The tale begins with my starting colonist "Bear" (The leftmost of the pawns lined up near the ship). He was created with the prepare carefully mod. His main skills include research and construction and he is a moderate grower. I also gave him 2 strong traits to ease the difficulty, sanguine and industrious. The beginning of the playtrough consisted mostly of securing heat and then rushing batteries and hydroponics. Bear wasn't alone for too long though because right before completing hydroponics a wanderer joined. She is a programmer named Bonfire (Second from the left). She is quite the talented individual as besides the researching capabilities she also has a great passion for animals and modest interest in crafting and medical. Together with his newly found comrade Bear successfully completed the hydroponics set up and a constant farming for rice began.
As the two of them got a stable source of food the next project was making it edible, as they were close to running out of packaged survival meals. There were no cooks in sight so there was only one glorious option left. The nutrient paste dispenser was built and the two could enjoy the fine green paste to their hearts content. The next step was securing more building materials for the compound as there was absolutely nothing but ice on the map. The answer was trading and it needed to be the orbital kind because of the infrequent trade caravans on the sea ice. For this they needed to get their hands on an orbital trade beacon and a comms console. The days flew by researching for microelectronics and growing with the small occasional raids, which were mostly dealt with the harsh temperature and Bear's trusty charge rifle when needed.
When the day finally came and the secrets of microelectronics were uncovered the two had accumulated enough steel from smelting steel slag chunks that they could construct the needed equipment. As Randy had been generous with random drop pods there were quite a bit of miscellaneous items to sell for raw building materials. Marble and Granite were gradually bought by the thousands and "The Compound" was gradually rising from seemingly nothing. As the small colony grew visitors started to come by and enjoy the nothingness of the sea ice (Seriously tho why would anyone visit a plane of ice). To this the newly named "pole people" responded with selling yao to the visitors,... and taking it right back after they collapse on the ice trying to leave the map before freezing to death. The accumulation of bodies from both raiders and guests together with the great conditions for preserving them inspired the two body dumps near the "lake".
The colony planned on a small scale industry from "collecting" everything from these otherwise useless bodies. So every once in a while Bear went to the dump and "collected" some nutrients and useful textile which Bonfire turned into beautiful hats. These hats and the yao produced became the cornerstone of the colony's economy. After prospering for a while raids became increasingly harder and mechanoids started to show up by foot and from crashed ships. A more refined defense was required. Bear planned out an outer perimeter wall with an opening on the other side of the lake. That way raiders would funnel into the lake where they would move slowly and be easier to hit. In addition to the funnel Bear constructed turrets and added sandbags for cover, both for the turrets and him and Bonfire. The newly constructed killbox worked as intended and raids where manageable for a while longer.
The colony's population wouldn't stay as two for too long. A group of huskies joined the colony from out of nowhere from which only two where left alive (sea ice rules). Bonfire named them "Snow" and "Ice" and their job in the colony would consist of hauling. After the huskies were trained and ready to go they tackled on the gruesome job of hauling the bodies of an immediate raid that just finished. While hauling Bonfire spotted a promising raider downed in the ice cold water of the lake. His name is Urian (Middle one). He is an excellent grower with also a great passion for cooking. "No more paste!", was the driving force of capturing and trying to recruit this man. After being successfully recruited by bear, Urian made himself at home in a room adjacent to the freezer. There he spent his days cooking fine meals when he didn't work at the hydroponics bay. A while after Bear and Bonfire decided to get married. Oh wait, nope they immediately broke up and from now on they where ex lovers. Still liked one another after that though so social fights weren't a problem.