Town OverridesReport
English：Town Overrides · Game Mechanics
When a World State changes, the game swaps a settlement on the map for a different version of itself. Malnourished, half-destroyed, civil war, destroyed, taken over by some faction — they are all this one mechanic. Buildings you bought are not lost.
Town Overrides are locations that spawn in to replace other locations. What triggers one is a change in World State, and world states are usually tied to whether particular characters are alive, dead or captured.
The words you see in this site's location infoboxes — malnourished, half-destroyed, civil war, destroyed, taken over by such-and-such faction — are all names for different overridden versions of the same town.
This is not the same as a town going DEAD
Kenshi has two separate mechanics that leave a settlement looking wrong, and they are easy to conflate in an infobox.
- DEAD: enough of the inhabitants have been killed that the place is finished. The buildings are still standing, there is simply nobody in them.
- Town Override: a world state came true, and the game swapped the whole settlement for a different configuration. Buildings, residents, shops and faction ownership can all change together.
The first is the result of somebody killing everyone; the second is the game laying down a version that was written in advance. Some override versions consist of ruins, which makes them look much like a dead town, but they got there a different way.
The names you will see
These are the names of individual override entries on individual towns, not a formal taxonomy. The same word can mean quite different things in two different cities.
| Name | Roughly what happens |
|---|---|
| Malnourished | Supply lines cut, residents starving, usually a few buildings left in ruins |
| Half-destroyed | Fighting inside the walls, roughly a third of the buildings damaged |
| Civil War | Rebels spawn inside the town and fight the townspeople |
| Destroyed | The whole place is ruins, and it is not rebuilt |
| Faction takeover | New flag, new owner, and that faction's trade rules apply |
Heng is a clean example: all three of its paths are variations on a broken supply chain. Stack changes hands more often than almost anywhere else, and all three of its versions hang on a single character.
How the game picks
When more than one override has its conditions met at the same time:
- The override with the most world states attached to it wins.
- If that ties, the game takes the one highest in the override list.
In effect the more demanding version wins, which matches expectations — stacking up more world states generally means the player has pushed further down that line.
The one thing that matters most
Buildings you have purchased are never destroyed or taken away by a Town Override.
That is worth remembering on its own. A town can turn to ruins while you are away, change flags, or swap out its entire population, and the house you paid for is still yours with your things still in it.
The rest of the consequences are less friendly:
- Shops can vanish wholesale. An override rewrites the building list, so the weapon smith, the bar and the mechanical shop may simply not be in the new version.
- Trade rules can change with the owner. A faction takeover applies that faction's contraband list.
- Some overrides are locked ruins. The slaver camps in the north-east fall into ruin when overridden, and stay behind their gates.
Which places can be overridden
Below is the wiki's grouping, sorted by what drives the change.
The Empire
Brink is tied to the Nobles. A second group of United Cities towns depends on whether Emperor Tengu is alive, dead or imprisoned, as well as on the Nobles: Bark, Drin, Fishing Village, Free Settlement, Heft, Heng, Port North, Port South, Sho-Battai, Stoat and Trader's Edge.
The north-eastern slavers
Eyesocket, Slave Farm, South Stone Camp and Stone Camp. Each is tied to one resident Noble and nothing else. When overridden they all fall to ruins, locked behind their gates.
The south-west
Apart from Catun, the locations here are interlinked. The major settlements in The Hook respond to the states of several Nobles, and none of them care about Emperor Tengu. They are Clownsteady, Drifter's Last, Manhunter Base, Slave Markets and Slave Farm South.
Holy Nation territory
Initially Holy Nation property; depending on world states they may become ruins or be taken by a faction opposed to it: Bad Teeth, Blister Hill, Holy Military Base, Holy Mines, Okran's Fist, Okran's Shield, Rebirth and Stack.
The Shek Kingdom
Admag and Squin. After Esata the Stone Golem is killed, control of the kingdom passes to Mukai The Mountain.
The south-east
Four mutually hostile factions operate here: Crab Raiders, Reavers, Skeleton Bandits and Skin Bandits. Take out one faction's leader and its bases can be taken over by another, usually the Southern Hive. The locations are Ark, Crab Town, Crab Village, Iron HQ, Reaver Camp, Skinhouse and Skinhouse HQ.
The Swamps
Tied to the states of the swamp gang leaders: Grayflayer Village, Rot, Shark and Stone Rat Village.
Other locations
Controlled by minor factions and tied to specific world states: Cult Village, Fort Simion, New Kralia, Raider Camp and Settled Nomads.
Fogman invasions
If the owning faction's queen is killed or kidnapped, these Hiver settlements are replaced by a Deadhive Overrun: Distant Hive Village, Hive Village, Southern Hive, Southern Hive Village and Western Hive. In addition, if the Phoenix is killed, a Holy Military Base can also become a Deadhive Overrun.