New Player Experience – Biggest Question

Hi guys, this is my first post here. I bought the game a few weeks ago and I’m completely addicted. I’ve played 47 hours so far. In my last save, I built a big base with lots of animals, turrets, food, and resources. Everything was going well — except I was missing people. I only had 6 colonists, and just one of them had good combat skills.

Then a new guy asked for rescue. Of course I accepted, because I really needed more people. But he was being chased by a group of 10+ raiders who set up mortars and completely destroyed my base.

I couldn’t fight back properly since only one of my colonists was good at combat. So my question is: how can I better prepare for situations like this?

I had a lot of resources and wealth, but clearly I wasn’t ready. How can I increase my colony with good fighters without relying on those risky “rescue” events?

I also received some raids before, but my colonists killed all the attackers every time, so I never had the chance to recruit any of them.