I love Rimworld and play it a lot. I frequently see posts and articles comparing the two. I got Dwarf Fortress, watched tutorials, printed out flow charts, and really gave it a try for several hours.

But I didn’t get into Dwarf Fortress :( some of the mechanics are weird. Many things are not intuitive or don’t make sense. Like seeds that are needed for growing mushrooms are defaulted to be used in cooking and the setting to turn that off is difficult to find.

I finally realized an analogy today. Rimworld is like The Sims while Dwarf Fortress is like Sim City. Rimworld you directly control people and micromanage a colony. Dwarf Fortress is Sim City - you zone things and say generally what you want to happen, but don’t control your meeples directly.

Thoughts on the comparison? Any other folks like Rimworld but not Dwarf Fortress?

  • Kedly@lemm.eeEnglish
    2·
    3 months ago

    Yeah, DF is like Rimworld in that it looks like a low powered game, but it’ll eat up as many resources as you give it, so a tower is a better host for it. And in fort mode I tend to get around the production chains that intimidate me too much by using trade. I’ll focus HEAVILY on a production chain I understand and enjoy and build up a LOT of excess in that category, and then sell it off for the resources I need but dont want to make when the seasonal traders arrive, because unlike rimworld, they show up consistently unless you have pissed their empire off. I also wouldnt sleep on adventure mode either, DF builds a whole world for you to explore, and the Shenanigans you can get up to in it are pretty great. Becoming a legendary wrestler and running around breaking peoples arms, stealing their weapons, and then throwing said weapons into the faces of their allies is a rush