The alt key is your friend, you will need to get used to using this key during your time in Kenshi.

Having trouble finding a specific type of shop within Kenshi? Hold the Alt key and it'll highlight the signs in the town you are currently in.

Saw some loot drop on the floor - but cannot find it even while zoomed in? Alt key is your friend! It will allow you to see a rectangle - within said rectangle will be the name of the item that is obtainable, simply click on it to pick it up automatically with your selected character.

Above is a screenshot of your average town - looks clustered doesn't it? Wish you could just see which shops were where?

Alt key to the rescue!

Well - that's simple! I have explored a lot of the mid-section of the map on multiple saves and found the most consistent place for these items can be found here!


As shown above, you will want to head towards the labs. Any of them will do - and there are man more spread across the map, though this mid section containts some of the easier to reach areas. Be warned however! They have tough enemies with 50~ in each stat, so come prepared, or be sneaky.

You will find the Majority of the books and schematics on the top floor of these spiraling compelxes - along with a chance to find a rare research compenent for top tier bases. The A.I core. Do not sell this if you find it, store it for late-late-LATE! Game.

This is something a lot of my friends complained about who also play Kenshi. They wack on an expensive armour kit with a crappy level 10~ character and complain when they do terrible. There is a reason for this, and one people miss often.

First - we need to talk about Armour grades and what they do.

Light Armour/NoGrade - This means an armour type is either light, or not clasified in any of the three genres, offering no protection. These types of armour will almost never come with any negative stat changes, though I have seen a few that ruin stealth somewhat - this is what your new guys should be wearing, because more often than not they will provide combat speed bonuses and combat stat bonuses. It is worth the trade - it's all good having a walking tinman but if he cannot attack, he's not worth the food you feed him

Medium Armour - This is the decent middleground. Usually offering minor stat debuffs to your Athletics, stealth and occasionally combat speed and ability. This is my prefered type of armour, as it balances defense with attack and allows even low-tier characters to have a chance at withstanding heavy blows.

Heavy Armour - This is for your strength character, the one who can carry it on his back and not be affected by the debuffs. The debuffs on these armours are unforgiving, usually costing you between -2 to -5 points in combat ability, lowering your combat speed to 0.95-0.75 of its orginal stat, and generally just slowing you down. This is not what you want for your characters early game, as the loss in speed, stats and ability will ultimatly lead to a heavy unit who cannot attack, or defend himself. And will go down even quicker than a unit wearing light armour with stat buffs.

I play Kenshi almost daily at this point, so if I come across anything else that would help anyone, I will be sure to post it here, thank you for reading this small tip guide!