Kenshi Kaizo

Kaizo (改造, remodel/reorganize) is an overhaul mod designed to make the game more dynamic and add variation to repeat playthroughs. The mod adds a large amount of content while attempting to remain lore-friendly in all aspects.

Import is required for old saves.

List of Town Overrides: https://pastebin.com/raw/CsyuEB27

AI AND DIALOGUE:
– Dozens of new interactive dialogue lines
(e.g. Proactively give money to starvers, engage in diplomacy or start fights with bandits)
– Many tweaks to NPC AI packages for more lifelike behavior:
— NPCs won’t try to heal when squad mates are under attack
— Bandits can kidnap people who get KOd in their towns instead of ignoring them
— Gate guards rescue downed allies instead of ignoring them
— Cannibal Hunters attack passing cannibals instead of ignoring them

– Dialogue tweaks made for bug fixes and more lifelike behavior:
— NPCs won’t yell about intruders who are already imprisoned
— Hungry Bandits more often demand food before attacking
— Inquisitors won’t let you just walk away from them carrying Emperor Tengu
— Bandits are generally less likely to attack when outnumbered or injured
— More NPCs will actually react to failed assassination attempts
— Shek bandits remember you from the last time they picked a fight
— Certain skeletons are more careful about saying certain things
— More lines of dialogue that reflect speaker’s personality

– More recruitment scenarios for solitary, non-hostile NPCs in a bad situation
(e.g. solitary starvers or escaped slaves)
– NPCs (particularly bandits) loot unconscious foes with greater frequency
– Homeless/starving characters may eat food from the ground or steal food from sleepers
This can count as a crime and will provoke a response if they’re caught
– Some tweaks to prevent suicidal behavior / avoid very undesirable situations
(e.g. Burn will now stay inside before meeting the player)
– Additive word swap edits and new tokens for more variation in dialogue
– Non-destructive edits to vanilla dialogue providing minor typo and bug fixes
– Removed DC_IS_PLAYER check from some dialogue lines, allowing more NPC interactions

CAMPS, RESIDENTS, AND HOMELESS SPAWNS:
– Spawn lists are more diverse,
– Spawn rates tweaked for many zones.
– Zones are less "leveled" and stronger enemies occasionally spawn in weaker areas
(e.g. Band of Bones and Kral’s Chosen squads may appear in the Border Zone)
– New kinds of camps for various factions, some depend on world states to spawn
– Homeless bandits less frequent, bandit activity more tied to camps
– Major factions spawn War Camps when leaders start to fall
(only HN and Flotsam are implemented as yet)
– More roaming squads that stop and hang out in bars
– More resident squads set to regenerate (kill off a town to stop squads from regenerating)
– More buildings are for sale, where it would seem to make sense
(e.g. ruins in non-military towns)
– Other buildings can be purchased once certain world state conditions are met
(e.g. Burn’s Tower if Burn is killed)
– Item vendor lists added to some town resident squads to make the world seem more lived in
(e.g. squatters keep collections of scavenged stuff)

CHARACTERS:
– Many new generic NPCs bring the world to life
– More characters have randomly-generated names
Non-leader bandits, guards and other "faceless" types still tend not to have names.
– More thematic pacifiers and new ones for some factions lacking them:
Tech Hunters, Machinists: Shark
Mercenary Guild, Reavers: Black Scratch
Skeletons, Cannibal Hunters, Deadcat: World’s End
Swampers, Blackshifters, Grayflayers, Stone Rats: Flats Lagoon
Twinblades, Nomads, Manhunters: Mourn
– Small (<1%) chance for military characters outside the HN to spawn with skeletal limb(s)
– Some characters have more random skill distributions

REBALANCES:
– Overall difficulty increased
– Adjusted faction importance for assorted NPCs for more sensible reactions.
(e.g. Hungry Bandits have less importance, certain Swamper Gang Leaders have more).
– Holy Nation armies more competitive, with slightly better gear and new weapon grade
– Generic recruits slightly more common, and some squads regenerate.
– Ordinary Lanterns more commonly found in trade shops
– No-go zones are less restrictive
(e.g. Band of Bones will enter the Border Zone)
– More weapon variation for NPCs (less so for soldiers who should use issued equipment)
– Greater clothing/armor variation for NPCs that don’t wear a uniform
(e.g. Hungry Bandits and Slave Hunters don’t all have identical outfits).
– More protective gear for bandits operating in harsh environments
(e.g. breathing masks for Cloud Ninjas)
– Greater range of squad sizes while preserving average number of characters per squad
(extremely large spawns are not changed due to performance concerns)
– Mercenaries offer longer contracts, up to 1 week for bodyguards and 30 days for outpost duty
(Guard job dialogue now explicitly states *nearest* outpost)
– Hiring mercenaries for very long contracts will slightly increase relations with them
– Main factions conduct stronger late-stage campaigns
– Ranged units added to most major faction armies
– Rescaled equipment quality (important/skilled characters less likely to have shoddy gear)

WORLD STATES:
– Dozens of new world states, complete list is found below
– Changed some existing world states to disregard player involvement
(e.g. Shark overrides)
– Some settlements more resistant to world state changes with new local leaders
(e.g. Rebirth, Okran’s Fist)

ZONE-SPECIFIC CHANGES:
Arm of Okran: Added homeless spawns; Tech hunters, escapees and slave hunters, some starvers, possibly flotsam / holy nation patrols (depends on world state)
Rebirth: 0.1x rate Homeless spawns added: Goats, rare chance of broken skeleton
Heng, Great Desert: Reduced number of homeless Skimmer squads

FACTION-SPECIFIC CHANGES:
Many of these, see link for detailed list: https://pastebin.com/raw/i5ZtHtAx

COMPATIBILITY NOTES:
Kaizo is a large mod and should be placed low in the load order to avoid conflicts. See the Compatibility Discussion for more detail.
There may be some unexpected behavior if combined with other mods that make sweeping changes to AI packages and world states.
If there’s a mod you want to get working with Kaizo, then please comment about it. A patch might be feasible.

THANKS AND CREDITS
Thanks to Boron, Nanogiraffe, oi__io, Shidan, I.C.E., Thoros and Cataphractoi for the following guides that helped get this project off the ground and released:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1444279946
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=804686889
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1287177013
https://steamcommunity.com/app/233860/discussions/3/351660338683696515/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/233860/discussions/3/365163686051518697
https://steamcommunity.com/app/233860/discussions/3/1640912849396702757/

Further thanks to HaTsUnE_NeKo for constantly answering others’ questions that I had to search, and to the Super Mario Kaizo community for inspiring this mod’s name.

And thanks to Lo-Fi for creating and releasing a most excellent game.

SEE ALSO:

Reactive World by Shidan – I played this mod before and during Kaizo’s development and was undoubtedly influenced by it. Strongly recommended, but compatibility will be difficult to do.

Please leave any feedback you have and report any bugs you may encounter.