Help me with my hoarding problem!!

[Carpitos]

I tend to bring things I think I need but probably don't need while I'm looting POI's, doing quests, or leaving my main base for any reason at all.
For example i have like 5+ different weapons, in which i only really use 2 on average, sometimes 3 in special situations. Also i might carry too many different healing items or food, and i like to have several different beverages like teas and coffee, just in case i get dysentery, infections, etc.

basically i am over-prepared for any given situation (i only ever really use my club and never get hit so all this stuff is mostly unnecessary when casually looting), and in turn i frequently get a full inventory before i finish looting even an average sized house.

Any tips on what i should and shouldn't bring for looting, and maybe let me know what you bring on quests and looting, would be appreciated!!

PS. this is not just in this game but i do this in all games, its the "just in case" items that i get carried away with lol

here is a screenshot of my inventory just before i go for a quest and loot. i've never uploaded a screenshot to discussions before.
https://steamcommunity.com/id/Carpitos/screenshots/

[Mattlow152]

What I do is allow my hot bar only for myself and what I need leaving the rest of my invent for looting. This makes me make the tough decisions on what to take with me on looting trips.

[Mardoin69]

Problem with bringing too much stuff is, then you don't have room for all the loot you will find. That being the main reason for going through a POI, you want to bring only the essentials. Personally, I keep a tool for harvesting each kind of resource and the extra slots in my toolbelt I fill with weapons and bandages. I only use 4 "weapons" total......one of which is just used for harvesting meat "machete" or "hunting knife." Then my trusty club. I also carry a shotgun for close up mobs and a rifle for long range head shots......especially for the harder zeds that you want to take out before they get too close. Last of all, bandages cuz bleeding out is no joke and the quickest way to die imo.

As for inventory, across the top row is each kind of resource. I always carry these cuz I'm always gathering more and sometimes using them......never know when you might need to build a ladder in a hurry. Then a stack of drink and stack of food---that's all you should need. And, some headache pills (white ones) and some anti-biotics--although as long as you're not too far from your base, you could get by without those. That's it. Rest of inventory space should be empty so you can collect things.

[seven]

Some tips, that I don't always follow myself:

Eat before you go, and then just take a mineral water and a high food item to boost up later. You'll probably find food and water as you loot.

Don't take medical things that aren't immediately needed. Like, if you get an infection, you actually have plenty of time to finish looting and get back to your base (well, maybe not if doing a huge POI). You do want to carry something to stop bleeding. I carry a stack of first aid kits on the toolbar and that covers most injuries I get.

If you're carrying stone or wood for repair, don't bother. You can always find a stone to repair your axe, and instead of wood, carry a big stack of frames. If you need some wood, scrap a few frames.

A good tutorial on posting screenshots so they appear in the post.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=179389108

[Shurenai]

1 melee weapon, 1 stealth ranged weapon, 1 panic ranged weapon if you have one. You should never need more than this. One stack of ammo each for the ranged weapons, or if they share ammo, then just one stack. EG: A club, A pistol with a silencer, and an SMG kitted for damage.

Food, and water you'll almost always find while looting- So you can just fill your belly before you leave your base and not stress over carrying food from your base on your looting run. Worst case is you get hungry and have to go home earlier than planned, but that would be very rare. At most 1 stack of some kind of food, and 1 stack of drinks; never more. Ideally the best food you have, and some kind of tea so you don't get dysentery. EG: Meat Stew and Chrysanthemum tea.

Medical supplies, Bring at least one kind of antibiotics, be it honey or pills, and one stack of bandage type items; bandages, first aid bandages, or first aid kits. There's no need to carry most of the other 'what if' medical items with you from your base. In the event you need them, you can usually obtain them out and about; Or just retreat back to base. EG: Honey, First Aid Kits

Your pickaxe, an axe, a wrench, a knife, lockpicks(if you're into them) and possibly a shovel if you'll need/want it for what you're doing.

And lastly, one repair kit per repairable item in your inventory not counting armor; you don't need to use them one each, you can use them all on one if the situation calls for it.


This is roughly how I kit myself out for a looting run. More is unnecessary, and i typically forgoe having honey on hand personally as I'm pretty good about not getting hit in the first place. You could also preassign a few slots in your inventory to plain Iron, Brass, and Lead, as these are the three most common resources from scrapping and dismantling things. But I typically only do iron myself, pass up lead objects entirely and try to bring brass back to base instead of scrapping it by hand if i can help it.

[Carpitos]

Thank you all for the great advice, it has already helped me with my looting and inventory problems!
Sometimes I just need someone to tell me "Damn it Carp, you don't need all that crap on you all the time!!"
I decided to just stick with the basics, on my hotbar:
Axe, knife, club, pistol, rifle, tea, bacon and eggs, honey OR antibiotics, wood frames, first aid bandages
Then in my inventory all I have is 1 ammo stack for each of the guns i'm carrying, repair kits, lock picks, and splints cuz i have broken my legs accidentally and its a pain.

I actually wrote a longer reply, before my wife unplugged my PC to vacuum unexpectedly, so i forgot half of what i typed and didn't feel like rewriting it all anyway, but all your inventory rules slightly differ from one another which really helped me choose the essentials for myself, and free up my whole inventory, so I really wanted to let you all know it helped a lot lol. i feel like a proper pack mule now!!

[↯Zindy⛦]

i carry 1 melee, a bow for sneaky shots in poi's, a magnum (since ammo i find for it isnt important so i just shoot often) and a machinegun of some type for panic scenarios. A bow isn't needed, but it saves ammo and you can find iron arrowheads like in crazy amounts in late game. and you definitely want a half stack of repair kits to repair all your stuff.

besides that, doing any prolonged loot run is gonna require some ammo, water, food, and bandages for bleeds. You may as well also keep scrap iron and wood in your inventory as well since you will be presumably scrapping items as you go along, and can help you build important things like wood frames when it matters most.

[Lord-Knight Fandragon]

Help with hoarding. Just pick 1 gun you like to use the most. Then keep only it's caliber. Then take all other ammo types and scrap em for the brass so you can make more bullets of the caliber of your main gun.

At least in this game, alot of the junk you think you might need, you might actually need it. They did a good job of making almost everything useful in some way.

[vgifford]

Skip bullets all together. Use a Steel Club.

[Shane]

i reply to your screenshot because cant be bothered to back n forth between that, and the thread but tbh your inventory if that is pre loot inventory is just almost all completely wrong in every way

you dont even understand the items your holding tbh

[Carpitos]

Originally posted by Shane:

i reply to your screenshot because cant be bothered to back n forth between that, and the thread but tbh your inventory if that is pre loot inventory is just almost all completely wrong in every way

you dont even understand the items your holding tbh

You are a great man Shane, it don't matter what everyone else says

[hpsfamily]

lol your reply Carp wins the *most polite retort* award. congratz!!
im going to assume our inventory reflects some already random loot found and not what you take each time you head out. aside from above mentioned hotbar tips i dont see anything wrong with looting whatever you come across. over time you will tweak things as you find out your playstyle and needs. for example sometimes i will shovel every concrete bag i see and sometimes not. i do salvage everything to its base components like brass knobs and such ( even though u lose 25%) i never take paper in 3500 whatever hours ive been a survivor. i will take literally everything else - prioritizing based on my current needs in game. by day 45 i have stacks of everything and proud of it :P

[Carpitos]

Originally posted by hpsfamily:

lol your reply Carp wins the *most polite retort* award. congratz!!
im going to assume our inventory reflects some already random loot found and not what you take each time you head out...

Hey I'm Canadian so maybe it's my nature, but for real my man Shane took the time to write quite a bit of good advice on the screen shot I posted.
Honestly with the exception of a few items, I was taking a lot of that with me while looting.
And yeah I've played this for about 500 hours and I still don't know what I'm doing or what half the items do cuz I'm too lazy to read it all. Im not worried though, I've been playing real life for almost 28 years and I still have no clue what's going on