Decay testing

[MrWolf]

I'm always curious about rates of decay on certain items in certain places.  Things are written regularly about storing items indoors, outdoors, in containers, etc.  I've been testing some things in my current Interloper run:

Bedrolls (normal ones, not bearskin bedrolls): I've read that bedrolls should not be left on a cave floor in a flattened state, and should not be kept in inventory, that they last longest left rolled up on the floor.  I have 3 bedrolls and repaired all of them to 100%.  All showed 100% when I started the test but were repaired at different times so I assumed the results could vary within 1 percent.  I left one bedroll in my inventory and two in the back of the Lake Overlook cave in Mystery Lake - one rolled up and one flat.  After 25 in-game days, never slept in any bedroll, all three bedrolls show 90%.  Maybe there are some very slight differences in rates of decay, but I think it doesn't matter if you put the bedroll in your inventory or leave it flat or rolled up.

Clothing: I usually take off as many clothes as I can before sleeping (leaving in my inventory), thinking they won't decay as much as if I sleep in them.  I'm assuming clothes decay more when slept in, but I haven't tested that one yet.  I wondered if clothing would last longer if dropped on the floor vs. left in my inventory each night.  I tested with a pair of socks, both repaired to 100%, one left in my inventory and never worn, and one left on the Camp Office floor.  I didn't track the number of days, but by the time the socks in my inventory reached 60%, the socks on the floor were also 60%, so I assume it doesn't make a difference between inventory and floor.  I tested a pair of wool touques, one left on a table and one left in a fridge.  Same thing - they both went from 100% to 80% in the same time period.

Meat: We know that meat decays much faster indoors than outdoors, but what about outdoor caves with the warm rear section?  Saplings and hides will cure back there, so I had always assumed meat would decay at indoor rates.  Nope.  I tried caves in DP, ML, and HRV.  I left raw and cooked meat in the snow outside of the cave, just inside the cave, and all the way in the back of the cave.  The raw pieces were the same size and condition, same with the cooked.  Always, the cooked pieces decayed the same amount and the raw pieces decayed the same.  It doesn't seem to matter where meat is dropped in outdoor caves.  Same with outdoor containers - raw or cooked meat doesn't decay any differently if left on the ground or in an outdoor container like a metal box or a car trunk.