RimWorld Intel Broker: Crack Every Faction's Secrets Like a Pro
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🔧 Notable Espionage Mods
Tools & UtilitiesIntel in Vanilla RimWorld: How the Base Game Handles Information 📻
Factions and the Comms Console – Your Info Highway
In RimWorld, factions are your primary source of external information. By building a Comms Console, you gain the ability to contact factions or listen for orbital trader signals.
Using the comms console, a colonist with decent Social skill can:
- Request trade caravans or military aid (costs goodwill)
- Ransom prisoners or pay to free kidnapped colonists (Royalty DLC)
- Pay for item stash locations - the closest vanilla gets to literal info trading
Pro Tip: Keep that comms console buzzing - respond to strange signals, pay for intel when offered, and call allies often. This is your lifeline to the outside world of information!
RimWorld's faction relations interface showing connections between various groups.
Quests: Information as Both Reward and Currency
The quest system is where information plays a key role. Many quests are essentially information opportunities that a faction or AI gives you. Notable quest types include:
Peace Talks & Diplomacy
Send a negotiator to peace talks. Success improves relations and might yield new information. Perfect for an information broker who excels at communication rather than combat.
Item Stash Quests
Someone gives you information about valuable items. Sometimes free, sometimes you pay. This is literal information trading - you get coordinates in exchange for silver or favors.
Refugee Hospitality
Take in refugees. If you treat them well, they might share a location of interest when they leave. Hosting people in exchange for their secrets is classic information broker behavior.
Infiltrators & Traitors
The Royalty DLC adds enemy spies who might join your colony as "friendly" wanderers. This means you'll occasionally be on the receiving end of espionage - keeping you on your toes!
Note: Vanilla RimWorld doesn't have a dedicated "interrogate prisoner" option for extracting information, but with mods (covered later), you can turn captured enemies into valuable intelligence sources. For effective prisoner management, see our prisoner recruitment guide.
Notable Espionage and Intel Mods 🔧
The modding community has created several excellent mods that introduce proper espionage mechanics. Here are the standout options for aspiring information brokers:
"Call For Intel" Mod
EssentialThis mod by 8Z directly serves an information broker playstyle. It adds a new option to your comms console: "Request Intelligence".
When you call an allied faction, you can spend goodwill to generate quests of specific types:
- Work Camps (5 goodwill)
- Hostile Activity (10 goodwill)
- Trading Deals (15 goodwill)
- Locations of Interest (15 goodwill)
- Refugees and Slaves (25 goodwill)
This mod turns faction goodwill into a currency for buying information - exactly what an information broker would do!
RimWorld Intel Broker Interface Conceptual Design
Compatibility: Works with Vanilla Factions Expanded mods, adding special intel options for Vikings (legendary creature hunts) and Settlers (bounties).
RimCities
RecommendedRimCities by Cabbage adds massive procedural cities to the world map. While not primarily an espionage mod, it includes several mission types that fit an information broker perfectly:
- Sabotage Missions: Faction leaders may ask you to secretly sabotage an ally's city for profit
- Assassination Quests: Eliminate specific targets within bustling cities
- City Warfare: Play factions against each other by providing intel
These cities provide the perfect playground for espionage - bustling urban environments where your spies can blend in, gather information, or perform covert operations.
Tip: RimCities gives you the playground for true cloak-and-dagger gameplay. A perfect James Bond setting!
Vanilla Events Expanded
RecommendedThis mod by the Vanilla Expanded team adds many new events, including the crucial "Wanderer Joins (Traitor)" event.
A seemingly friendly wanderer will join your colony but is actually an enemy spy who will eventually betray you. This adds a layer of paranoia and counter-intelligence to your gameplay.
For an information broker playthrough, this mod means you'll need to:
- Be suspicious of new recruits with too-good-to-be-true stats
- Possibly quarantine new arrivals until you trust them
- Develop counter-intelligence measures to protect your colony's secrets
Immersion Boost: Having enemy spies infiltrate your colony makes the information warfare two-sided and more realistic.
VFE - Ancients: Interrogation
EssentialVanilla Factions Expanded - Ancients adds a new faction of ancient soldiers and vaults, but most importantly for us, it introduces prisoner interrogation!
If your Ideology has the Isolationist meme (added by this mod), you can interrogate prisoners for information. On successful interrogation, the game generates a random quest location - a direct gameplay reward for extracting intel.
This is pure information brokerage - capturing enemies, questioning them, and using the extracted coordinates to find treasure.
Note: Your pawn's Social skill likely affects interrogation success. Build a proper interrogation chamber for maximum immersion!
Shadow's Spyware
EssentialReleased in mid-2024, this mod by Markoolos adds a true spy gadget to RimWorld: the Camera Pod.
After researching Transport Pods, you can build special Camera Pods that you launch at enemy settlements. When they land, you get to see the entire map and all enemies without alerting them or losing goodwill.
This is essentially RimWorld's version of a spy satellite or drone, allowing you to gather reconnaissance without risking colonists.
- Scout enemy bases before attacking
- Check defenses, numbers, and resources
- Spy on allies (for purely benign reasons, of course...)
Strategic Edge: Knowledge is power! Knowing exactly what you're up against before committing to battle is invaluable.
The Intel Menu for Operations in RimWorld's VFE Deserters Mod
Other Noteworthy Mods
More Faction Interaction
This mod makes the world more alive with faction events. Factions will fight, grow, request help, etc. Perfect for an information broker who thrives on the politics between groups.
RimWar
Factions actively send armies and conquer territory. You could play a spy satellite role, observing which faction is ascendant and providing intel to their enemies for profit.
Hospitality
Let visitors come to your colony. An info broker could run an "Inn of Secrets" - travelers visit, talk, and unknowingly reveal valuable information that you can later sell.
VFE - Pirates
Adds bounty quests with "dead or alive" rewards. Information brokers often deal in the locations of wanted individuals - this mod lets you profit from that knowledge.
Roleplaying an Information Broker Colony 🕵️♂️
Starting Scenario and Pawn Selection
Creating a believable information broker colony starts with the right pawns and backstory:
Perfect Backstories
- "Information broker" (adult) - Grants +4 Intellectual and +5 Social
- "Intelligence agent" (adult) - Former spy with social and combat skills
- "Child spy" (childhood) - Trained in espionage from an early age
- "Envoy" or "Analyst" - Both fit the diplomatic/intelligence theme
Custom Scenario Ideas
- "Crashlanded Intelligence Cell" - Spies whose ship went down
- "Information Guild Founders" - Building a network from scratch
- "The Archivist and Her Assistants" - Knowledge collectors
- "Deep Cover Operatives" - Posing as farmers while gathering intel
Pro Tip: Using the Prepare Carefully mod, you can handpick colonists with these specific backgrounds. Try creating a team with complementary skills: the smooth-talking broker, the tech expert hacker, and the muscle (ex-agent) for protection. For detailed trait optimization, check our traits guide.
Base Design and Operations
Specialized Rooms
- Communications Center: Multiple comms consoles, screens, map tables
- Archives/Library: Store all collected data, scrolls, and artifacts
- Interrogation Room: For questioning prisoners (functional with VFE-Ancients)
- Guest Quarters: For hosting informants (with Hospitality mod)
Security Considerations
- Perimeter Security: Heavy defenses to protect your valuable intelligence
- Separate Quarters: Isolate new recruits until trust is established
- Hidden Stashes: Secret rooms or unroofed areas behind walls for your most valuable data
- Escape Routes: Planned evacuation paths if your cover is blown
Design Philosophy: An info-broker base might be smaller and more secure than a typical colony. Focus on quality defenses rather than sprawling production facilities. For comprehensive base design principles, see our colony layout guide.
An organized storage room in RimWorld showcasing items of varying qualities.
Day-to-Day Strategy
Intel Gathering Routine
- Make daily comms console check-ins with allies
- Prioritize quests over production (information > material goods)
- Send your most social colonist to negotiate with visitors
- Deploy camera pods to monitor potential threats
Selective Combat Strategy
- Avoid wanton aggression - only fight when absolutely necessary
- Capture rather than kill to extract information
- Don't wipe out factions completely (keep information sources alive)
- Use diplomatic solutions whenever possible
Economic Tip: An info-broker might supplement income with side businesses like drug production or art trading. Even spies need steady income!
Victory Conditions
How does an information broker "win" RimWorld? Here are some thematic victory conditions:
Spaceship Escape
Take your collected knowledge to the Glitterworlds to sell for millions. You're leaving with the most valuable resource: information.
Royal Ascent
Become the Empire's ally and earn a noble title, joining the Imperial Court as their spymaster. Your network has proven invaluable.
Archonexus
Perfect for an info broker! Merge with the AI that knows almost everything - the ultimate culmination for someone who trades in knowledge.
Custom Goals
Reach 100 goodwill with all factions, collect one artifact from each faction, or complete 100 quests - define your own success.
Tools & Utilities for the Aspiring Info-Broker 🛠️
Additional Mods and Tools
Quest Tab Mod
Provides a better UI for managing multiple quests simultaneously - essential for a broker juggling many leads and missions.
Relations Tab
Part of Vanilla UI Expanded, shows a matrix of faction relations. Knowing who hates whom helps you manipulate the political landscape.
External Notes
Using a journal (digital or paper) to track intelligence can enhance your experience. Record discoveries, faction strengths, or potential targets.
Multiplayer Potential
If you play RimWorld with multiplayer mods like Zetrith's Multiplayer or RimWorld Together, being an information broker between real players is extremely rewarding:
- Scout locations for military-focused players
- Trade information about resources with production-focused players
- Act as a diplomatic intermediary when conflicts arise
You could literally send messages with intel between players and get paid in resources!
An orbital trade beacon room in RimWorld, filled with various tradeable items.
Patch History (2022-2025) 🕒
Here's a timeline of relevant updates affecting information gameplay in RimWorld:
October 2022 - RimWorld 1.4 + Biotech
The Biotech expansion introduced children, genes, and mechanoids. While not focused on espionage, it added new factions like xenohuman groups that provide new context for information brokers.
The 1.4 update included shuttle raids and new quest types, making intel gathering more dynamic.
Mid 2023 - Mod Updates
Call For Intel received its final updates, ensuring compatibility with 1.4.
Vanilla Factions Expanded - Pirates added bounty quests and pirate mercenaries, expanding options for information-related gameplay.
Early 2024 - RimWorld 1.5 + "Anomaly" DLC
The horror-themed Anomaly expansion introduced new quest-like events for investigating strange occurrences - perfect for info brokers seeking exotic knowledge.
Version 1.5 improved the quest system backend and made quests more data-driven, enabling more complex intel-gathering missions.
Mid 2024 - Shadow's Spyware Released
Shadow's Spyware mod was released in June 2024, adding dedicated espionage functionality with camera pods.
There was a notable uptick in players seeking espionage mods, showing growing interest in this playstyle.
Looking Ahead
As of mid-2025, RimWorld 1.5 remains the current stable version. The modding community continues to thrive, with hints that multiplayer RimWorld is embracing more spying and covert ops mechanics. With the quest infrastructure from 1.5, this is an excellent time to play an intelligence-oriented colony.
Ready to Become the Ultimate Information Broker?
With everything we've covered, you're now equipped to dive into RimWorld and carve out your niche as a master of intelligence. Whether through vanilla cleverness or modded features, the Rim is yours to manipulate with knowledge.
Remember: In the RimWorld, forewarned is forearmed. Good luck, commander!