I feel like pursuing a relaxed colony while still retaining some challenge is a forlorn endeavor in RimWorld. However I thought that my efforts would be improved if I didn't start in a boiling-hot cavern where the wildlife is always hostile, the temperature cooks you alive, there are pools that set your pawns on fire, and mushrooms that explode when they walk over them.
So anyway, I started a new tribal colony on a flat forest tile with a river bisecting it. The certified "Pussy Start" where all RimWorld beginners reside. However, I have a reason to; you see I downloaded a few tribal mods that would enhance the experience. I never really pursued tribal starts before, and I want to lean more heavily into roleplaying my colony's batshit-insane religion, instead of min-maxxing to ultratech as fast as I can like I normally do. I started with Astrology as my starting meme, a fickle meme which randomly assigns your pawn's mood based on factors entirely outside your control.
Context aside. I set up in a big ruin spawn near a patch of rich soil. This will be my future temple. There were some other lucky ruins nearby where I acquired some furniture items and future resources to use like plasteel, silver, and components.
Let it not be known that I am good at tribal starts. I was raided by like, 2 people, and one of my pawns nearly died to an infected wound, after almost bleeding out to her other wounds which were barely patched up in time.
Not long after I got the fleeing royal quest, and accepted it with my psychically-hypersensitive pawn Galgar. He's abrasive, but I'm going for roleplay in this run, so I'll tolerate it. Anyway the bestowing ceremony ended up as Honorable, even though it took place outdoors during a drought.
Poachers from a settler faction arrived just to fuck things up, which they did. Angering a mini Thrumbo that was in the region, which subsequently slaughtered them. So I locked my guys in the dining room and waited for it to bleed out from its wounds.
This is the colony as of ~4 hours of playtime. The original ruin spawn is now my fuil-time temple/part-time warehouse. The building on the top right is a temporary laboratory, and future workshop, I have a planned freezer, kitchen, and dining/recroom in the bottom right building. I also plan to expand the barracks to include a hospital and a prison.
