Rimworld’s Biotech DLC brings a slew of interesting new features to the game, elevating this colony-war crime-organ harvesting simulator to the next level. Biotech is the third DLC to join Rimworlds growing retinue of downloadable content. As opposed to the last DLC Ideology, Biotech doubles down on what traits make each of your colonists unique. For example, you can create a vampire dog man who thirsts for the blood of mortals.
Or maybe you prefer a practical approach and create a drug-dependent Hussar whose genetic modifications turn them into a super soldier. Biotech truly takes Rimworld to new heights and is a must-have addition to the space western colony sim. Gene splicing has never been more fun. Here are the most notable changes this expansion includes.
5 You Can Finally Have Children
Aside from the new genetic modifications, the ability for your colonists to reproduce is likely the biggest feature that Biotech brings to the table. Childraising was always something that felt like a missed opportunity in the base game. Your colonists spend years building up their homes, surviving, and hopefully thriving. As they slowly formed their often dysfunctional societies on the Rim, it felt strange that they couldn’t actually create a family.
Thankfully, Biotech finally allows you to create the dangerous daycare of your dreams. Children will quickly grow in your colonies, and each lesson they learn toward survival will make them more capable adults. Of course, with this being Rimworld, the opposite is also true. Create functional members of a colony, or raise unstable little monsters; the choice is yours.
4 Become The Master Of A Mechanoid Army
If you have started to feel restricted by the repressive bounds of nature, fear not. Biotech introduces the mechanitor role. By implanting a mechanitor implant into a colonist, they are given the ability to psychically control bionic machines. Similar to the EVA units from Evangelion, your mechanoids are a strange combination of flesh and machine. You grow them inside special tanks, and once grown, they can accomplish anything from labor to combat. They come in many flavors, and each mechanoid type is specialized for a specific task.
There is a downside to all their utility: the heavy pollution that comes with manufacturing them. Each time a mechanoid is created, a toxic wastepack is left behind. If left unchecked and unfrozen, the resulting pollution creates toxic fumes and gasses that will devastate the environment. Living in a toxic fallout is not ideal for traditional forms of life, so managing pollution is an essential task if you want to make a mechanical army.
3 Genetic Modification
Gene splicing is another headline feature of Biotech. The classification of “xenohuman” is introduced into the game. These are people who have unique genetic traits that give them special game-changing attributes. Genetic archetypes and traits can be mixed and matched, so the opportunities are pretty much endless. You can make a race of Wookies like those from Star Wars, fire-breathing genies, or even vampires.
Each genetic perk comes with a coinciding drawback, so it’s important to strike a balance with genetic traits. Or, at the very least, create a colony that can support the diverse needs of your xenohumans. For example, true to their folk tales, vampires hate the light. They can only go out at night or remain in the dark confines of your base. This will have a major impact on how you play and design living spaces for your nocturnal colonists.
2 Two New Turrets
This feature shipped as a free update along with Biotech and injects some nice diversity into your defensive options. The foam turret will automatically spray fire retardant chemicals to douse any nearby flames. Rimworld raids can become pretty overwhelming when a fire is thrown into the mix. If your base has an abundance of wood structures or trees, fire can quickly consume your base while your colonists are busy fighting. The addition of the foam turret provides a convenient solution that saves on labor costs.
The other new turret is the Rocketswarm launcher. This decidedly more offensive turret will fire a salvo of deadly rockets at a chosen location when activated by a colonist. It doesn’t require any ammo, but it has a cooldown of two minutes that prevents spamming. Each individual rocket doesn’t do a lot of damage, so it is best used on a group of lightly armored targets.
1 Stinky Corpses
Before the release of Biotech, corpses used to simply decompose into skeletons over time. The addition of rot with the Biotech update brings a nasty gas that hangs over any bodies left out for too long. Passing colonists will be disgusted by the sight of them, but it doesn’t end there. If exposed to the gasses for too long, colonists can develop a new disease called lung rot.
This disease is deadly and progressive; if left unchecked, it will send your colonist to an early death. Be sure to give any fallen lives the attention it deserves.