How can I safely upgrade to robot limbs in Kenshi?

Solution 1:

Combat method

The most accessable way to lose limbs is to have them chopped off in combat, specifically by high cut damage weapons wielded by adept users. This ofcourse lacks precision and is time-consuming and luck-dependent when done in the wild.

This can be done in a controlled environment using hostile prisoners by giving them sharp weapons and giving the aspiring amputee armor that protects every body part except the limbs you want gone, such as an assorted heavy armor set that includes the Holy Chestplate for losing arms or by just not wearing pants in order to lose legs. This makes sure that your transhumanist only takes desirable damage, as well as speeding up the process by hampering his ability to dodge which also happens to be a great dodging exercise. Adding to this, consider giving them a traders backpack full of ore as encumbrance enhances all of the above benefits.

Do note that the prisoners will also get combat experience this way so make sure they don't become too strong.

If you have bad luck with limbs being targeted, note that legs are the last limbs to be healed so simply disable your medics in time.

Passive damage method

I didn't know this before, but apparently standing around in the black desert or the deadlands slowly damages characters feet if they arent wearing shoes. If your dismemberment game option is set to "frequent", the legs will be lost as soon as their HP drops under the damage threshold (otherwise they would need an instance of damage to fly off).

Deadland acid pools are also a possibility but I don't remember whether their damage is random or uniform, nor whether it's blunt/bleed.

Peeler method

On the other hand, consider peeling potatoes (timestamp 5:30). This is a very effective weight loss plan.

Spoiler/clarification:

Kill Savant, get the blueprint for the peeler machine, aka potato peeler and have your guys lose limbs in a relatively controlled and equally unethical manner. Alternatively get kidnapped by skin bandits, have them shove you into their own potato peeler, and make sure the rescue arrives just in time.

Modding method

It is apparently possible to use the FCS (Forgotten Construction Set) to edit the stats of specific character.

The most reliable way to remove a specific limb is to edit it in the FCS. No mods or anything non-vanilla involved just change your limb loss setting to frequent then go into the FCS, open up the platoon that has the character you want to remove a limb from in it, and change the "flesh" value of the limb you want removed to -201. 3 is left arm, 4 is right arm, 5 is left leg, 6 is right leg. When you load back into the game that limb will pop right off, heal the bleeding so you don't bleed to death then pop on your new superior robo-limb. From this thread