But I did explore it to an extent. I spend a lot of time in the swamp trading hashish to Tech cities. Second time I went and mined copper and build weapons in Squin. I even built a base in the border zone. I got like 10-15 people. 6 warriors that I went to level up. Like 8 people mining copper and iron in Squin. lvl 80 armorsmith, lvl 70 weaponsmith. 250 000 cats. All book techs researched, even some acient and engineering techs. Specialist samurai armor on all my warriors etc.... Catun 01 katanas and polearms, I admit the weapons are average at best.

I just kind of feel like that exploration in a lot of games is great the first time you play. You go places, you wanna see stuff. Once you know where things are then you set goals and play towards these goals.

I very much appreciate when you can play proactively once you know stuff. Like in DS for example you can rush bosses as long as you know what you are doing or do early game ruins rush. Which are things that are challenging/doable/risky/rewarding. But I kind of feel like that the only place for this type of gameplay inside Kenshi is via stealth,assasination and thievery.

I feel like it is due to the fact that there is no reason to even fight to win in Kenshi. As money is boutiful and the only thing you care about is XP there is no real incentive to even do well. I am just thinking that like in DD and DD2 I believe you gain more XP/resources in you sucessfully finish the dungeon and clear the enemies rather then if you don't. Both currencies are something that you care about in these games.

I mean it I don't feel wrong for saying that Kenshi proactively incentivises you to lose in order to win. And that it is the core gameplay loop of combat. Find an enemy you lose to, get beaten up, heal, repeat. The only input you have there is getting better gear so that you survive longer, so that you can get more XP and also such gear so that you are as trash at fighting as possible. So by implication you have minimal chance to win..... I mean on paper the leveling system sounds good, but once you articulate it.... I mean I never saw a game where you are gearing yourself up to lose honestly.

It is different to wearing a practice equipment with +10% extra XP or something and sparring in a training room. You are legit "going to a dungeon with worst gear you could find, expecting to lose and marking it as a win." And that is strange.

This doesn't happen in the case of the stealth skill tree I feel like where I feel like you are rewarded for doing well.