First playthrough: Vanilla or modded?

[NICEDUDE (]

Hi,

I just bought the game and wanted to ask if I should play it the way it is for the first time or add essential mods that improve the experience (you recommend them).

In any case: let me know which mods improve the game itself and are a must have without changing the game too crazy.
(Content, Quality of Life stuff, useful additions)

Thanks for your help.

[Average AMD neanderthal]

there are some mods that can help alot to be really honest, but vanilla is very enjoyable without any mods.

[bunny de fluff]

In-Game Biome Map (No Colour)

Font Redux

UI (either black or transparent)

[Magicsimmer]

Been playing Vanilla for years. Love the challenge and balance of difficulty. I highly suggest to try that first

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by NICEDUDE (:

Hi,

I just bought the game and wanted to ask if I should play it the way it is for the first time or add essential mods that improve the experience (you recommend them).
..

Playing a new game "vanilla," at first, is always preferable to playing a modded one.

I'd recommend three mods that I think are necessary. One is purely Quality of Life, the other handle in-game issues that can be troublesome.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=705119823

Necessary to be able to have more than 30 recruits. It's sort of a "mandatory" mod in that you'd really want that capability if you have a base and want to still explore many regions in the game "in force." Plus, any animals you have take up a character slot in Kenshi and pack animals or even attack-oriented bonedogs are a favorite inclusion for many players.

https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=1607561817

Pick one of the above maps. I prefer the typographic, zones, zone names, and roads one. The point being that Kenshi is a game that includes "exploration" as a very big part of gameplay. A better map encourages that activity. (There really should have been a better "Mapping" component in Kenshi so this sort of thing would eventually be possible for the vanilla player.)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1528043574

In vanilla Kenshi, you can't manually give Bonedogs food to eat (No Inventory space )and can't build an animal feeder without having a formal base. So, if you have a bonedog and you've set yourself up in a town, like many players do in the early game (sometimes throughout all the game) then the only way to feed bonedogs is by leaving food on the ground. This mod adds a backpack that bonedogs can wear and they will eat food from it on their own. (IIRC, Kenshi charaters will feed bonedogs if they're starving, but I could never manage to get that to work well.) If you have bonedogs and don't yet have a base or aren't planning to build one, this mod is a "must have" IMO.


I would not recommend any mods that are more complex than the ones above for a new player. (The ones above are the only ones I'd recommend.) Kenshi is a game that runs on your computer despite itself... That being said, it does what it's intended to do pretty well and some game elements have top-notch results. But, there are a lot of mods out there that are barely competent, either by design or limitations present in Kenshi's collection of bashed-together engines. A veteran player's experience is needed to sift the ones that work well from those that do not. In order to limit the amount of time you spend Importing your saved game into a "clean" Kenshi to fix some mod-related issue, limit your choices of mods until you have enough gameplay experience and knowledge of the mechanics to make good choices.

[rubish 1]

100x exp mod

[Average AMD neanderthal]

Originally posted by rubish 1:

100x exp mod

just no. this is a merciless alien apocalypse simulator. if he wants a jrpg, he's got other options other than 100x xp mods for a game like kenshi to max out in a few hours lol.

[NICEDUDE (]

Thanks a lot for your input!

[AldouzTek]

Originally posted by NICEDUDE (:

Thanks a lot for your input!

Don't forget to visit Savant in "Sonorus Dark"...
He is one of very few Nice Dude you can find in Kenshi...

[SnugSnug]

Play vanilla.

Mods are subjective, once you get a feel for the game you'll have an idea of where and what you want to mod if at all.

[Mansen]

Originally posted by Hans Würst:

just no. this is a merciless alien apocalypse simulator. if he wants a jrpg, he's got other options other than 100x xp mods for a game like kenshi to max out in a few hours lol.

On the other hand every grunt soldier recruit in the game is practically a master swordsman compared to what YOU can train yourself to be in hours, unless you use exploits.

A small XP boost is definitely in order as far as I see it.

[Teirdalin]

For your second or third playthrough, I highly recommend Dawn of Sigmar.

[ScumWatcher]

I would play Vanilla first then when you get bored you could always try mods to spice things up.