Overview
A quick, no-frills, beginner-friendly guide on what to do when you first start out in Kenshi.
The guide:
A short, beginner-friendly guide on what to do when you first start out in Kenshi, a squad-based, real-time, sandbox RPG in a Mad Max-ish world with feudal Japan undertones:
The above guide discusses the following:
1. The character creation process
2. Why skipping the in-game tutorials is a bad idea
3. Hiring your first sellsword and equipping your squad
4. Training your people
5. Combat and looting
Links to the guides:
Kenshi Wikia Guides section: [link]
Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s: [link]
OttoNL’s: [link]
Update Regarding the Current Version of Kenshi (v0.98.31) and This Guide
Even though this guide was made in the earlier days of Kenshi’s Early Access phase, the aspects covered here STILL HOLD TRUE with the current version of the game with the following exceptions:
1. It’s more viable now to mine (a VERY simple matter of letting your character stand anywhere, click on the “Prospecting” button, checking where the ore deposits are, moving there, mining them, and selling the raw materials to a nearby town) rather than follow patrols as I’ve noticed that patrols don’t occur as frequently as in the earlier days of the game’s EAccess.
2. Some owners won’t let you use their training dummies, threatening you with violence if you do. It’s up to you to explore towns and find out ones that have more accommodating proprietors. This, I think makes for a more enjoyable—and realistic—RPG experience. (Don’t be obsessed about training dummies though; you can still go though the game just fine without them.)
3. Looting still is the most time-efficient way of gaining money in the early game. Right-click equipment (rather than dragging and dropping them) to loot faster. Pro tips: a.) In a skirmish, immediately loot the enemies who have fallen unconscious. You never know if you forget their current “Unconscious” meter value (the seconds that tick down to 0 upon which they regain consciousness). Having to knock down the same enemy twice can be a harrowing experience if your characters are still low in experience. Watch your encumbrance though. Encumbered characters suffer a drop in fighting prowess. b.) Remember that you can still use your characters’ secondary weapon slots to hold one more weapon from the bodies you’re looting.
EDITED: Included one more tip. Corrected typos.