More readily determine what is so dang heavy

[GrimerX]

Would be helpful if each category had a weight summary so I can more quickly tell what is loading me down. And/or allow sorting inventory by weight.

Cheers,

Ian

[Killjoy]

You can sort by weight right now, there are three icons at the top left of the inventory menu (when you press "i") its the third one. (far right looks like a trapazoid with a ring at the top)

Water is always the first thing I check. It is one of if not the heaviest item you can carry around and has a way of adding up. I never carry more than a couple liters. Clothing also adds up fast especially jackets and footwear. And you should never carry firewood/sticks with you.

[Hesha]

And you should never carry firewood/sticks with you.

I dunno. I like to have a handful of sticks and 1 or 2 logs of Cedar with me, in case I get caught somewhere far from home and start freezing. An hour or two of fire do wonders for the heat-metre. It's also really handy when you come across a carcass you hadn't expected, but are too cold to harvest it. Just light a fire right next to it and you can work away in relative warmth. It also defrosts the carcass, which helps you to harvest it more quickly.

[elloco999]

I agree, I always carry at least 10 sticks or 1-2 logs to make an emergency fire. And I tend to collect every stick I come by. I can always drop them when they start to weigh me down and this way I always have plenty of sticks to burn. I hardly ever use logs.

[LucidFugue]

I get where you're coming from, but I would say weight management comes with practice - you learn to tell where your weight is once you start to really look into what you're carrying as standard gear, and what you're carrying at the moment due to circumstances. Take some time to really work out what you need to have on you, and plan each and every outing with respect to that. Here are some of my tips:

1. Medicine

I generally carry 1-2 bandages, and a single bottle of antiseptic. If I can make old man's beard bandages, I'll carry 1-2 of those and 1-2 standard ones and no antiseptic. Painkillers and antibiotics are near weightless, but you still only ever need 4 at any outing. Spread the rest in safehouses you frequent and top up as you use them.

2. Clothing

Only carry the clothing you are wearing. Searching for good quality clothing is one of my first goals, but it boils down to replacing whatever you have with higher quality pieces as you find them, and leaving or shredding anything you find that isn't an upgrade. Use cloth to repair higher grade stuff to near 100% as soon as you have a sewing kit. Cloth is everywhere, in just about every safehouse. You will uncover a lot of clothing you don't need when searching for that premium winter coat, or wool long underwear, and your choice is either to leave it, or shred it for cloth if you need more right now. Don't hoard or stockpile clothes it they are practically useless as clothing and cloth is abundant.

3. Food

Carry energy bars as emergency rations as they have the best calorie to weight ratio. Otherwise, carry only as much cooked meat as you need for the journey you have planned. I don't stockpile/hoard pre-disaster food, because it is far better to leave it unsearched/unspoiled if you can. Only search for it when you need the calories right now, and resort to eating the energy bars if you don't find anything or don't have any other options. Carry 2-3 litres of water at most unless you're planning on dropping off a bunch at a safehouse. That'll last you a day or so, and you can make more any time you have a fire going, no matter where you are.

4. Tools

This is probably where most of the steady weight can be lost. You don't need to lug around quality tools. Your equipment should be in good enough shape that you'll be back at your crafting base before you need to repair anything. You only need one sewing kit, and one book of matches. If you fill your lantern you can leave behind the spare fuel, unless you're transitioning through the mines.

If you're not going hunting with the rifle, consider leaving it behind. It's heavy and you can survive just fine without it, even before you have the bow. A flare will get you out of trouble, and of course there is always the knife, plus your medicine. Cloth is abundant, which makes bandages less scarce. Don't carry torches unless you actually use them.

As others said - you can carry enough wood to start a fire (and I try to keep my tinder plug count below 10), but outside of that you needn't carry any more. Any other stuff (cured pelts, gut & saplings, crow feathers, scrap metal) should be stored at/near the workbench.

You should be able to get your carry weight down to around 20kgs when you're leaving the house, depending on whether you have crafted clothing, and how many rations you're taking. That will keep you nice and light, able to respond to a found carcass or a wolf/deer combo without exhausting yourself trying to lug it all back home.

Another note on carcasses - don't be afraid to harvest everything, then stop off at the closest house and leave most of it in a drawer, taking home only the pelts and a bit of food. That reduces spoilage better than leaving it on the carcass, and leaving raw meat somewhere other than your home base actually increases your ability to travel further without first loading up on heavy foods. It will go bad eventually, but you don't need to have everything on you at all times, and the amount of time you'll spend sleeping off the exhaustion from a longer journey while overencumbered will cost you more calories than you think.

[GrimerX]

You can sort by weight right now, there are three icons at the top left of the inventory menu (when you press "i") its the third one. (far right looks like a trapazoid with a ring at the top)

Cool, thank you. I didn't see the sort options before. That does the trick.

Additional feedback: Would be good to see overall weight on the condition status screen instead of having to flip to the inventory screen. Every moment counts ;-)