matter how much you like the mechanics, if the visuals don't do it, it's a non-starter.

[@scoobydoo313]

This series is what convinced me to get rimworld, and it also got me started on one of my first few attempts. This series evenly dissected each and every key aspect to the early-mid-lategame of rimworld in words outstandingly easy for everyone to understand. Seriously great job with this.

[@machoman6969]

When you aren't a kid anymore you just want to get into the game and not spend hours downloading, installing and customizing "mods" to have fun. Nice video.

[@kivipaperisakset3999]

I've played Rimworld a long time, but I still enjoy watching Quill talk it through like this

[@banana_cabana]

I'm always surprised when Quill doesn't build a basic storage stockpile and dumping stockpile. That's always the first thing I do when starting my initial zoning areas.

[@hobbiesofstefs7085]

Love this series. Will be watching the entire series then buying rimworld. Thanks for costing me 30 bucks. BTW been watching you for years thanks for the content. Started with banished. Now i feel old.

[@brianlang5970]

dude. i looked everywhere for this type of video. and you 100% delivered. I've always wanted to try this game and you pushed me over the edge. Thank you! You've got a new subscriber too.

[@craig5322]

I just got this game and it is awesome to find someone doing a no mod no expansion LP. Thank you!

[@kingcos19]

Absolutely watch this over and over as I prepare myself to invest in rim world soon 😊 love this series it’s extremely insightful thank youuuu

[@CMDR-Cody]

Quill, I found your channel back in 2016ish because of RimWorld. I love these series. Keep up the great work!

[@mogadeet6857]

I just came to your channel quill. You made Kerbal so much more understandable. Lifting the veil on Rimworld is going to be a great ride. Thank you so much.

[@botanrice8340]

Just started playing this game and yours was the first name I looked up to watch a lets play. Thank you so much for the beginner-friendly video!

[@Saplingbat]

Thanks for this! I have a friend who's been on the fence about it for a while and I know he'd enjoy it, so maybe this series can help him out :)

[@ichifish]

The most radical Rimworld run in years!

[@Ugnutz]

i like these kind of series, any new game i play i always give it a good shake through with it being just vanilla i usually only mod a game once i have beaten it atleast once

[@Macdunne]

Finally got this game. Although as others have noted this playthrough/tutorial may be a bit dated it still gave me enough of an understanding of the game to be able to dive in with some confidence. Always appreciate your tutorials since you do take the time to explain things in an easy-to-understand fashion. Thanks.

[@nirboom]

I was actually searching for this exact series in July and was disappointed that I didn’t find it. Incredible coincidence!

[@marksargeant1019]

Thanks for this tutorial it's really helpful. Same as I learnt EU3 from your England play through years ago which is how I first came across your channel. So I knew I will sink alot of hours into Rimworld as well.

[@magicaces13]

Just got Rimworld base game. Perfect series to learn how to play! Cheers Quill.

[@ShaneCourtrille]

This had so much great info packed together into a nice tight package.. thanks for this!

[@xmaster6576]

only 6 min into the vid and already wanna try this game, u make it seem so fun with ur happy attitude I love it 😂👍

[@level102magikarp]

I tried to start playing Rimworld again after a year+ of not playing and forgot how hard it is, and that I'm bad at it. Thank you for this!

[@samk8231]

This video is so helpful as someone just coming into the game. Thank you!

[@manyumanyumanyu]

Finally. Been wanting you to do this for a while ! Thank you 🥳

[@adamnope4577]

This is the exact kind of video I was looking for, thank you!

[@_skud]

This convinced me to get RimWorld a couple weeks ago. Thanks :)

[@yannickvankerkhove5371]

Thanks for this, I just downloaded the game and it was a little overwhelming at first. This helped me get started!

[@josephineham4951]

This is great - I got the game a few days ago and have been having a lot of difficulty getting into it, even though it bears a lot of resemblance to "Oxygen not included". You explain everything very well, so I'll give it another go 👍

[@bondboy8]

THANK YOU!! I watched a good part of Shin's Legacy and A LOT of The Company. I even bought the game in the last sale, but I still needed something like this to get going!

[@yunolose]

this is really good and nice. U explained everything really well answered everything that confused me on the screen almost immediately after and even offered tips. Made me want to give the game a go.

[@pumpkinouo359]

I just downloaded the game yesterday. This is what I need! ❤

[@XxSillydude11xX]

Gonna appreciate this play through :)

[@jemal999]

I actually prefer playing without many gameplay-changing mods, so I'm happy to see a playthru I can actually relate to! *Edit: to clarify, I DO use some QOL stuff like preparecarefully, cleaningarea, qualitybuilder, etc, but not a huge fan of stuff that significantly alters the way the game works.

[@the_cheff_zeff3997]

Love your videos 💪😁💯 keep up the great work quill

[@mysticalplatypus87]

Thank you for this Quill, very helpful indeed as I’m playing on console

[@navi2710]

I swear, I watch one video of Quill. Go away come back and then find myself watching another Quill video. Damn you QUill, DAMN YOU.

[@stiLLa2000]

great video and explanation as always, thank you quill

[@bervestormbottom3357]

Just the type of video I was looking for

[@imaginationland474]

thanks!!! This came is so confusing so I rly appreciate the guide! Hoep to see more vids in this series!

[@davidbolduc4378]

GREAT video! 40ish minutes of straight knowledge noobs like me desperately need! tyvm

[@thepeacefulnetch]

4:30 Beginners should click the Terrain tab to check the growing period before choosing their temperate forest tile. There’s a good bit of variance w/in the temperate forest biome, & starting out you may want year round. Or 50 out of 60 days will teach a bit about surviving winter’s lack of growing season while making starvation pretty unlikely.

[@jupiterthree5228]

I accidently started one of my first sorta successful colonies with one pacifist pawn.. LOL. I learned after that to keep an eye on the traits.. I didn't want to start over with new pawns because I had already needed to start over 5 times while learning the game. So, that pacifist pawn is my crafter/hauler/cooker, basically a stay at home pawn. This game is really interesting. My first hour or so, I tried cannibalism, took a prisoner who refused to join my colony, and everybody ended up dying because we ran out of food after one of my pawns decided to eat every single packaged meal that landed on the planet with us.

[@corentinboxho]

Hey there! I've been playing a lot of Rimworld from beta 19 to version 1.2... I was put off by some aspects of 1.3 (mostly the breach raids) and by the Ideology expansion (which everyone seems to love but to me, looks mostly like easy mode for cannibal gameplay encased in more mood constraints overall!) So it's nice to see someone come back to the basics, as much as possible. 👍 Just 1 correction in your explanation about memory: if I remember correctly, the pawns only start to lose their XP if the unused stat is higher than 10... 🤔

[@General12th]

I think this is my favorite Rimworld tutorial.

[@box_giver1432]

Wow, amazing intro to the game!!!! Thank you :)

[@McBillyBoy]

Honestly starting out with no mods is the best thing you can do, getting that basic feel for the game down first before adding all the extra toppings and fun stuff after

[@codyvandal2860]

I think I played like 50 hours before I downloaded my first mod lol

[@Iskaera]

Built a base. Everyone got murdered by a squirrel because they were too scared to attack. What a game.

[@MisterOcclusion]

Thanks for the tutorial series

[@peterschaldemose7861]

Nice intro. Will continue tomorrow!

[@74153080]

This is awesome. Thank you.

[@boo5ta38]

Nice guide. Liittle nitpicking - you can get really ill if a Fox peas on your Strawberries and you don't wash them :)

[@DeadHawk23]

Finally I can learn to play rimworld

[@lovelymalrin8455]

This is super duper helpful!

[@michaeltiberius4166]

Thank you, I've been waiting for someone to go back to vanilla. I got tired of every video I click on to be: our ideology is, and accept favor with...

[@Zarn130]

This is great, Thank you. I was very confused on how the game worked as there is lack of no mods run

[@bogdanflorin8927]

Excellent video. I watc.. listen to it every night. Well the first 2-3 minutes of it..

[@lionfan96]

Thanks for the tutorial!

[@snafu2350]

09:51 Interestingly perhaps, a pawn that has a skill 8+ can do most if not all jobs requiring that skill, so well worth grabbing even if they don't have the passion; OK they'll learn a fair bit slower, but still extremely useful. Animal handling requires skill 10+ to tame the rarest & most dangerous beasts (eg Thrumbos, rhinos etc), so perhaps not the best example, but they can still gain a fair bit of XP from simply looking after lots of animals even if they never tame the top tier. Crafters can make components at L8; cooks can make packaged survival meals at that level, etc etc 14:37 IIRC pawns won't start losing skill until over 10 (or at least, 'skill rust' is a lot slower at 10 or below), so it's less of a critical point.. esp at the beginning when all 3 (or 5 if tribespeople) will be incredibly busy 21:22 It's best to leave bed rest at 2 as then pawns will get up & feed themselves as necessary, freeing up a doctor's potential task (if left at 1 they'll likely starve to death if no doctor feeds them): save priority 1 in that category if it's super time-critical they stay in bed to get rid of extreme illnesses etc 26:55 Feeb would be a much better melee pawn than Voort: bloodlust is good for melee as well as her double passion for it & Voort has a higher shooting skill plus a passion (albeit only single).. and they're a psycho, which while not quite as good as bloodlust is still pretty good in combat 29:32 If you're going to start growing rice on a tiny plot to start, at least ensure that plot is at least normal soil; it's unlikely 3 rice plants will grow here as there are 3 tiles of the plot on stony soil

[@JonathanScarlet]

9:51 Absolutely true. You are far better off in the long run securing a pawn with at least some passion, but at the very start anyone with 8+ is good (or really 6+ because that allows for fine meals, most construction jobs and at least good-quality items with a small chance for excellent). Do try to give them something with passion, though, so they won't be completely useless; or, if nothing else, make sure they can do dumb labor so they're just clean/haul-bots. You're correct re: 14:37. Units below 10 never lose skill. I'm not quite as sure about units AT lvl 10, but I know below it they never lose skill. It might be at 10, too, but 11 is definitely where they start to lose it. I believe the rate at which they lose it is also the same regardless of level, but the amount lost rises. I don't remember the specific numbers. 21:22 I've had pawns at bed rest 1 get up (so long as they can actually walk) and try to feed themselves/get recreation done, so this isn't always the case. It's still a good idea to leave it at 2 if you've only got minor scratches/burns that don't affect your walking speed/manipulation/consciousness, though, or if the unit's priorities rely on one but not the other (i.e. one has a hurt arm but can still move about fine could haul or clean or warden/handle/growing jobs, while the inverse should be kept to a small area but could keep up food or item production). 29:32 Definitely. Stony soil is basically your soil of last resort (mainly on desert tiles that don't give you a lot of regular plots), so even if it's not a nice square you're far better off crimping it to be on regular soil. IIRC some plants actually do horribly on stony soil even moreso than the fertilizer debuff, but I could be wrong. All I really care/d about is that basically only rice, strawberries, maybe potatoes and the flowers will grow at any reasonable speed on stony soil, which won't do.

[@nioxic77]

Thank you for this playthrough all the modded games have no interest to me. i was hoping for something like this - sorta works as a tutorial as well, which is super nice. been wanting to play Rimworld for a while - tried it a bit but ... there's so many things i need to know, what to prioritize etc. This helps a lot, getting me started. (also kinda weird, that the game is 9 years old already.. )

[@RIPlly]

thank you for this. Appreciate it

[@darkemperor418]

A veterinarian with no passion for animals 😂 seriously though I just bought this game Rimworld Starter pack - Rimworld + Biotech. I’ve deselected Biotech because I’m a noob and it came on sale in the starter pack but I’m glad this video is here. I did the tutorial but I’m still so confused it’s a very deep game and I’m ready to learn.

[@horthsms7223]

A good follow up video would be Quill's top 5 or 10 mods to add to Rimworld - how to get them - how to add them - for beginners

[@jamescashman3405]

Thanks quill just got the game and my first time I lost someone to a rat very quickly.

[@minidshark9535]

i love this guy!

[@sollyraptor6421]

Checking in to see if Rimworld is a game for me. I actually had to dig through search to find your video -wheeze-

[@Jute511]

Watching this and literally making notes 😂

[@bsherder]

I am very glad you did a no mod, no dlc run. I just started playing Rimworld recently and was very put off by almost every video having people use tons of mods and dlc.

[@Paltse]

What blasphemy is this? No mods? No DLC? Somebody is feeling feisty! I like it. Brings me back to the good/bad old days before 2019.

[@TheDryfus]

They(ancient dabgers) can also happen underground if you are in a mountainous area.

[@user-go3rk5ll8o]

Hey Quill! Love your videos, I'm struggling hard in the game and had to revisit from the beginning for the umpteenth time. I had a question, though: With the release of Ideology on console, would you consider doing a no mod with Royalty and Ideology playthrough?

[@TyrsHorde]

Thanks GOd !, a Gameplay without Mods!!

[@derpherpington3129]

ngl, i tend to stick with a tropical rainforest for a starting colony. as i usually play two colonies through the dev tools, i also enjoy having the two locations being a couple days out from each other. the main reason i chose rainforest is due to them generally having a literal forest of trees and a year-round grow cycle. makes winter easier to deal with when it comes to food generation.

[@compfool]

Kind & Bloodlust “Everyone needs an outlet” lol

[@Augustus087]

Thank you for doing this, Quill. I may take another stab at this game =)

[@ikmor]

Nice!

[@TrendTrove171]

I just started rimworld yesterday and I’m addicted but I can’t get the feeling I’m not progressing as much as I should, I’ll play for 10 hours straight sometimes but feel like I barely progress. It’s mostly just upkeep or dealing with my colonists breaking down even though I’m trying to meet their needs.

[@voodoolilium]

Fun note: According to Tynan, Cassandra Classic and Randy Random are supposed to be balanced with each other, so the overall difficultly should be approximately the same, just the types of events will be much more, well, random :P

[@vcoulombecarr]

Just started this today when episode 30 has gone up. In the first minute he says its not going to be a long playthrough. I'm assuming something changed, otherwise what episode does Quill consider the end of a short playthrough lol

[@havelthesock6094]

When I started getting into Stellaris, you began your playthrough of Stellaris. And I enjoyed that. Today, I randomly looked for "Rimworld, no DLC". Guess who uploaded 8 hours ago?

[@yorkieandthechihuahua]

Quill: This Yorkie is not very useful! Me: **seethes in Yorkie** Ok, I have heard that before...

[@RickinICT]

FYI new watchers... there's a lot to learn about Rimworld in this series, although slightly dated by now because it was based on v1.3. However, before you get invested in the outcome, or spend 24 hours watching each episode expecting a finale like I have, be forewarned. In typical Quill style, he gets to the end game, within just one or two episodes of leaving the planet and abandons the playthrough.

[@buckcherry2564]

I LOVE unmodded games. (ill admit that rimwold has a TON of very good QOL "vanilla" mods that even a mod-hater like me loves) I am glad I found this vid, I look forward to the series That initial randomized start was great, a Doctor, a mad scientist, and their test subject, lol

[@rehf27]

Thanks for this series on Rimworld. I always see it played, but quickly get overwhelmed by all that is going on. Now I'll probably buy the game. Also, I think your workers would be more productive if they had arms and legs. Just an observation; do with it what you will.

[@thescrewfly]

The art for the pawns was originally intended as a placeholder way back in the alpha days, but people grew very fond of it and the dev just left it in.

[@transparentghost2817]

Leeets gooo.... Best way to play rimworld is without mods, without expansion.s... - Now give us a series that isnt a tutorial.. but an actual lets play :)

[@kurtisbloch]

i wish i watched this when i started playing the game

[@Eirikr-Svoboda]

26:40 How did you change the selected colonists like that?

[@muhammedhussain8090]

hello I LOVE thisGAME

[@TexasGTO]

Rimworld? Oh... Goodie...

[@captincupcake5583]

Just started playing Rimworld and after approximately 15 straight hours of struggling and not knowing what to do I resorted to this lol

[@Bill_Garthright]

I always prefer videos on vanilla, anyway. I like weird stuff when it comes to ice cream, though. :)

[@barbaron123]

Can I make a playlist for this series as I can't find one?

[@tohpingtiang4878]

I take it. You need a really strong pc to play very large map. Cooking with darkness arttibute. That fry egg is trying to escape.

[@BlackSmokeDMax]

14x14 exterior and 12x12 interior is actually the biggest size room you can build (really 12wide x longer if desired is possible, that is just the largest square size without a support), now of course you can't put your door in the center of the wall with an even number... the HORROR!

[@stratagama]

there is only one reason why I generate the entire world and that's for when I want to find a location that has both a year-round growing season as well as a temperate climate. I only seem to find one or two of those on the globe so need to maximize the chances

[@digifreak90]

"Ate without a table" is my least favorite mood modifier, because I've had times where, there are tables, with chairs, in every single room and the pawn will literally eat in the middle of a room (again, with a table right there) and get that modifier.