RimWorld is a game that has you building colonies in different places across the universe. To survive, these colonies will need to produce their own food, while fending off potential attacks from enemies.
One of the ways Colonists can produce the food they eat is by using hydroponics, which is one of the most popular ways to grow crops in RimWorld. Knowing the best and most efficient hydroponics layouts allows you to consistently produce enough resources to keep your Colonists well-fed. That said, here are some of the best hydroponics layouts you can use in RimWorld.
Best RimWorld hydroponics layouts
The simplest but most efficient hydroponics layout
In hydroponics, the plants used to grow edible produce are placed indoors and are dependent on factors to help them grow, which in RimWorld’s case is a sun lamp. The simplest but most efficient way to maximize a sun lamp’s effects is by placing one in the middle, then placing as many hydroponics basins around it, with no extra room left to spare as much as possible. This allows you to place 22 basins in total.
This kind of layout will require you to maintain proper room temperature so that your plants will grow. To do this, place heats and air conditioners on every wall, if necessary. The downside to this layout is that most, if not all, of your plants, can get destroyed by a single fire simply because there won’t be space for fire poppers anymore.
Fire-resistant yet efficient hydroponics layout
The next layout tries to address the lack of fire poppers the above layout has, and places two fire poppers diagonally away from the sun lamp, which is located at the center of the entire layout. This helps protect your crops from potential fire damage in the event that a fire starts and spreads across your plants.
That said, this kind of layout does have downsides just like the one above. One of these is the fact that you’re sacrificing some space for your hydroponics basins in favor of the fire poppers. Another is that it’s slightly more difficult to build compared to the layout above.
Self-sustaining Hydroponics System
Hydroponics are designed to allow your colonists to grow crops regardless of the environment and weather conditions. These indoor crop-growing mechanisms are heavily dependent on sun lamps to provide the necessary light to produce food for your colony. The problem here is if your colony loses power, the plants themselves will die.
The solution to this is to set up a thermal generator that can supply power to your Hydroponics system, regardless of whether you have 16 or more than 20 basins. This will ensure a steady supply of food every time.
Outdoor Hydroponics
The above hydroponics designs are largely dependent on sun lamps because they are built indoors. If your colony is based on some bare land like Desert, Extreme Desert, or Arid, you can take advantage of the sunlight by creating outdoor hydroponics instead.
Indoor hydroponics basins require a lot of lighting from sun lamps in order to grow crops. Outdoor hydroponics does away with the need for sun lamps and allows you to set up more hydroponics basins for more crops. This way, you can produce more food for your colonists.
Hydroponics with the best fire protection
This last layout allows you to place more fire poppers, effectively protecting your crops from any fire damage. This is like a combination of the first two layouts above and takes good points from both of them. The difference here is that some heaters should be repositioned to the north and south edges, and the basins themselves will be easier to place as well.
This kind of layout, with all its benefits, still has some downsides, particularly the number of basins you can place as well as the materials and resources you need to build it. You’ll need more fire poppers, for one.
And that’s it for the best hydroponics layout in RimWorld. For more information about the game, check out our article on RimWorld multiplayer as well as some of the best mods for the game.
