Man if speedruns were based off in game time I'd be going all in on every section haha. My slow brain isn't go at rushing.
Could I suggest adding a glitchless category? Would be nice to see people get creative with their runs. With the multitude of different characters and playstyles I'm sure people could find some creative ways to take down the big guys in game.
Also, using an auto clicker could theoretically be allowed under the current rules, and if you are using the assassination glitch it could shave off a considerable amount of time.
I don't think glitchless should be a category in Kenshi tbh. Examples. You zoom out, your enemies are now healing slower. You zoom in, their wounds worsen faster. You zoom in vs enemies with ranged weapons and now they reload at insanely low speeds. Build a wall and a ramp to it and remove the ramp, enemies cannot reach you. To many players those are glitches, some will argue they are not. Many other games on Speedrun.com don't have a glitchless category for this type of reason and it'd just cause more problems.
As for the autoclicker subject it would only shave off a few seconds but that being said I think it's pretty obvious you shouldn't use outside tools when doing a speedrun that impact your run. I haven't seen a run use one so far so I think people already understand that.
I think it'd mainly be to take the current speedrun meta away from what it is now. The current speedruns are frankly lame. You mostly auto run from point A to point B and then click on an enemy. Thats the whole run. Imagine if people actually fought these bosses and were forced to be creative.
That sounds a lot more like just a Kenshi thing you dislike though. And again no one can agree on what is a glitch so it would be a nightmare for us to try to moderate so that'd be a hard vote no from me. If more runs were submitted I can already see the people deleting ramps to prevent enemies from reaching them and claiming that it isn't glitching or that their method is less exploitative than another so it should be allowed and another one shouldn't.
EDIT: To add no need to diss on the current runs. There are many sections which aren't based around assassination already. Millionaire, egghunt, King Gorillo...
Keep the community small then. No one wants to watch runs that mostly consist of auto running. Removing ramps is an intended game design. Soldiers on crossbows eventually starve to death without a ramp, as their food sources cannot be replenished. Its clear the developers were aware of removing the ramp as a possibility.
I think you misunderstand exploitation versus glitching. Here are examples of each from the game.
Glitch : While the game is paused you can rapidly steal from an enemy that is "Playing Dead", thus leveling up your thieving skill far quicker than normal.
Exploit : You can turn in the Bugmaster to the UC, break him out and then turn him into the Sheks.
Here is a quote from another forum : "An exploit would be, say, staggerlocking enemies, which, while unfair, is not breaking the games mechanics. A glitch, on the other hand, is something like one gun firing ANOTHER gun's ammunition, ... That is not only unfair, but it is also breaking the game's mechanics."
I can provide more examples if you are still having trouble understanding the difference.
I think a no glitches and no exploit category could be interesting as well. I think anything to get away from the current tactics people are running. A "No Assassination" category is a good start.
While i'd agree that in general if the speedrun category for kenshi is joined en masse and kenshi was to get more popular in the speedrunning community it'd be deserving of changes. as it currently stands there is not much reason to add new categories for the sake of categories without input from all community members and this community is small enough as is. To glitch or not to glitch can be left solely up to all players for now and be used as bragging rights if they so wish.
Ignoring the semantics of a debate about verbage and usage of words or not. Kenshi is a game filled with bugs, glitches and odd features that don't appear in any other game on the platform. As such it makes no sense to even have the conversation of "glitchless" because than the entire community must be brought in en masse to decide whether or not something is or isnt a glitch. This is a warrantless discussion that could take months to reach a conclusion and would cause unecessary strife in avid speed runners and normal users. It would also invalidate all runs on the board if this was to go through, thus killing speedrunning for kenshi as it is.
The new ruleset going forward shall apply to all submitted runs. There is now a discord mod chat and we'll be collaborating with speed runners of the community and various teams across kenshi as a whole to help grow speedrunning and sanctify it's place on this site. For now the discussion of new categories is bunk barring any outstanding and not addressed suggestions from the community with a longer standing.
