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[Kenshi] Swordpunk Post-Apocalypse RPG/RTS/City Management/Warlord Simulator/Survival Game
Axen
My avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
My avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
Alternate thread title: [Kenshi] Micro-manager's wet-dream!
https://youtu.be/nN3BXvRGjBoGet it on Steam or GOG!
So what is this. . . Kenshi did you call it?
Oh boy, Kenshi is a indie game that was made with love and passion over the last ten years. 1.0 finally released at the beginning of December 2018.
The game itself is a bit hard to describe. At its core Kenshi is a squad based open world, free roam survival game.
Here's the blurb;
A free-roaming squad based RPG focusing on open-ended sandbox gameplay features rather than a linear story. Be a trader, a thief, a rebel, a warlord, an adventurer, a farmer, a slave, or just food for the cannibals.
Research new equipment and craft new gear. Purchase and upgrade your own buildings to use as safe fortified havens when things go bad, or use them to start up a business. Aid or oppose the various factions in the world while striving for the strength and wealth necessary to simply survive in the harsh desert. Train your men up from puny victims to master warriors. Carry your wounded squad mates to safety and get them all home alive
Set in an unrelenting world of bloodthirsty cannibals, starving bandits, brutal slavers and wild beasts, survival alone is a grueling struggle… You are not the chosen one. You’re not great and powerful. You don’t have more ‘hitpoints’ than everyone else. You are not the center of the universe and you are not special. Unless you work for it.
So what do you do?
Short answer? Whatever the hell you want!
Long answer?
Freeform gameplay in a seamless game world in the largest single-player RPG world since Daggerfall, stretching over 870 square kilometers. The game will never seek to limit you or restrict your personal play style.
Custom design as many characters as you want and build up a whole squad to fight for you. Characters will grow and become stronger with experience, not just in their stats but their appearance too.
Original take on the RTS-RPG hybrid genre. No "hero" characters with artificially stronger stats than everybody else- Every character and NPC you meet is potentially an equal, and has a name, a life.
Build a base where you can research new technologies, upgrade your defenses and craft new gear.
Purchase and upgrade your own buildings to use as safe fortified havens when things go bad, or use them to start up a business.
Variation and possibilities of gameplay. Be good, be evil, be a businessman, be a thief, live in a town, live in the desert, travel alone, travel in hordes, build a fortress, raze a city. Devote yourself to freeing slaves, or maybe end up a slave yourself.
Dynamic, ever changing world. Support or hinder whoever you wish, or keep to yourself, the world won't stop moving. This is not just a "game", you are living and surviving in a simulated world.
Get captured by cannibals and eaten alive, or sold off by slavers and forced to work in the mines. These are not scripted events, just a regular part of this chaotic world that ruins your life by chance. Anything can happen, yet anything can be overcome if you have the strength.
Absolutely no Level-scaling. The world does not level up along with you, and the shops don't change their inventory to only items matching your level. At the start of the game almost everyone will be stronger than you, and survival will always be a struggle. The game won't hold your hand or help you when you're down.
Realistic medical system that affects gameplay. A character with a wounded leg will limp or crawl and slow the party down, wounded arms means you must use your sword one-handed or not at all. Severe injuries will result in amputees needing robotic limb replacements. Blood loss means you can pass out, and the blood will attract predators. A character’s stats are affected by equipment, encumbrance, blood loss, injuries and starvation.
Intelligent AI that allows for characters to reason and work towards long-term goals and desires. Squads work together and carry their wounded to safety. Characters can be setup to take care of micromanagement for you and run production in your base.
Aid or oppose the various factions in the world while striving for the strength and wealth necessary to simply survive in the harsh environment.
Lemme tell ya a story!
My current settlement is doing pretty nice for itself. Nice enough that I get plenty of trouble makers looking to loot the place. On one such occasion a rather well armed group came to my gates demanding tribute. Well that wasn't going to happen. A melee ensues right outside my settlement. We beat the bastards and tended to the wounded. In the process though Lyrin (the first character I made) lost a friggin arm. Well that just won't due.
Luckily I knew of a place way out in the wasteland that sold cybernetic limbs. So I put together a little expeditionary party since I may as well pick up all kinds of fancy stuff while I'm there. I get a group of five together plus a pack animal and send them on their way.
A couple days in to their journey the group gets attacked by Swamp Ninjas. The fighting is pretty brutal with both sides getting people knocked out. In the end my people came out victorious. However, before I could get to tending the wounded a group of slavers came, knocked out the survivors and carried both my people and the Swamp Ninjas away to become slaves.
Now that aint the end of the story. My people are still alive, slaves true, but very much still out there.
I gather up my bravest Samurai warriors (along with two companies of Mercs) and lead the force on the long journey to the slavers' camp.
We commenced the assault at night while many of them were still asleep. With our numbers and training we made pretty short work of the slavers and freed the everyone. I got my people back and a fair number of the Swamp Ninjas joined my faction too. Which was sweet. Can always use more ninjas.
The combined force finished the journey, got fancy supplies and a new arm for Lyrin.
All told, just another day in Kenshi.
Other stuff!
The Kenshi wiki is of course your one stop shop for anything you want to know.
Kenshi mods on Nexus. Also it does have a Steam Workshop too.
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
+5
Posts
My advice would be to take things slow. Scavenge stuff to sell. Recruit some followers at Bars. Find a nice place to settle. Don't be too afraid of combat. It actually takes quite a lot to get killed. As long as you have someone who can patch up the wounded then don't worry about it. Though slavers and cannibals may be a different story.
Each time you get a handle on the game it opens up again.
Some mods I recommend;
Recruitable Prisoners- It does what it says on the tin. Tons of quality dialogue too! Each enemy type has their own conditions before they'll join. Some are straight forward "give me money/food" others you may have to best in a theological debate. It's a nice extra way to recruit people, but not the most efficient.
256 recruit and squad- Also straight forward. It ups your total member cap from 30(?) to 256. It is probably unlikely you'll fill all those slots, but nice to have. Make sure it is loaded last though.
Faces Plus- Adds a whole bunch of new faces. More customization options are always nice.
Arkhiel Hair and Beards- Again more customization!
In-Game Biome Map- Adds clearly marked borders and names for all the various zones. Very, very handy.
Minor Factions Amplified- Adds several new minor factions, several of which in rivals to the major factions. Makes the world all the more alive and fun.
Kenshi Desktop Icon- Not really a mod, just an icon replacement. One that looks friggin amazing!
I'm fairly certain that the Steam workshop has a version of each of these.
edit- It is hard for me to describe the game, it wears many hats. When telling my buddy about it I described Kenshi like this, "Picture a post-apocalypse online survival game except it's not online and you control all the other players."
I haven't played in a few months and I really want to get started again. My hive queen mod has probably stopped working, because it always does. Which will be a bummer. But if that is the case I'll just have to do without one. As long as the mods that add a giant gorillo and a mini gorillo still works, I am happy!
Once I finish up with them though I shall turn my military might on to the Holy Nation.
On the plus side, at least 3 pack animals died during random fights, which singlehandedly solved my food situation for weeks
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
edit- I've come to realize that a game I desperately need now is Kenshi x Mount & Blade.
But then a Band of Bones patrol came through. These guys are jerks. Mainly because they showed as neutral and didn't appear hostile at all...
...until they walked right up to me, went, "Hey, you guys don't have an escort in the desert? LET'S FIGHT!" and then just started attacking.
Tomorrow, maybe I try relocating this base building attempt slightly more to the edge of Shem and out of the main traffic area I seemingly stumbled into.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
I joined the thieves guild faction and I'm currently living out of a house I rebuilt at the Hub. Slowly researching stuff and getting a gang together. I setup an copper deposit box nearby and apparently it's my "outpost" and 4 different factions come to yell demands or raid my empty box. Seems like I'm gonna need a lot of mans and resources ready before I setup and actual outpost judging by the amount of hate my copper box is receiving.
Still been having fun though.
While it might be a bit cheaty I find it very useful. I got tired of a dozen emaciated bandits with wooden sticks making very quick work of my gate. Honestly it got to the point where I was asking myself why I even bothered with a gate since even one made of concrete and steel was being torn apart in short order.
Defensive Gate Rebalance is the Nexus mod I've been using. As long as you got some ranged weapons your defenders can take care of most early game threats before they bring down the gate (provided it is just one group of raiders). Mid to late game threats will likely tear down the gate, but be softened up enough for melee troops to take care of (typically).
And if you have no ranged weapons at the very least it gives you enough time to get your defenders in order and non-combatants out of harm's way.
edit- Oh and enemy gates will be similarly buffed. I suggest learning lockpicking.
Then a back-up attempt in the Border Lands kept getting similar bandits immediately showing up at the fort before it was ready caused me to re-evaluate, pack everyone up, and haul it all the way back to The Hub.
New plan: resume mining and money-making operations at the Hub. Train with dummies and turrets so everyone is passable in combat. Recruit at least 6 more people so my squad size is larger. And don't forget to bring starting vegetables this time. Also crossbow bolts
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
I really like the anecdotes that other players provide, though! Keep those coming!
Base and mook screenshots are also very welcome, especially if you name one after me.
I've a settlement with about 40 or so people - one long range expedition team (The Seven Samurai) and the rest are on security and logistics; primarily producing Grog, Rum and weapons.
I'll post more detailed anecdotes later, but the lack of a Chosen One is so damn refreshing. You make your own stories, and a narrative unfolds so very quickly.
Can confirm: Kang is my bodyguard and champion.
During my explorations I came upon the Anti-Slaver faction. Do to an earlier encounter I was already fighting against slavery so allying with them was an easy choice.
Their leader filled me in on the slave trade and how the Traders Guild (largest merchant group) and the United Cities (aka the Empire) were the main sources of slaves in the wasteland. He gave me a tip on a couple of targets I could hurt that would help start the fire. Now I didn't have to attack these locations as I could've gone about liberation any number of ways, but I figured I'd follow up on his advice.
The two targets were a Slave Farm and a Slave Quarry in the region of Heng in which the United Cities (Empire) city of Heng was situated along with the Traders Guild main HQ.
I gather my forces and head to the Slave Farm first. What I found was a walled compound with a lot of wheat fields inside and many slaves and many guards.
Not having too much more of a plan other than "Attack" I send my soldiers in. The slaver guards were certainly better than your average bandit gang, but my troops were fairly well equipped and trained. Still the fighting was pretty fierce and long. By the end though I had pacified the main outpost and began rescuing slaves.
The Noble in charge of the Slave Farm had turtled up inside her stronghold as soon as the alarms were sounded. Luckily one of my soldiers had something of a knack for opening locks. After a couple failures she was able to get the door open. Now I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting, but what happened next was not it.
As soon as the door opened four dudes came charging out. These guys were Elite Imperial Honor Guards (or some such) and let me tell you they were no slouches! Each one was decked out in the finest armor and carried the finest weapons. My forces by this point had been fighting for most of the day and many were wounded. Lots of limping, useless arms and in one unfortunate case a completely severed arm (it's cool though, he got a badass robot arm now). It was a fight I didn't need. While I did end up taking quite a few casualties including one death, my soldiers eventually won out thanks in large part to the two crossbowmen that were still in fighting shape. All that was left was to snatch the Noblewoman.
She did not want to be caught and she was fast.
As soon as her guards were dead she went running out in to the fields screaming bloody murder the entire time. My men gave chase, but she was faster. Queue Yakety Sax and you'll have an idea of how comical it was. Eventually one of my crossbowmen were able to put a bolt in her leg and dropped her. She tried crawling away, leaving a trail of blood, but at that point she was easy pickings. My soldiers grabbed her and brought her back to the jail in my town. Slave Farm is no more.
Next target was the Slave Quarry and after letting my troops recover and rearm I sent them off to destroy it. All told it went much more smoothly than the Slave Farm. Even the Honor Guards were cut down a lot easier this time thanks to knowing what to expect. No fuss, no muss. Nobleman snatched and jailed. Slave Quarry is no more.
The only Empire presence left in Heng was the city itself. While my forces were pretty good, I didn't have confidence in my numbers to take on a whole city. So I sat and waited. Rearmed my soldiers with better quality arms and armor, expanded my forces a bit, got the newly freed slaves integrated and focused on domestic affairs.
About two in game weeks after the destruction of the Slave Farm & Quarry I decide to send my Ninja to scout out Heng just to see what I would be up against. She arrives in town with no problems and I began to see what's what. What I found was rather shocking. Many of the buildings were dilapidated and everyone, including the guards, were emaciated. The city and people were dying. As it turns out (this was friggin awesome to learn), because I had destroyed the Slave Farm the city was no longer getting food and because I destroyed the Slave Quarry many of the buildings couldn't be maintained. Since the city and the guards were in such a sorry state they were having serious problems fighting off these giant bug monsters that kept running in to the city killing people. All in all Heng was one good push from collapse.
With this revelation I organized my forces and sent them to liberate Heng. They were met with little resistance as most were laid up in bed and everyone in the city was put to the sword. The city became a Dead city. No guards, no civilians, no merchants, no trade caravans or travelers. It is now a ghost town.
This actually wasn't what I wanted, I was hoping for it to change hands to the Empire Peasants. Oh well, live and learn. And learn I did as I was able to actually liberate the rest of the Empire's Great Desert cities without having to starve people to death. Most of the cities went to the Empire Peasants with one being grabbed by the Tech Hunters. All the Empire has left now are the far south-western cities. In time I'll liberate those too.
As a bonus here is a breakdown of my three soldier types!
From left to right: Samurai, Ashigaru and Crossbowmen.
Samurai: I've only 8 of them, but they are my best trained troops. All wear the same heavy armor and carry Katana as a sidearm. The Samurai all have "Taunt" activated and act as tanks. Their primary weapon is different for each one as each use a different badass weapon I've found or looted during my travels. While each Samurai can dish out quite a bit of damage their main job is to lock enemies down and take the brunt of attacks.
Ashigaru: I've about 12 or so of these light troops. Each one wears the same medium armor and carry a long sword as a sidearm and a Naginata as a primary. They're all pretty fast as run speed is a bit of a requirement I have for these guys as I use them to intercept enemies and protect the Crossbowmen when necessary. They also all carry a small backpack full of med supplies and food for the army when it is in the field. They often act as medics too (though all my soldiers can in a pinch) and they'll also retrieve downed allies to bring back to a more secure area for recovery. The Ashigaru may not be able fight alone on the front line, but with the Samurai locking enemies down my Ashigaru are able to deal a ton of damage unfettered.
Crossbowmen: Only 6 strong and lightly armored, but carry a very heavy hitting crossbow with a long sword as a sidearm. Not too much to say about them, they're a typical ranged unit. If engaged in melee they'll likely fall, but that's what the Ashigaru are for. Otherwise when safely in the rear they can deal death like no other.
edit- Extra bonus!
These two aren't soldier types, but kinda are.
This guy is one of 8 Gatesmen I have manning the turrets around my, well, gate. All day, everyday. They're a mix of heavy armor and light and carry a long sword as a sidearm with no primary weapon. Granted, if these guys need to get stuck in the fight then things have gone considerably wrong.
She is one of my two Ninjas, that I call Tenno because of fucking course I do. The two swords on the back are mainly for show as dual wielding is not a thing sadly. Both wear ninja themed gear and very light armor. They're less for fighting and more for scouting, lock picking or assassinations. One super cool touch is that since both have really high stealth skill instead of doing the crouch walk that others do when sneaking my Ninja actually do the full on "Ninja Run" and it is glorious.
How do you change a city's alignment? Can your faction gain influence over existing cities?
If I hadn't been at war with that faction I actually could have brought food in to the city to keep the people fed and made an obscene profit!
The player faction can never control an NPC city or take control of NPC outposts. Which is a bummer, but whatevs.
Each city has a leader of some sort. You might have to do some sleuthing to figure out who that is exactly, but once you figure it out all you need to do is take them out and any other "Important Diplomats", I believe the label is. Once that is done after a few days another faction will take control. You've no control over who, but generally it'd be a faction that is situated nearby. Whether friendly or bandits or another of the main factions is anyone's guess.
For instance, as I mentioned before, I liberated one of the Empire cities that was directly south of mine. Instead of going to the Empire Peasants or some other friendly faction a group of slave taking bandits called the Reavers took over. Which was less than desirable.
edit- On a different note, while the game overall has a Japanese flair to it (one I've embraced) there are more European themed weapons and armor out there. In fact one of the main factions, the Holy Nation, are very much themed this way. Lots of claymores, bastard swords, polearms, plate armor, crusader helmet looking, uh, helmets and the like.
Wait, he's not the shopkeeper, he's the Shop Guard. But why's he standing at the shopcounter?
Oh. The dead body is the shopkeeper. He somehow managed to accrue a small bounty for Assault, presumably inside his own shop, and had his head chopped clean off (seriously, it was at -111 and the rest of his body was untouched).
But that doesn't explain why the...
...Okay, now I'm getting a little suspicious here...
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Shem has been settled! First time around we were woefully unprepared. This time I actually brought most of the materials I needed for my initial builds, and brought 12 people instead of 6, in addition to hiring 7 Mercenaries at the Waystation along the way. 7 of 12 people were also wearing crafted Drifter Coats and Pants I had a guy make back in the Hub, a significant upgrade over the rags they were otherwise wearing. This was good, because yet again, almost immediately after getting a few walls and a building started, a group of starving bandits stormed the gates.
By group, of course, I mean 40+. Thank god for armoured warriors (my group of 5 trained fighters in armour weren't seriously injured) and mercenaries, but dear god all of the bodies. During the mass melee, a group of 8 Dust Bandits also decided it was the perfect time to try and extort me. They died too, and unlike the starving bandits, they actually had decent armour that I stripped off and stuffed into crates to sell in the future, a good 5-6000 credits worth.
After that, everything's calmed down for now. The walls are all up, the mine and refinery has started, all of the storage and crafting for now is setup. Most people are recovered from the injuries, and I have 4 people manning crossbows above the gate.
I'm choosing to currently ignore the situation near the other settled NPC nomad camp in the middle of Shem, as there appears to be a 1-2 day running fight between I don't know how many bandits and FOUR Beak Things. Have, uh...have fun with that guys, let me know how that turns out. Also there are a pair of blood spiders tearing apart two different smaller bandit groups in the Swamp near my base, but over a hill.
Everything's going swell, just swell.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Crud.
He was exiled from the Hive for not loving the queen enough and now spending his time learning to be a ninja (just started using an xbow) while drug running/smuggling hash out of the swamp for big profits. He has a really high athletics and can outrun anything, with a light dabbing of stealth and thievery he's been bringing in the brunt of my money while I slowly research stuff for a future outpost and explore the continent with the rest of the gang.
Good times. No one else goes to the swamp but crud. There are spiders and well sir. I don't like em.
Then the dust bandits came.
I should have just paid the cats, 500 really isn't all that much, but they'd only managed to corner one guy and I figured as my best fighter he'd be able to take the beating. He did, sans one leg. My search for a robot leg begins...
I'm in love with this game! It's got the kind of incredibly ambitious jank that I can't help but love. Plus it's Morrowind as fuck! But I'm a sucker for a game that lets you play perfectly well as one guy, solo RPG style, all the way up to settlement building with tons of guys and changing the politics of the world.
I went pretty straight for colony building on my first run, and learned a lot, but this time around decided to make my solo Scorchlander a martial arts master before getting anyone else. It worked out amazingly! It was a solid grind because it's Kenshi, but now that I'm up to around 60 in martial arts and the relevant physical stats, he wrecks so hard. No more buying mercenaries for my camp -- I eventually set up on the blissful land of the beak thing known as Gut and it's amazing watching him roundhouse kick them into oblivion while my trainees get caught up to speed. This is my base at the moment, with the most prominent feature being the legions of unlooted beak things due to having 300+ skins from them and chewing through it quickly. It's a never ending supply!
Also, I kiiiind of regret rescuing as many escaped servants from the fogmen as I have. They're useful in combat, sure, but having three characters named "Escaped Servant" is silly.
A little while back I made a foray up north into the robot lands in search of more interesting enemies and research books, but I only got through about 8 enemies before my entire party was beat to shit. 4 dudes were in a coma with one having had a leg blasted off by a spiderbot. I resolved to get some ranged options and melee weapons better suited for the task than katanas before returning. That -40% damage to robots is a bit of an issue. My main character, Spade, is simultaneously the only character I trust not to kill his teammates with my masterwork eagle's cross (in good weather and during the daytime, at least >_>) and the toughest, most melee combat capable dude who is best suited to tanking spiderbots.
E: I bought a bonedog puppy. Her name is Barkspawn and she helps me fight the Darkspawn Fog Men.
This led me to discover that, while bone dogs cannot use beds to heal more rapidly under their own power, they can be put in bed by another character carrying them. The animations don't line up and they can't leave the bed without another character picking them back up, so it's clearly a bug, but I still find it absolutely hilarious that the option exists at all.
And thanks for reminding me that I really need to cut my martial artist's arms off and give him some skeleton arms for full effectiveness, particularly against robots.
If anyone's looking for a great starter base, there's a spot on the edge of Okran's Pride that has a 60% copper, 100% iron, stone, and still close enough to Okran's Pride to get that sweet Green climate for growing lots of crops. If you're human only and the Holy Kingdom doesn't hate you it's pretty amazing -- you get wandering starving bandits who will attack but not kill you, and river raptors who only attack when you start farming and your farmers get pissed at them eating all of the crops. The location is in my screenshot below, "Narko's Revenge"(because the Holy Kingdom are jerks and I have to mess with them):
Maybe I'll go back for another one if I ever settle somewhere with flat, empty geometry that goddamn crabs can't get stuck on.
P.S. To you who are playing martial artists, what mods are you using? I picked up martial arts no matrix dodge, martial arts fast dodger, and martial arts always attack in a bid to make martial arts functional against fog men since my 3-man party of the time seemed inordinately helpless against fog men hordes. It didn't help much and I soon swapped everybody over to katanas.
I'm using no matrix dodge and fast dodger, but not always attack. I only have the one martial artist though, and the rest of the guys have different melee weapons or crossbows. My solo guy definitely isn't going to take out a high skilled group of 10+ people, but overall is super effective.
One thing to keep in mind with your experience is that martial arts is supposed to kind of suck at low skill levels -- you're supposed to get wrecked by an equally skilled sword user until you get to mid and higher skill levels. I'm not sure what your skill is, but unlocking new attacks makes a huge difference as you level up in martial arts, and your guy's power will take a leap when you get to certain ones (the skill req factors in skill bonuses too, so 41+4 will unlock the next attack until you take the clothes off). The kicks at 45 and 55 are super stronk, and that's when I started doing 150+ damage and knocking guy's arms off in one hit. Martial arts also has a ton of stat interplay -- your DPS is affected by martial arts, strength, toughness, and dexterity (attack speed). Even more, your DPS is going to go up when you level dodge (and dexterity affecting dodge), because quicker dodge animations help you get back to attacking. If you're around 50 in all of those skills you'll be wrecking stuff, but I don't have experience with using groups of martial artists against larger groups.
I am so confused, about what broke my game but also why mods are just completely fucked now.
You could also pick up a scrub party member from a bar for 3k, and have them mine while you go off on adventures and such. Or let them tag along with you and start building up your combat squad.
Gonna try a different route this time I guess.
Keep in mind that having your entire party knocked out is probably fine. Unless you're getting eaten alive or enslaved, it's actually something you want to happen early on! It's the best way to train toughness, and most of the bandits don't really take much from you at all. Very few things in the game actually kill you -- just carnivorous stuff for the most part. If you're in UC territory it's quite a bit scarier as there are manhunters every where who will enslave you at the drop of that hat, but that's also a good opportunity to train skills early on.
That can happen too! It typically works better with more party members to be able to first aid and rescue each other, but a lot of it depends on how relatively strong the stuff you're fighting is, and if they're doing a lot of cut damage to you instead of blunt damage. You're right that you can get injuries that cause you to be unconscious until you die, but oftentimes you'll get knocked out temporarily but not so severely that you wont get up. You can mouse over individual body parts to see some detail on if it's going to cause you to die or go into a coma -- your character's status will also have a timer showing if they're unconscious and getting up, or so severely injured that they're done for unless they get aid.
All it takes is one party member to be able to get up and bandage the others to avoid a wipe, and weaker enemies in the easy areas (Holy Nation territory for the most part) are less likely to hit you so hard with cutting damage that you bleed out before you can get up. But dice rolls factor in too, so you can ultimately still die to weak stuff if it breaks poorly and you're solo or small in numbers. Make sure everyone has some basic bandages on them too -- anyone can first aid regardless of skill, it just takes longer to do.
Started a guy in the Holy Nation (PRAISE OKRAN, or else) and I spent a good portion of the early game tagging along with their patrols, looting critters and bandits and getting a stab or two in when I could. Critter loot is really the way to go early on, meat and skins are a great way to make some easy cash. Play scout for a patrol and kite the critters to them, let them do the heavy work. After making enough to feed and equip myself I was able to hire a couple followers. Now I'm building my own little outpost near some iron mines and I've started cranking out iron plates for fun and profit. Already had bandits drop by and try to extort me, but I hid inside and locked the doors and they went away. Then a band of ninjas decided I looked like easy pickings... but luckily after the bandits dropped by I'd gone on a bit of a recruiting spree and got some good fighters. The ninja fight was tough but we won and no one died or even got crippled, and they left a bunch of pretty good loot. Next thing on my agenda is some proper walls and then, onwards and upwards!