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

[Butter]

The game is shit.

-TemplarGR : The only Kenshi review you will ever need

Now I have to buy it.

 

[PanteraNera]

Never seen such a huge Beak Thing nest before, 17 eggs that is 71,400 Cat's of profit.

A curious leviathan as I plunder an Lost Armoury.
Lost Armouries are strange, at least in my experience either they have shit tons of good stuff (masterwork armours and edgewalker weapons) or shit. Difficulty certainly does not seem to be a factor, this one was guarded by two security spiders and had a lot of good stuff.

 

[Lagole Gon]

Bought it. I will try playing as a merchant first.

Spoiler

 

[Zanzoken]

welcome to Mount & Blade, year of our Lord 2008.

I'd say 1987 actually.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

Bask stretches on for miles, looks to be a lot of interesting nooks and crannies to find ruins and who knows what else amongst the mountains and valleys.

nothing.
one of the worst downsides of kenshi. it's a wasteland, it's huge and has 3, maybe 4 interesting places. barely any surprise, ruins contain nothing, isolated buildings contain almost nothing, the most remote and best defended places contain all the same stuff but maybe in better condition, exploration is rarely rewarded but always punished, finding abandoned structures is actually detrimental, annoying and irritating when they're in nice places but you can't rebuild and repopulate the place for who knows which reason, there's no scavenging, no survival element past the first 10 minutes, and the mods scene looks pretty dead already.
i'm still going to waste hundreds of hours on it, but it makes me want to cry knowing that with just a little more the game could become a lot better.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

if YOU somehow manage to kill some key characters sometimes it switches a trigger (triggers a switch?) and the next time you visit that place the npcs will be from another faction. else the world is perfectly static, this is no mount & blade. so static that i waited two days straight beside phoenix waiting for him to go to sleep so i could kidnap him but he didn't budge from the throne.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I'd like to hear more about how this system works.

I don't know a lot about it, so don't quote me. But when you're in the area, a raid event could trigger. Another faction raids the occupants of the current faction in the city. I saw this once at a modded-in faction on Shek lands. The Shek were fighting them, and I joined in to help, and then a bunch more Shek started raiding them. I ended up dying and had to reload and then it didn't happen. But I believe raid events trigger at certain points. Wandering patrols will engage in combat with their enemies, whether animal or human or cannibal. You can gain status and ally with a nation by doing a big deed for them, or by delivering wanted criminals to their prisons.

 

[Lagole Gon]

I only have one model of skeleton during the character creation. Is this a bug or a feature?

 

[Lyre Mors]

I only have one model of skeleton during the character creation. Is this a bug or a feature?

Probably just need to change race? You're probably starting a skeleton character on accident or something.

 

[Lagole Gon]

Rephrasing - Internet says that there are 3 subtypes of skeletons. I can only see one.

 

[Ironmonk]

Screamer MK1 and P-4 Unit aren't available for player characters, it seems you can recruit P4 Unit as non-unique (but very rare) bar recruits.

Or you can just install a mod that unlocks it.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

....refunding....

I don't think what he said is entirely correct. There are raids, I've seen them triggered and happen. As I said in my previous post the Shek were raiding one of the modded in factions on the borders of their lands, and a whole army of Shek were coming in - it was a fierce battle. I ended up dying and having to reload, when I reloaded I didn't see a raid happening, so they must be randomized at times. So I think the system is deeper than what is mentioned here (there's even a raid frequency slider in the options menu.)

 

[Payd Shell]

....refunding....

I don't think what he said is entirely correct. There are raids, I've seen them triggered and happen. As I said in my previous post the Shek were raiding one of the modded in factions on the borders of their lands, and a whole army of Shek were coming in - it was a fierce battle. I ended up dying and having to reload, when I reloaded I didn't see a raid happening, so they must be randomized at times. So I think the system is deeper than what is mentioned here (there's even a raid frequency slider in the options menu.)

Pretty sure that was because of the modded faction. Patrols spawn around faction territories so if the mod didn't pay attention to that the author might've placed the modded faction in occupied territory, so to speak. Normally this doesn't happen, the only way to actually start a war is being an ally to a faction or simply start wiping out a faction all by yourself. The raid frequency setting only applies to raids that target your own base, not to NPC controlled locations.

That being said, Kenshi suffers massively from being almost entirely formulaic. The dev knows this, that's why there are intentionally placed road blocks to slow you down. Recruits will always be horrible no matter what, even unique recruits start with bad stats. This goes even as far as the dev making it impossible for people with combat related stats above 20 - or 25 I believe - to join your party. This of course forces you to either have your recruits do the very same progression you did at the start of the game or to capture an enemy and using them as a training dummy. Give both the recruit and prisoner the best armor you have available and give them really, really bad weapons. Each hit gives both your recruit and the captured enemy relevant xp, if they block, they get defense xp, if they hit, attack and weapon xp and if they get hit, toughness. It's very time consuming either way and that's fully intentional, because as far as the game is concerned, there's nothing beyond grinding stats and getting better equipment. After half an hour you've essentially seen everything Kenshi has to offer, because fighting a hungry bandit is no different from fighting the Bug Master or Mad Cat-Lon, the only thing that changes is that the numbers get bigger.

It's the same thing with setting up bases, really. The process is painfully slow but at the end of the day, that's the only thing that keeps you from making infinite money immediately. Which is all fine and dandy, but on the other hand, the dev seems to be really afraid of taking progress away permanently. Dying is almost impossible if you know what you're doing, at least for the most part. That is, unless you're fighting Skin Bandits, Fogmen or 'gutter' type animals who'll start killing your downed characters. They're really annoying to fight against for obvious reasons, because they break the rules of the game by being able to attack after someone has passed out, which is something the player can't do, which becomes REALLY annoying when you start fighting enemies with high toughness. They keep getting up again and again, making it a chore to fight them. It's a mess everywhere you look and I haven't even talked about thievery and assassination, which makes combat entirely optional.

 

[Lurker47]

Deserts are a God-tier biome and if you disagree, you are a fool. Samurai in deserts? Even better. Now all you need are warlocks....

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Deserts are a God-tier biome and if you disagree, you are a fool. Samurai in deserts? Even better. Now all you need are warlocks....

Loving the Great Desert so far. Bagging bounties left and right.

 

[zapotec]

Sounds like a nice game, could be renamed in "Darksun citizen"

 

[Zanzoken]

I started a new game today with the "Slave" beginning... and begin the long journey toward burning the Holy Nation to the ground.

After 250+ days of training and preparation, my campaign against the Holy Nation is set to begin.

I have 7 ninjas with stats in the 60s -- on par with high paladins -- and skilled with katanas, crossbows, and heavy weapons. I have been using Falling Suns for a while now and those things are pure devastation. My team also has around 90 stealth and 60 assassination skills for infiltration work.

However, since I don't think I can win the entire war with just 7 people, a priority will be to rescue slaves and train them into a ninja army. I've built three facilities near HN territory to help in this regard.

Spoiler

Farmhouse -- my outpost in the Floodlands, which has been specialized for the production of gohan and hashish. Gohan will keep the troops fed, and I can make hashish runs to the UCs in case money starts to get short.

Spoiler

Workshop -- my workshop is now located in World's End and is designed to produce the weapons, armor, ammunition, and medical supplies my troops will need in the field.

Spoiler

Boot Camp -- my house in Mongrel has been repurposed as a training facility for new recruits. The rescued slaves I bring in will need some basic training if they are going to be of any use in a fight, so here is where they will get started.

Here are the operations I have planned:

Spoiler

1) Rebirth. My team will sneak in, dispose of the guards, and free the slaves. This will put the entire Holy Nation on notice and provide the first wave of new recruits to the ninja army. After Rebirth falls, I will also form an alliance with the Flotsam Ninjas so there is no turning back.

2) Holy Farms, Mines, and Military Bases. I will systematically tear down HN settlements in guerrilla warfare that will create chaos and allow me to further increase my ranks with rescued slaves.

3) Major offensives. By now we will hopefully be strong enough to attack HN cities and strongholds. The targets will be Stack, Bad Teeth, Okran's Fist, and Okran's Shield. My understanding is if we can capture or kill the leader of each location, then we can destabilize it and perhaps make way for the Shek to invade.

4) Blister Hill. The decisive confrontation to kill the Holy Phoenix. We pull this off and victory is ours.

And the best part -- once the assault on Rebirth begins, I will adopt Ironman rules for the duration of the conflict. I reserve the right to start over from the beginning if I lose, but during the campaign itself there will be no reloading. So bad luck or fuck-ups or whatever happens will just have to be dealt with.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

somehow i thought of doing something slightly similar: solo slave start, the night i chose to escape i freed 5 people from the poles, just because they were along the way. one of them was too afraid to leave, four followed. i was not happy, i wanted to be left alone, my adventure had to be solo. we skipped a guard, then it was time to run for our lives past the gates guards. i was prepared, they not so much the human fled with me, the two sheks briefly engaged some guard but then went back to running, the real hero is the hive worker who was caught in a fight and retreated only when he lost both arms. literally lost. cut away. we ran all the night. at dawn, when we were safe and severely battered, we reunited at an isolated building. the human went alone, the barely alive remaining people joined me. too heroic, change of plans, no more solo, these are brothers.
then the second miracle: i saw in the distance a skeleton village, time to steal some brand new arms for my heroic hiver. skeletons are weird people, they beat the shit out of thieves when they get them but they don't take away from them what they stole. so they rearranged our faces but the hiver could again pick his nose while scratching his butt. stop at world's end, then right into the desert where we lived a bit as bums, cleaning the streets from wannabe corpses and giving them to cops and traders.
the real plan sprung once we found the first trade caravan beaten among the dunes: hundreds of free resources to build lots of machineries and live off for months, but first we needed a greenlander. we recruited at the closest bar the first allahuackbar we spotted, made him run for a while as if he had explosive strapped to his chest and once he built some speed and strenght we moved to blister hill's neighbour. kebab had to go in, buy the biggest building he could find and carry us non-extracly-humans one at a time, as if WE were HIS property. tzk.
once we were in, the operation "inside job" truly began. no, no planes needed.
he should have acted as a respectable citizen for a while, while researching new fixed weapons, and while these weapons were being researched and built, the team would have kidnapped and brainwashed specific indigenous inhabitants to help our cause when needed, as sleeper agents.


TL;DR

HOW THE FUCK CAN THEY KNOW IT WAS ME TO KIDNAP PEOPLE AS SOON AS I PUT SOMEBODY IN A CAGE?!?!
i put a paladin in cage and BAM! -50 rep. i could live with that, only stealing at night the steel bars i'm probably going to need and keeping "recruiting", but it barely makes any sense :/

 

[ERYFKRAD]

too heroic, change of plans, no more solo, these are brothers.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Here are the operations I have planned:

Spoiler

1) Rebirth. My team will sneak in, dispose of the guards, and free the slaves. This will put the entire Holy Nation on notice and provide the first wave of new recruits to the ninja army. After Rebirth falls, I will also form an alliance with the Flotsam Ninjas so there is no turning back.

2) Holy Farms, Mines, and Military Bases. I will systematically tear down HN settlements in guerrilla warfare that will create chaos and allow me to further increase my ranks with rescued slaves.

3) Major offensives. By now we will hopefully be strong enough to attack HN cities and strongholds. The targets will be Stack, Bad Teeth, Okran's Fist, and Okran's Shield. My understanding is if we can capture or kill the leader of each location, then we can destabilize it and perhaps make way for the Shek to invade.

4) Blister Hill. The decisive confrontation to kill the Holy Phoenix. We pull this off and victory is ours.

If you want to ally with the Shek against the Holy Nation, you can accomplish that by turning in the Bugmaster to Bayan at their capital, then speaking with Esata the Stone Golem.

Four uniques I've defeated: Dust King, Cannibal Grand Wizard, Bugmaster, and Spider Foreman

 

[PanteraNera]

The shrieking forest is crazy. You thought Fogmen are the only thing that keeps throwing units at you? You haven't met that Shrieking Bandits, all screens are from the same spot, they kept on coming, didn't bothered to count them, but I say I have slaughtered at least hundreds of them and they kept on coming.

Shrieking Forest

 

[Zanzoken]

If you want to ally with the Shek against the Holy Nation, you can accomplish that by turning in the Bugmaster to Bayan at their capital, then speaking with Esata the Stone Golem.

Props on hauling in those bounties. I considered making a run at the Bugmaster but all of my characters are lightly armored glass cannons. An army of spiders is not a good style matchup -- in fact the other day I made a run at the Tower of Spiders and got absolutely wrecked.

 

[Payd Shell]

If you want to ally with the Shek against the Holy Nation, you can accomplish that by turning in the Bugmaster to Bayan at their capital, then speaking with Esata the Stone Golem.

Props on hauling in those bounties. I considered making a run at the Bugmaster but all of my characters are lightly armored glass cannons. An army of spiders is not a good style matchup -- in fact the other day I made a run at the Tower of Spiders and got absolutely wrecked.

Tbh skin spiders are much less threatening than blood spiders. The Bugmaster has mostly the spiders of the skin variety, so it isn't too hard. Especially if you build a little shack near the tower and place a few beds so you can rest and heal up after you've cleared the area of spider patrols.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

in the end the operation "inside job" worked (after at least a week of fights) with just 8 men, probably because i thought my house would have been savagely assaulted by the whole city, like raids do with your outpost's gate, but instead they mostly just stood perfectly still in their position, waiting for a harpoon through the head.
fuck this "game is complete", ai needs some serious work if a closed door can screw it.

by the way, something happened: after several days and tens of kills i was at -100 relations or at least i should have been around that, but when my team started fighting people in the phoenix's chamber suddenly i got a "the holy nation is neutral toward you" message, i checked and was at +15 relations. what the hell happened? plead for mercy?

 

[Zanzoken]

The assault on Rebirth was a success. Long post:

Spoiler

The calm before the storm. In a few hours they'll all be wanted by one of the most powerful empires in the world.

Back to where it all began.

We spend all night clearing out barracks...

... slave shops...

... and the gate guards.

By morning we've locked up many of the Rebirth guards without being discovered, but now it's daylight and we haven't cleared the HQ or the main entrance. There's no choice but to fight.

First combat encounter of the war. The holy sentinels were not up to the task this time.

Raiding the HQ. Not much resistance here, just one paladin and a few more sentinels. Honestly I am a bit disappointed that there was no faction leader here to take down. Rebirth really should have a Warden character or something that is tied to a world state.

Ready for some phat loot...

... but all the containers are empty.

Only about half of the slaves we released were willing to follow us out. Many ran away or were too scared to leave their cages.

Later bitches...

Freedom!

Overall it was a successful operation. Things went mostly according to plan -- we were able to neutralize most of the guards during nightfall and then finish off the rest in combat.

We also gained quite a few new followers who I will introduce in the next update.

After dropping off the new recruits in World's End, we paid a visit to Flotsam Village and made things official with Moll. The next screenshots are a bit spoilery if you've never joined Flotsam before.

Spoiler

Getting some marching orders. It looks like Phoenix, Seta, and Valtena are the only characters with world state effects. So my next targets should be Stack and Okran's Shield, followed by Blister Hill.

Pretty fun mission overall, but a bit on the easy side. I expect raiding the bigger installations will be more challenging.