It is done, the mod has been remade. It is much cleaner, the artifact bug is fixed, and the mod overall, in my personal opinion, is far better than this one. I put the link in the description, I will be supporting this new version of the mod since I have testing setups and made the mod much simpler to rebalance and tweak compared to this one.

The best way I could go about this, is honestly wiping what I've done with this mod so far, and start from scratch. ForgeDrake set a decent foundation, but when Kenshi updates, especially the FCS, old ways of doing things don't work anymore, mods break in new ways, and most of it has to be redone in FCS anyways. I would hate to break anyone's saves or anything, but I really want to improve this mod, and make it THE research mod for people who want to take control of their own advancement, and the way things work with it right now, I'm just not happy with... it's a mess, and I can do better.


Looking for any feedback on this idea, scorched earth and start again with much more experience and a better idea for making this the research mod every outpost hermit and self-sufficient researcher would ever want?

It's been a while, COVID-19 has given me more free time with the whole social distancing thing, and I got to playing Kenshi as a result. I really got involved in its mechanics compared to before, where I was more of a city hermit, and I think I understand the game much better than I did when I first took on maintaining this mod. I am having an easier time seeing now where a lot of problems are, and where things can be improved (and of course, bugs fixed, which I'll be checking on very very soon, especially that artifact pricing one, yikes!)

The big thing is, I want to re-do this mod with my new knowledge, rebalance it, take out a couple things that were unnecessary, improve the benches to fit in much better with Kenshi. A lot of my plans are a bit too much to put in to a comment, but the bottom line is, I want to know if you all would want this.

Ink from Carbon, to give Carbon some meaning again? And adds some challenge as well.

Hi Guys. If you are able to handle FCS here is the solution:

1. Remove the added ingredients for books, ancient books, Engineering research, AI Cores.
The Ingredients from GENMOD should stay if you use GENMOD.
2. Search for the building functions of the Book Binder, Books Research, Engineering Research and AI Research and change the "Override Ingredients" from false to true.

This solved the pricing problems for me at least.

I regret to inform you all that I am no longer supporting this mod (took long enough for me to make this official). I cannot promise that in the future I will change my mind. I love Kenshi, it's a very fun and interesting game, but I'm totally burnt out on it and don't want anything to do with it for quite a long time. Feel free to modify my mod and re-host as you want, especially if you intend to continue supporting it, you have my permission. You can even post in the comments the link to your version of it if you intend to carry on the torch. The only request I have is that you credit both my work and ForgeDrake's original work in the description. Keep on surviving out there!

@Delran
Is this because the value is based off the combined value of the items used to craft something (along with any modifier set in the FCS).

After test, Users beware,

It would apear that the artifact system work with the item's value, which is greatly increased for the Engineer research and the Ai Cores by this mod,

If you've been using this mod and kept on finding almost no Ai cores ( And way less Engineer research ) this mod may be the reason.

I've started to wonder, is the screwed up price screwing the aftifact system ?

With this mod installed the Scrap merchant no longer stocks ER or AI cores, importing didn’t fox it but after disabling the mod and importing it did.

@fade7777, thank you for posting! I must have missed that post, sadly I only get a little bit of time to hop on Steam now and then to read comments and it's easy for me to miss one. It makes sense I suppose but it doesn't allow a lot of flexibility to modders in the long haul... nevertheless, it's not my game, so I'm limited to what the construction set would allow me to do. As long as the mod is working and is at least a reasonable alternative way of getting artifacts besides for only being able to hunt them down, I'd say I'm pretty happy. I'm sure plenty of people would rather have it much easier, but even assuming I could get the time to pop in to the construction set, I risk making it TOO easy and frustrating another set of subscribers, because again, I'm terrible with balance (I cheat in most of the games I DO play now, that says it all)

as fty158 says a few posts below

*I've double checked that the basic price of them are untouched, but do notice that their price distributes quite close to the converting ratio. My best guess is that the game now guarantee the price of craftables higher than its ingredients' total value.*

10 normal books for 300 each is 3k= 1 science book x10 = 30k = 1 engineering research x10 =300k ai core+ labor costs =)

i noticed this as well but to me honestly it seems more thematic this way lol =)

i say leave it as it is yes its a bit slow but you can make them in house and the price increase allows you too sell excess after ur done with research which still incentives hunting down ruins even though you can make them in your base. + a building setup for all research + book making feels like a real lab =).

Oh, and... I still don't know how the prices are getting screwed up, I changed nothing about the artifacts themselves... I only gave a blueprint and recipe for creating them!

@Pygmalion, thank you for posting! I had considered the possibility of making an easier version, but there are two main obstacles I'm facing with that:

1. When it comes to balance in games or mods, I'm totally the wrong person to ask, as most of my games I cheat most of the challenge out of.

2. My studies are getting pretty serious now, I'm getting through LPI courses and then moving in to cybersecurity (red team/blue team) skills and certifications for my career, and it's hard to even find time to play games anymore.


Assuming none of this was the case and I could make a rebalanced version, that means it'd have to be a separate workshop item, updated separately, so that it doesn't interfere with this version that some people actually like.

The main complaint about this seems to be how slow it is and how tedious and hard it is to set up. While i dont really mind it, have you thought of making an easier version?
Ps: ily, thanks for modding the game. :^)

Not only have the prices of the research items gone up staggeringly, but the availability of Ancient books is almost non existent. I have been checking Hub and the Rebel base just north of it daily and rarely do Ancient books appear, but there will always be about 35-50 regular books, 8-9 Engineering plans and 1-2 AI cores. I've had to resort to buying regular books in bulk and upgrading just to progress, because manufacturing your own books with paper and ink is INCREDIBLY tedious.

I like the concept of the mod but the material requirements are just way too steep. The production of them is also too slow. If I would could craft up a ton in house then maybe I wouldn't hate the steep price but I am going around buying up every book I can at towns and they're just getting absolutely chewed up in a horrible exchange rate for these things. I can see the utility in the ancient science book production but the engineer and ai core are just so steeply priced they're not worth wasting ancient science books on.

Currently(1.0.17) this mod messes up artifacts' price, AI core now costs 400k, Engineering 34k, ancient book 3k . I've double checked that the basic price of them are untouched, but do notice that their price distributes quite close to the converting ratio. My best guess is that the game now guarantee the price of craftables higher than its ingredients' total value. Has anyone also got this problem? This is a good mod and im willing to discuss this issue and help to improve

@Goji, thank you for writing! I really wish I remembered, I BELIEVE I made it a Tech Level 1 research so anyone could learn it, but I do not remember what category it was! I haven't been able to do much in terms of modding with the job search I've got going on now, I'm in a pretty big transitional period now that the exams are going somewhere! Life has a funny way of yanking away modders, but I'll say this: If this mod stops being workable and I'm not able to get to it due to the changes in my life, anyone has full implied permission to modify and rehost this however they want, as long as credits stay to ForgeDrake for the original, and to myself for the initial re-write of the mod. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, but I'm trying to be pragmatic at this point.

really great thought, however, since this tech can not upgrade, the production speed is way too low, it takes 5 or more worker to produce one Engineering Research for days of effort, it really not improving the efficiency compare to roaming and finding, id suggest either speed up the production, or cut material needed in half at least.

Hey! I love the idea and I've downloaded it, but I was wondering which tech level and category it would be under. I'm asking so I can just immediately check and not have to worry about if it installed properly or not. My computer can be fussy about mods. Thanks!

@Dune, sounds great! I have no issues with people making changes to the mod to suit their playstyle, in fact if a particular version is more requested I'd be more than happy to upload that version over the one I've got sitting on here, with proper credits of course. I really wish I had more time to fire up the construction set to look at this stuff, but exams are really kicking my butt lately!

Thanks Hammer. In the meantime, I've modified it for my personal use. Changed the Book Binder to 5 Iron Plates & 5 Copper (& keeping the original 1 Circuit), for each of Ink Station, Paper Press I just removed the alloy requirement. I'll see if that is enough to get me the alloy research needed to make the other two benches (engineering and AI).

@Dune, thank you for the feedback! These are the materials the original author set for these to be built by. However, you're not the only one to bring this up as an issue for base starters, so I hope to get around to this issue soon and change the material to something more reasonable, like iron plates with some building materials.

Just checking out this mod. The benches require copper alloy, but you can't make that until you've gotten some advanced books going. A little chicken before the egg problem.

@RenShuu, if it is possible, try temporarily loading the game up with only my mod and see if you can find the blueprint. I can't guarantee this mod will work or be compatible with others even though I've tried my hardest to make its workings separate from changing any base game stuff.

BluePrint, i think.
he cant find it in any research-category.

@RenShuu, I'm sorry but I don't understand, what do you mean by "BP"?

Where do you get the BP?
like in what cat should it be under
Caz it might not be working for me
but then again i have like 80 mods

@trepcsuit I appreciate the feedback! It's a tough call to me really now, whether to leave well enough alone or look in to tweaking it. My original goal with taking over this mod was to make sure it stays in working order and fulfills the purpose the original author (ForgeDrake) intended for it. Unfortunately since he stopped replying to comments on his mod, I can't be 100% sure what his intentions with the original was, which is why I am hesitant to make tweaks unless a large majority of players would like such tweaks. I will leave it as it is for now then, and see what happens.

@Hammer I like the steep requirements. It forces you to still engage in the major aspects of the game without it making it an alternative to raiding places of interest. Currently I have about 30 units committed to developing research and its still slow but, I go out on a raid, come back with books and a couple ancient research and am able to convert what I get into more useful components. It honestly feels pretty balanced. Slow yes, but balanced

@Aeromancer, thank you for the feedback! I do not know what the original author's intention was with such high material requirements, but I hope to tweak the amounts after my exams to be a bit more reasonable. As for the speed of making these things, I'd like for it to be a more reasonable speed for highly skilled researchers, however for less experienced ones I'd like to have it take quite a bit of time. I have yet to actually balance that out and I will need to look in to doing that. I appreciate your feedback on the mod and hope to implement changes in the near future based on this feedback that will improve the overall experience of the mod for players. :)

PS: I should also add that you should make books stackable in the book case (they don't stack at all). Ok, I'm done. Cheers!

Hi, and thanks for the mod, it works properly for me, but I have a few pointers:

1) The crafting benches for Ink, Paper, and Books all require Copper Plates to make, which is a Tier 4 technology. Given that to get to that tier you need Ancient Books, it might be better to require Iron Plates instead, so that people that don't want to explore don't have to.

2) Ink and paper production is insanely slow. I have 5-6 benches for each, with people posted there 95%+ of the time, and books are being produced way too slowly (especially since you need 10 books for 1 ancient book, 10 ancient books for an Engineering schematic, and 10 Eng schematics for 1 AI core, in other words 1 AI = 1000 books! which, as of yet, I haven't been able to craft after weeks of gameplay. Consider multiplying their crafting speed by at least x10 as a starting point (maybe as high as x50).

3) Ink crafting seems to be even slower than paper making, so maybe it needs even more crafting speed boost.

@Shadox Van'ghul I'm sorry to hear of this compatibility issue, especially when I'm in the crunch time of my exam studies. It's strange because I don't recall changing anything about the AI cores themselves at all, all I remember doing was making them craftable. I don't recall changing the price on the item, and I'm unsure why exactly this issue would happen. I may have a few guesses as to why, but I fear that it may be quite impossible to fix since both mods may be changing something about AI cores and therefore would conflict with each other either way. However, if I can get through the exams around the end of this month, I'll see if I might be able to boot up the construction set and take a look at both mods to see if I can find something. I cannot make any guarantees however... but thank you for bringing this issue to my attention, I will do my best to look in to it come February hopefully! :)

Hi Hammer ;)

seemingly i found a compatibility issue with the following mod.
Purchaseable AI Cores

thought i should give you an info.

perhaps we can find the exact problem together and/or you can contact the author of "purch. AI Cores".

i would prefer to use both mods ;)

have a nice day

Thanks for the updated version.

Great mod! Thanks for sharing!

Works like a dream. You can hole yourself up and go from rusty sticks to significantly less rusty sticks without getting you feet dirty!

Phew, that's certainly a relief, because it doesn't look like my schedule is letting up for December at all, especially with holiday so close I'm getting long hours. I'm hoping some time in January I can get a good look at how many resources this mod is demanding in order to make books and other research materials, because I've had a similar feeling that it's quite harsh... I'd like to replace the resource challenge with more challenges on time, but balance it so that skilled squad members have a more than reasonable production time.

99.28 now stable. your mod works. lol

@AoKuang Thank you for your efforts, I will look in to this as soon as I can get the time to poke around, I'm hoping this fix won't be too involved or end up ruining the purpose of the mod, but I'll just have to see it for myself. Just to confirm, 99.24 is still the normal stable branch of the game and not an experimental branch? I tried finding it in the patch logs but wasn't able to see it.

@Hammer, After a good bit of testing I can't find a good work around. When you delete the ingredients from the artifacts so that they are still as they originally were then atleast the game starts with the mod. The downside is that if cost nothing to produce the items except you have to have the required items from consume in the building function but it does not consume them. Only other way I can see this as working without the developers fixing what they changed is to create your own artifacts and change the research tree to accept them instead. Sorry I couldn't figure out a better solution.

@AoKuang, I really appreciate the help with this!

After testing by modding your mod I have concluded the artifact changes in 99.24 have caused your modifications to them to break the mod. I will be trying to find a work around and will get back with you if successful.

It will be some time before I can sit down with the mod and find out what about 99.24 broke it, too much in life going on at the moment. I am hoping I can find a break some time this December but it could be as late as January. Wish I had a better timeline to give, but them's the breaks with how much my winter hours got jacked up. In the mean time, any troubleshooting information would be helpful, such as error messages the game gives before/when it crashes, and any other information will help with making this quicker to fix when I get to it.

99.24 breaks this mod. update please

Yes its only when this mod is loaded its weird tho it was working a few days ago with the same load order. dono why it suddenly quit working in my order. oh well.

Apologies, but I only really understand how my particular mod works, I am not familiar with the ones in your load order. If it was working fine a few days ago I wonder if there has been a recent update to Kenshi that changes something this mod relied on... can you tell me if the same issues occur when just this mod is loaded? If it really is something in your load order I'm afraid I'd be of little help, I am very much a part-part time modder and wouldn't begin to know how to make this mod compatible with others.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kz0mlc2v7284emu/crashDump0.99.24_x64.zip?dl=0