0.40.1 Tweaks (Not a bug report)

[slakker21]

Ok first off I think I'm officially a Kenshi addict and need help, even to the point that before the 0.40.1 update when it was crashing every 10 mins for me I still insisted in enjoying every second of 10 minute Kenshi sessions again and again.

Anyway after several hours on the latest update I've decided to speak up on a few points...

Strength Improvement
When playing the test version before 0.40 was launched I noticed that the strength improvement percentages had been toned down quite considerably, at first I didn't see this as much of an issue and moved onto testing the other improvements. However since the 0.40.1 update I have realised that this percentage may have be toned down a tad too much as now even fully kitted out in armour, carrying the heaviest weapon and a backpack full to the brim with other heavy items it still takes an absolute age to increase strength to the point that characters can run at full speed with average weight armour and weapons. Yes it was crazy easy before to improve character strength but now attack, defence and dexterity all increase at about double the rate of strength and is make those long journeys that much longer.

Bulk Trading
This has been brought up before on the forum and as I am currently failing miserably to get my own shop working I thought I'd bring it up. The number of stacked items a trader can take has been reduced to 2 instead of 4 as it was prior to 0.40 and given the increase in bandits (awesome move by the way ) and thus the increase in glorious loot this is quite frustrating when you get back to brink and find you can only sell about 20% of it even after shuffling around every shops inventory for maximum space. This mostly stems from the fact that I can still stack 6 items in a traders backpack (of which I have 3 in my looting party) and it makes me greedy

Level 15 Mercs = Awesome!
When playing on the test release I stumbled upon the level 15 merc (happy days!), these guys were straw hat toting death masters who you had to pay through the teeth for (5500) but were worth it just have a bit of backup that could actually take on a dust bandit one on one and win rather than dance around them taking hits like it was a pillow fight... Anyway 0.40 released, new game (retired captain), built a base, walled a base, went off adventuring while the peons labour, WALLS FAILED! New tactic was to leave a decent party behind to fend off attackers in my absence and remembered a certain level 15 merc that would be perfect for the job BUT! they are nowhere to be found! I have searched the whole kenshi world and found not one of them... Why?!? Why didnt you take the worthless medic instead?!? Is it just that I have a cursed save or were they not actually included in the release? Please let me know... I'd happily pay 11K for them just to have a decent combat ready squad member just by visiting my shady local saloon.

Skill Progress
This relates a little to the strength issue mentioned before but more a little nice to have...

...Skill Progress Bars...

I love the skill mechanics in Kenshi, I am a strong follower of the 'Use it to improve it' style of gameplay and I look forward to the current skills being expanded upon (mmmm Harpoons guns and robotics ) however it would be nice to see how far along you have progressed towards the next level of any given skill . I have many virtues, courage (or as much as I need living in the UK), Persistence, Tolerance, Respect and Compassion but patience just isn't one of them, however if I had a status bar to tell me that although I've been on strength level 1 for 2 hours but I'm almost there.... I could live with it and soldier on as I knew sending characters on lonely walks in full armourwith a backpack while carrying someone with full armour and a backpack was working.

Anyway apologises for the long winded post but I feel this game as it stands combines pretty much all the elements I look for in a truly great game and look forward to what I believe will be an amazing game and thank Chris for the hard work/poverty he's put into it.

Cheers
Jonny

[Blxz]

I don't have a lot to say on the matter except that the strength growth debuff sounds about right. Medium armour and weapons and running full speed? That is a major acheivement. Once you can run fullspeed with medium armour then light armour becomes useless.

Once you can run fullspeed with heavy armour then medium becomes useless, and so on.

Getting to that point should require a large investment in time and effort and the game really should encourage specialisation towards faster, lightly armoured guys and slower medium armour followed by tanky defenders with heavy armour. I still think that growth might even be too fast in some cases although gameplay allowances need to be made for now until we have pack-beasts and the like.

[Koren]

Level 15 Mercs = Awesome!
When playing on the test release I stumbled upon the level 15 merc (happy days!), these guys were straw hat toting death masters who you had to pay through the teeth for (5500) but were worth it just have a bit of backup that could actually take on a dust bandit one on one and win rather than dance around them taking hits like it was a pillow fight... Anyway 0.40 released, new game (retired captain), built a base, walled a base, went off adventuring while the peons labour, WALLS FAILED! New tactic was to leave a decent party behind to fend off attackers in my absence and remembered a certain level 15 merc that would be perfect for the job BUT! they are nowhere to be found! I have searched the whole kenshi world and found not one of them... Why?!? Why didnt you take the worthless medic instead?!? Is it just that I have a cursed save or were they not actually included in the release? Please let me know... I'd happily pay 11K for them just to have a decent combat ready squad member just by visiting my shady local saloon.

He is still there, u just got a bad save. Try importing a few times. I ran into one, and went looking for another through many saves. He is a rarity it seems. The medic does train up to be an awesome squadie though. totally worth training up as it lowers your first aid usage significantly.

[slakker21]

My problem with the medic is that by the time I got one most of my squad were pretty damn good medics anyway and so wasn't worth the expense lol

Also Blxz, maybe running at full speed was over doing it but certainly being able to jog at the same speed as the rest of the squad.

[Koren]

Just did a couple of imports. Ran into one guy with all combat skills at 10 for 2500, and then on another a guy with all combat skills at 15 for 5500. (edit - actually in the town with that last one there was another identical one...) So it is totally random.

[Mattk50]

I don't have a lot to say on the matter except that the strength growth debuff sounds about right. Medium armour and weapons and running full speed? That is a major acheivement. Once you can run fullspeed with medium armour then light armour becomes useless.

Once you can run fullspeed with heavy armour then medium becomes useless, and so on.

Getting to that point should require a large investment in time and effort and the game really should encourage specialisation towards faster, lightly armoured guys and slower medium armour followed by tanky defenders with heavy armour. I still think that growth might even be too fast in some cases although gameplay allowances need to be made for now until we have pack-beasts and the like.

i agree generally but i hope eventually light armor has a purpose even among the most skilled. Perhaps armor weight still affecting attack frequency but not run speed.

[Blxz]

I don't have a lot to say on the matter except that the strength growth debuff sounds about right. Medium armour and weapons and running full speed? That is a major acheivement. Once you can run fullspeed with medium armour then light armour becomes useless.

Once you can run fullspeed with heavy armour then medium becomes useless, and so on.

Getting to that point should require a large investment in time and effort and the game really should encourage specialisation towards faster, lightly armoured guys and slower medium armour followed by tanky defenders with heavy armour. I still think that growth might even be too fast in some cases although gameplay allowances need to be made for now until we have pack-beasts and the like.

i agree generally but i hope eventually light armor has a purpose even among the most skilled. Perhaps armor weight still affecting attack frequency but not run speed.

Even something as simple as affecting certain skills negatively. Prevent me from equipping all my labourers with medium and heavy armour even though they don't move far. Medic skill being negatively affected might lead to light medic armour being favoured, etc, etc. As for combat, I don't think negatives should apply until you move into heavy armour. So medium in combat should not hinder you at all provided you have the strength to wear it. (although if and when a fatigue system comes into play this may become more differentiated).

[Mattk50]

well, if medium armor is a straight upgrade from light if you have the skill, light armor is still invalidated but the rest of your post i agree with.

[Blxz]

well, if medium armor is a straight upgrade from light if you have the skill, light armor is still invalidated but the rest of your post i agree with.

In combat yes. But anyone with a non combat skill to perform should be equipped with light armour only in my version of 'balanced'. Medic skill and labouring and researching and bows and turrets and building and any number of other skills would take varying penalties from anything other than light armour. Anyone expected to fight should be unaffected if they are strong enough to lift the armour without encumbrance. Its only the really heavy armours that really make things more difficult to swing a sword and may have other negatives attributed to them beyond a strength requirement (restricted flexibility?).