Making Money with Cactus Rum - Kenshi

Cactus Rum is a really good form of money for anyone who is starting a base in an Arid Environment since all we'll be able to farm in this environment is a Cactus. In order to make Cactus Rum you'll first need to research a couple of things using a Research Bench... Tech Level 2, Rum Brewing, Cactus Farming, Rain Collectors, Wells and probably a few more things will all be required if you want to produce Cactus Rum. If you'd like to learn more about researching in Kenshi check out my Kenshi Research Guide.

Once you've researched all you need it's time to make your farms and a nearby building with a Rum Still. You'll also want to outfit that same building with about 10 Storage containers for both Cacti and Rum, if you need an example of the sort of layout you're aiming for check out my screenshot above. Make sure that your Rum Barrels are facing the right way - if you look at them closely there is a little nose on the front of them. If you face them the wrong way your characters will have issues occasionally with it.

All materials in Kenshi have a section on their tool tip called Price mark-up, this information will vary from town to town and is set when you first make a new game. Essentially this information tells you the difference in price of the item you're selling (or buying) from town to town. Generally a good rule of thumb is that items sell for less in their native areas and for more in areas where they can not be produced.

So for Cactus Rum, it usually sells for more at towns in the swamp since you can't grow cacti in the swamp. In pretty much every Arid climate (Squin, Flats Lagoon, Catun, Mourn) it will sell for normal price or less. What I typically like to do at the start of the game is to make a ton of Cactus Rum then travel to the swamp where I can sell it for a premium and buy Hash. Then I take all the Hash I bought and sell it in both Flats Lagoon and Mourn which are southeast of the swamp area.

If you'd like to learn more about this trade rotation then check out my best trading route for money making guide.

Tip (Use at your own risk): You can change the price mark-up of an item in your game by selecting "Import Game" at the start screen for Kenshi and selecting your save file. This essentially reloads the entire world including vendors and dungeons/areas that you have completed. Since Kenshi is a game with a lot of bugs there are times where shopkeepers or someone important will get killed or just be missing and you'll have to reload the game to fix it, that's what this feature is designed for. Though, you can use it to your advantage to restock vendors/dungeons as well.

 

 

Want to listen to an audio version of this guide? Check out my Money Making with Cactus Rum in Kenshi Youtube Video!