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Survival Tools Reborn

I used to maintain this mod, and decided to pick it back up. I hope you all enjoy! Note this is in BETA, with your help, and reports, we can make this better through playtesting. I will gladly incorporate patches if they are submitted as a PR on the github.

This latest version brings massive improvements with 8 new tools, complete reorganization, and enhanced gameplay!

NEW TOOLS ADDED:

• Knife – Basic butchery and medical operations
  
• Hand Saw – Manual construction and lumber processing
  
• Bone Sickle – Primitive harvesting tool (tribal start)
  
• Steel Knife – Advanced butchery with superior performance
  
• Crosscut Saw – Industrial-grade construction tool
  
• Carbide Pickaxe – High-tech mining with enhanced durability
  
• Precision Scalpel – Expert medical instrument for surgeries
  
• Power Drill – Mechanized construction and drilling
  
• Hoe – Essential farming tool for sowing operations
  
• Wrench – Precision maintenance and mechanical work
  
• Pry Bar – Basic leverage tool for deconstruction
  
• Abacus – Ancient calculating device for research
  
• Microscope – Advanced research instrument

PROGRESSION SYSTEM: Tools now unlock through research tiers:
• Primitive Tier (Stonecutting) • Industrial Tier (Smithing) • Precision Tier (Machining) • Spacer Tier (Advanced Fabrication)

ENHANCED FEATURES:

• 18 Total Tools across all technology levels
  
• Expanded Hardcore Mode – Now covers butchery, medical work, farming, and maintenance jobs
  
• Flexible Crafting – Most tools accept multiple material types
  
• Complete Localization – Full translations for 5 languages
  
• Balanced Recipe System – Accessibility without breaking game balance
  
• Research-Gated Progression – Logical unlock sequence from tribal to spacer

That's a fair question! There have been a few different Survival Tools mods over the years, and here's why this version exists:

• Hardcore Mode – A big difference. In Hardcore, pawns cannot do gated work (like mining, butchery, medical operations, farming, maintenance) without the correct tool. This makes tools a true necessity rather than just a work speed buff.
  
  
• Smarter AI – Pawns now automatically look for tools before they start jobs (Auto Tool Pickup). They'll also swap tools intelligently, and drop extras near where they pick up new ones, instead of scattering them randomly.
  
  
• Expanded Settings – Everything from degradation rate, carry limits, and Hardcore mode to debug logging is configurable in Mod Settings.
  
  
• Ongoing Improvements – This fork focuses on fixing long-standing issues like pawns endlessly trying jobs without tools in hardcore mode, NRE spam, and compatibility pitfalls.
  
  
• Does not rely on auto tool switcher mods, but should function with them.
  
  
• Copies jobs so you don't get the "same job twice" error as was common with other versions.
  
  
• You can see the tools in use, and if using Yayo's variety of mods you'll see them animated too.

Updated/Continued and uploaded with permission from the original author XeoNovaDan
Original Mod: Survival Tools by XeoNovaDan

Non-Steam builds: GitHub[github.com]

This mod can usually be added mid-save. Colonists without tools will work at reduced efficiency until you provide them with the proper equipment. Removing mid-save may throw harmless errors and all tools will vanish.

Confirmed compatible with many popular mods, including:

• Alpha Animals
  
• Combat Extended
  
• Dubs Bad Hygiene
  
• Expanded Woodworking (+VGP patch)
  
• Fluffy Breakdowns
  
• Quarry
  
• Rimefeller
  
• RimBees/AlphaBees
  
• Rim of Madness – Bones
  
• Rimsenal: Federation
  
• Vegetable Garden
  
• …and more.

Survival Tools introduces essential tools and the need to manage them. Colonists can't work at full efficiency—and in Hardcore Mode, can't perform some jobs at all—without the proper gear.

Key features:

• Expanded Tool Gating: Mining, construction, plant work, butchery, medical operations, and maintenance require tools for efficiency.
  
• Enhanced Hardcore Mode: Tasks like mining, surgery, butchery, farming, and repairs are completely impossible without the right tool.
  
• Auto Tool Pickup: Colonists will automatically fetch helpful tools before starting a job.
  
• Smart Dropping: When swapping tools, pawns try to drop unneeded ones near where they pick up new tools, reducing clutter.
  
• Inventory & Equipment Use: Tools can be used from main hand or inventory. Non-violent pawns can now work effectively with tools.
  
• Material Differences: Different materials affect tool performance and durability.
  
• Degradation: Tools wear out over time; poor quality tools break faster.
  
• Tool Belts: Increase how many tools a colonist can carry.
  
• Progression System: Tools unlock through research from primitive to spacer tech.
  
• Multi-Language Support: Complete translations for English, Japanese, German, French, Russian, and Spanish.

All Tools by Category:

• Primitive: Axe, Pickaxe, Hammer, Sickle, Hoe, Knife, Hand Saw, Bone Sickle, Pry Bar, Abacus
  
• Industrial: Steel Knife, Crosscut Saw, Wrench, Microscope
  
• Precision: Carbide Pickaxe, Precision Scalpel, Power Drill
  
• Spacer: Glitterworld Multitool (universal tool for all tasks)

Tools can be crafted at smithies, fabrication benches, or tailoring benches (belts), found in ruins, or bought from traders.

In Mod Settings, you can customize:

• Enable/disable tool degradation
  
• Adjust degradation rate
  
• Enable/disable tool carry limits
  
• Enable/disable Hardcore mode
  
• Toggle auto tool pickup
  
• Debug logging for troubleshooting

Original author: XeoNovaDan
Reworked & maintained: Jellypowered
Special thanks: Bar0th (testing & R2R), Brrainz (Harmony), Mehni (Pick Up and Haul code), Shotgunfrenzy (art), Why_is_that (Settings Helper), Marnador (RimWorld font), and many more.

Steam isn't great for bug reports. Please use the GitHub Issue Tracker
Feedback and suggestions are welcome!

Textures are currently being commissioned and will be updated upon completion along with proper credit!
If you encounter anything I missed, Please use the Github Issue section.