Kenshi 2: New Game Minus

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It's probably way late in the process, but then again i don't know if this would be all that hard to do, so - stay with me a moment

I've been thinking about my gaming lifecycles and they're typically: play vanilla game at defeault or "dev choice" settings the first time through. Next playthrough, find or make mods to fix any outstanding obvious bugs or errors (not design choices, actual breakage). Playthroughs after that, I start making or looking for mods that IMO enhance the existing core strengths but that the dev couldn't full realize before release or with resources at hand. Somewhere around 1000 hours later everything's fair game and I'm adcding anything I might think would be fun to mess with, but (personally, i realize not all do this) still with an eye towards balance and original intent.

I think this is not so dissimilar from the approximate gameplay loop of a lot of players. Why not incorporate some of it into the base game? Mods and user-configgable settings have only increased in demand and complexity. "New Game Plus" is a well known thing that i think Kenshi might benefit from, because it's a thousand-hour game and i've memorized every detail of that copper lump in Border Zone's default start - you know the one i mean - and while it's funny, on the 347th playthough i wanna skip some of the repetetive intro stuff and get closer to the action - but not by totally cheesing the joint. So some small advantages or let's say "first 4 hour timeskip" kinda effects might work well as NG+ features.

but in Kenshi..... At the same time, maybe a player has conquered all challenges and still likes to play but it's just not challenge to them and just tweaking combat numbers won't fix it for tihem.. Enter something Kenshi could pioneer as uniquely appropriate to its style: New Game Minus.

You already have some of this in the Rock Bottom start, or the Cannibal hunters. Expand that! Flesh out a NG- effect where taking on the toughest challenges in the game unlocks new and interesting handicap style modifiers.

I think it could greatly enhance what's already the most replayable game I own, while still leaving ample space for a thriving modding community. Hell you could even, close to release or as parft of a beta program, host competitions where the best "NG+ start" or "NG- start" type mods are showcased and/or made part of the basegame, stuff like that.

TL;DR there is no tldr for this one, sorry. I know it's a wordy idea, but i think it could really take off in something like Kenshi, beyond the standard old "achievement hunting" sort of endgame play. I feel like not many - maybe none at all - games are made that really embrace the idea that players are gonna be in there for 3000 hours and mod the tap-dancing bejeebus outta it. It's waiting to happen.