So you’ve made a new religion in Rimworld Ideology. Obviously your religion is going to be the best one, so naturally you want to share this beautiful belief. That prisoner practices Neo-Mormonism? Blasphemy!
This guide will show you how to convert other characters into seeing your colony’s point of view!
How to Convert Colonists in Rimworld Ideology
Converting colonists in Rimworld to your religion is actually pretty straightforward. Although the game doesn’t tell you outright how to do it, (or even that it is possible), there is a mechanic in place that makes this possible. Much like the ability to convert a prisoner into a colonists, there is a system in place where you can convert their beliefs as well. Much like convincing a prisoner to join you, their will and beliefs can also be slowly broken down in a number of ways.
Will vs Resistance
With the new update a new system has been added. Along with the old resistance level, prisoners will also have a will. This is mainly going to affect new mechanics of the Ideology expansion. If the prisoner’s will is low, they are going to be more open to being converted or even becoming enslaved. Prisoners with a weak will are less likely to fight back.
First of all, you are going to have to lock up this other character. Make them a prisoner just like any other prisoner. Now, you can select this pawn and open up their Prisoner tab. From here, you can see a bunch of new options that have been added in the recent update. These include:
- Enslave: The warden will threaten the prisoner until their will is broken. They will then become a slave to the colony. (Note that not all ideologies include slavery.)
- Reduce Will: Functions a lot like Reduce Resistance but for the Will level.
- Convert: Your warden will attempt to convince them to convert to your colony’s religion.
To start conversion attempts on a prisoner select the option that reads Convert. Much like Recruit, your warden will then converse with the prisoner. Instead of trying to convince them to join the colony, your warden will convince them to change religions. Once their will is at low levels, they will be easier to convert.
A great way of reducing will is simply to leave the prisoners imprisoned for long periods of time. If they are kept in a terrible, dark prison, over time their will level will start to deteriorate.
Decreasing Certainty
As your warden pawns interact with the prisoners, they will start to break down their certainty. Depending on the pawn, they will already start with a certain certainty level based on how devout they are to their religion. Be aware that most tribal raiding factions have devout followers. They will generally start with 99% certainty they are in the right religion.
Just keep attempting to convert them and keep a pawn talking to them. If they have a low will level and your pawn has a high social skill, you’ll have them converted in no time!
Converting New Colonists That Aren’t Prisoners
If you’ve had a new recruit join by purchasing them or other means chances are they will not share your colony’s religion. This can cause problems as if you’ve build the colony around the idea that trees or a specific animal are sacred in one ideology and hated in another. There are two ways to change a colonist’s religion without imprisoning them:
Recruiting them Passively
Your colonists part of their religion will try to convince the newcomer about their religion passively. Just by talking to each other socially, ideas and beliefs will change. Be aware that this can work in the other way too. If an outsider from another religion is convincing enough they may just convert your colonist into a different religion.
There are other factors which reduce a colonist’s belief such as starvation and sadness.
Moral/Spiritual Leader Actions
In Ideology you can assign different roles to your religion. These roles will differ depending on your beliefs. One such role that can be given to a colonist in your ideology is the Moral/Spiritual Guide. This will be the colonist in charge of rituals and reassuring colonists of their belief. Think of a priest in Christianity.
You can check out this guide to assigning social roles in Rimworld to find out how to give a colonist this role but keep in mind you will need at least three colonists in total. Once you have a colonist in this role, you can use the Convert action in order to attempt to convert a colonist.
As you can see in the image above, this power will attempt to convert another person to the colony’s ideology. The higher their social skill, the better your chance at converting them. Alongside this power, the colonist can use the Reassure power to keep colonists in line with the religion. They will convince them they are on the right path.