[Critch]

I've been back playing Rimworld recently, the first time since I killed off my long-term settlement I mentioned further back in this thread a few years ago. I've got all the DLC now; not sure how much most of them add to the game, but you've got to go for completeness, and it's good to support a small developer, innit? I've been on my current settlement (Paleal, game generated name) for about 10 days (4 years game time), with a population of 10 (9 adults and 1 kid), and everything seemed quite secure and walled off. All the basic needs were met, and they could even make their own clothing and guns, so they'd started to be cozily dressed and well tooled-up. Rifles, shotguns, and the occasional SMG – not a crew to be messed with.

Last night I had two thoughts: 1. Is Rimworld a game that would be good for a dynasty thread on FOFC? and 2. Have I got the settings set too easy? After four years, we'd had no confirmed deaths (although there had been a few close calls) and had only lost one pawn. One of the original three was kidnapped and carried off early days when some refugees we'd kindly given shelter to got stabby and mean, but she might still be alive somewhere. So not confirmed.

My two answers were 1. maybe and 2. hell yeah, crank up the difficulty settings! (To be honest, I only turned the difficulty up one setting to "Strive to Survive", no reason to go crazy.)

So I started playing last night vaguely thinking, "I should dynasty thread this game" when the first quest came through. An 8-year-old boy, Conrad, had got himself covered in insect pheromone; he would join my group, but the insects would follow a few days later. My settlement's ideology was pretty much "be excellent to everyone," so there was no way we were telling an 8-year-old boy in need of assistance to piss off. Come on in, little Conrad; we'll keep you safe from the nasty bugs.

We set up waiting for the bug infestation; fighting bugs with early-game weapons is no joke, so it wasn't going to be easy. Set up some traps in the only area they could spring up in (infestations only happen in underground rooms; we only had one) and sent the two kids off to hide in a room on the far side of the base.

Long story short, it was a disaster. The infestation popped up in a storeroom, not where I thought it would. Insects, big buggers, not little bugs, running up and down the corridors. They're fast and armored; gangs of them rushing down corridors made it a blood bath. After a few hours (game time), seven adults were dead, two incapacitated, the only two still standing were 8-year-old Conrad and 11-year-old Honey hiding in a room while insects roamed the settlement. My cunning plan to burn the insects by arming one of the adults with an incendiary grenade launcher set half the base on fire too, so that didn't help.

Conrad and Honey were brave little kids like you see in the movies and snuck through the base to the hospital room. From there, they could wait for the bugs to go to sleep, sneak out, and drag the two injured adults back to the hospital room. They weren't far away, and there were a couple of discarded shotguns nearby too. Maybe there was a chance.

The first try was Conrad; he took a wrong turn and bumped into a megaspider, it bit his head clean off. That doesn't happen to brave little kids in movies.

Next up was Honey; she's an 11-year-old Highmate, genetically altered and bred to be a concubine; she's kind, delicate, and charming but incapable of violence. Not really much use for this situation. She did manage to drag both the adults back to the hospital room though. The bugs were sleeping, had died (a lot of them were badly injured too) or had wandered off to smash up the other side of the settlement, so the coast was clear.

Honey patched up the two remaining adults with her rudimentary medical skills, Ironhead (camp leader, and all-round masculine gigachad) and Takashi (one of the cooks, a bit useless but can whip up rice and potatoes). Unfortunately, the kitchens and the food supplies have all burned so there's nothing left for Takashi to do. But as long as Ironhead was alive, there was still a chance.

The next disaster was Ironhead got an infection in his leg, and there was no medical supplies to treat him (Honey smashed up everything in a tantrum) and Honey didn't have the medical skills to amputate. So Ironhead was dead too. We were down to two.

The next disaster was Honey and Takashi were starving, and there was no food. While I was trying to work out what to do (can they get to the fields and eat raw potatoes?), Honey made a snap decision on her own, and she and Takashi ate the headless corpse of Conrad. They didnt even cook him. Things had taken a dark turn, but at least they were not hungry anymore.

A couple of days later, Takashi was patched up and out of bed, got himself a discarded pump-action shotgun, and limped off for a showdown with the last remaining insect. Unfortunately, there were actually two remaining insects, so he's dead too. I think they ate him.

So that's where my settlement is now, only a pacifist child left and two well-fed insects roaming. Either she'll hide in a room until she starves (which will take a good while because she's eating Ironhead's corpse now) or the insects will get her. I'm really not sure I want to load the game and play to the end to see what happens.

I always play "commitment mode," so there's no reverting to an old save. This is the end for Paleal.

(p.s. I asked ChatGPT to grammar check this, loves a semicolon does ChatGPT)