I think it's time for a bigger backpack

[Funkinstein]

The way I wish they go about it is you start off with just a tool belt and have to make one from grass. Then we move onto trying to make a better ones or finding them.

 

back packs craftable

-Grass fiber to make a backpack or pouch of grass

-Cloth and duct-tape to make a backpack

-animal hide mixed with cloth and duct tape

-Leather backpack mixed with some cloth

-Military fiber backpack

 

some rare backpacks as well like

-schoolgirl backpack

-briefcase with duct tape strands

-a bag of potatoes

-camping backpack

-scrap metal backpack

 

At some point having to fix and or reinforce your backpack so you don't drop items would be cool to see as well.

 

I'd love to have a Batman utility belt with more slots than we currently have if we go that route.

[Curmudgeon]

I completely disagree. Inventory management is a staple of any survival game, especially 7DTD. Inventory management forces a choice on the player, which is a great thing. Not enough games force the player into making a meaningful choice.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment about the importance of inventory management and player choice in a survival game. However, Madmole has stated previously that they have limited the number of new items in the game because of the inventory space. All they would have to do is increase the inventory size in very small increments as they add more and more items. This way the game has more goal oriented items while maintaining the challenge of inventory management and player choice. It is a difficult balancing act, but better than the alternative of restricting content because of something that is easily changed.

[DividingByZero]

A lot of new items were added and some old items were made useful. I think it's time for a bigger backpack or a way to upgrade the default one.

 

I'm not asking for 10x, of course, but 25% or 50% increase would be nice. May be add a perk? Or something expensive off a trader?

 

While I don't disagree that there are times where I wish I could carry more, I do think adding more inventory slots would be unrealistic. Our characters can already carry what is an insane amount of stuff (if you want to compare to real life).

 

I think the fact that you have limited space is a part of the game experience. You have to pick and choose what you are going to carry with you to survive. If that becomes too big, there is no real concern to what you carry with you.

 

I would be open to other options for portable storage, such as:

• Trailer on the minibike (causing reduced speed, more gas usage).
  
• Larger vehicles, maybe cars that you can get running, larger trunk space (needs more parts than minibike, uses more gas than minibike, need special car repair skill to get running).
  
• Make those shopping carts usable, you can push them and carry stuff in them (at a reduced speed, more stamina usage).
  

[zootal]

If you want to add some realism, make shopping carts pushable. After all, they are easy to find, hold a lot of stuff. They don't move fast, a penalty you pay for the extra storage, but they would help us when we need to haul a bunch of stuff from point A to point B.

 

Those of us living in cities big enough to have a significant homeless population know that many of them live out of shopping carts. In the apocalypse, shopping carts are going to be used by the survivors to haul and store our stuff.

[F1tzy]

Just a couple of extra slots on the "clothing doll" a single space for a stack of food, a single space for a stack of drinks, a single space for a stack of ammo, these items simply drop with the current "drop all" setting, at least this way your ""essentials" aren't taking up salvage space. but I think with the ability to scrap right out of a container, inventory space is pretty good, Bigger and different types of packs have been suggested before.

[Reluctify]

shopping carts are going to be used by the survivors to haul and store our stuff.

 

Not unless you make your post-apocalyptic home in the city, and the roads are all intact. Those tiny little wheels get caught up on _everything_. My apocalypse mobile hovel will be something like a rickshaw, with huge sturdy wheels.

[Funkinstein]

The other real option, instead of increasing the amount of slots to take up screen space, which is what is really stopping them from adding bigger bags, would be to increase stack size, like what has been done with wood stacking to 5k instead of 1k. More things across the board could stack a bit higher and would cause less backtracking to dump loot or having to build a thousand chests across the map.

[ElCabong]

We need a bigger backpack because it's impossible to predict what you're going to need to wear.

 

As you transition from one biom to another, you'll need to change. This burdens an already small inventory.

[Janna3921]

The problem with shopping carts is pushing them on the uneven ground and if you are short cutting across a area, or tying to bypass zombies or bears or anything else then it would be impossible to push. Yes, you will see the homeless going around with a shopping cart, but the roads and sidewalks for the most part are level so they can push them easily.

 

Cars would have the problem of other cars on the road, ones that are destroyed, just frames or part way destroyed. How are you going to drive past them; unless you have a ATV that can be created. A bike could be added with a small cart that could be pulled, or saddlebags that could be added and easier to make, wheels can be found at gas stations, the frame and other parts at tools or even salvaged from homes, a broken down bike that needs replacement parts that are found elsewhere and has to be put together. A skill book could be made if TFPs wanted to add that. You have to read and learn the skill before you can put the bike together, like with the minibike.

 

I just can't see cars, pull a cart or pushing a shopping cart due to the roads and hills that have to be crossed. The wasteland is so cluttered with cement blocks, iron and now mines; the burnt forest is just as cluttered in different ways, not just blocks but parts of burning tree branches that provide coal lying all over the place.

The only way I can see it being possible would be:

adding another row in the backpack we already have

finding larger backpacks that would allow for more space

a book skill that lets us make one from leather, cloth and fiber

being able to buy one from the traders

add bikes where we have to find the parts and make saddlebags for it

All of them could have reduction in stamina to even out the adding of the backpacks; faster loss of stamina with bikes as we have to peddle them so more energy will be used.

 

Correct me if I am wrong or someone else has a better idea, suggestions; maybe TFPs will read this thread and do something about the inventory.

[Benjiro]

The issue with more stuff being added / needed for progression, you end up leaving things behind.

 

In my last A15 game, i ended up leaving elektro/mechanical/etc parts behind because no need? O wait ... workbench! So have fun running 10min back to a location just to pick up parts.

 

The tool belt is very fast full with axe, bow, pickaxe, shovel, wrench/hammer, meds, ... That just leaves your inventory. And just on basic supplies like ammo ( arrows, bullets), water, food, repair materials ( iron/steel ), ... Or even basic clothing like switching between warm/cool as you cross biomes ( what happen every few min on RGM ).

 

Even when you scrap each "useless" item, like gun parts, etc, the amount of different resources you collect simply overflow the inventory. Its no fun running back to very far spots, just to get some resources again. The mining alone is already monotoon. Let alone all the running for very few useful items ( like the airdrops ).

 

Its a especially difficult at the start / mid level. When you need each and every item you can find and have not found a "ideal" location with several sources of resources close by. Also strange that rocks, clay, cobblestone, etc stack to 1000 but wood to 5000.

 

I think that a backpack solution is more reasonable. Especially as more & more different resources get added to the game.

 

Wait until we get electricity. *lol*

[Roland]

They could just go to a list format instead of a grid format...like they did with crafting.

[DRSICKNESS]

 

 

 

 

I uhhhhhhh, lets just forgot I said anything and focus on adding craftable tanks to the game.

[ZedBullfrog]

Agree with previous comments that inventory is a necessary part of the game mechanic and a huge backpack would make looting less of a challenge.

[DarkRitual]

Keep current backpack size. Make craftable puches. Access pouch from within backpack inventory (some Minecraft mods do things like that, which is where I [stole] the idea). Of course, pouches would not be nestable within pouches.

Packrat Perk adds one row to bottom of backpack. Each perk purchase unlocks one item slot in that row, for up to 8 additional inventory slots.

[Scary Yapper]

I completely disagree. Inventory management is a staple of any survival game, especially 7DTD. Inventory management forces a choice on the player, which is a great thing. Not enough games force the player into making a meaningful choice.

 

x1000

 

If they were to adjust backpacks, you just know they would also make the starter backpack smaller, and that's when you most need the space.

[FM2009]

For SP, you can just use stalker-fu, where stashes are the key to survival. Drop a few secure chests where the zeds cannot reach them (underground usually), and just loot, fill, repeat. Then you spend the next day playing pack-mule to transfter it all to your base. Just be sure to place the stashes outside the town's outer-perimeter spawn range, to avoid the dogs. Same thing goes for mines. Load up the local chests until bursting, then visit them when you need another backpack full.

 

You can also create caches of food and drink for longer-raid trips, if necessary. Stockpiles of coffee/gas are the best.

 

If you are just starting out, or are in need of a quick stash, use a car or any permenant container.

 

For MP, you need friends to loot while one is playing pack-mule with beer/coffee, and never trust non-base containers.

[Royal Deluxe]

Inventory management is partially a good thing, but as soon as you play on a Randommap and between your base and the next merchant is a full day travel, and to the next City you can loot its the same Distance, its actual really not fine.

 

So what i ask for is a simple solution.

A Additional bike, add a third tyre, (yes make it a trike^^)

and add 2 Chests on the backside.

As balance make it much slower, maybe max speed = running speed +10%

 

Thats all, then it would be possible to leave your base after Horde night, live 6 days on the way and return only for the 7th Night to base.

Would be still enough Inventory management. But Actual if you carry all you need with you

Medics+Food+Clothing+Repairitems+Pot+Grillrost+Ammo+...

There is no way to have a nice loot run in a city far away.

[Janna3921]

It seems to me that some experienced players have forgotten what it is like to be new; even when they start a new game they have past experience on how to help them.

As a new player, you need slots for wood, stone, fiber and cloth. Yes, you can go out and get some stone and fiber easily. Except, you have gone inside the store to loot and a zombie shows up, oh no, I don't have any ____ and I have to run outside and get some, but I have to run the gauntlet of zombies to get outside and then fight the ones outside to get to the _______.

Stone, you can pick it up anywhere, punch a tree for some wood. But be inside a building and using your axe to break into the the boxes, have it break, then need to fight zombies. I watched a video of an experienced player doing a let's play and on his second day while busting open boxes his axe broke, he didn't have any stone and was running around trying to find stone and ended up pounding on layer of stone on the ground just to get enough to use to fight off a zombie while he ran over to a large stone for more stone. Back to killing the zombie chasing him then to breaking up the boxes inside a store, working stiff I think.

New players have to carry wood, stone, fiber, cloth, med kits, antibiotic pills, stone axe, bow, arrows, feathers and eggs. Food and water may be needed sometimes as you haven't yet been able to get the skills to make water and food last longer.

 

I still haven't found a schematic for a wrench, so I have to carry three of ones that I found that are low level and have very little usage left as I tear apart cars look for batteries and engines for a minibike and for a cement mixer. I'd like to put lights on top of my house to light up the area around so I can see at night. They are great to be able to spot zombies (or bears), especially on horde night, no more trying to spot them, just have flood lights facing the four directions.

It was forever before I found the schematic for crossbow so even though I had the level, no crossbow or forge at that time to make iron arrowheads. Not enough points to get the skill to make steel. I had only stone for arrows or finding steel/iron arrowheads while looting. So three slots, stone, iron and steel arrows were being carried around.

Those who are in the low range of levels, new at playing or even in the middle area need more space in their inventory. Those who are experienced and can get in and out quickly, know the map and the quick ways to POIs, don't need anymore to run around to find schematics or tools as they can make their own tools forget how much room is needed. Not all, just some.

I'm not trying to sound bad about them, that happens in real life and it just is; that is a fact of life.

[DividingByZero]

Inventory management is partially a good thing, but as soon as you play on a Randommap and between your base and the next merchant is a full day travel, and to the next City you can loot its the same Distance, its actual really not fine.

 

So what i ask for is a simple solution.

A Additional bike, add a third tyre, (yes make it a trike^^)

and add 2 Chests on the backside.

As balance make it much slower, maybe max speed = running speed +10%

 

Thats all, then it would be possible to leave your base after Horde night, live 6 days on the way and return only for the 7th Night to base.

Would be still enough Inventory management. But Actual if you carry all you need with you

Medics+Food+Clothing+Repairitems+Pot+Grillrost+Ammo+...

There is no way to have a nice loot run in a city far away.

 

I am not opposed to slower inventory vehicles so don't take what I am saying as a disagreement with your idea. Earlier in this post I outlined some ideas, similar to yours to give us more inventory when travelling, while maintaining some realism.

 

But, part of this game is living as a scavenger, living day to day, travelling light on supplies - but hoping you find stuff as you move around. I think that is intended as a game play mechanic, so I don't think the Pimps have any immediate intention to boost our move-able inventory abilities. And honestly, I do like the mechanic most of the time. I like my loot runs to be realistic in that I can go quick, grab as much as I can carry (which I know is limited) and then get to safety (whether that is back to base, or make a temp base for the night). It honestly feels like I would imagine living in The Walking Dead would be. Glenn for example, would run out to get supplies, but he can only carry so much back. If they remove those restrictions too much, it becomes sort of silly.

[Funkinstein]

Backpacks would be neat, although I don't like the idea of tying them to a perk. It's just a thing anyone can easily use, and in terms of construction / tailoring it doesn't get much easier than making a bag. If we can make a grass shirt without training, surely we can make a shoulder pack.

 

After fighting the inventory for some time, I got into the habit of simply leaving behind the vast majority of initial items, taking only important items until I have somewhere to call home. It may sting a bit, but let's be fair: You don't actually _need_ those 2 shell casings you found on day one, or the 5 units of lead. Playing like this made me appreciate the 'inventory management game' a lot more, which turned out to be kind of interesting.

 

Once I settle, I'll just bring a bunch of chests and leave them in easy-to-find spots for later pickup. Leaving stashes around the place feels about right to me; concealing what you want, but can't carry.

 

Everything you are describing having to deal with as a new player is honestly the best part of this game. That scramble to get the things you need while under assault. The feeling of not being safe and the stream of cursing that follows.

 

It's what hooked all of us to this game. The same experienced players you are talking about who know how to get everything we need fast and have no problem are the same ones talking about how it's too easy to cheese the hordes and how some base setups are horrible for entertaining play.

 

We all miss that feeling of barely surviving and being paranoid that our ticket is about to be punched.

 

I agree that in late game we should have more space because we aren't afraid of the zombies. Some of us fight hordes out in the open sometimes because hiding behind a wall gets boring and the win is guaranteed. So it becomes a looting and building game more than a survival game.

 

I start over frequently because I love those first few days, and I'd bet a lot of other people do as well for the same reason.

 

New players shouldn't be deprived of that. It's what makes this game pull you in at the beginning.

[Reth]

I completely disagree. Inventory management is a staple of any survival game, especially 7DTD. Inventory management forces a choice on the player, which is a great thing. Not enough games force the player into making a meaningful choice.

 

Not sure if were are playing the same game here. In A14 I made choices to drop some stuff, or to scrap gun parts or cut my looting trip short to haul stuff back to the base. I no longer make those choices, I simply drop a chest, fill it up with items and pick them up later. It is especially bad in the first few days when you literally need everything, and a lot of it. I end up running back and forth between my base and PoIs, which isn't challenging at all, just needlessly boring.

[giltirn]

I agree. In my current playthrough I have my base in the plains near Perishton. To go out in the day I need light clothing, which means hat and skirt (while ridiculous on my male character, the skirt gives -10F heat reduction). In Perishton it is always cold and raining, so I also need to carry warm clothing, which is also needed when it rains in any biome (even on the plains my char seems to be on the verge of freezing to death when it rains in A15). This means at least 4 inventory slots taken up by clothing. Add in the usual collection of basic resources and tools; wood, stone, plant fiber, arrows, goldenrod tea, bandages, axe, club, bow, knife, and the inventory is half full before I even leave my base.

[LowfDog]

Just a couple of extra slots on the "clothing doll" a single space for a stack of food, a single space for a stack of drinks, a single space for a stack of ammo, these items simply drop with the current "drop all" setting, at least this way your ""essentials" aren't taking up salvage space. but I think with the ability to scrap right out of a container, inventory space is pretty good, Bigger and different types of packs have been suggested before.

 

The problem is that - with the introduction of the workbench - items that used to be useless now have value besides just scrapping them for raw materials. I mean, even poop, rotten meat, and old sham sandwiches have value.

 

What my team is doing/will be doing is to build a base at literally every township. Looting an entire town fully can takes days, so instead of stockpiling things in a car or in a bunch of chests, you have a base (or a tower) that serves the same purpose.

 

---

Fake Signature Line that's really just a cheap plug for my YouTube Channel

[Guppycur]

Yep. The dog is right. Gotta play it smart.

[Funkinstein]

Another thing people aren't taking into consideration is after the first couple of weeks, you don't need to carry stone or plant fiber anymore. Unless you get unlucky to never find a wrench, claw hammer or the elusive nail gun. After about day 8 I have a fire axe, pick axe and either wrench or hammer and if I still don't have the last 2, I can get the mats for a stone axe in about 30 secs because grass, rocks and wood is everywhere. So my stone axe breaking isn't a problem, ever. I just make a new one no matter where I am.

 

I carry warm clothes in the bag, but only pants and boots for emergencies. The boots warm you up really fast. The rest is med kits, food and water. In total I carry 8-10 things everywhere. Inventory is good in that I always prioritize my items because I have a plan on what I want to make before I ever go on looting runs. Loot respawns will make up for anything I may need later as well as a drop chest in every major town/city.

 

Get used to multiple runs back and forth, just make side detours to look for nests and tree stumps and other random things otw back and forth. It will keep things from looking the exact same in your back and forth routine.

 

This is what the pimps wanted when they designed the game. Lots of choices to make, prioritization.