Inventory Paralysis Help

[Starved123]

It seems that in the beginning of the game it is fairly easy to keep the inventory well organized... but at some point, usually at the end of the first harsh season I get stuck in Inventory paralysis... I can't leave my base because my stuff isn't properly organized or when I leave the base I forgot an important item so I have to go back or I do manage to leave but before I get to my destination my inventory is too full to do what I had originally planned to do in the first place.  Increased storage space doesn't seem to help as the problem is worst when I have many chests and with chesteer he's always full when I want him to carry something or empty when I thought I was storing my XYZ in him.  So the question is... how do you organize your inventory and how do you utilize chester?

 

Heads up, I use RPG Hud to wear a backpack with a shirt/armor/amulet but I don't increase the normal inventory.

 

I don't keep things lying on the ground... is it true that items on the ground attract unwanted visitors? But having everything in chests means I have dozens of chests where it's hard to remember where each thing goes so I end up with partial stacks of some items in multiple chests (ash and nitre in particular seem to never have well defined storage spot). Plus it takes six large trees (or 4+shovel) to make a single chest... so to make an adequate number of chests to store things properly always has to wait until... well... until after I am dead it seems... 

 

Chester is deceivingly useless... it seems that he is either always too full (because I forgot to empty him last time I was at camp) or he doesn't have the item that I swore I gave him. How do you utilize chester? I've though about trying to use him as a toolbox... but that generally leads to me building a pick or shovel rather than checking if he has it. I've though about using him as a wardrobe but really the only time I am really switching clothes is when I am wearing seasonal clothes and need to put on some armor... and generally when that is required running to chester, opening the chest, etc. etc. takes way too long and I'd already be dead. I've thought about using him as a wheel barrow... for example If I have multiple days worth of food and want to collect stacks upon stacks of wood/stone/bushes/etc this works pretty well, but then I feel like I am wasting his storage space 90% of the time. Most recently I've decided that rather than make a single huge base I'd start making lots of small bases... I'll make a base near the mountains for collecting stone, a base near the swamp when collecting reeds, a farming base near the beefalo for manure... a base near the ponds for frog legs/fish.. with the hope of eventually building a central massive base (but making it well organized from day one rather than trying to make do and modify as I get the chance).

 

What are the items you never leave home without? How much free space do you try to have when going on excursions... how long do you generally expect your excursions to take? 

[Barbarian]

I have similar problems to you - I can spend ages reorganising my stuff and deciding what to take/not to take.  And I also have a habit of putting any spare tools in Chester and then forgetting I have them. 

 

Recently I've tried to be a bit better organised.  For example I have a Winter base where I hunt walruses, and I leave Chester there while I'm hunting, and deposit all items in him that I know I'll want to take back to my main base.  So he gets all teeth, blue gems, tusks, Tam-o-shanters etc at the end of my day's hunting (tusks only if I haven't made a cane yet).  And other stuff goes in a chest, to be collected when I can - it usually takes me 2 or 3 trips.  And some I just leave there - the extra tusks, darts (which I never use), extra tools that I'll use next time.

 

At my main base, I've just started making sure I spend a couple of days collecting logs and making extra chests, and now I have one just for 'basics' - wood & stone, extra planks and cut stone.  A second will have other useful materials - silk, wool, gears etc.  Third has stuff for weapons & fighting and more rare stuff - rotten eggs, charcoal, teeth, nitre etc.  Next chest has other rare materials such as gems, feathers etc.  And a separate chest that's a little apart so I don't forget which one it is with spare clothing and tools I don't need just now such as bee gear and razor.  I will eventually have a chest each for Summer, Winter and rain gear.

 

When it's getting near to Winter or Summer Chester gets my seasonal gear so I'm ready if it catches me unawares and I can just grab him and go.  When I'm out and about in Spring he carries my rain gear and maybe a Top Hat or Tam-o-shanter in case I need a sanity boost.  Otherwise I tend to leave him in whatever base I'm using (I have a Winter, Summer and main base).

 

I'm working towards having focused trips out - at the moment I can be easily distracted.  Things usually get better after the first round of seasons, as I'm not constantly trying to grab the stuff to prepare for the next one.  Although so far I've only once got past the first round of seasons and into a second year - I keep doing stupid things like saying 'I can take on those goslings with low health and not much armour'.

 

If I do have too much stuff to carry I ferry it to the nearest path and leave things I know I won't need immediately, and that won't be eaten or stolen by moles.

 

I'll be interested to read what other people say - hopefully they'll be more helpful than me. ^^

[NeoDeusMachina]

@Starved123 @Barbarian I think the main issue you're having is merely ressource management. There are only that many ressources you really need to carry around with you in all circumstances, leaving you with empty inventory slots for whatever items you might come across. And that is, without even carrying a backpack or Chester with you.

 

For a more detailed list of what you really need, see this thread (I posted a detailed list of what I bring with me and in which slots I carry it. There are also a lot of other people who did the same, so you can choose the strategy that suits you best!): http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/36182-to-people-who-dont-use-a-backpack/

 

I suggest you focus each of your expeditions on a precise goal before leaving and make sure you have everything you need. If you are going out on a ressource collection trip, be sure to either bring Chester or a backpack to carry alll that extra stuff. Hope that helps! Cheers!

[Barbarian]

@NeoDeusMachina

 

Thanks for that link, I'll take a look and try to stop being such a magpie.