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Evil Empire: Kenshi Genesis Let’s Play (Part 1)
~By tankMage (April 2023)
About this Let’s Play
Back in 2021 I started a Let’s Play of Kenshi that featured the Genesis mod. Everything went well until the save for it became corrupt and I was unable to finish the Let’s Play. This was completely my fault for not making backups and being too lazy to save frequently, especially while playing a janky game with an even jankier mod.
Having an incomplete Let’s Play on this site really bothered me, so I deleted it. It turns out that certain billion dollar tech companies that shall go unnamed get pissy when websites remove pages, so I’ve decided to resurrect this Let’s Play. It probably sounds like a terrible reason to do something, but I really love Kenshi and it’s good to have an excuse to play it again.
However, this Let’s Play will differ from the first one greatly. Instead of trying to build a massive 200 man faction that’s more unethical than the Holy Nation, United Cities, and all the other jerks that inhabit the world of Kenshi, this faction is going to be a smaller 5 to 10 man group. Don’t worry, though, there will be plenty of Peeler Machines and hapless victims in this story. This will also be a more long term playthrough, because I do not have a lot of free time, so it’ll be updated once a week or so. I’ll also date each entry as I post them and make sure I back up the save files to avoid future mishaps.
To make this Let’s Play more interesting, I’ve set a few rules for myself; they are as follows:
No Reloads – This is a hardcore playthrough, so I have to deal with the consequences of my choices. Hopefully this will allow the story to unfold in an interesting manner.
Only 5 Characters – The faction will only have five members and I will not be able to recruit more aside from a pack animal. If someone dies, I am not replacing them. However, I will replace the pack animal if it gets ganked. This should make the faction characters mean more. In the first LP, I felt like there were way too many characters to focus on.
No Stat Cheesing – It’s easy to build stats up super fast in this game by doing goofy stuff like putting Beak Things in beds and punching them. I won’t be doing that stuff since it will make the game too easy. Genesis has special training modules anyway, so it’s not like it will be all that hard to train up stats.
No Minmaxed Race Choices – Skeletons and Hivers are pretty broken in my opinion. While I will have them in this faction (in fact, I’ve probably already put the faction together by now) I will limit it to only one or two Hive/Skelly characters.
I may add some rules later on, but these should do for now. This faction also has some goals, like making a base, but I am going to leave things open ended for the most part, so let’s see where the road takes us!
Participation is Welcome
This LP is an ongoing project that will be updated roughly once a week. I am open to suggestions, so let me know in the comments below if you want to name anything or add goals, rules, or whatever to the Let’s Play. While I am open to suggestions, there are some things I may not be able to change in keeping with the rules or for the sake of consistency.
Day 1: A Band of Miscreants is Born
(4/17/23)
Going off of what I know about vanilla Kenshi, I chose the Nobodies start. The idea of having five characters dropped in some random place in the wasteland sounded promising. Too bad Genesis changed the scenario and players start out at the Hub instead of some crazy place like Venge or Stobe’s Garden, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
I decided to go with whatever names the game gave me and to not change the characters too much aside from their race so we can get that authentic Kenshi feel. Of course the first thing that pops up in character gen is a guy named Voth who has a mustache on his forehead…
As funny as it would be to keep the forehead ‘stache, I removed it. I want to take this LP at least somewhat seriously. Next up was a Hive Prince named Mortez. I don’t really like Princes that much, they are picky eaters and really squishy, so may as well throw one in. At least they are fast. After that I made an unremarkable female Greenlander named Rin. The fifth faction member is a Shek lady that is ironically named Peace. The last of the bunch is a Solider Bot called Kumo. Soldier Bots are not normally playable and this guy should be interesting with his 150 HP and Crossbow skill bonus.
The crew started out in the Hub…too easy, but at least they were poorly equipped, broke, and hungry. If you are unfamiliar with the Hub, it’s a run down town full of bums, outlaws, and drifters…my kind of place. It’s also smack in the middle of the world map, so it’s appropriately named.
My first order of business was to find a certain shack in the Hub and break into it. I had Mortez lockpick the chest. The loot was really bad. Usually this shack has some Cactus Rum and food. This time there were only a few bits of food and leather. Better than nothing.
After being let down by the shack, I scooted over to the bar to sell the few bits of Fabric and Leather Mortez snagged. It was enough to buy some cooked fish, which would at least keep everyone from starving.
Without much in the way of prospects, I considered my next move. The squad could earn money honestly or find it the easy way. Obviously stealing is the more entertaining choice, so I set out of the Hub in search of victims. There’s another bar just south of the Hub and I ran into a pack of Starving Bandits not far from it.
Starving Bandits usually attack players for their food, but this was not a problem for me. I was half expecting them to give us food rather than demand it. Seeing as how Mortez got drafted into the sneaky stealth guy role, I had him follow the bandits in stealth mode until they were some distance from the rest of the group, then attempted to knock one out.
Surprisingly, it worked even though Mortez only had a 25% chance of succeeding. Problem was, the bandit didn’t stay knocked out and the entire group started chasing Mort. I had Mortez and the rest of the team run over to the bar I mentioned earlier where the Shinobi that protect it sliced the bandits up. The party also joined in (I need a name for this faction) but the fight ended really quickly. Only Mortez had been injured and that was while he was luring the bandits to the bar.
We looted everything we could from the bandits. None of the armor was any good, but I did keep a few Topper Swords since they were arguably better than the rusty sticks the party was using.
If you are thinking I used the money from the looted gear to buy more food, you guessed right. Everyone aside from Kumo was still weak from malnutrition, so food is a top priority. With the sun setting, I had everyone pick up a bandit and set out for the Hub again to train strength. These bandits are really useful.
At this point I had about 3,000 Cats (that’s Kenshi money if you didn’t know) and I figured it might be enough to buy a sort of ok weapon for someone. Before I could do anything, I noticed the guys guarding the gates to the Hub were fighting. I rushed over to join in, but it was just more Starving Bandits and the guards killed them before anyone in my group could fight. That was fine, because it meant more easy loot. This next haul brought us up to 5k, which I used to buy yet more food.
With that Day 1 ended and the second day began. While we have some money, everyone is extremely weak with skill/stat totals of 1 and the faction is still broke. Genesis is really dangerous, so I will have to explore carefully. Maybe next week I’ll try to build everyone’s speed and strength up or search for another way to make money.
Days 2 and 3: We are…The Nobodies!
(4/23/23)
For some reason, not having a faction name really bugs me, so the faction will be known as The Nobodies (which is the name of the starting scenario) for now. It’s fitting, because these guys suck. Maybe they will earn a cooler name in the future if they don’t get eaten. That said, I’m happy to take suggestions for a new name at any point in this LP.
Speaking of getting devoured, being able to run quickly is really important considering all the stuff out there that wants to eat our quintet of questers. With this in mind, I started having The Nobodies train Athletics by doing laps around The Hub. It’s a boring task, but staring at the remains of a dead faction ranks a lot lower on the entertainment scale.
Kenshi isn’t Kenshi without random violence breaking out at a moment’s notice and it was not long before some Scavengers attacked the main gate of the Hub. Scavengers are semi-tough and it took the Shinobi gate guards a while to beat them down. The scavs had a few Mercenary Clubs that were way too heavy for anyone in The Nobodies to use effectively, terrible armor, and some really useful Adventurer’s Backpacks that I had Voth and Peace equip. Somehow I ran into yet more Scavengers attacking a Ninja some distance from the gate and ended up with a few more backpacks and clubs.
After selling the stuff loted from the Scavengers, we had 8,000 Cats. Food was still a problem, so I bought some Dried Fish…yum. Next, everyone ran some more (because you can’t get enough of that) while Mortez continued to train Stealth.
The clubs and heavy Toppers everyone had won’t do if I want to win fights right now, so I bought a few low quality Katanas and Ninja swords. Now that the party was kind of sort of armed and Mortez had 12 Stealth, I decided to spice things up by looking for someone to kidnap, beat up, then rob. The game answered my wish by having Starving Bandits attack the Shinobi at the bar south of The Hub. I sent the team in to help, but it did not go well. Kumo took a fair bit of damage and Voth’s leg got crippled. Kumo was not hurt badly, but I would have to buy a repair kit to patch him up.
The Nobodies limped back to the safety of The Hub after selling off the stuff they took from the bandits. Voth had to rest at the bar. Most of the money I got was spent on an Authentic Skeleton Repair Kit and a Toothpick Crossbow for Kumo. Mortez got to work pilfering food left on the tables while Kumo fixed himself up. Mort managed to lockpick a chest near the back of the dining area, but I did not want to push my luck by attempting to steal the food in it.
Once Voth had recovered, The Nobodies set out for yet more training. They could run at a fairly quick 18 MPH (on average) by now, so I picked up some corpses by the ninja bar to train Strength.
After running some distance, the crew came across some more carnage. It seemed that some Starving Bandits tried to attack a pack of garu and got themselves wrecked in the process. If you do not know what garu are, picture a big floppy eared muppet thing that can really put a hurtin’ on low level characters and you’ll have a good idea of what they are like. Luckily, they are usually docile unless provoked. Picked some more loot from the bandits and butchered the one garu they managed to down for some free meat and skins.
Flies were starting to buzz around the bodies Voth and the gang were carrying, so they put them down. Nobody likes a smelly bandit. Everyone had a Strength score of about 5 at this point, which is still terrible, but it’s a start. The garu meat got cooked up and it looked like food would not be an issue for a few days at least.
Now that the faction has some food and weapons it’s time to start thinking about what each character should specialize in. Peace will likely become a run of the mill Shek warrior with a giant sword. Maybe she’ll also learn how to make armor.
Kumo is already on track to become a crossbow operator, but I’m not sure what kind of sidearm he should use. He can also become a Robotics/Science dude later on.
Mortez will be a sneaky stealth thief. I want him to be a more western style rogue rather than a ninja, so I got him a Ronin Blade, which looks kind of like a European longsword. What job he will do when the faction builds a base is anyone’s guess.
I have no idea what kind of weapons and armor I want to give Rin. That said, she’s going to become the primary medic for the team. Farming or Cooking may also end up being her side job.
Finally, I can picture Voth using medium armor and maybe a hacker type weapon or one of the heavier katanas like a Topper or Nodachi, but he will need some stats for that to happen. The Genesis mod adds a lot of stuff to the base game, so there’s plenty of room for customization, so we’ll see where it leads us.
Here’s another screenshot of The Nobodies to wrap up the chapter. Thanks for reading!
Days 4 through 7: Got to get tough!
(5/21/23)
Sorry this post is so late, but I’ve been busy. Now that The Nobodies had some Athletics skill and food, it was time to build Strength up a bit so they could actually lift their weapons. I had Voth mine up a few stacks of Iron Ore and toss it in one of the bags. Carrying a bag filled with ore would smell a lot less bad than a corpse, plus there won’t be any annoying buzzing from flies. Mining was going slowly, so I got the whole team involved. Labouring is an important skill for base building early on, so it will pay off. Called the bag the “Sack of Glory” after filling it with about 20 Iron Ore, then had the gang take turns lugging it around.
As you can probably guess, running around the Hub gets dull. On the bright side we found a bunch of dead Fell Hyenas. The free meat from them was nice, but I was kind of scared to think about what killed them. Fell Hyenas are dangerous and whatever managed to take out a pack of them must have been tough. Fortunately, whatever massacred them had gone on its merry way.
Speaking of wild animals, I found a Bone Dog den just north of town. Mort was tasked with sneaking into it in order to acquire the Long Sword and Moon Cleaver sitting on the ground. The dogs spotted Mort, but he managed to get the weapons and escaped without incident. The Moon Cleaver was trash, but the Refitted Long Sword was decent enough to give to Rin.
Mort also managed to knock out and abduct a Starving Bandit from a roaming patrol. Had everyone beat the Bandit up to get some combat practice. It was a sad affair and we took injuries even though we won, so everyone ended up going back to The Hub to rest.
The party really needed equipment, everyone was basically shirtless and in cargo pants, so I had them set out for Vain’s Pass west of The Hub. Vain’s Pass a town added by the Genesis Mod and I find it to be one of the better ones. Most of the cities in Genesis feel bloated and sprawl too much, which happens to be my only real complaint about this mod. At least Vain’s Pass pass looks cool and is fairly small in comparison to many of the other towns.
While on the road, we ran into a pair of wounded Dust Bandits. Being the nice guys that they are, The Nobodies jumped the bandits and slashed at them with their rusty swords. The battle was tough despite the bandits’ injuries. One of them was a Dust Boss and he beat everyone up pretty badly before going down. It was good training. Plus we had more loot to sell once we reached Vain’s Pass.
The rest of the trip to Vain’s Pass was tense considering everyone’s wounds, but it went smoothly.
After arriving in town, I sold off all the junk we took from the Dust Bandits aside from a Standard pair of Drifter’s Boots, which I gave to Voth. The Armor and Weapon shops did not have much in the way of good equipment I could afford that day, which was a bit of a let down. There is also a Hive Trader, Shinobi Thieves Tower, and a Robotics Shop as well as a Hospital here, so the trip was not a waste. Maybe I’l find something good at the Hive Trader. Even better, Kumo would be able to get fixed up at the Robotics Shop. That will have to wait, because I did not have time to completely explore the town.
Mortez *ahem* inspected a few of the houses around Vain’s Pass. There was some food and alcohol in many of the homes as well as chests he could lockpick. I did not dare steal from the chests, because Mort is a horrible thief and the guards in Vain’s Pass are tough, but the stuff that was laying around in the open was fair game.
I liked Vain’s Pass so much that I decided to make it a temporary base of sorts. It is better defended than The Hub and has far more in the way of shops. That said, The Nobodies are going to have to return to The Hub to sell all the booze Mort stole after they sleep off their injuries.