Elvyra's Experience

[DeathKnyte]

Another epic battle...

Some time after a Western Hive merchant caravan left the Sanctum of Sanity, I noticed damage numbers popping on screen, from the valley way over to the North-West of the outpost.

I couldn't get the camera that far over to see who was actually fighting, so out of curiosity, I sent the Recon squad (in Stealth mode) to investigate.

It was a very long drawn out fight between the caravan that visited us, and hordes of screamers. This was perplexing, as I had quite a few such visits, and the hive and shriekers never fought each other before (?!).

Well, out of a sense of camaraderie for the hivers serving my outposts so diligently, I decided to get the Dark Sinners involved.

Wow, what an undertaking this became. The caravan was strung out along a large swathe of area, some distance from my outpost, and heading to the South-Western reaches of the Shrieking Forest.

There were local engagements happening all along this route. Initially, I sent the two main squads, recalling the Recon squad, and holding the Command squad at the outpost. But it soon became apparent that I better send everyone. The hivers were in bad shape, fighting in such strung out formation, not being concentrated in one area meant they got mobbed wherever they stood.

Below, is just one small part of the entire battle. There was no way I could zoom out the camera far enough to encompass the entire fight. But it gives a good feel of how things were.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/oruZoBn


A dying pack beast of the hivers, which I have two faction members administering first aid, while a third holds any screamers from interfering. Scattered warrior drones running all over the area, mostly fighting, but sometimes bandaging their own members. Blood all over, both on friends and foes. Local engagements, within the entire huge battlefield.

I don't know how long it lasted, certainly it was longer than the battle of Boulder Irons, as I remember fighting, rescuing, bandaging both us and the hivers all through the night and into the next morning.

The following day, I was still "out in the field" with the Command Squad, escorting and helping the last stragglers of the caravan out of the Shrieking Forest.

Phew! What a fight, but what a sense of accomplishment I felt, for having achieved this feat!

[DeathKnyte]

Back at Sin City, here is a picture of my kitchen building and the surrounding crop fields.

Food production is a pretty central area to get going, in just about any outpost that needs to be self-sufficient.

I spent a considerable amount of time, learning how to place structures and, streamline the entire process from farming, to end product storage.

I don't have it perfect, this was my first real attempt at maintaining a huge outpost, with the maximum amount of faction members. I have since refined the layout and processes (jobs) ordering in later playthroughs, but this formed the basis at the time.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/atlhYNu


Wells close by, a water tank inside the building (centrally located) to even further the efficiency of supplying the ovens, wheatstraw mill, flour storage, green fruit storage near cooking stoves, food storage near the door, etc. If you are familiar with the different food structures you can make them all out (if you're not, then start researching and learn what they look like - it's important).

I found that characters will favor fetching from a water tank over a well, even if the well is closer, so this is why I have placed tanks out in the fields too.

Nine wheatstraw fields proved more than enough. Hard to see in the picture, unless you zoom in, but there are six greenfruit fields in and around the creek. Two cotton fields, not as efficient as hemp, but I wanted to test it for myself in the game, and four hemp fields going off the picture in the top right.

My crop fields are on the opposite side of the water, compared to the entrance of the variuos buildings. That was done purely for aesthetic reasons - not for efficiency. Once you start getting a stockpile of materials, you can produce at leisure. Look at the storage containers on the roof of the building to the right of the kitchen. Reason they're on the roof, is because I ran out of room inside the cloth building. So being slowed a little by needing to swim to get to the fields, didn't affect me concerning production. Besides, we all received swimming experience while performing routine jobs (same as stealth and athletics experience, obviously).

Note: Careful when placing structures under stairwells, or having an exit to the roof cramped with nearby storage containers. Your characters will likely get hitched (or confused) and stall the entire supply / production chain.

If you experience problems with characters not hauling to a container, then add it to the job list (usually it's something like "Auto haul to [container type]). Or even better, use another character to "Auto Haul" out of the machine to the container. This solved most of my product transferring problems.

[DeathKnyte]

Understanding the programing of iron spiders.

I got to know this type of "old machine" quite well, because although I never planned on it, I encountered these things regularly at Sin City.

They attack forward from their "face" and this attack has an area effect, no matter how many characters are present, everything in this area is subject to being hit. The arc of this attack is (i'm guessing) about 120 degrees, so 60 degrees on either side - out from the strike point.

If my guess is correct, then while in melee range, three characters positioned around it, 120 degrees spacing from the center, could only be hit once before the iron spider switches to another. That's because, if the iron spider lands a hit, and manages to do enough damage to stagger the target, it will switch to the next closest threat.

Now, it is near impossible to maintain three characters in perfect spacing around it, because it has an animation where it rears (see the picture of Elvyra squaring off with one, a few pages back), and that displaces the entire machine every time it does so. Also, combat sequences are dynamic for each individual character involved - no way I could control all of those in real time - and if I'm just a little off in the spacing, then the whole procedure fails.

Two characters in melee range though, is quite feasible. Once placed, I can even let the game run on it's own and it works beautifully. This is displayed below.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/hPHiKmk


Beep and Elvyra, have chosen to take on an iron spider in melee, using their ninja blades (0.31 cutting) for extra challenge.

The characters were placed on opposite sides (roughly 180 degrees apart).

The first target of the iron spider was Elvyra (note the blood spatter at her feet), and it hit her hard enough that she momentarily crumpled, so the old machine figured that Beep was now more of a threat and has spun around to strike at him.

However, in the meantime, both of my characters are hitting the iron spider consistently and in quick successive strikes. Look at how the green damage indicators are pilling up.




Direct Link: https://imgur.com/5RKsPsw


Now Beep "takes one for the team" and is in the throes of pain. The iron spider is coming down to a normal position, from its "rear and strike" attack. But in both cases, only one character took damage from each attack, thereby limiting how many people I'll need to send to bed when it's over.

After this, the old machine spun around to target Elvyra, but it never lashed out again. The speed of the ninja blades have downed it with "a thousand cuts".

This is a really nice looking picture, I caught it a split second late from what I wanted, but still a stunning view.

[DeathKnyte]

Somewhere between the Fishing Village (Northern Coast) and World's End (Okram's Arm), the Command squad came upon a fight between Cannibals and a pack of goats. We got involved, just because we like the herbivores, they don't hurt anyone unless you attack them.

After we dispatched the red tribe, we got to work on bandaging the goats, and when I was spinning the camera angle around, I was struck by the sheer strength of the suns' brightness. Like it gave me the impression that my eyes hurt, when I looked at it on my computer screen.

I snapped some pictures, and when the session was over, I checked if they would somehow capture that feeling I had while playing.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/isE8sY8


Yes, sure enough, it does. You'll likely have to see it full screen, to see it like I did. What an ingenious way to depict such a scene and give such sensation - nicely done!

Note at how tiny the goat is, that Elvyra is working on.

[DeathKnyte]

We're in the Hidden Forest area, and I came upon a group of skeletons, with drawn nodachi.

I know it wasn't me that triggered that response, because my stealth icons never changed from the "blue".

At this point in the game, I normally would have just ignored them, but while I was switching between their status displays, trying to figure what they were assaulting (the usual display when weapons are at the ready but not obviously engaged yet), I noticed that their status was actually "Going home".

Look at my mouse cursor in the status display in the picture below.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/N53xyLd


Now I was intrigued! I wanted to discover where this skeleton home is located. I see these groups often near Sin City, and knowing their patrol routines, as well as their start and end points, might prove beneficial later on.

So I shadowed them, all the winding way through the road network, on the South-Western edges of the Hidden Forest, and eventually into Wend, on the Western side of the river.

[DeathKnyte]

When night fell, I sent the Jonin to Sin City. I'm just shadowing this group with no intent on fighting - no need for six characters to do that when one suffices.

So Elvyra, by herself, has followed them to a point where they stopped, and no longer moved in any direction. Their display all showed as "Aimless".

So I waited, not daring to switch the map to another location, in case something happened here and I would miss it.

I saw other skeleton groups materialize, and moving in the direction opposite from 'Dirt's' group. In the picture below, Elvyra crouched low in a depression on the side of the road, so to avoid detection from these new groups, but still have a visual on the original.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/UzKSmtO


After the longest time, 'Dirt' and his group of skeletons simply de-materialized.

This was terribly disappointing to me. I had high hopes of discovering this so called skeleton home...

[DeathKnyte]

With the recent episode of that 'Going home' skeleton group, I studied the map around Sin City some, and you know what? We haven't even explored these Floodlands yet.

I know the Eastern edge, because I fully explored the Hidden Forest. The Southern Edge, because the Flotsam Safe House is there and I've scouted approaches to Rebirth. The Western edge, because it is along the route to the Sanctum of Sanity and the None area which we traverse when traveling to the Fog islands. But whatever is in the middle or the North, I have no clue (!).

So let's go look...



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/Zb02D9i


Iron spiders.

This is a reverse shot of the engagement, as the initial spider came from the fore front of the picture. Its' hulk rests in the water next to Elvyra's position.

I deployed a rough skirmish line, but being caught in the water slowed down our movement (some members were actually swimming when I first saw it). Elvyra moved in to melee, so that the Jonin could fire.

No sooner had it gone down, that I noticed the crossbowmen swivel and aim behind their positions. I quickly turned the camera angle around and when I saw the scene, I took some pictures.

That's the best one, above. A stunning shot, which captures the beauty and danger of the area.

Sunlight seeping through the overcast, reflecting off the surface of the water. Rain is occurring in a downpour, and the way the characters are displayed in soaked clothing, and the light glistening off the leaves of the tree in the background - it just feels wet. Dull, somber, and with the spattering sounds of the impacting drops - ominous.

[DeathKnyte]

Later on, I came upon something that looked very interesting, a structure very similar to ones I found in other areas, that included tech research artifacts.

It has a particular challenge though, of being partially submerged and surrounded by a decent amount of water. This will make the conventional approach of mounted crossbows difficult.

I circled it, and discovered a small strip of land, nearby, but off angle from the entrance - which is also submerged.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/LSQsxMJ

With the Jonin on sentry across the water, I sent Elvyra by herself, to verify if there were security spiders present. No need to have everyone in the water, and thus vulnerable, at the same time.

Yes there are such machines present. This will be a tough nut to crack.

I'm going to have to think about this one.

We went back to Sin City, so that I could ponder, while everyone else kept busy with tasks.

[DeathKnyte]

Okay, I have a plan.

We're bringing over the entire Dark Sinners faction along with some construction materials.

I'm making an effort to see what's inside that lab, because I'd like to find something called "AI Cores", to further some research projects which look interesting.

So I got everyone organized, and when we left through the convenience gate, I saw a group of nomads waiting to come in.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/DFWCU0s


These are just some type of wandering nomads. You can't engage in conversation with them, like you can with the goat herders or the animal merchant nomads. Besides, those will come to the main gate, not the side gate like this group.

So we're nice girls, we'll let them "guard the fort" while we're away. We waited for them to all go inside the outpost, and then closed and locked the gate.

And off we went to that tech lab in the Floodlands.

[DeathKnyte]

So we got to the location, and I decided to send Beep, to find a path to that small adjoining strip of land.

Beep has turned out to be a pleasant surprise, because although Elvyra has the best stats of anyone else, Beep can outperform her in stealth, and swimming. I'm going to have to play an all hive faction in the future, to explore that races capabilities in a more complete way.

And guess what? Beep actually found a shortcut through the barbed wire fence near this lab, which required just a short swim. This was such an amazing find, and it lifted my expectations of successfully implementing my plan.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/ZYzsTmr


The rest of the faction using the exact same route that Beep found.

See that small strip of land in the center left? We came from that direction, then just a short swim under the fence and then we're walking again - amazing!

[DeathKnyte]

So now that we are all safely where I want to set things up, I placed the command squad on sentry duty, while the rest started constructing mounted crossbow emplacements.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/0t5JAUc


Elvyra in the foreground, on sentry, at the point I deemed the most dangerous to get jumped from. The Jonin are placed on the edges running behind the low spine of the mound, while the rest of the faction are on engineer tasks. The entire faction is on stealth command.

The entire lab (part of its roof overhang seen in center left) is also under the remains of a huge ancient ruin. Maneuvering the camera around proved quite difficult, as the central pivot would constantly be positioned atop the ruin structure. I had to move it away, and then zoom out and remain at a low angle in order to be able to see and direct the characters in their tasks.

The Floodlands have great ambience, near constant rain, somber overcast sky, noise of the rain all around - and the music is eerie when it kicks in!

[DeathKnyte]

Hard getting the camera to behave in this position, but I managed to get a picture of "The Plan".

The general idea; is that Beep is going to draw out the security spiders, one at a time, and we're going to shoot it, as it makes its' way around the outside lab building.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/5SdcarE


So if you study the picture a bit, you'll see I have a line of mounted crossbow Mk. II's, inter-spaced with regular crossbows. I'll order the regulars to shoot, if I judge the mounts aren't doing enough damage.

In order to guarantee the security spider walks along the entire line of fire, I have placed a Taunt on just one character. Initially I'm placing it on Knife (highlighted in picture), and I'll adjust it in either direction after I see how quickly we kill the first one.

Beep is swimming out to the entrance, which is the next opening on his right, beyond the curve of the lab. So this gives us quite the length, and field of fire, on any security spider coming out and rounding the outside of the building.

Beep will draw, simply because he's our fastest swimmer.

At this point, I'm feeling pretty confident about the whole thing...

[DeathKnyte]

So as soon as Beep got the attention of the closest security spider, I ordered him to come out and sit below our firing line. I knew they'd track him, but once in line of sight of my Taunt, then it would switch.

As soon as Beep got to his position, one of my mounted crossbows started shooting - but the security spider hadn't exited the building yet?!

Then they all were firing, I could tell due to the noise they make when the charge canisters make their associated noise.

What's happening? I paused the game to investigate.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/qPVBqzc


I moved the camera to try and line with the direction of the mounted crossbows, and I even caught a bolt that has just discharged, then I saw I could actually see the target.

Amazing! I've highlighted my gunner to show that she has no special commands, so I'm assuming she is acting solely to "protect allies". Since Beep is under attack, she's firing to protect him, but right through the opening and into the building. I never experienced this before, with any ranged weapon. It was quite the discovery.

Keep your head down Beep - bolts are flying over it!

[DeathKnyte]

Well... This is going to work out even better than I could have imagined. In Kenshi, the usual way a surprise goes, is against the player - not this time (!).

Here's a neat picture. I was able to get the camera view inside the lab, and caught an opening salvo of all the mounted crossbows as a security spider was coming from a higher floor.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/HwZh9p1


So we're still able to target through the opening, outside the lab, and all six mounted crossbows have just fired. Two shots have hit their mark, can you see where the four other bolts are?

[DeathKnyte]

We looted the place after, got some nice research artifacts, but the AI Cores are still eluding me. Oh well, we'll just have to keep looking.

Beep pulled all the hulks of the security spiders into the moat, and then asked for a picture. He wants to send it back home, to show how great he is.

Well, since he performed the most dangerous task of the plan - I acquiesced.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/B2TUnWt


Beep, with the eight security spiders that "he killed".

[DeathKnyte]

There are quite a number of ruins in the Floodlands. I really should have explored this area sooner.

Below is one called The Leaning Tower. It had quite a number of specialist and/or mastercraft items, some books, and other valuable items. Plus it has storage, beds, and stools that you can use. It might not be a bad place to rest and recuperate, in a future playthrough. Similar to the Flotsam Safehouse, which is not too far away.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/6FlDH2l


Elvyra, sitting on the lone stool on the roof of the tower, lost in thoughts about how her faction has grown and evolved over time. It's raining, of course, it nearly always rains in the Floodlands, but she is oblivious to it. In fact, if anything, she welcomes it, as the discomfort which it brings is a reminder of the contrasts in this world. As her faction rests on the floors below, she gazes into the dark sky, and imagines what could lie beyond - other worlds, other civilizations - all waiting to be discovered, but so distantly out of reach to the beings trapped on the world of Kenshi.

Beep, ever so loyal and dedicated, has built a campfire to perhaps offer a sense of warmth to his leader. Forever grateful, to her, for having offered him a way out of his life of drudgery, back in Mongrel. He silently stands behind her position, not wanting to interrupt her thoughts, and gazes in the direction she does - trying to see what - he can not comprehend.

[DeathKnyte]

There are other marvelous places to experience, in the Floodlands.

I discovered that characters could navigate some of the fallen spires / towers laying about.

Some are so long and vast in possible paths to follow, that you can use them as a span between flooded areas, avoiding the dangers of navigating through the low lying waters.

One such example is shown below.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/v6mLbtw


Look near the top of the picture, and slightly right of center. Those figures is my entire faction running along the top of the fallen span!

Amazing - just a fantastic experience - especially at night.

[DeathKnyte]

Below is the tallest structure that I know of, at this time, in the world of Kenshi.

It might not seem so in the picture, but I'm quite the distance away from it, and even tilting the camera angle to the highest level upwards, I can just get it all in the picture, in its' entirety.



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/OJlF25N


When I gaze around - not only here - but in other parts of the world as well, I can't help but wonder, what could have caused the demise of such majestic structures.

[DeathKnyte]

In the north part of the Floodlands, we discovered a type of building that showed promise for ancient tech artifacts.

It's located atop a high plateau, surrounded by cliff faces, and only accessible by an old bridge spanning a divide.

We were excited, but also weary, because of the likelihood of security spiders. Elvyra sneaked inside to verify their whereabouts - but there was definitely something out of the ordinary about the ground floor.

Strangeness and unexpectedness was the sensation first experienced, of the items laid out in an obvious pattern, causing hesitation on my part.

In precaution; I deployed the faction in ready, and sentry, positions around the ground floor, then Elvyra slowly scaled the ramp to the upper floor...



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/GcS84nK


This revelation has dashed my hopes of discovering tech artifacts here-in.

However the scene is splendid with torches illuminating with dancing lights the room, and off the objects located here. Just look at the the skull and bones, from the totems, for a glaring example. Very nice.

[DeathKnyte]

So Elvyra crept back down the ramp, and was organizing the faction for the fight against the sleeping cannibals on the upper floor, when I noticed some damage indicators popping up on screen outside the lab.

I had to actually exit the lab so that I could get the camera close enough to make out what the commotion was all about. This is still in the Floodlands, so it was raining and it was night time. Really hard to see something in that environment.

Finally I came upon this fight - a skeleton against some iron spiders. You don't see any skeletons, unless they're broken ones, in the Flloodlands, so out of curiosity I clicked on him to view his status box. And when I did i was stunned by what I saw (!).



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/mZ76Hz1


Just look at those numbers - incredible!

The strongest single character that I had yet seen in Kenshi was an inquisitor, from The Holy Nation faction. I know they are strong because they have ended two prior playthroughs of mine. This skeleton named "Scratch", has numbers in the same range as an inquisitor.

And look at his armor - I think he's wearing assassin rags, same as we are (?!). But I could not be certain, so I made up my mind to try and knock him out to look at his inventory.

When he finished with the spiders, Elvyra went part way down the slope and started shooting him, from what I gauged to be the maximum range of her crossbow. Luckily, for her, Scratch had taken some leg damage, and could only hobble to assault her. This gave Elvyra more time, and effectively more shots to knock him out.

Once downed, I went to loot him, and my guess was correct that he indeed was wearing assassin rags. This gave me hope, that our own might suffice for the later stage of the game, when we would war The Holy Nation.

In the mean time, Scratch was mortally wounded, and although Beep did his best (Beep had the best robotics skill than any of us) to repair Scratch with his own robot repair kit, it would not be enough to save him. Beep did manage to stabilize his condition though, and we transported Scratch to a tower, not that far away, from our location.

This tower is empty, but had a robot repair bed, as well as many sundry robotic items, including quite a number of repair kits. I placed two such kits in Scratch's inventory, and while he was still unconscious on the repair bed, we left the tower before he awoke. I knew that he'd be aggressive towards us, and we'd be forced to hurt him again - which I did not want to unduly happen.

What an eye opening experience that was. That scene still reverberates in my head to this day, about how powerful that single skeleton character was stat wise. I never saw him, or any other skeleton like him, since.

I present him again - in full screen - and in all his splendor:



Direct Link: https://imgur.com/cmVJHfJ


Scratch, the He-Man skeleton of Kenshi.