RimWorld Caravan Tips (1.6) | Fast Packing, Food, and Animal Planner
Built for RimWorld 1.6.4633
The 1.6+ toolkit for fast, safe, and stall-free travel
Fast answer: put the caravan hitching spot beside storage, stage the cargo there, form with a light checklist, and use Force caravan departure if the load starts to spiral. This page turns the current 1.6.4633 values into the practical calls you actually make on the world map: road food, pack animal picks, ambush recovery, and when pods beat a walk home.
Hitching Spot
Zero build work. Current tip text still says to place it near storage and stage items beside it.
Survival Meal
Never rots, still deteriorates outdoors, and stays the cleanest long-route ration.
Pemmican
70-day timer, lighter tech gate, and still the best low-power travel food before PSM comes online.
Pod Fallback
Use pods when the caravan has to leave now and the rest of the mass can chase later.
In 1.6 it is Force caravan departure: leave with the items already loaded and stop letting one bad pawn or one stuck reservation hold the whole run hostage.
Leave now, then restore the missing mass
- Hit Force caravan departure before the form-up stalls harder.
- Let replaceable cargo stay behind and stabilize the trip first.
- Send pods or a small follow-up caravan for the leftovers.
Local tip text still pushes the same rule: put the hitching spot where you want the caravan to form and stage the cargo beside it. Score your setup before you click Form caravan.
Current 1.6.4633 values: packaged survival meals are 0.9 nutrition / 0.3 kg and never rot, while pemmican is 0.05 nutrition / 0.018 kg with a 70-day timer. Use the route first, then let the food choice follow.
Current animal picks use move speed, caravan ride factor, hunger rate, and the standard caravan carry math of 35 kg × body size. Pick the route goal first, then let the animal follow it.
Horse
Fastest common mount and still enough pack space for most trade loops.
| Animal | Ride | Pack kg | Hunger | Need count |
|---|
Local 1.6 forage stat inputs are clear: Plants adds 0.09 per level, with extra sensitivity to Sight and Manipulation. Use this as a route-planning estimate, then layer biome and season judgment on top.
When a travel map turns ugly, the safest sequence is still the same: grab cover, stop the bleeding, then decide whether to Camp, reform, or pod out.
- Drop bedrolls or use existing rocks as the first cover line.
- Tend anyone bleeding before you chase loot or map control.
- Camp if the map is costing more health than the road would.
Bedrolls
Sandbags
Industrial meds
The cleanest caravan kits are short and role-specific. Use the mission to choose the food lane, then let cargo mass decide whether you need mounts, packers, or both.
Once the road stops making sense, pick the exit method quickly. Walk outs are cheap, pods are exact, and Odyssey saves can replace the whole leg with a gravship once that logistics layer exists.
Related Tools
Current 1.6 Facts
- This install is running 1.6.4633 rev1266.
- Caravan commands include both Camp and Force caravan departure.
- PSM = 0.9 nutrition / 0.3 kg and Pemmican = 0.05 nutrition / 0.018 kg / 70 days.
- Horse 1.6x, Donkey 1.3x, Dromedary 1.3x, Elephant 1.3x, while Muffalo stays bulk-first.
- The hitching spot still takes 0 build work, and transport pods still use rest effectiveness 0.8.
Fast Answers
- Stuck caravan? Force depart when the timer matters more than the leftovers.
- Best early animal? Donkey. It is fast enough, cheap enough, and does not demand elephant-level feed.
- Food for 10 days? Pemmican is fine if the route is normal. Flip to PSM when the days stretch or the climate gets ugly.
- When to camp? Camp when pushing on would cost more blood, rest, or food than the stop itself.
- When do pods win? When mass is the problem, not silver or chemfuel.