Coping with pack-rattery

A

Alexander Strahan

First time out of the vault
Not a complaint, more like solicitation of advice...

Years of roleplaying taught me to grab anything that isn't nailed down. As a result, I am constantly overencumbered, and it causes me physical pain to discard anything.

Just curious, how do YOU cope with the packrat syndrome? Especially on hardcore mode?
 
Only carry 2-3 weapons and only carry the ammunition that can be used in those weapons. If you have a habit of picking up craftables/collecting Nuka-cola then make sure you make frequent trips back to your "house" or wherever you're storing your stuff.

Other than that, not much else I can tell ya. Don't carry anything that you won't use that has any weight.
 
I think these new fallouts have way too much stuff just laying around. Thats why i took the hardcore mode, so i wouldnt be the millionare of the wastes 10 hrs in game. But yeah i have the same problem as you, i just feel bad discarding valuable stuff away just to make few more pennies from shops. I usually just fix everything so i have the same value with less weight.
 
On a related note, what storage is "safe" in the game? Containers in Bethsoft games have a nasty habit of eating their contents... Is the Mojave Express the only safe way to store things?
 
I don't waste time picking items that cost less than 100 caps. Money is irrelevant in this game anyway, ammunition is quite cheap and there is no weapon/armor you have to buy. Except implants, there is nothing expensive that you'll WANT in this game.
 
sea said:
especially since few storage containers in their games are actually safe to keep your loot in.
Click to expand...

There's actually quite a few in every game, you just have to know which ones, which is where the real problem is (Oblivion had dozens). I think the wiki has some of them documented but as far as I'm aware any faction safehouse/presidential suite is safe.
 
the room you get at the Novac motel has worked wonders for storing stuff for me. I put everything into the safe.
 
Crafting allows me to break things down into component parts that don't weigh anything. For ammunition alone, this is a cheap and easy way to carry nigh-infinite amounts of ammo in Hardcore, so long as I visit a workbench once in a while, to recombobulate them.

That said, just about everything else hurts:

Broc flower + Xander root + empty syringe = 1.2 lbs.
Stimpak = 0.0 lbs.

Scrap electronics + 3 scrap metal + 2 wrenches + 2 wonderglue + duct tape = 9 lbs.
Weapon Repair Kit = 1 lb.

I do like how water always weighs a lot, which, well, makes sense.
 
I really have to force myself to not pick all the junk and crappy weapons\armour. Or the game turns into inventory management tedium especially with the party members.
If you want to craft I suggest weight balance mod, cause the components weigh is ridiculous
 
Its been like this with the original titles for me as well. In Fo1, I remember I gifted everything to Ian (and stole it back when needed)
that way you had nearly unlimited inventory.
 
Well right outside the Vikki and Vance Casino is a Garbage Can, which I have stashed stuff in through Three play throughs never had my stuff get erased out of it still got stuff in it. Also it really helps early on to hit up the lone wolf radio station which is inbetween Goodsprings and Primm on that western mountainside with all the Geckos ... you can get all the items to Repair ED-E (Two Sensor Modules and One Scrap Electronics and One Scrap Metal, as there are already two by ED-E)
 
Personally, I prefer the Goodsprings for my stash (for the first parts of the game untill I move up north.)

Drag the 3 boxes (right across the Bar's backdoor, next to the back of the general store) to the middle of the benches and you are done. Victor's house (the desk) is also a nice stash but it is a bit too far for constanat hopping.
 
Oh I know its kind of a waste of a perk but Packrat Perk SERIOUSLY helps on inventory weight However if you do not play on Hardcore then I wouldn't even bother with this perk.
 
I use Pete's house in goodsprings, as he doesn't appear to own it. I'll fix in a mod my next playthrough, though.
 
The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have a problem, so I admit that it's not a problem, just because i like to store everything in every game i play it doesn't mean anything.
 
Packrat works wonders. It's almost essential to me if I specialize in weapon skills that use heavy ammunition (Energy and ESPECIALLY Explosives).

I'm also playing with a mod that renames all safe containers as "Unused XXX", just helps to clarify things.

Oh, and companions. Too bad they can't carry faction armor for you though.
 
I have a few rituals I go through when I find myself overloaded.

1. Do I have any duplicate weapons/armor I can repair?
2. (Hardcore) Do I have a high enough hunger/h20 meter that I can I eat some food/drink water to free up a couple LBS?
3. Am I carrying excess soda I can drink and at least get a cap for drinking it?
4. Am I carrying a lot of liquor I can drink for +1/+2 extra strength and be able to make it to the nearest town?

Once i've exhausted all those options then i'll finally give in and start dropping items with the lowest weight to cap ratio. Which is also the trigger to tell me to go and cash in. :P I'm not very proactive about trying to save space, my first playthrough I carried a minimum of about 8 weapons at all times "just in case". I was about 60+ hours in before I finally decided to stop carrying around the 9mm pistol I was barely using anymore.
 
I'm using my Caesar's Legion safehouse now, I transported everything I had from previous storage spaces to there.
 
On the house front, the Lucky 38 has customizable storage and features, and when youv'e recruited all your' companions and they're chillin' in your suite, I think that's pretty cool.

I have over half a million caps worth of items stored there, and they're safe as houses. Har har.

Anyway, theres the pack mule/pat rack perk which gives you another 50 LBS space, STR helps, as does another perk which halves the weight of all low weight items.

Having a high repair also helps to break down and get rid of duplicate items or raw materials.

Another thing is to store your loot in another house, I.E Legion/NCR/BoS/Followers safehouse, and/or the motel in..god..not Nelson..not Nipton..The other one, you know which one :P

Theres also a perk which allows fast travel while over-encumbered.

Lastly, taking a companion helps, dump stuff on them, especially ED-E, and if you have the NCR radio you can call in a trooper and ranger simultaniously and reverse pickpocket your stuff onto them.

Hope that helped :)
 
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