Kenshi: Town Overrides (2024)

The world of Kenshi might seem to most players relatively static, as most factions seem to hold the exact same cities and towns, as long as the player faction doesn’t do something interesting. Well, if you manage to kidnap or defeat the right person from each faction, there is a high chance that one of the towns will change completely, as a new faction can take it over. This process is known as a Town Override, and it is something most players will want to know, so they can plan out their Kenshi playthrough properly and help their favorite faction prosper. In this guide, we will list all of the Town Overrides in Kenshi in a simple and easy to understand way, and also explain all the details regarding this mechanic.

How Town Overrides Work in Kenshi

All towns in Kenshi are held by one of the many factions. When you end or kidnap one of the major leaders of a faction, some towns in Kenshi experience a Town Override, which means that the town will be completely changed when you come back.

How this works is that the town that was there before “disappears” and a new version of it appears in its place, with the same name but with a different faction affiliation. New NPCs will now roam the town and the shops and building ownerships can change.

To make a Town Override happen, you have to venture far enough from the town, after you’ve killed or kidnapped a significant character from that location, so that the town can completely disappear from your game without you seeing it.

Usually, just going to a different town that is in a different region should be enough to enforce a Town Override once you’ve taken care of the right person.

This is the closest thing players can come to “conquering” cities and towns in Kenshi, since you can help your chosen faction take over enemy towns, if the Town Override allows it. This is why you need to know what Town Overrides are available in Kenshi, since the Holy Nation, for example, can’t conquer most towns, because it’s not written in the script of the game.

The script for Town Overrides usually just checks who is alive and who isn’t. Depending on who is alive at the time, you can have totally different Town Overrides for the same town in different games.

List of All Town Overrides in Kenshi

To make this easier to understand, we have compiled a list of all the towns and their possible faction ownership states. If a character is supposed to be dead, we will use an “x” and if they are supposed to be alive for the Town Override, we will use an “o” sign.

Here is a list of all the towns and settlements in Kenshi, in order of their Town Overrides priority:

Crab Raiders

Crab Town

• Crab Queen (x) → Fishmen

Crab Villages

• Crab Queen (x) → Reavers

Deadcat

Fishing Village

• Tinfist (x), Emperor Tengu (o), Longen (o) → Slave Traders

Manhunters

Manhunter Base

• Slave Market Master (x), Slave Mistress Grace (x) → Ruins

Reavers

Ark

• Valamon (x), Crab Queen (o) → Crab Raiders
• Valamon (x), Crab Queen (x) → Vagrants

Reaver Camps

• Valamon (x), Queen of the South (o) → Southern Hive
• Valamon (x), Queen of the South (x) → Ruins

Rebel Farmers

Fort Simion

• Boss Simion (x), Yabuta (o) → Yabuta Outlaws
• Boss Simion (x), Yabuta (x) → Ruins

Raider Camps

• Emperor Tengu (x) → Rebel Swordsmen

Shek Kingdom

Admag

• Seto (x) → Shek Kingdom
• Esata the Stone Golem (x) → Berserkers

New Kralia

• Flying Bull (x) → Ruins

Squin

• Esata the Stone Golem (x) → Shek Kingdom
• Esata the Stone Golem (x), Mukai the Mountain (x), Flying Bull (o) → Kral’s Chosen
• Esata the Stone Golem (x), Mukai the Mountain (x), Flying Bull (x) → Berserkers

Skeleton Bandits

Iron HQ

• Elder (x), Queen of the South (o) → Southern Hive
• Elder (x), Queen of the South (x) → Ruins

Skin Bandits

Skinhouses

• Savant (x), Queen of the South (o) → Southern Hive
• Savant (x), Queen of the South (x) → Ruins

Skinhouse HQ

• Savant (x) → Ruins

Slave Traders

Cult Village

• Tinfist (x), Longen (o), and Slave Master Grande (o) → Slave Traders

Eyesocket

• Slave Master Grande (x) → Ruins

Settled Nomads

• Tinfist (x), Tongen (o) → Slave Traders

Slave Farm

• Slave Master Ren (x) → Ruins

Slave Farm South

• Slave Mistress Grace (x) → Ruins
• Slave Mistress Grace (x), Slave Market Master (x) → Free Traders

Slave Markets

• Slave Market Master (x) → Ruins

South Stone Camp

• Slave Master Ruben (x) → Ruins

Stone Camp

• Slave Master Haga (x) → Ruins

Southern Hive

Southern Hive Villages

• Queen of the South (x) → Fogmen

Tech Hunters

There are no Town Overrides for all of the Tech Hunters settlements (Black Scratch, Flats Lagoon, Mourn, World’s End, and the Waystations).

The Holy Nation

Bad Teeth

• Holy Lord Phoenix (x), High Inquisitor Seta (o) → The Holy Nation
• High Inquisitor Seta (x), Esata the Stone Golem (o) → Shek Kingdom
• High Inquisitor Seta (x), Esata the Stone Golem (x), Flying Bull (o) → Kral’s Chosen
• Holy Lord Phoenix (x), High Inquisitor Seta (x), Esata the Stone Golem (x), Flying Bull (x) → Ruins
• High Inquisitor Seta (x), Esata the Stone Golem (x), Flying Bull (x), High Inquisitor Valtena (x), Emperor Tengu (o), Longen (o) → United Cities

(Note) Since the Ruins Town Override is a higher priority than the UC one, there is a chance you won’t be able to take over Bad Teeth as the UC if you defeat Holy Phoenix before defeating Seta, Esata, FB, and Valtena, since there is no way to override the Ruins state.

Blister Hill

• Holy Lord Phoenix (x) → Ruins
• Holy Lord Phoenix (x), High Inquisitor Seta (x), High Inquisitor Valtena (x), Moll (o) → Flotsam Ninjas
• Holy Lord Phoenix (x), High Inquisitor Seta (x), High Inquisitor Valtena (x), Moll (x) → Holy Nation Outlaws

(Note) There is a Town Override script for the UC to take over which is invalid. So, unfortunately, there is no way for them to take over Blister Hill in vanilla Kenshi. It will always be taken over either by the Flotsam Ninjas or HN Outlaws, turning the city into a second Hub.

Holy Military Bases

• Holy Lord Phoenix (x) → Fogmen

Holy Mines

• Holy Lord Phoenix (x), High Inquisitor Seta (o) → The Holy Nation
• Holy Lord Phoenix (x), High Inquisitor Seta (x), Esata the Stone Golem (o) → Shek Kingdom
• Holy Lord Phoenix (x), High Inquisitor Seta (x), Esata the Stone Golem (x), Flying Bull (o) → Kral’s Chosen
• Holy Lord Phoenix (x), High Inquisitor Seta (x), Esata the Stone Golem (x), Flying Bull (x), Emperor Tengu (o), Longen (o) → Slave Traders
• Holy Lord Phoenix (x), High Inquisitor Seta (x), Esata the Stone Golem (x), Flying Bull (x), Emperor Tengu (x) / Longen (x) → Ruins

Okran’s Fist

• Holy Lord Phoenix (x) / High Inquisitor Valtena (x) → The Holy Nation
• Holy Lord Phoenix (x), High Inquisitor Valtena (x) → Cannibals

Okran’s Shield

• High Inquisitor Valtena (x), Emperor Tengu (o) → United Cities
• High Inquisitor Valtena (x), Emperor Tengu (x) → Ruins
• High Inquisitor Valtena (x), Emperor Tengu (x), Lady Tsugi (x), Valamon (o) → Reavers
• High Inquisitor Valtena (x), Esata the Stone Golem (o), Player allied with Shek Kingdom → Shek Kingdom

(Note) If you took over Okran’s Shield for the Shek they will abandon it once you defeat Emperor Tengu and it will turn into Ruins.

Rebirth

• Holy Lord Phoenix (x), High Inquisitor Seta (x), High Inquisitor Valtena (x), Moll (o) → Flotsam Ninjas
• Holy Lord Phoenix (x), High Inquisitor Seta (x), High Inquisitor Valtena (x), Moll (x) → Holy Nation Outlaws

Stack

• High Inquisitor Seta (x), Esata the Stone Golem (o) → Shek Kingdom
• High Inquisitor Seta (x), Esata the Stone Golem (x), Flying Bull (o) → Kral’s Chosen
• High Inquisitor Seta (x), Esata the Stone Golem (x), Flying Bull (x), Holy Lord Phoenix (x) → Ruins

The Swamp

Grayflayer Village

• Big Gray (x) → Swampers
• Big Gray (x), Big Grim (x), Tora the Fearless (o) → Band of Bones

Rot

• Big Gray (x), Big Grim (x), Big Darkbrow (x) → Spiders

Shark

• Big Grim (x), Big Darkbrow (o) → Blackshifters
• Big Grim (x), Big Darkbrow (x), Big Gray (o) → Grayflayers
• Big Grim (x), Big Darkbrow (x), Big Gray (x) → Ruins

Stone Rat Village

• Big Al (x), Big Grim (o) → Hounds
• Big Al (x), Big Grim (x), Shade (o) → Swamp Ninjas
• Big Grim (x), Big Darkbrow (x), Shade (x) → Ruins

Traders Guild

Trader’s Edge

• Longen (x), Emperor Tengu (o) → Ruins
• Longen (x), Emperor Tengu (x), Tinfist (o) → Anti-Slavers
• Longen (x), Emperor Tengu (x), Tinfist (x) → Empire Peasants

United Cities

Bark

• Slave Master Wada (x), Lady Kana (x), Lady Sanda (o) → United Cities
• Lady Sanda (x) → Ruins
• Lady Sanda (x), Emperor Tengu (x) → Empire Peasants
• Slave Master Wada (x), Lady Kana (x), Lady Sanda (x), Emperor Tengu (o) → Empire Peasants

Brink

• Slave Master Grande (x), Lady Tsugi (o) → United Cities
• Lady Tsugi (x), Valamon (o) → Reavers
• Lady Tsugi (x), Valamon (x) → Ruins

Catun

• Lord Shiro (x) → Fishmen

Clownsteady

• Slave Mistress Grace (x) / Slave Market Master (x) → United Cities
• Slave Mistress Grace (x), Slave Market Master (x) → Empire Peasants

Drifter’s Last

• Lady Merin (x) → United Cities
• Lady Merin (x), Slave Mistress Grace (x) → Free Traders

Drin

• Emperor Tengu (x), Lord Inaba (x), High Inquisitor Valtena (o) → The Holy Nation
• Emperor Tengu (x), Lord Inaba (x), High Inquisitor Valtena (x) → Ruins

Free Settlement

• Emperor Tengu (x), Longen (x), Tinfist (o) → Anti-Slavers

Heft

• Slave Master Wada (x), Slave Master Ruben (x) / Longen (x) / Slave Mistress Ren (x), Emperor Tengu (o) → United Cities
• Emperor Tengu (x) → Empire Peasants

Heng

• Emperor Tengu (x) / Longen (x) → United Cities
• Slave Master Grace (x), Slave Master Ruben (x), Slave Master Ren (x) → United Cities
• Emperor Tengu (x), Longen (x), Tinfist (o) → Empire Peasants
• Emperor Tengu (x), Longen (x), Tinfist (x) → Empire Peasants

Port North

• Slave Master Wada (x) → Ruins
• Emperor Tengu (x), Slave Master Wada (x), Longen (x) → Empire Peasants

Port South

• Lady Kana (x) → Slave Traders
• Emperor Tengu (x), Lady Nagata (x), Lady Kana (x), Boss Simion (o) → Empire Peasants

Sho-Battai

• Lady Kana (x) → United Cities
• Lord Nagata (x) → United Cities
• Emperor Tengu (x), Lady Nagata (x), Boss Simion (o) → Empire Peasants
• Emperor Tengu (x), Lady Nagata (x), Boss Simion (x) → Cannibals

Stoat

• Emperor Tengu (x) / Lord Inaba (x) → United Cities
• Slave Master Haga (x), Slave Mistress Ren (x) → United Cities
• Emperor Tengu (x), Lord Inaba (x), Yabuta (o) → Yabuta Outlaws
• Emperor Tengu (x), Lord Inaba (x), Yabuta (x) → Tech Hunters

Western Hive

Distant Hive Village

• The Queen (x) → Fogmen
• Tinfist (x), Lady Kana (o) → Slave Traders

Hive VillagesThe Queen (x) → Fogmen