Pre-installation

Installation Location

 
Kenshi is poorly optimized, and as a result has load times longer than what you would expect from most games. As such, I highly recommend you install this game on an SSD if possible, even if the entirety of your steam library is on a spinning drive. This will cut load times immensely and make your experience more enjoyable. 
 

Mods

 
Must Haves: 

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1845711844 – Small typo and bug fixes, and re-enables items that are coded into the game but not able to be obtained in vanilla due to bugs. 
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=705119823 – In vanilla, the maximum amount of actors you can have in your control at any given time is 30. This may sound like a lot, but if you plan on doing more late game activities or making a large self sufficient base, you’ll hit 30+ way too quickly. Note that this mod increases RAM demands, and as more actors are added pathfinding and other AI starts to get buggy. 
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1649794243 – Compresses all textures in the game, giving large amounts of free performance without any visual fidelity changes.

Optional Recommended Mods: 

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1200632417 – Changes the UI of the game to be a clean silver and gray, making text easier to read 
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1607561817 – A collection of mods in which every mod adds varying amounts of detail to the vanilla map in game. Chose only one mod from this collection at a time. I personally prefer Zones+Zone Names+Roads. 
• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=796807163 – Doubles the global EXP rate. I recommend 2x, but 5x is also available.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1850250979 on proper load order of mods. For any mods not covered here, read each mod page carefully and follow its instructions. 
 
If you are reading this guide and added these mods to your game, but have an existing save from before these mods were installed/updated: Start a new save, or Import your old save with the desired mods activated. 
 
If the game crashes on launch or hangs, try restarting your computer once before further troubleshooting. 
 
 

System Settings

 
After launching the game, go into Options. 
 

General

• Make sure autosaves are enabled, and tweak the save frequency to your preference, I use 5 minutes. 
• If your computer can handle it, I recommend enabling Fast zone hopping. This reduces load times when moving between areas significantly at the cost of more RAM.

Gameplay

• These settings are what I would contribute most to “difficulty” in Kenshi. As part of a late game strategy you might want to take note of the dismemberment rate option, but as a new player don’t worry about changing this setting.

Graphics

• If your computer can handle it, set Terrain Chunk Size to large. Just like the fast zone hopping option, this increases RAM usage but reduces (in game) load times by a lot. Only use the other option if Kenshi is struggling to run. 
• You can safely disable water reflections and shadows for free performance, in this game they don’t matter much.

Character Creation

Scenario Selection

 
Before being able to make a character you’ll be brought to a scenario selection menu. For new players I recommend starting as a Wanderer and my guide is written with the Wanderer start in mind, but in general any start listed as “default” difficulty should be suitable. The other scenarios have other gimmicks and benefits outside the scope of this guide. 
 
There are advanced settings available to tweak your experience as you see fit, but in general it’s okay to leave these as default. 
 

Race and Gender

 
For the playable races, it is generally advised to start the game as human, specifically a greenlander. They have bonuses to farming, cooking, and science and no weaknesses. However, feel free to pick any race you want, except skeleton. Skeletons have many differences between the other races in the game and while they can be very strong, the unorthodox playstyle is unfriendly to a new player, so it is recommended to not make one as your first character. You can always recruit skeletons to join your party at a later date. 
 
There is no statistical difference between males and females of the same race, however due to the world of Kenshi gender alongside race does play a role in interactions with certain factions and NPCs so keep this in mind. 
 

Physique

 
The physique of your character in question has no bearing on statistical capabilities, but will affect certain aspects of gameplay indirectly: 

• General size as well as height affect both your hurtboxes and the hitboxes of your weapons. 
• Martial Arts, an extension of unarmed combat, has its effective range improved significantly by having longer limbs and larger hands and feet. 
• Short characters and/or characters with low profiles due to having their posture changed can sometimes duck under more horizontally aimed attacks, and are generally harder to hit with projectiles. Furthermore, these characters tend to have an easier time sneaking and stealing things as if you are short enough, you can completely hide behind otherwise small physical barriers.

In Game Settings

 
Open up your map with M, and then check out the tabs in this new window. 

• Under Faction you can name your settlement whatever you like. 
• Under Squads you can change the name of your smaller teams, create new teams, and rearrange your party members as you see fit. 
• Under AI, take note of Ditch Items; depending on how you want to set up character automation enable or disable this setting as necessary. Also make sure Sleep when injured, Sit when idle, Share food and Feed animals are all enabled.

Mechanics, Tips and Tricks

Actions

• Instead of using middle mouse to move the camera, it’s far easier to hold left control and move the mouse instead. 
• Space is the shortcut to pause the game, this is really useful when things are happening too quickly and you need to form a proper response. 
• In the bottom right, there’s an Icon of a stick figure walking. These are your walk speeds, but take note of the option with 2 figures in it. With this setting selected, all party members on this speed and moving together will go as fast as the slowest member, so everyone stays grouped up while moving around. 
• When you have multiple party members, you can press tilde (the key to the left of 1, `) to select everyone. Holding shift and left clicking party members allows you to toggle their selected status without unselecting everyone else. 
• For most objects and people, you can right click and hold to bring up a context menu of potential actions. 
• Any time you can initiate an “action”, it’s generally possible to also assign that particular action a job by holding shift when executing it. Try setting the “Medic” skill as a job. This makes it so your character will always attempt to heal themselves and others in the party except for if they are in combat or doing something else. 
• Toggling the Job button in the bottom right will allow you to have a character temporarily stop working, for whatever reason you see fit. 
• The job list is prioritized from top to bottom. I recommend having everyone assigned to medic, and keeping that at the top. 
• Sneaking changes a lot of your context actions so be careful when using it. However, simply sneaking around isn’t suspicious, only committing crimes will get you in trouble. 
• You can right click on the map and all selected party members will do their best to move there. 
• The game can sometimes get buggy, so every now and then hit CTRL Shift F11 to fix pathfinding and other things. Afterwards, hit shift F12 and then click Fix Stuff to… fix stuff, that wasnt covered with CTRL Shift F11. 
• If you are experiencing a lot of unexpected behavior from the AI in game, try rebooting your computer and then importing your last save.

Advice

• There are ores in this game such as iron and copper. Simply right click on it to mine them, or shift right click to assign it as a job. You can use these resources for building or selling. 
• Talk to all kinds of NPCs. Some of them offer special services for a fee, others might join your group for free if you negotiate correctly with them, and you slowly learn more about the world of this game as you do this. 
• Food is eaten automatically when characters get hungry, so don’t worry about manually “consuming” food items. Also note grapefruit is not a edible item, it’s used as a trade good. 
• For animals, beasts and other creatures, if you can kidnap them or knock them out, removing anything from their “inventory” will instantly slay it. 
• Martial arts is one of the hardest skills to level, but as a result is the only skill/”weapon” that unlocks new techniques as you level it, making it a strong option for those who wish to take the risk. To a lesser extent, athletics and stealth work well together and you gain a unique bonus if both are above a certain level and you keep your encumbrance low. 
• As long as you’re within a certain range, items can be moved between player to player/player to shop, even through walls.

Changelog

 
1.0.0 (4/2/21) 

• Initial Guide Release

1.1.0 (4/5/21) 

• Changed information about Ditch Items in AI 
• Removed and replaced some tips in advice section 
• Added tips to actions section

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