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?
The comparison between the two is apt since Tynan has mentioned Dwarf Fortress being a major influence on Rimworld. I’m not sure about the comparisons with Sims and SimCity, since those two games have vastly different scales (hundreds versus millions of people).
Rimworld does have drafting and there is the option to micromanage, but this isn’t all that practical in a colony of 50. At that size, the two require similar management levels.
I feel the same about enjoying Rimworld while DF not so much, but for very different reasons. See, DF is a deep simulation first and foremost. It’s all in on procedural. Rimworld, meanwhile, heavily incorporates simulation and procedural, but does not rely on it exclusively. Rimworld blends in tactical combat, lore, and partially scripted story events and quests.
Beyond that, I would say that Rimworld is more graphically polished and has more accessible controls.
Very good points. My colonies haven’t gotten quite as big as 50 - I think 14 was my max. I know about making zones and assigning people, but I haven’t had a colony that warrants that kind of macro.
I feel more of a personal connection to my pawns in Rimworld. Like I want my shooter to have a good quality gun and armor, or my guy that likes melee to have good armor. DF was like “build gauntlets” and then “assign pawns to be in a garrison”, but I didn’t really know specific pawns. Too many to manage individually. That was my comparison with Sims vs Sim City (I hear you on the scale though)