Kenshi - open-ended sandbox RPG set in a desert world

[Gahbreeil]

All right. Got into Kenshi based on the Codex. First game was a failure as I was bitten down by bonedogs after being stunlocked. They did not eat me, instead slavers patched me up and picked me up. I continued hoping that I'll be working on a farm soon. Then bonedogs attacked them after two days of walking and I ran away only to find out the city I saw on the horison was a Holy Nation city. They imprisoned me and I had to end the game after finding out I cannot escape after three tries. I figured I'll die out of hunger in the prison.
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Now I'm playing my second. I've defeated two groups of dust bandits with the help of the Hub mercenaries. Earned 9k and spent it in Quinn on armour and Kang. I do not know what else to do except for wait for dust bandits to go to the Hub. Any ideas? Playing as a wanderer.
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Game seems like a 6/10 after my experiences. Maybe I'll up it to 7, max 8.

 

[Delterius]

So is there any essential mods

yes

 

[Salvo]

All right. Got into Kenshi based on the Codex. First game was a failure as I was bitten down by bonedogs after being stunlocked. They did not eat me, instead slavers patched me up and picked me up. I continued hoping that I'll be working on a farm soon. Then bonedogs attacked them after two days of walking and I ran away only to find out the city I saw on the horison was a Holy Nation city. They imprisoned me and I had to end the game after finding out I cannot escape after three tries. I figured I'll die out of hunger in the prison.
-
Now I'm playing my second. I've defeated two groups of dust bandits with the help of the Hub mercenaries. Earned 9k and spent it in Quinn on armour and Kang. I do not know what else to do except for wait for dust bandits to go to the Hub. Any ideas? Playing as a wanderer.
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Game seems like a 6/10 after my experiences. Maybe I'll up it to 7, max 8.

Hire someone. The game is EXTREMELY hard solo unless you're a skeleton or you know what you're doing. Even hiring a single dude to hide while you fight and patch you up when you, alas inevitably, go down will greatly change your experience. Keep it up and remember that EVERY fight gets you stronger, no matter whether you win or lose.

 

[Mud']

I know this may be decline but i wish there was a mod that allowed your main character to not die, ala Mount & Blade.

I mean, i kinda wanted to train my squad and found a outpost of ninjas, so i took turns using their shit to train a skill and they were like "stop using our shit" and then they beat the living shit out me and my squad of 4 plus my character.

So those 3 of the 4 characters of my squad bleed out, 1 was kidnapped and my character had 1 less leg to worry about, i was dragging my way into any town and well my character just kept falling into a coma until he died.

I wish he could have reached a town to try to stabilize and stop falling into comas, get himself something to stand and try to resecue my other squadmate, but his story ended blasting a fart to the desert wind alone, with 1 less leg and a trail of blood for miles. I love how harsh the game is but god damn it makes it playing it in ironman so damn hard when you know that a squad wipe like this is the end of it all.

In Mount & Blade i had lost armies, cities and more but if i ended up wounded and with no arm or companions, i could still pick my self up.

 

[Perkel]

I am in opposite direction. Imho Keshi should be ironman only. As for player death. Game gives you plenty enough leeway from fights. Most of the time you can just run away but when push comes there is plenty leeway in how you are hit. You rarely get hit so hard that it kills you outright so most of the time you will be just injuried, which is not really huge cost. Lost limb also is not huge problem due to prostetics and replacements.

And then there is cheating in form of save scumming ready for your F5/F9.

Kenshi definitely benefits people who want to stay with their characters without save scumming and clearly game is designed around ironman. I play as such i never feel like i have to use F5/F9 to play game most of the time payment for my fail is just getting injured and robbed not actually death.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

You rarely get hit so hard that it kills you outright

Just wait til you get to Ashlands.

 

[Hag]

I am in opposite direction. Imho Keshi should be ironman only. As for player death. Game gives you plenty enough leeway from fights. Most of the time you can just run away but when push comes there is plenty leeway in how you are hit. You rarely get hit so hard that it kills you outright so most of the time you will be just injuried, which is not really huge cost. Lost limb also is not huge problem due to prostetics and replacements.

And then there is cheating in form of save scumming ready for your F5/F9.

Kenshi definitely benefits people who want to stay with their characters without save scumming and clearly game is designed around ironman. I play as such i never feel like i have to use F5/F9 to play game most of the time payment for my fail is just getting injured and robbed not actually death.

While I agree with you on the theory (should be ironman only), some places (Pits East, Bonefields) can become a deathtrap for lower level parties if you enter them, not because you die (would be too easy) but because you spend your time being knocked out by enemies so strong you can't fight back but too weak to really injure you, and too numerous to be sure you can sneak past them (and if you have a dog in your party, you're doomed). In these situation, being able to rollback one region makes sense. This is not the same situation than in say, Fog Islands or Cannibal Coast, that are genuinely dangerous, but feels more like a limitation of the fighting engine.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

And if you are having performance issues

I'm cucking myself on a Kenshi playthrough on muh with-the-times-system as opposed to 7 year old mr.scrappy I used to play on. It's going to be glorious

 

[Arulan]

I am in opposite direction. Imho Keshi should be ironman only. As for player death. Game gives you plenty enough leeway from fights. Most of the time you can just run away but when push comes there is plenty leeway in how you are hit. You rarely get hit so hard that it kills you outright so most of the time you will be just injuried, which is not really huge cost. Lost limb also is not huge problem due to prostetics and replacements.

And then there is cheating in form of save scumming ready for your F5/F9.

Kenshi definitely benefits people who want to stay with their characters without save scumming and clearly game is designed around ironman. I play as such i never feel like i have to use F5/F9 to play game most of the time payment for my fail is just getting injured and robbed not actually death.

Totally agreed. My best experiences with Kenshi were the result of sticking with a terrible situation knowing any consequences were permanent.

One of my favorite moments would not have happened if I just reloaded when things started to go bad.

Surviving Cannibals

 

[Perkel]

I arrived at The Hub, bought a house to have some safe space to recover from travel and store some stuff.

My dude and chick are escaped slaves and turns out that "inhuman" slave traders that were in bar don't really like slaves. So dude behind table swung at my chick she gracefully dodged that. Turns out that blade momentum hit Traders Ninja. That chick didn't like it so she proceeded to cut some new asshole in that slaver.

Naturally rest of slavers behind table didn't like that so they started to fight with that chick. Whole bar started to comment om fight from "again ?" to "Fight Fight Fight !". Two Unholy civilians were hit and which means now guards have shown up but only like 2 as this was bar in corner of The Hub which is pretty far away from both gates where tought guys stand. One of civilians started to run away and that slaver went after him into city and started to trash that civilian.

Well one of hive caravan dudes didn't like that one sided trashing and decided to join... after which caravan joined fray and since fight took place at middle of city rest of guards started to pop up.

So basically about 8-10 slavers was pummeling that traders ninja and now guards, hive caravan and that angry ninja chick started to pummel back inhuman slavers. Naturally i was there trying to get some cheapshots. After a while Slavers got locked up in cages, ninja chick was relatively fine for what she was in. The most hurt were slavers and hive caravan members. Especially diplomat which for some reason got smashed hard and was half alive by the end of it.

Inhuman slavers commander state around end of the fight. Ouch:

 

[Cyberarmy]

 

[The_Mask]

Earned 9k and spent it in Quinn on armour and Kang. I do not know what else to do except for wait for dust bandits to go to the Hub. Any ideas? Playing as a wanderer.

There are a few things that you should know:

1. Kenshi respects you, if you respect it. Meaning, if you get into a fight with a dog, that dog will eat you. If you get into a fight with a Cannibal, that Cannibal will eat you. Everyone else will just rob you. The big hurdle is to assess knowledge of what eats you, and what doesn't.
2. Ninjas are the cool guys. Try to get on their good side.
3. As a fan of monks, and martial arts in general, I can proudly say Kenshi is one of the handful of games that does it right. Weapons are superior to martial arts... until a martial artist has you close. Then martial artists will destroy you.
   Spoiler

   Sheks are probably the best martial artists.
4. Being a wanderer is probably a decent idea, but it is best to choose a town, and get some research going. Specifically armour. Weapons you will be able to either steal, borrow or scavenge.
5. Remember that the town that you choose to get a building in, will be instantly hardcoded to have its guards/sentinels starve and run out of bandages. Don't just buy a house because you want to. Buy a house because you need to.
6. If you want your own fortress, you should build one VERY late, and only after you have a serious chunk of research already done.
   Spoiler

   Arguably the best spot for a base is in Vain. But don't let what I just said stop you. With enough gear and stats, you can settle pretty much anywhere.
7. Stay above the fog.

 

[Perkel]

Well turns out that this wasn't end of that fight. Turns out that hub doesn't have many cages. So the leaved one guy on the floor and with some fucking luck guy got away from HQ to gates. Naturally 3 guys at gate stopped him. Fight started and with again some fucking luck one of the gate guards hit square in head Hive Caravan master knocking him out. Caravan was leaving so imagine my face when i saw that.

Turns out that Hive caravan people are not some random men. Some have like 70 in attack. Which meant that a lot of unholy outlaws cannon fodder got rolfstomped and caravan from trading became siege machine which started to cleanout city. At the moment they are outright breaking into The Hub HQ and there is fight going on there. I don't think they will win it as they have like 7-8 people total from which 4 of them are pretty fucking good and all of them are in HQ while worse ones are in city chasing people.

Mayhem at The HUB HQ

Previously when i arrived at the Hub, Harenga gave me some quest to kill some mythic beast in foglands down in south. After i accepted it more or less he proceeded to laugh at me along with everyone else in room calling me "hero". Harenga also gave me bag of worthles junk "to help me in my hero quest"

Not laughing anymore are you ?

I doubt he will die but he is getting trashed hard while his opponent despite fighting like 3 people at once is barely scratched...

edit: he got fucked lol. Naturally i "helped" him: I got nice sword, shirt and just to be extra dick i stole his prostetic leg. Doubt he will be laughing now...

 

[Zombra]

Earned 9k and spent it in Quinn on armour and Kang. I do not know what else to do except for wait for dust bandits to go to the Hub. Any ideas? Playing as a wanderer.

There are a few things that you should know

Meh. I liked #1 but the rest reads as "Capital R Right and capital W Wrong ways to play the game". What this guy really needs is a kick in the ass to explore the world for himself, not follow your rules for successful levelling.

 

[Perkel]

Haranga "the Loud" doesn't seem loud now, the face says it all:

 

[The_Mask]

Meh. I liked #1 but the rest reads as "Capital R Right and capital W Wrong ways to play the game". What this guy really needs is a kick in the ass to explore the world for himself, not follow your rules for successful levelling.

I never told him how to level. The game does that by itself. All he has to do is read. I assume he knows how.
I also never explained the mechanics behind weapons, weapon animations and in-depth injury mechanics. I never spoiled anything of substance.
Technically, if he wants to make a fortress right now, he can. And suffer the consequences.

 

[Perkel]

Was just hovering around HQ watching The Hub boss squirming on floor like a snake when i noticed something particular in shot:

hmmmm "Computer, enchance"

again

wait a second, i know that ass ! Roll back video to day before ! It should be somewhere there ! Computer ! Show photo !

YES THIS IS THE SAME ASS, now bolt free:

So the chick that started this all trying to swing at me in bar got in a shot with leader of The Hub crawling toward the door. None of them could predict what that bar fight could lead too.

One man not so lound anymore, crawling like a slug on floor while his castle is burning.
One chick, captain of slavers band. Up until recently with bolt in her ass.

Both of which got fucked, in one shot. Poetic.

 

[mondblut]

Meh. I liked #1 but the rest reads as "Capital R Right and capital W Wrong ways to play the game". What this guy really needs is a kick in the ass to explore the world for himself, not follow your rules for successful levelling.

He said nothing about overloading everyone with ore and corpses and ordering them to follow the guy ordered to carry a piece of ore from a mining pile to a faraway storage box, then leaving them for the night to get 90+ strength. Or about hammering on a crippled skeleton chained to skeleton bed. If I have just ruined your game, the pleasure is mine.

There might be no "Capital R Right" ways to play, but there are sure a plenty of "Capital R Retarded" ways, and a wise man does his research.

 

[Perkel]

Well turns out that she didn't walk long. Now trading ninjas joined and for some fucking reason slavers showed up. Right now Caravaners are just anihilating everything and everyone, though they are down to 3 men.

 

[mondblut]

Nice rapper pants. Do they have golden bling-bling in Kenshi too?

Oh, right.

 

[Perkel]

Ok i will have to restart probably. Default values for death are fucking retarded. It like a week in game and caravaners and still duking it out with eatch other in the hub. No one dies, everyone just patches out themselves. Hub don't have many cages so like 4/5 of combatants just get up after a while and continue fight. Some can lose limb but that is pretty much it.

Will try with 2.0 or more. 1.0 is absolutely fucking retarded. I also need to see some settings or mod for making sure those cuts do something because most of the time those cuts don't do shit, it takes ages for blood loss and even more time for wound to detoriate.

 

[Delterius]

Will try with 2.0 or more. 1.0 is absolutely fucking retarded.

I max it. You WILL DIE if you don't build up Constitution though.

 

[Joggerino]

All right. Got into Kenshi based on the Codex. First game was a failure as I was bitten down by bonedogs after being stunlocked. They did not eat me, instead slavers patched me up and picked me up. I continued hoping that I'll be working on a farm soon. Then bonedogs attacked them after two days of walking and I ran away only to find out the city I saw on the horison was a Holy Nation city. They imprisoned me and I had to end the game after finding out I cannot escape after three tries. I figured I'll die out of hunger in the prison.
-
Now I'm playing my second. I've defeated two groups of dust bandits with the help of the Hub mercenaries. Earned 9k and spent it in Quinn on armour and Kang. I do not know what else to do except for wait for dust bandits to go to the Hub. Any ideas? Playing as a wanderer.
-
Game seems like a 6/10 after my experiences. Maybe I'll up it to 7, max 8.

Just FYI you can never die out of hunger when imprisoned or enslaved. You are kept at the edge of starvation and weakened so it's smart to steal food and eat up before your escape attempt.

 

[mondblut]

Hub don't have many cages so like 4/5 of combatants just get up after a while and continue fight. Some can lose limb but that is pretty much it.

If constant street warfare bothers you, just leave the area. All this shit is for your entertainment alone.

 

[Perkel]

Hub don't have many cages so like 4/5 of combatants just get up after a while and continue fight. Some can lose limb but that is pretty much it.

If constant street warfare bothers you, just leave the area. All this shit is for your entertainment alone.

Well i changed death difficulty to 2.5 instead of standard 1.0 and now most of the guys just bleed out quickly after fight dying. In order not to die someone has to patch things up.