I've enjoyed my time with Rimworld, but honestly the base gameplay loop was lifted from DF, with a sci-fi veneer, and so no wonder there are a lot of '
' moments regarding balance and purpose of features in-game. DF is more of a simulation, so if you take huge chunks of DF and put them in another game, they aren't likely to make a huge amount of sense. Partial implementation of a huge system will always leave you feeling like something is missing.
If you read through the earliest posts in this very thread you can track peoples reactions to the game, and a lot of valid criticism was written about Rimworld vs. DF. It seems like the Rimworld dev wasn't exactly sure what made DF successful but wanted to copy it, and so with %50 of the mimesis, %10 of the narrative, and %200 improved UI, Rimworld was born...
This is proven when you look at the content in the newest dev update vs. the content provided by thousands of modders. While it is true that no independent dev could match the combined effort of modders, it is kind of sad that even simple things like mounting lights on wall tiles, or increased functionality from coolers, or more turrets, were left up to modders to fill in. Think of Rimworld without Prepare Carefully, Hospitality, animal logic, vegetable garden, advanced prosthetics, etc, etc.. it is honestly kind of dull in it's base form. The expansion was lackluster, expensive, and ... tone breaking? Nobility on a fucking inhospitable war-torn tribal planet?? It's just another example of, 'What mechanic is DF known for? Ah, nobles! How can I hack that into my version?" and thus it's kind of silly and feels out of place. A big, fat, meh from me.