Rimworld Hydroponics Layout Guide (2023)

While there’s no such thing as a perfect RimWorld hydroponics layout, there is an optimal arrangement that utilizes all of the space available to you while also minimizing wasted blocks. Many players probably have their own layouts that work well for them, but this one is without a doubt the one that gives you the most bang for your buck.

Rimworld Hydroponics Layout Guide

The central goal of RimWorld is to establish a colony and keep it safe and secure from any threats that might seek to destroy it and it’s inhabitants. Part of that process involves growing food and making the colony completely self-sufficient as far as production is concerned. But as you play through the game, the threats get more and more dangerous over time.

Forcing you to come up with ways to protect your colonists and your resources. Things can quickly get out of hand if you’re not prepared, so it’s a good idea always to prioritize security before anything else.

One of the best ways that players can protect their colonies is by completely relocating everyone and everything inside the mountains you often see on the map. It’s not a quick process, but the game does allow you to hollow out space for buildings and other structures if you want. You have to designate the stone blocks you want to clear out and mark them using the ‘Mine’ order.

Then you actually have to assign the task to some colonists in the Work tab in the Architect menu. Be careful not to accidentally mine any of the external walls of the mountains however, since that would defeat the purpose of this entire process. You require these to act as nearly impenetrable defenses from any invading threats.

Now once you move inside, you’ll notice that there’s a massive problem in regards to food production. There’s no sunlight or soil inside the mountains, so no plants can actually grow here. You can rely on hunting if you want or allow farming to be the only thing that’s done outside. But as you’ll notice, both of these activities require your colonists to spend large amounts of time in the open where they can potentially get killed.

So in a situation like this, the optimal RimWorld hydroponics layout come into play. Or more specifically, the entire hydroponics system does.

What Are Hydroponics RimWorld?

Much like in real life, hydroponics in RimWorld is a type of farming method through which players can grow their crops indoors. This process does not require sunlight or rich soil, which makes it perfect for mountain colonies since they have neither.

Unlike regular farming though, which can be done on any open piece of land, this method requires specialized equipment known as the Hydroponics Basin. These grow plants twice as fast as rich soil, but they also require a significant amount of steel to construct and a steady supply of electricity to operate. You also require a small amount of RimWorld components.

Now it is extremely easy to unlock hydroponics after a couple of hours of play. But it is my personal opinion that you can make do without this tech until enemy attacks start becoming a semi-regular occurrence. Until that point in time, I highly recommend that you focus on building the foundations of your colony and relying on regular farming for food. But once this path becomes unavoidable, you should move on without wasting any time.

How To Unlock Hydroponics Basin RimWorld?

In order to get to the RimWorld hydroponics layout you desire, first begin researching Electricity in the Research tab. This requires you to first construct a research bench and then designate at least one colonist to begin working on it. Unfortunately, you cannot right-click to prioritize this task to someone since it is a long term endeavor. All you can do is wait until it’s complete.

Once the research on Electricity has finished, you will gain access to a bunch of new research projects like Hydroponics and Battery. I highly recommend that you go ahead and complete Battery first since it will allow you to construct batteries.

This is useful because you don’t have a lot of steady sources of power in the early game, and batteries will store any and all power you generate. So when there does comes a time when there is no sunlight or wind, the batteries will have enough juice to keep your Hydroponics Basins running.

Similar Article: How To Farm Life Fruit In Terraria.

After all of this is done and you’ve finally unlocked Hydroponics and Electricity, go ahead and construct a Sun Lamp. This is a piece of furniture that was unlocked when you researched Electricity. When constructing it, an outline should show you the area where its light will reach.

Hydroponics Basins should only be constructed within this area, or else they will not work. The lamp acts as an artificial sun for the crops you are about to plant.

The Optimal RimWorld Hydroponics Layout

Now for the sake of convenience, I’m going to assume that it is currently a growing season in your game. In that situation, the image seen below is perfect for your crops. But if that’s not the case, you may have to install equipment like heaters to bring the temperature down to where crops can actually grow.

Plants require a temperature within the 10 °C – 42 °C range for them to grow properly. Once that requirement has been met, you can proceed forward.

The pattern seen below is the RimWorld hydroponics layout with the least amount of wasted space.  

Place the Hydroponics Basins exactly as seen above and ensure that they all have access to a Power Conduit. Once that’s done, designate the entire thing as a Growing Zone and select which crop you want to plant. Also make sure that colonists with proficiency in the Plants skill are set to work on the area.

Similar Article: The Best Crops To Grow In Stardew Valley.

For reference, the button in the image below is how you choose your favored crop.

Once all of these steps have been completed, your plants should start growing indoors at around twice the speed than they would in regular rich soil. Now you also don’t have to ever worry about your colonists getting attacked.

This has been eXputer’s RimWorld Hydroponics Layout guide. While you’re here, why not also check out our article on Pokemon Fan Games That Everyone Should Try.