The 1.4 version of RimWorld will be released soon, and also a new DLC is upcoming: Biotech. I have added variables for these versions in the submission system, but community input is needed on the impact of these versions for speedrunning: Whether to allow those in the same leaderboard, whether to create new ones, whether there is a reason to forbid Biotech DLC (reasons include that it might trivialize some categories, no idea if that’s the case), and so on.

ISSUE 1: Currently the site allows a subcategory to be enabled for either every single main category, or for exactly one of them. Example: On RimWorld, for most main categories it makes sense to have a selector on biome/scenario, but not for all of them. We have it currently selected for all main categories, which causes the issue that we get four separate leaderboards for every new main category. This is a suboptimal situation. SUGGESTED SOLUTION: I wish that the site rather had a checkbox list on the subcategory edit screen, so that one can choose which main categories (plural) this subcategory applies to.

ISSUE 2: A related problem is when we have a subcategory that has a loose “regular” option (no restrictions) and a stricter option such as “naked brutality” (difficult starting scenario) — and then we get a run that qualifies for the “naked brutality” subcategory, but is also a WR in the general subcategory. Our current solution is to manually submit a clone of the run for the regular subcategory, with reference to the user’s submission in the tighter subcategory. This is suboptimal. We could make separate main categories instead of using subcategories, but that would not solve the problem. Similar problem occurs on other games too. For example, sometimes a minimal% run might be also an any% WR. SUGGESTED SOLUTION: A checkbox list ­— allow moderators to choose multiple subcategories or even main categories, to which the submitted run applies.

One problem with this Max Cyborg category, is rather a problem with speedrun.com.

Because this is a pawn-specific goal and not a colony-specific goal, it does not make much sense to use the biome subcategories for this goal (i.e. have separate leaderboards for regular and extreme desert for example). However, on speedrun.com, a subcategory can be either enabled for all main categories, or for exactly one of them.

On our leaderboard, "escape type" is a subcategory that is only enabled for the "escape" main category. The "biome/scenario" subcategory is enabled for all categories.

I do not want to invite runs for four new separate leaderboards for this one category; just one leaderboard would suffice. I’m not sure how to get around this problem.

One solution would be to create new category-specific subcategories on biome/scenario for every single main category. This, however, would require editing every single existing run — all 209 of them, plus the ones that are in submission queue — and selecting the right subcategory on the new option for them. I have done such work when our leaderboard was considerably smaller, but right now it looks like an overwhelming undertaking. (If this is ever done, I would also remove said subcategory on the NAD goal, unifying the four leaderboards.)

EDIT: I have done the abovementioned work, and the Max Cyborg category has been added. See https://www.speedrun.com/rimworld/thread/fhd5k

Saving and reloading is permitted as long as the clock doesn’t stop or revert during that. For now, loading times are also clocked (not subtracted).

Idea: Max Cyborg.

Goal: Time ends when the player shows health screen of any colonist that possesses the best complement of artificial body parts. This requires that the following body parts are successfully implanted on the pawn:

­— Bionic Heart, Bionic Spine, Bionic Tongue, two Bionic Ears — Two Archotech Arms, two Archotech Legs, two Archotech Eyes — One of the following: Painstopper, Gastro-analyzer, Learning assistant, Neurocalculator, Psychic Reader, Venom fangs — One of the following: Bionic Stomach, Detoxifier Stomach, Nuclear Stomach, Reprocessor Stomach

The Aesthetic Nose is not required, as there is no non-DLC alternative. No visceral implant is required, because the only non-DLC alternative is death acidifier, which has no positive effects.

You may manufacture these items yourself, if available, or procure them from traders and other sources. The body parts may also come automatically from character selection or capture or slave trade. Less than 50 % damage on the body parts is permissible.

For swag, have the colonist also be body modder, and possibly industrious, iron-willed, jogger…, and hooked up on luciferium. For different kind of swag, have the colonist be body purist, and possibly incapable of violence, caring, skilled labor or dumb labor…

(EDIT: Category was added. Check the Rules tab. This post is just a plan, not the actual rules.)

Hi @bysouaip. I think first heart transplant is only a slight variation on the human leather hat category (both involve killing a pawn, and both require specialist labor). In fact, it’s even less demanding because you don’t need to construct anything (marking a sleeping spot does not involve constructing). The main difficulty comes from operating the menus during which the game is paused. (It does add a factor of luck as operations can fail, but that’s why retries are used; you also need medicine, but most scenarios start with some medicine and some biomes have wild healroot.) As such, the category offers too little novelty to be included. If enough of the community supports your idea though, we will add it.

If you want to try a run that has been attempted by nobody else so far, try Devilstrand harvest on Ice Sheet.

As for differences between version 1.3 and earlier, any time that a new version (or DLC) has been released I have tried to listen to runners at our Discord for signals that a category separation would be necessary. This particular issue that you raised concerning beating up the ship is the first time I hear it.

The ideology DLC is not permitted, because it may alter the parameters of the game in many ways. I do not own the DLC myself, but from what I have heard, there are a few problems. – For instance, the any% category becomes trivialized, as you can end the game by simply discovering the right hex on the map, and you could do it within seconds with good luck. – The research speed bonus would also alter the game quite much, as you can guess from having played the wondrous room category. Many of our current categories involve doing research.

For these example reasons, if we allowed ideology for the existing categories, our speedrun leaderboard would become pay-to-win. It would alienate speedrunners – both current ones and new ones, and this is definitely not what we want.

However, we are open for new ideology-specific categories, that would be only open for Ideology DLC submissions. However, they would have to be distinct and challenging; not just any%+ideology or something like that. Additionally, the category suggestions would have to be viewed favorably by our community. We have a separate thread on the forum for category suggestions.

There is only a limited pool of seed words. One can keep rerolling the seed for several minutes until they find the particular seed they want (or one of their particular favorites). For example, the French localization has only 3858 words in the Strings/Words lists, of which 3046 are unique (assuming different capitalizations are distinct). Assuming the runner has ten favorite seeds and they keep rerolling twice a second, by average they will find a seed they like in a little over a minute.

If we disallowed rerolls, still nothing would prevent a runner from restarting the recording, dozens of times, until they find the particular seed they are looking for. For judging, how random is random? How would we know how long the player has been trying? They could attempt one run each day and submit a year later. How would we know whether this is their first attempt or their 365th attempt, on which they happened to find their favorite seed? It would be impossible. Even with an uncut video from livestreaming it would still show just that one run.

In short, this sort of limitation would only make sense in a race setting; not in something where people submit their best runs made in the passage of months or years, to the leaderboard.

In general, we have tried to make the categories as fair as possible so that every runner has equal chances. A random category like this would be the opposite of that. (The only reason we don’t allow Prepare Carefully is because it would open a can of worms concerning the use of mods.)

The video is private. We can’t view it.

A few day ago, it was my pleasure to welcome a second member to the moderation team: @Colin_Henry. Colin is a long-time trusted member of this community, and I have every faith he will uphold the same standards I have tried to establish and uphold myself. Having more members in the moderation team generally means faster judging times. There was a span during which many submitted runs were delayed by several months before they were judged.

Now, there are sometimes runs that have to be rejected for one reason or another. It nearly always involves an accidental oversight of the category rules, by the runner. When that happens, we try to find another category that the run might be applicable for. If the run is nowhere near the top of the leaderboard, we might be even willing to overlook some mishaps. But when nothing works, we are forced to reject the run.

If this happens to you, and you feel that your run has been rejected without a valid reason, this thread is for you. Please post your appeal here, along with a link to your video (and other relevant information pertaining to your submission). This will make the moderation process more transparent and public, but it means that everyone gets to see both sides of the argument: Yours, and the moderators’.

Note that spam and off-topic posts will still be deleted at the moderators’ discretion. This thread is NOT for advertising runs, or for discussion that is other topic than that which is posted in this very post. Flaming and aggressive language is likewise prohibited. Until evidence shows otherwise, all parties of the debate are recommended to assume that an innocent mistake has been made in good faith.

Thanks for the heads-up!

On 2021-07-23, any unlisted YouTube videos from 2016 or before will be changed to private unless you manually opt-out of this change. Make sure you opt out if you submitted any records that link to an unlisted video on your channel! Otherwise those videos will become unwatchable.

Go to https://studio.youtube.com/ or https://support.google.com/youtube/contact/older_unlisted_update for more information.

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Even though speedrun records are milestones for individuals, speedruns are a community project. They are built on community knowledge.

This is evident in many speedrun communities where players livestream their process of testing out new tricks, and even publish video tutorials about them, before they manage to grab the record.

Once you make a run, everything you did will be public and available for other players. (And it is important for verification purposes that you don’t hide anything, even inadvertently.) Likewise, don’t pretend that you don’t use any knowledge accumulated from other players either. If you accomplish a record, that is your reward, having the best leaderboard position.

I would like to see an example run of this (with signs of at least attempting to optimize it), in order to judge whether it’s too trivial. Feedback from other people would be also useful. As I see it, the core strategy would be to just open an ancient danger and then gift everything you find inside to the least unfriendly faction. The method of gifting becomes the threshold question.

Not only the "Why this one and not ________", but it also opens the can of worms related to "what happens if the author decides to update this mod". If there is enough motion to suggest a change to the rules, it may be considered, but right now, the downsides outweigh the upsides.

This sounds interesting. As I have not played the DLC yet, I would need some help crafting the rules. Is there an example letsplay I could watch of this to the end?

It sounds interesting. It is a bit different from All Endings, although not very much.

So far no runner has expressed interest in doing this run though. We don’t like empty leaderboards, generally speaking.

I don’t think that a cannibal% would bring anything new compared to the human leather hat category (WR ~25s). It would just mean skipping one step.

The RimWorld release cycle has been slower since 1.0 was released, but an announcement was just made at [[ https://ludeon.com/blog/2020/02/rimworld-1-1-available-on-unstable-steam-branch/ ]] about RimWorld version 1.1, which is currently available for beta testing.

It incorporates many usability changes, some tunings, and a heap of fixes. I added a new value for the version number variable, 1.1, but for now, unless a reason arises to do differently, we judge these runs in the same listing as 1.0 runs.