Encumbrance and Inventory

= Encumbrance, Inventory, Clothing, and Armor =

This is a detailed proposal for how to handle equipment, inventory and armor. It is a synthesis of thoughts and discussion appearing on the wiki and forums prior to 3/30/2009.

Weight and Bulk
All items have a weight (in kg) and a bulk (in arbitrary units). If necessary, the "density" of an item is it's weight/bulk (this is most useful in reverse - if you know the r.w. density of an item, you can solve for either the weight or bulk given the other - and a translation of bulk to r.w. volume).

Bulk Scale
These scale as follows. Note the jump in factor from 4 to 2 after "Small". This is purely bulk, weight is totaled separately
 * 0 Teensy (paper clip, coin, seed) - you are only limited by the total weight of these items, they are assumed to have zero bulk if they are in a container (possibly this could capped at a very large number like 10,000)
 * 1 Tiny (bullet, AA battery, key)
 * 4 Very Small (watch, pencil, pocket knife)
 * 16 Small (hip flask, hand grenade, baseball, pack of cigarettes, large knife, small book, flare, 1 hit location worth of armor)
 * 32 Medium (machete, pistol, first aid kit, large reference book, torch
 * 64 Large (1m sword, 1 handed axe, monkey wrench, large first aid kit, 3 hit locations worth of armor)
 * 128 Very Large (rifle, crossbow, spear, shoulder bag, big tool kit, sleeping bag, sm. tent (2 person), 4-6 hit locations worth of armor)
 * 256 Extremely Large (medium box, back pack, watermelon, >6 locations worth of armor)
 * 512 Huge - (large chest, bicycle, major appliance) these things cannot be carried for long distances, but can be moved.
 * >512Too Big - You cannot lift or move this alone. If it's <=1024, then 2 people can treat it as a Huge object, etc.

1 point of bulk corresponds to roughly 1 fl oz. (Medium 32 = 1L) Items greater than or = 2L (bulk = 64, Large items) are HALVED in bulk and weight if they are properly stored. Properly stored means one of:
 * In a generic container (bag or backpack)
 * Worn
 * Strapped to the body (i.e, in a holster or special container like a bandolier)

Note there is no advantage to "storing" small items in this way.

Weight and Bulk limits
A character (possibly animal-NPC or even vehicle) an has a MAX weight capacity depending on his physical stats. This is a hard cap. He will suffer moderate penalties at 1/2 this capacity, and heavy penalties at 3/4ths this capacity. It is understood that the player (or AI) should strive to keep his character at under the 1/2 encumbrance capacity, and can temporally exceed this with only minor penalties for most actions. At the same time - the penalty must be severe enough to prevent Players from just using the hard cap or 3/4th cap as a default.

Bulk capacity is limited by "slots", and "containers". Containers must be in slots. Each slot can hold ONE item, of maximum bulk depending on the slot definition. A container can hold any number of items subject to it's maximum capacity rating.

From the interface and programming perspective - "full" containers cannot be nested, but you can put an empty container in a "slotted" container. In this way the "bulk container" capacity of a character can be determined easily. The default container (pockets) has a capacity of 32. For more a bag, sack, or backpack is required. (PCs should probably start with one, but this is a separate mechanics section - CharacterCreation

Slots are considered "ready" and can be accessed in combat with a single action. Things in containers are NOT considered ready (no matter where the container is slotted) and will require multiple combat actions to access. Combat actions and the amount of time they take are specified here CombatSystem

"Hands" are special slots which are active. They can hold one "very large" item each, or one "huge" item together. Note that some very large items require two hands for proper use.

7 slots are: Back (max Extremely Large) Left Shoulder (max Very Large) Right Shoulder (max Large) Left Hip (max Medium) Right Hip (max Large) Belt 1 (max Small) Belt 2 (max Small) Belt 3 (max Small)

Realism note: It is assumed that the PC, in some down time, with some trivial materials (leather, string, bits of metal), can "rig" his slots to efficiently carry things (i.e., strap things to his belt or back, fashion crude straps). No skill roll, game time, or action is required for this. Note that this does NOT confer the storage bonus (1/2 bulk and weight) described above; that requires a special item (or possibly skill).

Vehicles and Pack Animals
These are considered to be containers that cannot be picked up, but they can be moved (controlled) by a character (either player or AI). They have a simple bulk and weight limit. The can be accessed while trading or shopping directly, or from inventory screen, but NEVER in combat. No, you cannot take the .44 Mag out of your glove compartment while driving! It's dangerous.

Clothing and Armor
See also:Zenbitz:Catalog_of_item_types Clothing (and armor) can be carried or worn (see above). Clothing covers a certain set of "hit locations" which also represent target locations for combat or other effects. As of this moment, they are not exactly defined, but it will be roughly something like the following (odd numbers on the left side or centerline, higher numbers are lower) Head - Locations 1-2 (1 is "braincase", 2 is "face") Neck - Location 3 Shoulders - Location 4/5 (2) Chest - Location 6-9 (4) Abdomen - Location 10-13 (4) Right Arm - 14,16,18,20 (4) Left Arm - 15,17,19,21 (4) Groin - 22 Hips - 23/24 (2) Left Leg - 25,27,29,31,33 (5) Right Leg - 26,28,30,32,34 (5)

Locations 4-13 also have front and back; some armor will protect on the front. Clothes always protect both sides (I am ignoring capes, you weirdo)

These hit locations are meant to be approximately equal in surface area - this allows us to create piecemeal armor using only the material density. (i.e. 1 hit location worth of 5mm plate steel is the same encumbrance whether it is a helmet or pot helm.  This corresponds to a bulk (for carrying) of 1 small item (bulk 16-30)

Clothing (Armor) Materials
Pieces of clothing and armor are made from a particular material or combination of materials with shared properties.

Clothing and armor materials have the following properties:
 * A name (description) - for ease of use (i.e, 5mm plate steel or cotton poly-blend)
 * Optional: The above types can be grouped together (e.g, "light cloth", "heavy cloth", "ballistic nylon", "metal chain maille/mesh") as long as the below properties are identical in game terms.
 * A weight (per location) - (i.e., 0.4kg, 0.04kg). A good way for designers to determine this is either from tables or by weight of action items, divided by number of locations it covers.
 * A flexibility (0-1) - (0 being solid, 1 being effectively liquid) - (0, 0.9 in our above examples). Less flexible armor over joints is a harder task to manufacture.  Solid (lower flexibility) armor has gaps that may make it less effective vs. certain types of attacks (liquids, thrusts from small weapons) because it does not completely cover the location (otherwise you could not move)
 * 3 types of damage resistance, numerical (thrust, cut, crush) - (8/8/6 for plate, .1/.1/.1 for t-shirt)
 * A cold resistance (in degrees 0), the temperature below which the item fails to protect vs. cold
 * A water proofing (0, 0.5, 1) - not proof, resistant, totally waterproof - this effects the function of the item when wet, in particular - reducing cold resistance and adding weight (up to double if 0 and soaked)
 * flame resistance (optional) - how does the material fare when burned
 * A failure property (optional) - some types of armor (generally not clothing) have rather poor failure properties to certain types of damage. Example, plastic can shatter, plate armor can crumple, poly acetate can melt to the wearer.  This results in the destruction of the item (no future use as armor for that location, except as raw materials), and possibly extra damage done to wearer.  The failure properties should be defined in terms of "type" of damage (thrust/cut/crush/fire) and threshold which cases failure.

Padding and Reinforcing
Armor or clothing can be padded and/or reinforced - this changes it's properties. Both typically add weight and decrease flexibility. Padding improves cold resistance, and crush protections (small effect on cut/thrust depending on thickness). Reinforcement increases thrust, cut protection (small effect on crush).

An item of clothing (armor)
A single "piece" of clothing is defined as one (or more) of the above materials and a set of covered hit locations. The total weight (and trivially, bulk) is determined by summing the weight per location over the number of locations. A piece of clothing (like most items) has a "Quality" rating, representing construction expertise and materials. This "Q" rating (0-5) can modify the material properties by 10-20% (in either direction). An item can also be handed (only goes on left or right arm/leg) Some Examples (note that numbers are completely made up, unverified, and subject to change without notice!)
 * Military Steel Helmet: 7mm Steel Plate, padded (Metal plate, heavy), location 1 (weight 3 kg, def 10/10/9, flex. 0) - Q4
 * T-Shirt: Cotton-Poly Blend (Light cloth), locations 4-13 (weight 0.4 kg, def .1/.1/.1, flex 0.9) - Q3
 * Chain mail hauberk: 9mm linked rings, aluminum (Metal mesh, light), locations 4-24 (weight 8kg, def 2/7/2, flex 0.5) - Q4
 * Hockey glove: Light leather, padding, Reinforced (Heavy reinforced padding), locations 18/20 or 20/21 (handed) (weight 0.5 kg, def, 3/3/5, flex 0.3) Q3
 * Crude, improvised plastic shoulder (light plastic), location 4 or 5 (not handed) (weight 0.2 kg, def 3/3/3, flex 0.2), Q1
 * Fancy Trench Coat, leather: (light leather) locations 4-28 (weight 3 Kg, def 2/1/2, flex 0.7), Q5.

Stacking Clothing
When stacking clothing - use the following methods for combining values:
 * Weight: Sum directly, all layers
 * Flexibility: Use least flexible, -10% per layer
 * Damage Resistance: Use best for each class, +1/4th of 2nd best. Ignore 3rd or "worse" layers
 * Cold Resistence: Sum directly, all layers + 10% (air is an insulator!)
 * Water resistance: Use outermost layer
 * Fire resistance: Use best, outer "worse" layers will burn.
 * Failure properties: Treat independently, outer first. If outer fails, apply remaining defense to "failure" damage + 1/2 initial damage.

GUI
Roughly speeaking the inventory GUI will have a "paper doll" view of the character with places on the body (all hit locations IDd) for clothing.