Kenshi has been overrun by chihuahuas.

[Zeal]

So do due "popular demand", Kenshi's once savage beasts that made warriors of old once tremble, have been victim of Humanism, and domesticated into what we see today...



I understand the idea that these dogs roaming the desert rolling over everything they touch was off the ball, but there were many ways to fix this than simply turn thier stats into laughable pincushions.

People complained that they were "OP", but that is entirely false. They were NOT Overpowered. They just needed adjustments in their behaviors, how they appeared in game, and how they fought.

Issue 1: They were unavoidable. Regardless of where you were in the game, or how careful you were, you were forced to be swarmed by them unless you avoided any battlefield, which is pretty much impossible in Kenshi. The whole "attracted to blood" is a neat thing, but they had an issue with spawning on blood, rather than simply sniffing it from half a km away and rushing towards it.. This prevented you from being able to do anything to avoid combat, and they could always chase you down..

Issue 2: That aoe...
Dogs should not hit multiple targets at once. It's a bite, isn't it? When could a dog bite more than one person at a time, unless they were holding hands, and the hands happened to be the bite target? That could have been adjusted so their attacks only hit the person they are directly attacking.

Issue 3: Constant Town's overrun.
Behaviors of "hunting".. While I loved the idea of seeing a swarm of dogs sweeping across the desert in the distance like a swarm of locusts laying waste to anyone unfortunate enough to be caught by them, it was indeed a problem that every town you came across - unless it was a fresh game, had been overrun by dogs. Maybe in time, when the new map comes along, and squads behaviors are adjusted, this kind of behavior will be much less frequent.. (I would definately not like to see it NEVER happen... but it shouldn't happen all the time...) Towns should be better defended, but I don't believe they should all be impenatrable from dogs.. I would like to see towns still being wiped out by these creatures.. Heck, it would even be interesting to find ghost towns in the new map, wondering why no one is present, and then be surprised when the town gets occupied at night by a bunch of these beasts, and you going "Oooh! That's why... RUN"

All in all, I loved that Kenshi actually had a threat present that caused people to have to adjust their way of play, and actually find ways to defend themselves. They were not OP.. People are just simply too soft-footed. Even with their past strength, the game was still very playable to those who understood what Kenshi actually was. It may be "better" for those new players, but it will short lived.

I hope that this degradation is only a temporary solution, or that you'll rename them "Chihuahua" appropriately, and present another similar challenge in the future, because as someone who has spent over 700 hours in Kenshi thus far, Those dogs were a godsend, because Kenshi is meant to be difficult, and now the game just simply is not. It's far too casual and utterly boring.. Yes, I could use mods, and I'm going to have to until something is done about this, but I feel that all Kenshi's core gameplay dangers have been sapped from the game to the point that it feels too casual in it's core. It's a little discouraging..

[Hatsune_Neko]

disappointed myself.
dust bandits and sand ninjas are back in my more powerful critters to deal with category because dogs no longer are.

[IronMaverick]

It was really their AOE that was absolutely ridiculous, they shouldn't be able to attack more than one target, what would really help is if the units would have collision so that wouldn't happen regardless, I think with the way things work in that regard I'd rather them be what they are now than what they were. Nests and animals are very interesting and I'd like them to become a HUGE threat later on but within the current mechanics they have MANY issues.

I too would like Kenshi to be very hardcore but that wasn't really hardcore, it was more annoying, like a threat that you couldn't avoid and you just had to grind forever to get past them.

[Koomatzu]

Some good points imo. Maybe they'll go through some further balancing later on (especially the multiple target issue), but one thing I think is important to remember is that there are still a lot more different enemies to come - I don't have much involvement in beast design, but I'm pretty sure I've seen plans for some much nastier looking creatures, so by no means are wolves necessarily supposed to have that much of an impact like they had before they got toned down.

Basically what I'm saying is, there should be some bad ass monsters to take their place later.

Personally I don't think wolf packs should pose one of the toughest challenges in Kenshi. I reckon a skilled swordsman would be able to take on a wolf or two, logically. Or three or four, whatever ;p But that's just my opinion, I'm not sure if Chris intends to make them a massive pest as a pack again.

[Zeal]

Basically what I'm saying is, there should be some bad ass monsters to take their place later.

Ultimately, I guess it's safe to say that right now that is the biggest grief I have with it... I enjoyed the threat they presented, disregarding whether or not it was "right".

Kenshi still has a long way to go, so I'm definately not giving up yet, but until the time comes where something else presents itself, I'm going to be a little sad.

[IronMaverick]

Thanks for the input Koomatzu! I'm taking to modding in enemies for now until the nastier ones are in.

[Aereto]

It was really their AOE that was absolutely ridiculous, they shouldn't be able to attack more than one target, what would really help is if the units would have collision so that wouldn't happen regardless, I think with the way things work in that regard I'd rather them be what they are now than what they were. Nests and animals are very interesting and I'd like them to become a HUGE threat later on but within the current mechanics they have MANY issues.

I too would like Kenshi to be very hardcore but that wasn't really hardcore, it was more annoying, like a threat that you couldn't avoid and you just had to grind forever to get past them.

Multiple hits in a single bite... gameplay-wise not very reasonable if it's not a large enough mouth. Hitboxes does need to be tweaked from time to time.

There is a line between hardcore and nuisance, but I lost track where it is, same regarding the line between punishing and challenging games. The dogs are a legitimate threat, though it just needs behavior and combat tweaking to make sure a pack doesn't wipe out a reasonably defended town... or a dust bandit team for that matter.

[bk3000]

I prefer the stronger dogs too, minus the AOE.

Also for me it wasn't even as issue anyhow once you turn up the "max number attack slots" to something more reasonable like 3. With that setting at 1, you had the issue that the dogs could only be attacked by one person, and yet could do AOE damage. You fix that and you don't have an issue.

[HalbesEi]

The dogs are what they are: dogs

If someone don't find them challenging enough that's their problem, but not everyone always uses the same highly trained and equipped squad(s) with 50+ in all stats to roam around the world. If you don't have those or even start a new game the old dogs were seriously OP and not much fun to play with.

But I agree that balancing is still needed somewhat

[Zeal]

The dogs are what they are: dogs

If someone don't find them challenging enough that's their problem, but not everyone always uses the same highly trained and equipped squad(s) with 50+ in all stats to roam around the world. If you don't have those or even start a new game the old dogs were seriously OP and not much fun to play with.

But I agree that balancing is still needed somewhat

I start a new game fresh pretty much every update. And yes, they have pissed me off quite a bit in the past, but the challenge is welcome. If gates worked, the blood smell meter worked correctly, and kenshi had much less bugs, then they would have been perfectly fine the way they were. They would have been avoidable until you were a match for them. You are not meant to go out and build a base on your own outside of a protected town until you're seasoned anyway.. That is what a lot of people go and do, and then complain they get beat into the ground.

Not everything in a game is supposed to be on parr with the player when they first start, or nothing in the game will last as a challenge.. The game will die long before you get started.

It used to be that even in the 60's of stats, you had something to play with, but now once you get into the 40's, you can stomp over everything else in the game except those leviathans, but those things are so few and far between that they aren't that much fun fighting.

A continuous threat is what makes a game like Kenshi enjoyable. Take that away, and boredom settles in quick. Maybe my vision of Kenshi's threat level is a bit different than everyone elses, but I hate the idea how you can run freely around anywhere and everywhere without any danger whatsoever. I want there to be a reason to have to fortress yourself up and defend yourself. That's what those dogs were to me.

[Abek]

I agree. The dogs were a great addition. I remember the update that brought them in. I looked up from my book and every squad was being attacked by hordes of dogs. They ran through my town and massacred everyone. It became this awesome rescue mission where we had to grab people and bring them back to a shed we were hiding in. It was even cooler because in that update all my walls became nonfunctional so the dog swarms were coming through the walls like hellhounds.

I think what made them epic/deadly was their spam bite. I noticed that before those dogs could stunlock weaker characters into unconscious. It was awesome.
Still, a fix to the Chihuahua problem could maybe be upping your squad sizes globally? When I solo'ed my first leviathan I thought, "What can top this?" And then I upped the squad size and saw pairs of leviathans. They kicked my ass. You could probably up the dog numbers to the point that you see more fur on the screen than an 80s adult video.

[Ralinth]

"more fur on the screen than an 80s adult video."


Sorry but that was the funniest thing I read all week. Made my day.