A Better Guide to Kenshi: Set yourself up for the End-Game!

This is everything you need to know to really get going in Kenshi. This Beginner’s guide will walk you through the Middle of the game.
By the end of this guide, you'll be able to play kenshi flawlessly! So if you're curious about this Open World Sandbox, then be sure to check out this guide!
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[The Modish Gamer]( / themodishgamer )
this is a great how to play guide on everything you need to know about Kenshi. We'll talk about things like the UI, Combat, Skills, how to make money, Healing, research, base building, crafting, mining, recruiting and so much more. This is really all you need to know about surviving in a Kenshi beginners guide format - and stay tuned there is an even more advanced Kenshi guide on the way. If this gets enough likes, we might even see an expert Kenshi Guide! So Consider subscribing for the next video in the series!
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*Disclaimer: This video is NOT sponsored. I use affiliate links. As a customer, you do not pay any more or less because of an affiliated link. A small percentage of the sale will go to the person who generated the link. Thank You!

[@void1634]

Honestly thank you so much, what a refreshing video. I swear 99% of Kenshi tutorials are just 2+ hour videos of people yammering on the whole time and never really getting to the point. You are clear and straightforward, and I absolutely appreciate that so, so much. Your guide has helped me immensely, and I look forward to watching more of your content, sincerely, thank you.

[@CircumcisionIsChildAbuse]

that just means poor production quality- a good editor knows what info is important and how to structure the story of tutorials

[@Jacob-bm6wb]

Ive seen some short and good xp farming guides

[@neino36]

Finally! Someone talking about starting by building in a city. I managed to blast myself off into the midgame through this method. Once done with everything I could research via regular books I got familiar with all the crafting intricacies and what makes a base tick. And is about when buying things from the local merchants was seriously hindering my supply line. So I went off to test if the intermittent attacks on my miners and my own attacks on the Dust bandit camps managed to train my group up enough to defend themselves in their own base. I figured that taking on the Dust King was a great indicator whether I'd be fine building a base. One Dusk King bounty collected I set off building the base. Hired a lot more characters as the jobs for a fully fledged base became obvious. Got a lot more money, figured out the supply line. Squared things off with the Shek kingdom by beating the shit out of the tribute collectors and their challengers. Got my ass kicked by the revenge party though. But it was great! Because this was enough for the Shek to leave me alone as they'd recognised my settlement. And boom, I was in the mid-game. Looking to raid some of the ruins to take my research further. I really feel like that was the natural intended progression path. A bit slow but fun for me at least all along the way. TL,DR: Start a base in a city. It'll teach you a lot of what you need to know about the game. Did wonders for me.

[@genericname6167]

I'd like to add that you can learn a lot of roundabouts building a city, for example you can do a pre set up using only skeletons so you can completely disregard food issues untill you have secured your defenses and get your people to level up labour, later you can do a few rounds of harvest and ta-da! You have a self sustainable base and didn't have to struggle to get food in case you are like me and like to settle on awful places like deadlands, black desert, fog islands or ashlands.

[@Hello-lf1xs]

you can also do this in the Hub, especially with a few mods - you can buy a ruined big house and rebuild it and have a nice starter base

[@Baddaby]

Exactly Making any type of base out in the wilderness from the get go gets you killed so quickly that I think it's ""intended""

[@nowthatscrazy]

Tip: Get the leather tanner before you level armor crafting. Making hides into leather gives you armor crafting xp. You'll be killing / scavenging animals for food anyways

[@ArvensisAndromeda]

I don't need these tips... But Kenshi content is kenshi content. Hell yeah!

[@viniciuschimello7046]

Great Vid! Thanks for the guide. For you guys in a hurry: 0:57 Recruiting add characters 1:55 moving out of the Hub 3:36 Stores & Items 4:38 Buying a House (first base) 5:54 Research 6:47 Job Automation 7:55 Filling up the ranks 9:23 Research - part II 12:42 Armorer & Smithing 15:23 Pack Bull 15:49 Base Building - 1st Location (Rainbow valley) 17:42 Base Building - good base goals 20:38 Tips for Rainbow Valley

[@angryjosh6616]

I did want to mention Logan isn’t unique but is one of the turret gunner npcs that can be found throughout the bars. No unique dialogue but decent turret skills off the bat. Can find a whole army in the United Cities if you’re lucky.

[@TheModishGamer]

Great tip!

[@danshakuimo]

@@TheModishGamer You might be seeing Logan consistently in your games because Kenshi has a RNG bug, which causes all your games to generate random recruits in the same place with the same name even across saves. Though that being said, for most players the best unique/guaranteed ranged character you want early is Green, the hive worker drone, who has insane turret and crossbow skills and you can grab him from the swamp relatively early one for a mere 2300 cats.

[@mikehorne4053]

​@@danshakuimoProblem is Swamp=Blood spiders

[@josecriollo6976]

​@@mikehorne4053a bit of sneak or athelics should do the job for that

[@NovaDragon97]

This was massively informational and time efficient. Easily the best guide I've watched so far and I've watched a few at this point as I'm just starting out. Thank you very much!

[@noahguinn8389]

Thank you so much! Even after a year after this video was posted, these tips still help me so much as a new Kenshi player. I had no idea how much depth this game truly has!

[@HornadyMatt]

My most fulfilling playthrough was when I played as a solo skeleton ronin. It was amazing.

[@noahczerwinski9417]

I am super insistent on doing a solo scorchlander thief run, but getting stronger is super tough

[@Mug-Red]

Play as cyber beep. Start as a scorchlander, and run all the way to the fog island while zooming all the way into your characters ass (may take a few tries). Recrute beep and run your scorchlander into the fog. Now, all you need to do is the metamorphosis from beep to cyber beep. Good luck

[@MitchManix]

Loving this series. Swift, informative, perfect.

[@madskoomacat]

Just started playing a couple of days ago, was looking everywhere for a guide just like this, now that I found it I'm glad to see I've been doing most of the things on the video (after rage-quitting a couple of times and getting back in for the game being so unforgiving when you start lmao), only thing was that I rushed my base and I wasn't aware of pack animals, but now I know I'm on the right path, thanks for making this video, it was extremely helpful.

[@MrMelancholy98]

Been playing Kenshi for 4 years now. This tutorial is really beginner friendly, just wished there were more videos like this back in the day

[@ninjabum817]

DAMN, the first Kenshi how to video that is not 2 hours long. Hats off to you sir and I have not even watched it yet!

[@caked3953]

When I started kenshi, my first base was in the swamp, because of the good fps rate c: Pro: -only the bloodspiders kill you -many enemies that auto train the team (didn't use turrets, underestimated them) -fields don't need irrogation, they just grow! Con: -swamp raptors chew your fields, hard to foght in the beginning -bloodspiders -far distanced from wealthy trade hubs to sell goods I really reccomend the swamp experience. I build near a village for help/trade, but the constant fights really help to build stats and it feel incredible to become self sufficient there! Way to hated from the community

[@TheModishGamer]

Great tip!

[@robertwildschwein7207]

Pros: It's a jungle in a world that is mostly wasteland. Fairly central on the map No taxes Hemp is more efficient at making cloth than cotton. Hemp is actually required to make high level medical items 100% Efficiency copper and iron Constant rain frees up workspaces for watering crops and pumping wells Bordering on Tutorial zone, mid-high level zones and artifact looting zones. Swamp turtles are a good food source. Bloodspiders help fighting off bandits. You can roleplay your own swamper gang. You can join the hounds for protection. (Personally, I prefere not to.) Ninjas, pirates and dinosaurs. Neutral: Blackmails. I only got Stonerat blackmails. I assume it depends on the proximity to their respective bases. Stonerat raids are devastating, but their loot is higher quality than your average bandit sells for A LOT!!! Cons: You need competent fighters to defend the base. Bloodspiders will kill your fresh recruits and baby animals, so keep an eye at them.

[@eduardocastillogarcia7006]

Thats a really good idea, Imma start building near the hash sellers. Also good one pointing out the fps, never tought of It but it makes senese👌

[@AIex8000]

I think one of the biggest mistakes newer players make is setting up in Squin and hiring mostly Shek (Shek consume more food than any other race) and putting them on the labour jobs. People seem to trap themselves because they always need more money for more food. By recruiting hivers early on you won't need to spend as much on food, which lets you actually build up some income and allows you to buy some decent armour and resources.

[@TheModishGamer]

There is a lot of truth in this, and I don't disagree, but kenshi is huge and incredibly intimidating, especially to newer players or less experienced gamers. I promise that using shek to mine copper is an effective way to make money, and setting up in squin gives access to all the needed resources in a beginner friendly region. So it may not be the most efficient way to play, but then again, there are so many ways to play - a playthrough like this just gives newer players a safe and easy way to learn the essential game mechanics without losing characters to bandits every other day. I hope this type of playthrough gives a sense of security that allows players to explore and flourish throughout their game 😀. That being said I hope to see you around again, and I appreciate this feedback it gives folks reading through the comments different perspectives! All The Best -Modish

[@AIex8000]

@The Modish Gamer Yeah, staying near Squin and mining copper is a good way for a new player to learn the game. I was merely pointing out that most people tend to overlook the advantages and disadvantages of each race. And recruiting alot of Shek from Squin to become labourers could become tedious for some players due to the higher demand for food. This playstyle would definitely benefit by taking a few hivers from the nearby waystations to work on the copper mines as soon as possible.

[@twitchy.mp3]

Shek rlly be eating like 40k in food a week when you hire a lot of em

[@Alex-oz7qx]

@Split Dimension Sure exploring the world with a small team is definitely the best way to experience Kenshi, I didn't say sitting in Squin and mining was a super exciting way to play the game but, alot of people tend to do that early on. it lets people who are new to the game earn cats for hiring more people and some decent early weapons and armour. Mining for money should really only be used until the player is more familiar with the game and is comfortable doing more risky strategies for making money like stealing beak thing eggs.

[@Aereto]

Shek work both ways, as their tank oriented stats mean the copper they haul and the beatings they take early on would help improve their ability to carry armor and improve their survivability as someone else does the medic. And yes, Shek and Skeletons are noob traps because of increased consumption and more difficult recovery respectively. Hivers are not meant to fight directly; even their soldiers struggle in combat due to reduced armor options. Workers are unexpectedly capable base operators and turret gunners, while the Princes can make good party leaders if you want only one person to micromanage in combat, as they are agile, stealthy, and can use their Perception bonus on crossbows and turrets alike with bonus on first aid if you want someone to learn quickly. Greenlanders are very well rounded, and the only one that can learn cooking faster. Scorchlanders are effective smiths and dexterity fighters, and slightly reduced hunger rates.

[@welingtondiniz8200]

Man, this is top tier content right here!

[@shipwrecker37]

If you're new, follow this guide! Building in a city like Stack, Squin, or Stoat is way easier than roaming around. I recently started a playthrough where I travel more, but there are those basic techs that are so important to research, and doing that in a city is way better than trying to build a base earlier. Building an independent base early has never gone well for me. Doable? Kind of. But, you have to be very careful while being in a city is so much safer.

[@jamiehughes5573]

You want to be careful with stack with non humans,skeletons, prosthetics and trying to bringing in ancient books, the HN don't like them

[@abaivovin2726]

A nice, clear and useful guide. Really wanted to understand how the base building works in Kenshi.

[@TheModishGamer]

Glad it helped! Play through the game for a while it is so much fun - but check back in a few weeks where we tackle some of the more late-game topics!

[@dArKNessdeLIghT]

the simplest and clear KENSHI tutorial !!!! Ty

[@jamesolive653]

Thank you for these guides! I finally got around to buying kenshi and ive been watching these videos before i even start lol

[@XLadd]

Bro, i tried watching these tutorial videos and a lot of them are 1 hour or 2 hours long. 20 mins is perfect for me not to get bored. I learnt a lot in this for the a beginner playthrough. If you ever make tutorials for future games please try and make them around this time because this was perfect :)

[@ToplessTopics]

this is a really thorough guide that deserves more views. There should be some "small channel" and kenshi subreddits where you might consider posting links!

[@jonhakala3152]

Best kenshi tips vid ever

[@YeoxD]

Very nice guide thank you man

[@Channel-ev8yb]

Insanely helpful vid. Subbed.

[@melanclock]

You can start out with a small shack base day 1 in many areas because even tho you wont be able to defend it, you can just bail or hide when you get raided. A door with a lock is pretty strong outside of raid situations. Waiting till storm house to start with is probably minimum tbh but you can actually bootstrap yourself with just some construction materials

[@TehJudoBoi]

What a great video! I think an underrated technique (so you dont have to copper mine) is running around the Holy Nation land. The valley has tons of River Raptors that patrolling Paladins attack. When they die, you can loot them for hides and spoiled meat. I leave the meat until i start recruiting animals, and the hides sell for a pretty good price.

[@lgod5899]

savior, i now know how to play ty, short and sweet

[@dylanbaker7090]

great content! subscribed :)

[@Mrvl1234]

You can plant fields with crops just outside of Hub and you get raided by the Holy nation like 5 times. After those 5 times if you capture a few inquisitors and hand them over to the Shek nearby Holy nation cities get invaded by the Shek and you only get raided by dust bandits quite rarely 2 of my farmer colonists can easily handle them. I made cactus/wheat farms outside of hub and a Dustwich factory inside this combined with copper mining, I'm sitting at 1.5 mil on 290th day. The Hub also has way more space for building inside. You can literally buy out like 99% of the city. I usually chill at the Hub for a while get like 1k copper and 500 dustwiches then load up my 13 pack bulls and travel selling my stuff. 13 Elder Pack bulls and 3 colonists can literally roll over groups of Holy nation, Beak Things or anything else in my way.

[@MehmetAli-jl6cq]

Thanks this video is very useful

[@FastDuDeJiunn]

this game imo is best game made to date that i ever found. i know its got its issues. its far from polished. but i do believe the dev did his best. and at the end of the day the engine just couldnt support his dream. there only so much that can be done. still its best rpg game i ever seen. and with mods to make the citys and econemy work smoother it really turns it into a life simulator almost. i really wish this game got more love then it ever has-does. and i can barely wait for kenshi 2 to come out. maybe in 2 years time?

[@clausandersen5999]

A lot of players forget the sneak button, use this while mining also to avoid Getting attacked while mining, you automatically raise stealth when used.

[@CollegeRodent]

The best way to level up stealth is to get a couple of crippled bandits. Dump them right next to your mining characters. You can level up stealth and assassination at the same time. Just make sure you don't kill them. Knock them unconscious. When they wake up you can sneak around them safely. Then stealth KO them.

[@jimmygerano7163]

If you're leaving a squad automated doing mining in Squin, you can train strength and stealth too by filling a backpack with something heavy and making them carry a "volunteer" and sneaking. It slows your mining, especially at the start, but if you have another squad off exploring it's not too bad. If you are mining iron too you can have your scorchlander level up armor by making armor plates from the iron ore which stack and can fund the food bill.

[@mooham8762]

Yeah other guides a either stupidly detailed, or not enough information, this is bang on, cheers

[@Amin-al-Husseini_1941picture]

Thank you, now I know to set up scorchlanders as cotton farmers

[@amnesiac-original]

It's a good tutorial 👍

[@tahaibrahimersoy1201]

Great video. Thanks a lot. Kenshi's kind of hard to understand on your own. I didn't even know about the wooden backpack

[@TheModishGamer]

I'm so glad it helped!

[@Amogius]

I always play kind of like a tech hunter. I think a great way of starting is just baiting bandits / wildlife to the guards. Free money and you can safely level combat stats.

[@siddislikesgoogle]

If you're new to kenshi, do not build a base in the swamp. It is a windless, spider infested nightmare that gets raided by slavers, ninjas and other bandits every ten minutes.

[@mowvu5380]

I don't think they'd last long enough to finish any building ha. f the swamp

[@lsswappedcessna]

This tutorial is quite nice, though I will say one exception to the character cost rule should be the unique recruit Griffin, if you are capable of going into the Holy Nation and have the disposable income to hire him. Between having a 20 in most combat stats and a 20 in all weapon specific skills other than Polearms, and a 20 in strength and dex, as well as having unique dialogue with many characters, he is well worth the hefty sum of 9000 cats and has a brown Sentinel color override for the Bucket Zukin and Holy Chestplate (the same brown that many Holy Guards wear). I find the brown holy armor looks good with either chainmail or blackened chainmail, and samurai clothpants or sneaky chain cargopants. Would definitely recommend the chainmail at least, to protect his arms.

[@Sublimegameplays]

OMG FINALLY A VIDEO THAT DOESNT JUST SAY "ITS A SANDBOX DO WHATEVER YOU WANT AND TAKE TIME"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@ZealothXyven]

19:04 But forcing them to work in the dark at night gives a huge boost to the XP gain of your engineering. sure its slower early game, but later on it pays for itself because it doesn't matter if its day or night, they still blitz through the work.

[@Sashko_Dee]

@7:54 You can make way more skrilla robbing shopkeepers. Every time you get caught you get your ass beat and build toughness. Plus you build strenght and athletics by running back and forth fencing the stuff.

[@deno2649]

This works well. For my Greenlander Wanderer start I go to Stack from the Hub, mine copper just outside the city gate and hire Heft in the bar who’s a medic. I mine till I can afford the small shack by the gate, put in a small research bench, learn storage and put a copper storage bin in the shack. Heft keeps mining till we afford Griffin who’s also in that bar usually. You can also fit a training dummy in the shack. Heft and Griffin mine and make easy cash while I do whatever. Remember to buy each of your squad the book Holy Flame to avoid trouble. Eventually I buy the bughhouse in the Hub for more space.

[@deno2649]

Oh and you can frequently draw in herds of cattle from the nearby plains that the guards will kill and you will make both bank and food the hides and meat.

[@waterfawl9673]

I loved the video! I've never made it to end game so I'm currently playing through following your guide. I can't wait for part 2! PS. After buying a house in Squin and getting a few drifters in my party I found that I could have started with the 5 man start with building materials for a faster start. The only difference would be some labor levels (not very desirable on my Shek run). And you can start with a Schorchlander as well I think.

[@TheModishGamer]

That's so wonderful! I'm glad I could help! That is a great place to start from there are two problems though You won't start with research or money, so you have to do most of these guides anyway and you don't start in the hub, but rather a random waystation, and it's hard to provide a guide when I won't know where you're starting at 😅. It's a great start though because you can choose which races your first 6 characters will be! I say go for it if you'd like to. It will save you from overloading on shek! ( and you can always cheese-level sneak the entire team and then just run to the hub )! Thanks for the comment! I can't wait to hear from you in the future and I hope the next guide is just as helpful!

[@danshakuimo]

I have 600+ hours in this game and have made many mods but I haven't made it to the late game either

[@jackransom.]

The chests on the second floor of the Snail House bar in Squin are great for lock picking practice early on if you can stay out of the sights of the guards ; ). You don't have to set a haul job with ore. If there's a container nearby they do it automatically.

[@skurdibbles7913]

If you don't automate hauling you lose control of who gains strength. That may or may not be an issue. It was with me until I figured it out. My crafter was the strongest of my Duo for awhile. It stunted him so bad with marital arts I gave up and have him using weapons still.

[@aRandomFox00]

Better yet are the cages in the Squin police station. The prison floor is usually unguarded and nobody goes there unless it's to deposit or free prisoners. You just have to keep an eye on the floor below for anyone coming up the stairs. After a failed bandit raid, wait for the guards to clear out from the prison floor, then enter stealth and start picking the cages and poles. Once unlocked, pick up the prisoner, put them back in the cage, pick the lock again. Rinse and repeat as much as you want.

[@skurdibbles7913]

@@aRandomFox00 yeah I started training my thievery in squin to fill time. I steal till they throw me in a cage then I just train lock pick on cages until they let me out.

[@TheLordFragger]

Started of with a single dude and settled in Squin. I bought a house with my first money and started my swamp connection by getting a Garu from a animal trader. Next step was to farm swamp merchants for hash. Either buy it or steal it, either way its rather cheap there. Now be on your way to United cities in the great desert for a 500% price markup. Each run brings around 100k depending on the amount of hash you can carry. This is how i created a solid financial basis for building and researching my own outpost.

[@SwitchBladeEVO]

In a game where it is so easy to fall prey to information overload and just perpetually not really doing anything in the game, guides like this have made it easier to pick the game back up, set some goals, and do stuff. I'm working right now with a hybrid team consisting of a combat/exploration squad, a stealth squad (for making ridiculous amounts of money via my theft racket), and a base management team (it is one lonely Shek that I force to build all my stuff and do all my research LMAO). Learning about the productivity of the Scorchlanders and basebuilding tidbits I think gave me some new ideas on what I'd like to do for this playthrough since it's my first long one that I've really survived and not given up on after getting KO'd a couple times. Have three capable assassins, and team of hearty, combat hardened Shek explorers, and a dedicated nerd for the base. Lol.

[@robertwildschwein7207]

If you have 1 guy for bese management, he's gotta be REALLY tough. Even if you base somewhere without bandit raids, you will still get raids from enemy factions.

[@SwitchBladeEVO]

@@robertwildschwein7207 Discovered that rather quickly. LMAO Almost lost my whole save to an unavoidable raid by the Cloud Ninjas or one of the ninja factions who were much stronger than even my entire force (which is sizable now and fairly well trained). The worst part was they would knock all my guys out, it would say the raid ended, then they would just stay there.... forever. And do nothing. Unless my guys got up, then they would beat them down again and it was impossible to get through without several deaths. Had to go back a little further in my saves and recruit mercs from the Hub for Outpost defense. Recruited them for like 6 days and got oh so much use out of them. Have like 4 engineers, nearly a dozen laborers doing this and that, 4 strong turret guards, and decent melee fighters. Then I have my super fast stealth team that goes out to make me money and "acquire" research materials. 😂 Bandits literally die at the gate to my base without ever being able to break the door down.

[@Ammeo]

Awesome guide

[@garthsimpson5565]

A little late to the party but another thing to note with weapons and smithing: When it comes to weapon grades you create vs. the world it's consistent that weapon grades created by the game of the same quality as one crafted by one of your squads will have higher stat values. Though I would never shake my head at an Edged Weapon I would strongly advise if you are looking for the highest numbers to scavenge ancient armories or go to the Skeleton Smiths and Black Desert city. The only real exception to this in my knowledge is crossbows but I never really craft those to begin with. Also remember Weapon/Armor crafting is bulk. Bulk is size. Size is range in melee. It doesn't hurt to raise these if you're really trying to push your elite units to their peak.

[@Aereto]

Player made melee weapons are slightly weaker than others when compared in equal grading, but they are just as valuable. At least most weapon grades. Armor and crossbows are not affected by the homemade trait.

[@vaultdweller8623]

If you are new and want easy start then you should go to Waystation in Grey Desert

[@rpscorp9457]

Dunno...Squin is safer for sure, but you can scavenge a ton of stuff in the Hub since its under attack quite often.

[@skyacaniadev2229]

I am farming Shek’s revenge now. My base is very close to your recommended area.

[@Masked_Official]

I have 500 hours in Kenshi, on one save. I have NEVER gone over 1x speed. God it's been fun.

[@Mill_hause]

If you intend to build a base, and is new to the game, get a mod to increase the various gates health pool, otherwise you will find yourself being instantly raded even by a moderate breeze. And dont expect to get to Rimworld levels of micromanaging, characters tend to stop jobs, glitch, n have pathing issues from time to time.

[@lordbetty4806]

Great stuff dude, thanks!

[@TheModishGamer]

Thank you!

[@Tobichiii]

Dunno why but i always build my base in Shem, it just seems a convenient place for me.

[@JasonThePain]

I have 200 hours in this game and just found out you can upgrade workbenches… ty

[@ericwolfe8119]

Rank up stealth and thievery and pay a visit to Armor King on day 5; wait until night and go in under stealth, pick the locks you can and steal masterwork grade stuff. Run to Mongrel and sell for 100k by end of day six. Join thieves guild and buy as smany small thieves bacpacks as you can. You can carry fully loaded packs in your inventory; you can also carry them in other backpacks. A small thieves pack will hold 4 additional small packs... carry one on back plus additional 3 in body inventory. You can carry five smalls, but you'll want to leave inventory space to swap the packs in and out without dropping them. And you won't be carrying 4 backpacks... each one will have 4 packs for a total of 16 backpacks of carrying goodness. And there are no combat or speed penalties while wearing that pack. Make a few more trips to Armor King with all your empty backpacks, heh and you'll have a quarter million cats in a few days. Then it's time for some Fog Prince surgery... Buy the best set of scout legs and the best set of stealth legs plus a set of whichever skeleton arms you like, store them in inventory. Get some decent med kits and then go get captured by a group of fogmen. They'll tie you to a pole and leave. Unlock the pole, but don't escape. A fog prince will eventually come around and chew off your arms and legs. The instant the limbs are gone, pause game and equip scout legs, escape the already unlocked pole and run for it! You only need to get far enough away to equip the stealth legs and hide; then bandage up before bleeding to death. Now you're at day 15 with a quarter million cats, a full set of masterwork armor, masterwork weapons, 2-3 sets of masterwork skeleton legs and arms, a stealth rating of 60+, super-massive inventory capacity, a toughness rating of 60+, and the ability to sneak anywhere and outrun anything in the game. And that's without using a weapon. It's Kenshi on easy mode.

[@ericwolfe8119]

Then, there's my usual start... a prisoner in Rebirth. I unlock shackles and place them in inventory. Gaurds come around and put new shackles on; unlock and place in inventory, and repeat until inventory is full of 20kg per shackles. Then leave game running on fast mode overnight and wake up with 80 strength. Rank up stealth and thievery, and inevitably toughness when guards catch you. When stealth and thievery are high enough, sneak into the second level of the guard tower INSIDE Rebirth. Guards never go up there and there will enough food to get you well fed for the escape run. Eat and wait the entire next day to get rid of hunger de-buffs. Next night, unlock as many prisoners as you can and escape with them out of the gate with the second guard tower just outside. Even if you can't outrun the guards, you will outrun all the prisoners and you get away while they get caught. Hide as soon as possible. You'll want to sneak into that second guard tower and loot food for the journey... From there, escape onto the Holy Plains. Then to river mouth in the northwest plains... then swim the river to get to Armor King. You'll have plenty of food to get to Mongrel and plenty of speed and stealth to get past fogmen.

[@uiytresen346]

My choice city is Stoat, followed by the Heng(the capital city). All the buildings there are repaired so no discounts. However these two are economicaly supreme. If you want to know why, i will tell.

[@JP-en7cc]

I have more than 700 hours in Kenshi and I'm here for some reason

[@rpscorp9457]

Okay...Fish Isle tied for best spot. 150% grow efficiency and its almost 100% safe if you can do away with fish things.

[@Drawfill]

Funnily enough if you are new to kenshi i'd advise against base building. Id pick a skeleton of some sort to start since they don't have to eat, head to the hive villages to farm nests of beak things (beak thing eggs sell for like 4000 if im not wrong)... Buy repair kits from the hivers and head to the fog islands to fight some cannibals. They won't eat your robot ass so you'll be fine there to train everything combat related... and that's it, you've just made a viable end-game character that can do pretty much anything the game has to throw at it in less then a day, congrats!

[@thecrucial5895]

Hello while we are copper mining,could have we chance to stock copper on backpack?Mine characters just taking 5 and back to storage copper. i want to firstly full their backpack then go to storage

[@TheModishGamer]

As far as I know, there isn't a really good way to do this automatically. You can either manually add the copper to the backpack, or you can just let them take the 5 at a time. Less efficient, but hey, automation usually is in games like this.. could be wrong though 🤔

[@cheesecake7159]

3:09 don't attack wildlife 😂 i remember found a goat for first time, i think it would be easy with 3 people but i was wrong, 1 goat can beat 3 people

[@hilwppx3086]

I wish I knew of starting with an Armorer; they're so useful for making money and surviving later on,,,

[@mrmist3763]

Good guide, thank you! Kenshi uses stronger opponent gives more Xp mechanics, so my question is does my character with high stats in non combat skills like sneak, thievery, armour smithing etc does these skills hinders my gains in combat skills? And if you have dodge at 70 and you switch to mele defence does it take more time to lvl up that skill?

[@TheModishGamer]

Kenshi is a really deep game, and there is certainly a lot to know. There shouldn't be any loss of combat skill training for high level non combat skills. Melee defense is the exception though, because it is leveled up by taking damage, getting hit, and getting up while playing dead. So if you don't get hit near as much (ie. with high level dodge) then the skill will get experience much slower. Hope this helped - Modish

[@mrmist3763]

@@TheModishGamer So I need to balance it out with crab armor; thank you for reply !

[@tonybirimisa859]

The big problem with using training dummies is that it only trains melee attacks. It doesn't train dexterity or melee defense, and since you aren't getting hit, it doesn't train toughness, either. Best to just throw all of your guys except 1 at a bunch of starving bandits and have the one extra guy come over to heal them all.

[@rZeusStories1]

Reading this while unconscious in prison

[@dafuk4545]

In my gameplay hub was just a ruin when I arrived...only pub was standing.

[@sik3xploit]

Should have the scorchlander named Chad be your main crafstman because... Chad.

[@luketroeller463]

How do you deal with all the glitches that come with making your own town? I have to import/reload my save serveral times a day just to keep things slightly running. From turret gunners not firing to characters glitching through building/gates. Half the time my person that makes food just stops for no reason, only a reload fixes them. Game is a glitchy mess.

[@zeltnesis]

I tried the Bandana thing and it doesn't as mentioned in the video. Farbrics are sold to me for c63 and not for c40 and Bandana sells for c6 not c46

[@palinopsis]

I'm currently having trouble training my men in combat. I can barely survive a shek attack and just recently can fight dust bandits without any casualties. Any tips on how I can improve them? I tried trapping 1 shek and 1v1 it on my units but gets obliterated quickly

[@TheModishGamer]

Yes I can! The most legitimate approach is to go out and find those dust bandit groups and fight them until they get easy, then find something slightly more advanced, like the band of bones just south of squin near the waystation. Another way to level up combat is to level up athletics and strength to run 20 mph, then head to Mongrel. If you "help" the guards stave off the fogmen that can also give good exp! Just be careful to always have an exit plan with fogmen, because they will eat your characters. Cheers, Modish

[@palinopsis]

@@TheModishGamer Just a follow up question, I imported my saved file since it got corrupted and I adjusted the gathering/crafting speed since I don't have the luxury of time. Does it scale with the experience my units get from weapon smithing all the way to farming?

[@twitchy.mp3]

@@palinopsis probably

[@callmehercules]

I have 200 hours in kenshi and I've never built a base :(

[@TheModishGamer]

Nows a great time to start!

[@Manpigeon]

You dont really need to, but it does have its benefits. A constant/consistent source of Food, Iron, Steel, and Building materials is good. Fitting an entire squad with Specialist/Masterwork armor is very easy with a good base. Armor is nice in that it doesnt require loads of research for you to get the most out of it. Weapon Smithing is annoying that way. Every grade of weapon needs more and more expensive/rare research and materials...

[@twitchy.mp3]

When you finally get one down its so satisfying, and some crossbow turrets in a smart spot? You can quickly have the same saftey you get in the normal towns with the added bonus of unlimited food and anything else you care to craft grow or stockpile This means free medicine and beds, i almost forgot traders will visit you occasionally!

[@manopeace9175]

9:09 behind the scenes peek

[@soauthentic1]

What place is this? 17:23

[@safwenedegdegui6329]

Why build a second reaserch bench?

[@chriscase2939]

Newish to kenshi 25ish hours.... outposts are hard.. SO hard. lmao

[@fcatulo]

Every time the currency is referred to as anything but Cats I feel like I'm being punched

[@robertwildschwein7207]

Is that hack stopper clothing? Why? Plate is superiour.

[@EvilNecroid]

i love squin

[@nigelcalpe]

my advise : never take a full squad of shek they eat like goku but also fight like one just get one or two and give em heavy armor and some big ass weapon( plank would be the most common one you can easily get) shek = fighters race poor craftman or farmer scorchlander : best craftman no major downside greenlander: farmer and have no major downside hiver: everyone will hate you ( specially other hivers ) skeleton : the flesh is weak and getting some repair will make you lose cats fast but no need for food warning: choosing a non human start would make you an enemy of the holy nation but fuck em

[@Manpigeon]

Once you have Robotics and Skeleton Bed research, Skeletons are absolutely the best. Buy houses in every city and making small bases where the Skeletons can repair at their beds. Ive got a squad of 3 Skeletons with 2 Elder Pack Beasts that regularly take on entire battalions of HN patrols. The living creatures I keep at my bases farming and creating weapons/armor/supplies while the Skeleton pack runs around exploring/killing things, and selling either looted stuff or the stuff created by my bases. My Pack Beasts require more looking after then the Skeletons.

[@forgottenshard1377]

Me: "leaves to Squin solo" *Escaped slaves enters the chat*

[@ironmanandspidyroc]

i keep getting blasted by the black dragons.. everytime i have a wall, and i mean nothing to them!

[@Mortyrian]

Are there property taxes for building in a city?

[@TheModishGamer]

Nope!

[@handsandi4653]

Do not do make a base by vain unless you characters are mid lvl good weapon and amour as beakthings will kill you no question otherwise good place

[@Manpigeon]

Beakthings are SOOOO profitable though.

[@xzxxx-km4vy]

Theres an endgame in this game? Because I have this game for years and i haven't even explored 1/3 of the map

[@bingo5694]

I have almost 1000 hours in this game and didn't realize I could upgrade certain work benches /facepalm

[@ThouguohT]

Martial arts solo to end game

[@cedo3333]

I was thinking ok..... that's a late game stuff? finding a new city and wandering lol more like Kenshi 101.

[@Somethingname]

Didn't know they used dollars in kenshi

[@user-ux3zr8fm1g]

I thought that Rock Bottom is quite a easy start Tbh it is.

[@mowvu5380]

new players: don't rush! the worst thing is being too op at the end game

[@Little-Buster]

Kenshi has an end game?

[@milktobo7418]

Some not-so-great advice in this one. 1. You don't need a scorchlander for crafting. Dont bother wasting your time to find one. 2. Starting with a wooden backpack reduces your ability to fight and will suck at the start when you get ambushed mining. 3. Mining is a slow way to start earning cats. Better to just loot dead bodies if you hang around Squinn. The guards will destroy bandits and animals and protect you. You can start battling around Squinn with a single character. Just look out for slavers. 4. The only reason to mine at squinn is to really get one character mining and the rest body-guarding to boost their athletics, then fill the bodyguards up (high encumbrance) to build their strength. Keep your miner and bodyguards stealth'd to train stealth. Get the miner to auto-fill a storage container in a house in Squinn. 5. Start fighting hungry bandits and dust bandits around Squinn, focus on katana's first to get dexterity up which boosts DPS by increasing attack speed with all weapons. 6. Try a playthrough without building a base.. no need to do it at all. You can make lots of cats just getting good at hunting in Vane and and anywhere beak things live. 7. When fighting beak things near a nest, pull 1-2 out of the nest so you dont have to fight the whole nest to start. If your squad gets downed around a bunch of beak things you will likely get eaten. 8. With a few characters with katanas and decent dexterity you can suppress the attacks of a beak thing (and other enemies). The faster you attack the less chance the enemy can take a swing as their focus is blocking or showing the damage animation. 9. A lot of enemies have an area of attack. If you put a weak character in with strong ones, the whole team is more likely to get trounced as the weakest character will not be able to block the attack and then it will hit the rest in the area. This will be a key learning when fighting stronger animals. 10. Fight gorillos early. They will get you toughness up and they dont care about you when you are down/unconscious. Set the characters to block to increase survivability.

[@yourfavoritehistorystudent1377]

Early game I built a city in vain

[@trumplostlol3007]

Instead of going to Squin, I now go to Stack first because Stack has a free supply of skins and meat. I can reach level 80 armor making before day 30. That means all my light armors will be specialist grade very early on in the game. I will move around cities to recruit people and let these small groups stay in these cities. So, instead of one large group. I have several groups in several cities. This way I don't need to worry about food supply.

[@tobycat5799]

Ok.. so. Go squin get backpack. Go north to purple area, find hive town. Find a white gorilla near by, lure it to the hive village. Once dead pick it up. Put it in a hive bed and heal it. Go fill your backpack with iron, come back to gorilla. Pick it up any put it down on tbe ground. Wait for it to be on 0 seconds unconscious, and right click hold on it. When it gets up and agros, click pick up. Put it back in the bed. Its sleep locked. You can beat it up without risk. This trains martial arts strength and dex. Also toughness as it hurts you. Heal it when unconscious, and repeat when its healed. This will get you up to 60 martial arts, 60 dex, 30 strength, 15 toughness. In 2 sessions. 5 minutes work. Use a rusty junk wazakashi if you want katana training also. Next, when making a base, fk all people, even if they are turret gunners to recruit. You want skeletons. They never eat, and you can just leave them on a turret. Bait enemies in to get training up to lev 20ish so they dont shoot your people as much. Scorchlander are fast as fk boi, so they make great assasins. ( when attacking a town. You can send in scorchlander to assassinate the turret guards) Hivers make great farmers. Humans make great chefs and crafters. Shocks are the frontline of your army. Send a wave of shocks into the foglands, let them get captured. Let them get eaten, and send in a scorchlander to rescue them. Like lev 50 toughness fast, you can let limbs be eaten also to get mech sheck army. The main recruit you want at first, is kan. 7500 cats in squinn, but he is able to fight well on recruit. Base, wants to be where you have access to good grow zones. Most places that are next to swamps allow hemp (for cloth, and money) riceweed (good food) and wheat (bread for cooking) A few places. But north of squin, past the hiver base just out of the swamp near the holy nation is probably the best location i found. Early game, you have good grow zones, good trade paths, gorillo access, break thing nest access, fogland access. Late game you have a stepping stone to shecks and holy nation. (Most likely attack holy nation, ally shecks, this extends there territory and gives allied sheck patrols out side your base. Hope this helps