Kenshi F.A.Q
This page is my F.A.Q for Kenshi and will cover various questions I have had while playing through the game as well as commonly asked questions that I have found online. Kenshi is a rather complex and unique game and nothing in this game is spoon fed to you which means you'll probably have a lot of questions while playing through it.
None of the questions on this page are in any specific order and some of the information on this page is a repeat of what you can find in my Kenshi Guides.
Q: How do I defeat a Leviathan enemy?
A: Only have one or two characters fight at a time, Leviathans do large AoE attacks and will hit everyone around them so it's best if you minimize how many people are in melee range.
Q: How do I buy a building in town?
A: Left click on buildings throughout town and they will tell you in the bottom left corner of your screen if they're for sale. Click on the price button if it's for sale and you'll be able to purchase it. Depending on the buildings condition sometimes you'll have to repair it too, to do that right click and hold while mousing over top the building and select repair.
Q: How do I level up my characters?
A: In Kenshi the way you level up is to use the skill you want to increase. There are Training Dummies you can use to help yourself level up some skills and mods you can install for better training dummies with a bigger variety. As far as "leveling up" goes in the traditional sense, the best way to do it is get beat up and knocked unconscious. This will increase your Toughness skill which is one of the more important ones for fighting enemies.
Q: How do I earn money in Kenshi?
A: There are numerous ways for you to earn some extra money in Kenshi, you can do Crafting, Mining, Farming or Trading to earn Cats. I'd recommend Mining to all new players as the best way to earn money.
Q: Where can I buy good gear in Kenshi?
A: For the best armor vendor in the entire game you'll want to visit The Armor King. This vendor is in the middle of nowhere which is the only downside, otherwise he sells [Specialist] and [Masterwork] armor of all types. Mongrel is the city that probably sells the best armor aside from the Armor King.
Q: Where can I buy good weapons in Kenshi?
A: The best weapons that you can buy are sold at the Scraphouse vendor in Black Desert City. You'll consistently find [Masterwork] quality ranged weapons and Edge Type 1 - Edge Type 3 weapons sold at this vendor.
Q: Which Companions should I get in Kenshi?
A: Beep. Above all else you want to get Beep. Otherwise, what I typically like to do is check the unique companions list on the wiki and search the names of any companions I encounter in the world on that page to see if they're unique. All characters have a personality and many of the unique companions have only slightly above average personalities -- but the way I look at it is the more unique dialogue the more fun it is so I typically aim for unique companions.
Q: How do I make Crab Armour?
A: In order to make Crab Armour you first need to obtain the Crab Armour Recipes from Crab Town in the The Pits: East. You can find this zone all the way in the southeast corner of the world, for an exact location & more information about the process of obtaining these recipes check out my How and where to get Crab Armour Recipes Guide.
Q: Where do I buy such and such recipe from?
A: The best place for you to buy recipes in Kenshi is The Great Library in Black Scratch. The Great Library contains a majority of the available recipes in the game; only a few recipes aren't sold here -- to name a few of them, Falling Sun, Peeler Machine, Human Skin Suits and Desert Sabre.
Q: Do the Engineering Research & Ancient Science Books ever restock in Flats Lagoon or at the Scraphouse?
A: No. At least not in my experience, I have read that they do online multiple times and I checked at 100 days... 200 days... and even 400 days and they never did. However, you can force restock the books by using the Import Game feature at the title screen to reset vendors in your game and then purchase more of the item you want.
Q: Where is a good location to build a base?
A: I've taken the time to compile a list of bases for nearly every zone in Kenshi. If you're interested in this information check out my list of Kenshi base locations. As for the best locations to build a base, Fog Island, Leviathan Coast or Fishman Island are the 3 best locations in my opinion.
Q: How can I protect my base from attacks?
A: Build walls, place turrets on them and lock the doors when a group of enemies approaches. You can also go into the game options under Gameplay and change the size of Town raid events as well as the frequency; changing both of these settings will make the raids easier to deal with.
Q: Are animals like goats, bonedogs or crabs worth using?
A: Typically the answer is no. Bonedogs can be pretty powerful once you level them up and will often one shot enemies they fight... However they're extremely squishy since they can't wear any armor and will often be the first units knocked unconscious during battle. Goats and Crabs imo are not worth using at all.
Q: Why do I get bounties for the Shek Kingdom when killing Southern Hive?
A: Kenshi has many weird bugs, this is one of them. In my experience the Shek do not try to collect on these bounties from you.
Q: I made a wall that is now controlled by a different faction, how do I change that?
A: This happens sometimes and is one of the more annoying bugs in the game. Hold down Shift and press F12 to bring up the "developer menu" or whatever it is called. When you have this screen open left click on the wall or building you created and press the Delete button your Keyboard.
Q: I made a building that isn't controlled by my faction, how do I fix it?
A: This happens sometimes and is one of the more annoying bugs in the game. Hold down Shift and press F12 to bring up the "developer menu" or whatever it is called. When you have this screen open left click on the wall or building you created and press the Delete button your Keyboard.
Q: What are the best ways to AFK Stat train?
A: You can easily AFK stat train multiple stats in Kenshi by equipping characters with a backpack and filling it with something like Copper or Iron then letting them run around town and do tradeskills. This will result in them raising Strength as well as (maybe) Athletics along with whatever tradeskills you have them doing. Alternatively, you can have them "Find Corpses" and dispose of them via a Corpse Furnace which will get them even more Strength EXP by being encumbered and carrying bodies.
Q: How do I make my Settlement have the "City Icon" on the World Map?
A: As far as I am aware there are 2 factors which play a role in changing the map icon of your base. The first is the value of your settlement which can be increased by placing buildings within the area and the second factor is how many turrets you have. In my experience whenever you want to change your map icon to a city all you need to do is build about a dozen turrets; if that doesn't work try adding another building or 2.