How can I avoid raids in Rimworld?

In Rimworld, how can I avoid raids?

If I move far away from any village using the World map, do I have more chance to avoid battle?

What else can I do?

One option is to befriend all other groups on the planet. Instead of raiding you, they'll send caravans and visitors. This won't stop mechanoid raids, or other negative events.

The other option is to modify the scenario to disable raids/mechanoids before starting your game. Click "New Colony", then at the bottom, open the Scenario Editor. Enable Edit mode and add click Add Part, then select disable incident. You can select Enemy raids and mechanoids which will disable them in your game.

Play Peaceful mode

The simplest way to avoid having raids is to play in "peaceful mode" which was implemented in the Beta 16 release of December 2016.

As others have mentioned, you can also achieve this over time by improving relations with other factions, but you'll typically have to survive a large number of raids before you're in a position to go about improving those relations!

If you establish your settlement within 4 hexes of an existing settlement, you'll have problematic relations with them, but you won't avoid raids by choosing a remote site. Even a settlement on an island without any other settlements will still suffer raids.