In Kenshi the player is tasked with finding a way to not only keep their character alive in a harsh wasteland, but discover a greater purpose in the large world full of others struggling to survive. The game enables multiple styles of play, but many players find themselves leaning towards empire building in some fashion or another for the power and control it brings.

But to do this players must research and develop various technologies to give them access to greater resource production and use. At the heart of this R&D are the mysterious and hard to find Ancient Science Books.

10 What Are They?

Ancient Science Books are items in the game that enable a player to progress further in various technology trees. Given how essential technology is to a base's expansion and survival they are considered one of the most valuable resources in the game and are appropriately very hard to find.

They were a fairly recent inclusion in the game and not a whole lot is known about them or their full use, but players have discovered enough to realize that they are worth the expenditure of resources and even lives to obtain.

9 What They're Used For

As mentioned before Ancient Science Books enable a player to progress along various technological trees and craft items related to technological research. From the game's perspective Ancient Science Books are considered a resource similar to iron or copper.

For example, if the player wishes to construct a level two research bench they'll need four Ancient Science Books in their possession in addition to the other resources needed to build it. The Ancient Science books will be consumed and the research bench will be built.

8 Where To Find Them

Ancient Science Books can be found in a number of places around the world. Most commonly they are obtained in ancient ruins and forgotten sites like the Ancient Labs, Lost Libraries, Lost towns, and Ancient Tech Labs.

These sites are heavily guarded by powerful enemies and it's recommended the player takes a small army with them. Apart from these locations the player can find some from a handful of merchants in the world in places like World's End, the Scraphouse just outside of the Black Desert City, and Flats Lagoon, but they're expensive, often costing 5,000 cats. They are also said to spawn in random areas, but it's an extremely rare occurrence.

7 How Many Does The Player Need?

There is a finite answer, but as the game goes through updates this changes frequently so it's hard to pinpoint the exact number. The short answer is that the player will need a lot, practically every single one they find in the game and likely still need more. These Ancient Science Books are used for a lot of things related to technology and research and once used are destroyed forever.

The player will spend a lot of time hunting down more and more books as they climb up the technology trees in the game.

6 How Many Are In The Game?

This is an even harder number to pinpoint because the Ancient Science Books are a major victim of RNG in the game. A player can stumble across a site that has a dozen but another exploration of the same area on a different playthrough will only yield dust.

There are rumors that some ancient sites will respawn Ancient Science Books after 100 days, but this is speculation and hasn't been confirmed. As of right now Ancient Science Books are rare in any given game. The most anyone has heard of finding is less than a hundred, but again, this is based on rumor.

5 Other Uses

The primary purpose of Ancient Science Books in Kenshi are to be consumed for scientific research purposes. They are extremely hard to find and too valuable for technological advancement to be used for anything else, period.

However, if the player is adamant about avoiding technological research because they have no intention of creating a home base or some other reason, they do have one other use. Each book is worth roughly 5,000 cats to merchants. For players who stumble across a cache of Ancient Science Books in an ancient site this can be quite the windfall, but it is a significant waste of their true potential.

4 Who Wrote Them?

The Ancient Science Books were written by a civilization of people known only as The Ancients. They possessed a number of highly advanced technological innovations like automated factories, robots, space travel, cloning and other marvels. They recorded the information regarding many of these discoveries in books that later became the Ancient Science Books.

Over time this civilization was all but annihilated, leaving only a handful of survivors whom the residents of the Kenshi world derive their ancestry from. The Ancient Science Books are among the few artifacts still intact from those dark times.

3 Don't Show Them To The Holy Nation

The Holy Nation flags Ancient Science Books as an illegal item and the player can run into significant problems if they discover one of these books in their possession. It's likely the hatred of these books has to do with the mysterious origins of the books and the Holy Nation itself.

The Holy Nation was born out of the dark times following the destruction of The Ancients. This destruction left the Holy Nation with a deep hatred of Skeletons and advanced technology. It's possible the Holy Nation is concerned that the scientific data in the Ancient Science Books could lead to the reinvention or creation of whatever caused the near destruction of humanity thousands of years ago.

2 Tech Hunters And Machinists Love Them

Conversely, the Machinists and the freelancing Tech Hunters are eager to find and preserve the Ancient Science Books. The Machinists are a university of scholars who seek to unravel the secrets of the past and use forgotten technologies to improve the world and make it safer.

Tech Hunters are adventurers and travelers who go diving into ancient sites seeking lost technologies or Ancient Science Books to bring back to the Machinists to aid their research. While there is no in-game mechanic for giving Ancient Science Books to either faction, it's possible this may be included in the future.

1 Tips For Book hunting.

If you wish to track down Ancient Science Books for base building purposes or to sell them it's advised you build up a full party of well-equipped and properly trained fighters that will likely die in an effort to collect these important tomes. The ancient sites these books are found in are often guarded by powerful mechanical spiders that deal deadly area of effect damage.

If you want to try your chances with merchants than make sure you have plenty of cats to buy as many as you find. Each book will go for 5,000 cats so take enough money that it seems overkill because chances are when you find the right merchant you'll be glad you had the extra. The last thing you want to have happen is to find a bunch of books for purchase and be unable to afford the last one before it disappears from their inventory forever.

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