Getting started in the wasteland of Kenshi can be hard. You start out with basically nothing in a post-post-apocalyptic world. There’s nothing good out there, only survival or death. To make something of yourself, you need to put the effort into improving yourself. Not only will you have to get better weapons and gear, but you need to put your mind to work. There are lots of secret locations to discover, and powerful enemies to hunt. Beyond that, you also have a mountain of epic loot to find out in the wastes. But if being a roaming god of the wasteland isn’t your thing, you can instead focus on building your personal faction. But that requires a lot of research.
Research in Kenshi is pretty complex, and consumes a lot of resources. Since it’s a post-apocalyptic environment, you will need to uncover ancient knowledge to get anywhere in the dizzying maze of science. That process will start with Books, before moving into more advanced recipes. The most advanced recipes you will unlock require an AI Core. The following guide will tell you everything you need to know about the AI Core in Kenshi.
What is an AI Core?
Just like Engineering Research, this ancient artifact is key to endgame progression. The most powerful items, buildings and crafting recipes require the AI Cores to make or research. This Artifact-level item is extremely rare and hard to find as a result. The game describes it as “a rare piece of ancient technology, anyone capable of researching it could unlock the most advanced technology of the modern age.”
That means it’s going to be a thing that’s super challenging to get. You will not need it until the endgame, so focus on leveling up first. It’s imperative that you have a party of high-level players with perfect stealth and combat skills to take on the enemies that guard this powerful treasure. Once you’ve done that, keep reading.
How to get an AI Core in Kenshi
So why do you want them? Easy, they’re really rare. To unlock some of the more advanced research in Kenshi such as the Double Barrell Harpoon Turret and Hydroponics, you need AI Cores. That is also the same for Tech Level 6, one of the most advanced stages of research in the base game. Mods might add more advanced levels, so keep that in mind. But for this guide, we’re just going to talk about how to get the cores.
The Ashlands is the best place to look to find a bunch of these. This region is the grey region to the extreme southeast of the map, and is considered one of the endgame challenges in Kenshi. Cleanser Units are giant robots that drop AI Cores when they die, and are only found in the Ashlands. These level 50 robots are the only source of repeatable drops for AI Cores in the game. You will need to invade the Ashlands with a pretty powerful team to take them on, but it’s well worth the effort. You also need to do this fairly quickly. Like all enemies in the game, Cleaner Units mature as time passes. They gain a stat multiplier based on how many in-game days have passed. Here’s how that breaks down:
- Teen (0.40x) 400 days
- Adult (0.60x) 600 days
- Elder (1.10x) 1100 days
Ashlands AI Core Locations
You could also head into the Bugmaster territory in the southwest, and hit up the Ancient ruins, Labs and Libraries found in the surrounding Arach Region. This is even more dangerous than the Ashlands, as you’re going to be attacked by an entire army of Skin Spiders if you rush right in. There’s also the risk that you won’t find anything. The AI Cores and other rare items only have a chance to spawn inside the Ancient ruins in Arach, so you should really check the Ashlands first
Arach AI Core Locations
There are many other things to learn about this game. You could help yourself get started in base-building by buying a house. There are also lots of factions to interact with. Players could join up with the Holy Nation or the Shek Kingdom. And there are so many more branching stories in the game as well. If you’re a brand new player, maybe learning the basics of Kenshi can help you out a bit.
