Is Rimworld Royalty DLC Worth It?

Story / Premise

• RimWorld: Royalty focuses on how your colony interacts with an empire that wants your cooperation.
• The empire’s involvement brings courtly nobles, titles, and demands, escalating into major threats—particularly an ongoing war between:
  • Vampire-like factions (referred to as “vampire”)
  • Mechanized enemies (mechanoids)
• Mechanoids can escalate into mechanoid clusters that drop in from orbit and establish camps/bases around your map.
• A mentioned new mech unit type is “Pikeman” (sniper-walker-like):
  • Fragile
  • Best handled with melee tactics

Gameplay Highlights (What the DLC Adds / Changes)

Courtly Nobles & High Demands

• The empire provides “courtly flair and futuristic gear” in exchange for service.
• Colonists can receive unique noble titles through imperial ceremonies tied to Honor.

Titles and Their Effects

Obtainable Titles (as mentioned)

• Freeholder
• Man in Ac(a)olyte
• Knight
• Creator
• Baron
• Count
• Higher “AI titles” are mentioned but described as unobtainable
• Final: Emperor

Demand Scaling

• Higher title → bigger and stricter needs, including:
  • Better clothes
  • Improved bedrooms
  • Requirements like throne rooms

Trait-Based Problem Behavior

• If a pawn with certain traits—Conceited, greedy, jealous, or abrasive—becomes entitled, they may:
  • Refuse many tasks (e.g., hauling, cleaning, farming, mining, etc.)
  • Limit themselves to basic roles
• Key nuance: without those traits, even a high-title pawn will still follow orders.

Best Pairing: Ascetics

• Ascetics are ideal for entitled roles because their needs override the special entitled bedroom/food requirements.
• They can still tolerate awful bedrooms and simple meals.

Permits (Special Powers Tied to Titles)

• Permits are the gameplay payoff for Honor and rank—each title level unlocks stronger options.
• Mentioned permits include:

From Acolyte

• Laboratory
  • Calls 8 laborers for 4 days (general labor only)
  • Must be kept safe
  • 60-day cooldown
  • Costs Honor if used early
• Call Labor
  • Calls 4 laborers for 4 days
  • 60-day cooldown
  • Can be controlled
  • Basic tasks only
• Trooper squad
  • Calls 4 light troopers for battle
  • 40-day cooldown
  • Includes a death-related implant effect (death acidifier)

From “Preeta” (rank mentioned)

• Transport shuttle
  • Teleports the colony, items, and animals anywhere within 70 tiles
  • 40-day cooldown
  • Costs Honor
• Call Janissary squad
  • Calls 4 janissaries for combat
  • Uses empire tech/weapons
  • Includes the death-implant effect

From Predator Knight

• Orbital strike
  • Requires the Knight / Dame title
  • One orbital strike
  • Strong vs siege engines/motors
  • 45-day cooldown
  • Costs Honor
• Orbital salvo
  • Requires the orbital strike permission
  • Fires an extended barrage
  • Described as devastating for clearing defenses/raids

From Count only

• Cataphract squad
  • “Space marines” style support
  • Calls 4 heavy cataphracts with top-tier armor and advanced weapons
  • Includes death-implant + additional effects
  • Strong late-game reinforcement

Strategy / Key Tips from the Video

• Maintain or leverage entitled pawns
  • Be cautious if your most entitled pawns have problematic traits (e.g., Conceited/greedy/abrasive), since they may refuse work.
  • Ascetics are highlighted as the safest way to grant high status with minimal hassle.
• Use permits as tactical “power spikes”
  • Laborers for short-term logistics
  • Troopers / Janissaries / Cataphracts for direct combat reinforcement
  • Transport shuttle for rapid redeployment
  • Orbital strikes for high-value targets (especially clustered threats or siege tools)
• Exploit fragile threats
  • For pikeman/sniper-walker-like mech units: use melee pressure because the video suggests they are fragile and vulnerable.
• Use linked weapons & special weapon mechanics
  • Some weapons are “linked” variants:
    • The wielder can use upgraded power versions
    • If the wielder dies, the linked weapon can become unusable by others
  • Some linked items have special effects such as:
    • Kill happy (mood boost per kill)
    • Free wielder (anyone can wield)
  • Example anti-mech weapon:
    • Zeus hammers with an EMP capacitor (EMP on impact vs mechanoids)
• Manage psychic amplification / psi-casting
  • Titles and Honor lead to psychic amplifier rights, allowing psycasts, including effects like:
    • Pacify
    • Damage/disable
    • Blind
    • Pain blocking
    • Teleport enemies/objects/people
    • Make animals go insane
    • Make allies invisible
  • Risk management
    • Psi-casting adds psychic entropy (negative pressure effect)
    • Overcasting can cause permanent damage
  • Amplifiers may be obtainable by stealing, but that makes you an enemy of the empire.

Honor / Quests / Decrees (How the System Works)

Honor

• Honor is gained by completing what the empire requests.
• After you earn enough Honor, the empire awards a quest leading into a bestowing ceremony that grants:
  • A new title
  • More special power options (permits and psychic access as you rise)

Decrees (Always-Demanding Side Objectives)

• Completing decrees grants +6 mood
• Ignoring decrees causes a negative mood debuff that worsens over time
• Decrees can end early if:
  • The issuing pawn dies
  • The pawn gets kidnapped
  • Or the title is renounced

Renouncing Titles

• Titles are assigned automatically when gained.
• If a noble pawn dies and is resurrected, the heir keeps the title, but you can renounce it to revert to the original noble.

Threats & Content Loop Mentioned

• Common empire demands include:
  • Protecting hostile/annoying targets (example mentioned: “terr(i)ers” while mechanoids try to kill them)
  • Hosting royals
  • Constructing things (often takes a few days to ~2 weeks)
  • Exploration (“sight quests”) for nearby points of interest to find new loot/weapons
• Main external pressure:
  • Mechanoid clusters escalate through mechanisms like:
    • Orbit drops
    • Camps/bases
    • Air poisoning
    • Darkening skies
  • Eventually, confrontation becomes unavoidable.

New Equipment / Weapons / Implants Highlighted

Weapons

• Plasma swords (including persona variants)
• Persona / linked weapons concept (linked weapon can be disabled if the wielder dies)
• Zeus hammers (EMP shock vs mechanoids)
• Monosaur blade (high armor penetration; limb-lopping style)

Implants

• Death acidifier
  • If the implanted pawn dies, their equipment is destroyed
  • Also blocks your ability (or an enemy’s ability) to retrieve that equipment
• Another mentioned implant:
  • “Drill up”
  • Increases mining speed by 160% (as described)

Gamers / Sources Featured at the End

• No specific gamer names or external sources were provided beyond general “remember to subscribe”-style mentions.