Spoiler Free Quick Start Guide

This guide will cover basic system mechanics, tips and tricks with no spoilers. For those who have newly bought Kenshi this guide is for you!

Getting Started

I understand this guide can be a LOT to take in, so please feel free to skip around to any section you feel is relevant. If you JUST want starting config help and no other advice or help, you can read up to system settings and then start playing. Hope y'all enjoy :)

Installation Location

I highly recommend you install this game on an SSD if possible. Due to the game being poorly optimized, this will significantly reduce load times on startup and in game.

Kenshi Nvidia Optimization Mod

The Optimization for Nvidia GPU in Kenshi[www.nexusmods.com]Mod only works for players using an Nvidia video card. However, if you meet the requirements to install this mod it is highly recommended that you do so, as this will singlehandedly give you the most performance possible from the game. Please note that this is not from the steam workshop, and I am not responsible for any problems encountered by a faulty installation or bad download link. Please follow the instructions on the linked page exactly to ensure a proper installation. This mod is compatible with all other mods.

Workshop Mods

Must Haves:

• Unofficial Kenshi Patch (UKP) - 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.
  
• Compressed Textures Project - Compresses all textures in the game, giving large amounts of free performance without any visual fidelity changes.
  (UPDATE: I've heard from some people that this mod could potentially make your game slower, so YMMV)

Optional Recommended Mods:

• Dark UI - Changes the UI of the game to be a clean silver and gray, making text easier to read.
  
• Godsend EXP 2x - Doubles the global EXP rate. EXP rates in this game are very slow by default, so if you don't have much time to play, getting an EXP mod makes progression bearable without removing the challenge. I recommend 2x, but an EXP x5 variant is also available.
  
• 256 Recruit Limit - 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+ quickly. Note that this mod increases RAM demands, and as more actors are added pathfinding and other AI starts to get buggy.

Refer to this guide 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.
  
• I recommend disabling edge scrolling, for reasons explained later in the guide.

Gameplay

• These settings are what I would contribute most to "difficulty" in Kenshi and can be changed if you want, but for new players I suggest leaving these as default.

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. If using the Nvidia Optimization mod you can turn these back on if you like.
  
• You can disable generate distant towns for more performance if needed.
  
• As always, you can lower the resolution of the game itself as a last resort if you're still struggling with performance.

Character Creation

Scenario Selection

Click new game. 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, but in general any start listed as "default" difficulty should be suitable. The other scenarios have other qualities and aspects outside the scope of this guide. For the sake of showing and explaining mechanics later in the guide, I chose Freedom Seekers.



There are advanced settings available to tweak your experience as you see fit, but it's okay to leave these as default.

Character Creation

For the playable races, choose whatever appeals to you the most. you might notice in the bottom left that races have different sets of skill bonuses and maluses, but you don't need to focus on this at all; any character can eventually do just about anything. If you can't decide on a race to play, you can't go wrong with a greenlander.

I would probably refrain from making a skeleton as a first timer, however. While they can be really useful and powerful, they can't use normal medical kits to heal themselves, and repair kits are expensive for new players to acquire.

There is no statistical difference between men and women of the same race, however in Kenshi gender and race play a role in interactions with certain factions and NPCs so keep this in mind.


Do note that if you pick a scenario where you have multiple characters, that you have to use the "change character" tabs in the top left corner of the screen. Make sure to customize them too, or don't, if that's your sorta thing. When ready, hit Confirm!

In Game Settings

Pause the game with the pause button (or the space key), then open up your map with M, and 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.
  
• Make sure Sleep when injured, Sit when idle, Share food and Feed animals are all enabled. Share food and feed animals will only work when the food is in a backpack or storage container.

Controls and Navigation

User Interface

Now that you're in game, go ahead and hit the pause button or the space key, they both do the same thing.
Lets now examine the game UI briefly:

• Red: Information Panel. By left clicking on anything in the game (except dropped items), the information panel will display the name, faction, status, condition and current goal of whatever/whoever you selected, as applicable.
  
• Blue: Squad interface. Here you can select and issue commands to your characters.
  
• Yellow: Control Panel. Here you can pause or fast forward the game, change the walking speed/mode of the selected character(s), move the camera up and down when in mutli-floor buildings, or enter construction mode (B key).
  
• Orange: From top to bottom: Inventory (I key), Stats (C key), Map (M key), Research (T key), Squads, and Help.
  
• Green: Jobs Panel. Jobs are used to automate actions in the game, and will get its own section later own in the guide.

Okay, so how do we start doing stuff?
WASD: Panning the camera
CTRL (hold while moving mouse): Rotate the camera
Left click: Selects a target or character, or picks up dropped items
Left click and drag: select multiple characters
Right click: Character movement and interaction
Right Click (Hold): Context menu
ALT: Highlights items and signs on buildings

Congrats, you can now play the game! Your objective? Don't die. Good luck!

Inventory

All items have a set size and cannot be rotated. Right clicking anything in any inventory panel will automatically perform a related action, be it buying or selling items, trading items between characters, equipping armor and weapons, or storing items into backpacks.

Speaking of backpacks, I recommend getting them as soon as possible. Medium sized backpacks and larger can carry full sized weapons, and wooden backpacks can stack items up to 9.

Stats

You can view any of your character's stats by selecting them and hitting the stats button, or the C key. How do you increase your stats? In general, any stats are increased by doing things related to the stat. For example, to get better at farming you need to have your character farm more. However, you can see specifically what actions level what stats by hovering over the stat in question and reading the description for it.

Most stats are self explanatory but I'll talk about a few of them here for clarity:

• Toughness: while this stat also makes you harder to kill, it also indirectly increases the rate you recover from injury.
  
• Dodge: your dodge stat increases the chance of completely evading attacks. The catch being, you can only reliably train the dodge stat while unarmed and unencumbered, so it is exclusive to non weapon users (or crossbow users, because they cannot make melee attacks with their weapons).
  
• Assassination: unlike what the name implies, assassination simply means to stealthily knock out an enemy without needing to engage in direct combat or damage the target. The leveling process is straightforward though, only requiring the character to keep attempting stealth KOs in order to get better at it.
  
• Martial arts: not only does unarmed combat get stronger when this stat increases, at certain levels you learn new techniques. You can throw a proper punch starting at level 15.

Combat

So how does combat work?

When encountering enemies, all relevant parties will automatically approach and engage each other. Combat then plays out automatically, until one side flees or falls unconscious. This doesn't require any input on the player's side, but you can still directly issue commands to your controlled characters such as repositioning, fleeing, focusing on purely defending, or switching targets.

Blunt weapons do internal damage, which can only be healed slowly over time, sped up by sleeping. Sharp weapons and projectiles cause bleeding, but bleeding damage can be healed on the spot. if one falls unconscious while bleeding heavily, they will die unless they are healed with medkits.

Jobs and Automation

I will be completely honest, the job and automation system is outside the scope of this guide, so i'll try to keep it really brief. whenever you're performing some action that can be found in the right click menu, you can automate it by holding shift while giving the command. In the Job panel, jobs at the top take higher priority than those at the bottom. so, jobs at the bottom only get done if theres nothing else left to do.

Building

Under Construction!

Performable Actions and Advice

Note: this section is from an older version of the guide and will be reworked or fully removed at a later date

Performable Actions

• Instead of using middle mouse to rotate the camera, you can 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.
  
• Right Click lets you move items quickly to and from bags, containers, or other characters when trading. Shift Right Click moves all items in a stack automatically, when applicable.
  
• Double clicking a character icon brings the camera directly to them and centers it on them automatically, locking it until you re-position with WASD.
  
• You can hold left ALT to show all items nearby on the walls and floors. Left clicking will move your character in range and they will attempt to pick it up. Red items are items that belong to someone else and picking them up is stealing.
  
• 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.
  
• Press B to go into building mode. You can only build inside of buildings you own or outside a certain distance from any town/city.
  
• 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" (by right clicking or holding right click to bring up the context menu), 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 by holding shift and clicking the Medic button. 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.
  
• If you select multiple people, you can assign them all to a job at the same time.
  
• Toggling the Job button in the bottom right will allow you to have a character stop automatically working, for whatever reason you see fit.
  
• The job list is prioritized from top to bottom. Once a character is done or unable to do the job at the top of the list, they will move on to the next job until they run out of things to do. If multiple jobs are available to do, you will always do the one highest on the list first. 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. Simply sneaking around isn't suspicious, but committing crimes will get you in trouble. An eye will appear over your head when sneaking; when it is blue you are hidden and when it's red you are seen.
  
• 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 wasn't 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, crafting or selling.
  
• Backpacks can be bought from stores, equipping them allows you to carry more items. Wooden Backpacks have the least amount of storage tiles, but items of the same type can be stacked, making them valuable for large quantities of smaller items like food.
  
• 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 many will give you information about the world and its history.
  
• 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 or for crafting. Food items will always have a nutrition value.
  
• For animals, beasts and other creatures (not in your faction), if you can 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 late game combat option.
  
• Athletics and Stealth work well together; if both are above a certain level and you keep your encumbrance low, you can run at full speed while sneaking.
  
• As long as you're within a certain range, items can be moved between characters, storage units and shops, even through walls.

In game FAQ

How do I eat?
As long as you have food in your inventory or a bag you're wearing, you'll automatically eat when you're hungry. If you don't know if something is food or not, check for its nutrition value.

What do I do?
This is an open ended question, I say just pursue things or people that look interesting, explore, consider opening a shop in town or making your own little base out in the wild. I personally find bounty hunting enjoyable.

How do I heal?
Have a medical kit in your inventory, and press the medic button. You then need to rest in a bed to fully recover. Holding shift while clicking medic will assign it as a job and characters will do it automatically when hurt.

How do I not die to death?
Buy (or steal) heavy armor, preferably with high area coverage. High chest and stomach coverage is most important, followed by leg coverage. Foot armor is kinda not great though so keep those grippers free. Also, consider hiring bodyguards for 2000 cats.

How do I make money?
Scavenging, bounty hunting, animal hunting and mining (copper) are good starting points. Selling trade goods and Stealing/Fencing can also be really profitable but requires a bit more skill and knowledge of the world.

Can I play multiplayer?
Look, I get it. You saw the store page, or some people playing the game on YouTube and thought it'd be really fun and wacky to get some friends and do stupid stuff together. On a spiritual level, I feel you. Sadly, this game is not multiplayer and will never be multiplayer, for a variety of reasons. It's definitely not the same but I'd consider checking out Project Zomboid if you like Kenshi but want to play something multiplayer.

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

1.2.0 (8/2/21)

• Added Nvidia optimization mod
  
• Added link to Godsend EXP x5
  
• Split points in system settings
  
• Added more details and explanations to many parts of the guide
  
• Clarified Dismemberment rate
  
• Added more actions under Mechanics, Tips and Tricks
  
• Cleaned up wordy language across the guide
  
• Fixed formatting errors

1.2.1 (8/5/21)

• Elaborated on the Godsend EXP mods

1.3.0 (11/24/21)

• Updated the title of the guide
  
• Fixed wording in Pre-Install
  
• Updated information in System Settings
  
• Fixed wording in Character Creation
  
• Changed Mechanics, Tips and Tricks to Performable Actions and Advice
  
• Added new topics to Performable Actions
  
• Updated old topics in Performable Actions
  
• Added new topics to Advice
  
• Updated old topics in Advice
  
• Change Pre-Installation to Before Starting

1.3.1 (3/31/22)

• Minor wording changes across the document

1.3.2 (12/15/22)

• Added a Performable Action

1.3.3 (12/20/22)

• Wording cleanup across the guide
  
• Moved around some parts of information, in preparation for 2.0

1.3.4 (12/28/22)

• Added pictures in preparation for 2.0

[mleszzor]

I feel like you are missing a ton of points.
Such as how having terrain chunk size as large significantly lowers crashes in the game. Due to having fewer loads needed.

[SniffyStiff]

Don't you worry none, Wiggles is owning it, just took over HN. No Shek in sight, no bandage required :D

[Feeva]

glad I was able to help! wishing the best for your torsolo

[SniffyStiff]

Hah, got some nice info from this, thank you. I did suspect about character height, so i made my torsolo a midget, lol, rly hard to hit

[Feeva]

you're welcome!

[valley29]

Thank you. Short, to the point, useful and spoiler free.

[Feeva]

I'd check the mod load order to be sure no other mods are conflicting with it or overriding it. if that doesnt help and if restarting the game/pc doesnt fix the problem then yeah your system might be an outlier. Still for most people it helps, I'm sorry its not helping you

[Sir Willie Stroker]

Compressed Textures Project gave me a negative effect and actually affected my gpu my a 20% work difference i'm not sure if i'm just an outlier. But you guys should check how well it performs for you.

[Feeva]

yeah sorry, the game doesn't have steam achievements

[Mantizon]

thank you for the guide tho xD will help while i get over the fact that theres no achievements LOL