What's the point of joining the Shinobi Thieves?

[Vincent]

Seems like a massive waste of 10k cats... I thought it would be nice to have a fence in the same city I'm stealing stuff from, but the p.o.s. only gives me 50% of their value. I'd be better off just running to the next town to sell stuff, stealing there and running back. The training equipment and surgeon aren't worth the money, so what's the point?

[worstcase11]

There are some nice pros too:

1. Everything they sell is allso 50% off - they have some good stuff and rare blueprints.
2. Your crew can use the beds and sleepingbags in their towers in any town they have a HQ.
3. You can use their plastic surgeons for free - to change names or to fix an escaped slave's hair for example.
4. You can use all their training equipment (ok the melee attack dummies could be better).
5. If you have to evacuate your base because of a strong raid incoming, their towers are nice shelters.
6. If you free some slaves and manage to smuggle them into town the towers are a safe hiding place until they loose their 'wanted' status. I guess the same goes for bounties on your crewmembers.

[Zee_]

7. Wandering Assassins will come to your aid in the wilderness. Okay so they aren't everywhere, but they have a knack for showing up at the strangest of places and times.

[Rambler]

The trader also has blueprints that can be hard to find at other shops sometimes. And you can also sell smuggled items there, not just stolen ones.

[Pyracles]

The ones in the towers will help you fight bandits if they are nearby. They will also bandage you. So do the wandering assassins if they pass your unconscious bodies. It can save you when doing a solo play through.

Downside is the ones in United Cities towns will also pitch in if the gate guards aggro you because you refuse to pay their random extortion attempts. This leads to the local Shinobi Thieves being wiped out by United Cities

[Rosie]

The shinobi thieves is probably the best early game investment you can make, its crazy how many times i have been saved by their beds and the wandering shinobis, plus the fencing is crazy useful for smuggling hash ect... its worth it just for the beds tbh i think ive saved more then 10k by not using bars because of them

[Gunsaremagic]

they sell thief backpacks with no penalty when wearing them and you can train your stealth skills up in the tower without anybody annoying you they also protect you if they see that you are getting attacked and heal you for free

[Khalunka]

And of course, the roleplay aspect. Imagine they are the Thieves Guild in Skyrim. hehehe

[Xalanaka]

the main assets are easy acces to thieves backpack and free beds

[kaiyl_kariashi]

more importantly, they sell thief backpacks for 50% off.

buying 4 thief backpacks will effectively refund your 10,000 investment, compared to buying them from an adventure shop, after which every other discount is pure bonus.

Also you can get pretty cheap Mk1-3 Katana/ninja blades there as well (occassionally other types, but those are the most common). (any one of which will more than refund your membership fee in savings).


You can also sell illegal goods to them (unlike most goods, hashish is not penalized in price, so selling to the Shinobi theif towers in the UC heartland can make good money (their Hub Tower price is trash so don't bother selling there)), if you don't feel like doing Flats Lagoon runs or want to put your drug production somewhere further away).

And as mentioned, being allied with the Wandering Assassins is quite useful. Not as big a deal once you know what you're doing, but i even so I still throw a 10k at the shinobi thieves if I happen to pass by a tower, just since i have been saved by the Assassins in the past, either coming to my aid in battle or patching me up after a particular close fight where I'd have potentially lost people before anyone recovered to bandage them. And it's a nice little side bonus when you can benefit from it.

(personally i usually buy it just for discounted goods, as long term it saves you far more than it costs).

[Beggar 🐀]

they steal and i steal! so they are friends

[XTAKK]

I find having a safe haven in many of the towns worth the price. Early game training, you can buy decent gear at a 50% discount as well. Got my first high grade nodachi there, saved 10k cats on that alone.

[Neme]

10k for allies .. Why wouldn't you pay that for a few friendly npcs to help you out..

Beds to heal up in, Vendors to buy the odd useful early items from..

Win win in my book

[Morkonan]

There's literally only upsides to joining the Shinobi. (As others have stated, a place to stay (free beds), Fence, training, nice gear sold at a discount, backpacks and with one addition to the suggested benefits - "Fogmasks"!)

There's no rep hit with other factions for joining them, which is rather unique in Kenshi.

10k cats is really a bargain, considering what one gains access to.

PS: In a standard playthrough, joining the Shinobi is a priority for me. Once I join, every character eventually gets a good quality Fogmask and backpack. (Some will still get trader-class packs, instead, but I'll keep spares for them to switch out to if needed.) Wherever I am, I'll always check the Shinobi for the chance at some nice gear/deals.

[Raymond]

you get yourself an ally, It's not that hard getting together 10k, and an ally can be helpful when you playing certain starts that get your more enemies than friends. That being said, shinobi guild used to be very op and offer a huge starting bonus to kickstart your adventure. Everyone were mining the ♥♥♥♥ out of every copper and iron ore near cities with a shinobi guild just to join them, so lofy intervened and nerfed the hell out of shinobi guild until nobody joining them anymore.

[tikiman572]

Getting Small Thieves Backpacks and even Large Thieves Backpacks on the regular for them is one of my main reasons for joining up with them ASAP. Compared to other backpacks, these do little to nothing to impede your combat stats, making them excellent to wear as your main packs while out and about. I tend to have each of my melee units wear one Small Thieves Backpack to store their provisions as they travel while I have a standard Large Backpack that houses a change of clothes in case of dangerous conditions and extra loot I find. I round it out with a Trader's Backpack for any stackable items I come across.

Seems like overkill carrying three separate backpacks at a time but my guys are pretty darn strong so it's not too much of a big deal. Plus, after a successful looting, I just run the loot back to my Garru and offload what I can. Easy peasy.