[This has turned out to be a giganto-post, sorry about that. I’ve separated it into sections, so hopefully it doesn’t read like crap]
I think it’d be nice to be able to have a list of the objects stored in a container when examining it, the same way we get a list of objects stored in crates, like when examining the ones at FEMA camps.
More suggestions:
Displaying the contents of a container
Maybe a prompt dialog should be displayed when (a)ctivating a container, where you’re asked if you want to open it or transfer items to another container. By opening it, the default inventory screen would display now only the items inside that container. But this poses the problem of how to close this container to display the default inventory again. Ideally you should be able to ©lose it, to keep all the hotkeys streamlined, but I don’t know if that’s possible and if it’d conflict with the default ©lose action in some way.
Comparing items across containers
Say you want to compare an item from the main inventory with an item placed inside a container placed in the main one. You would proceed as usual (I) and press the letter of the first item to use for comparison, then the one of the container where the item resides. The game should be able to detect the item being a container and would ask you if you want to compare the container itself or one of its items. By selecting the latter the container would open and display its inventory screen (as explained above), and there you’d be able to select the item you want to compare to by pressing its letter.
For further comparisons you’d first close the container inventory (which would take you back to the main inventory screen) and proceed again from there.
Alternative method for the container (and inventory) system
This would require a rework of how the inventory system works now, as for this suggestion to work the inventory screen should be tabbed, the same way the crafting (&) menu works.
Display
The first tab displays the contents of the main inventory. This inventory shows the items you’re currently wearing and holding. This includes clothes, armor, weapons and containers. It also displays the items stored in clothes (but not in containers, such as backpacks, purses, etc) and that is readily available.
Further tabs would be inactive unless the following happens:
When the player (a)ctivates a container the second tab is filled with the contents of that container.
Opening a container in the second tab (second container) would display the contents of that container in the third tab. The name of the tab would be that of the tag of container (tag names should have a char limit to make them fit in the tab). The items would be ideally navigated by using the UP and DOWN keys instead by pressing a given letter. In the right side of the item list you’d have a fixed display that automatically shows the
description and actions available.
Opening a container in the second tab would open a third. And so on.
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A container with its tab displayed should be considered as open, so it would be affected by the system that gives a chance to items to be dropped when you’re on the move and a container is opened (if it’s ever implemented).
Transferring items
Right now I can think of anything but adding a new hotkey when using this proposal for inventory. Pressing that key ((t)ransfer?) would display a list of the currently opened tabs, where you’d have to select the one where you want to transfer the item to.
Pros:
- more easy to navigate the contents through containers
- probably an easier inventory system to understand.
Cons:
- A matryoshka doll effect can happen, where we have lots of containers inside containers. This in turn can make the display via tabs difficult, simply because the amount of tabs needed would be more than the amount able to be displayed. But this probably is a non-issue, as if we take volume into account there’s just so many containers you can place inside another container. Or an artificial limit could be placed, where you can’t have more than x containers inside another container.
JA2 1.13 inventory, how do they do it
TBH this new container system reminds somewhat the way Jagged Alliance 2 1.13 works, which I guess most of you are already familiar with. They have a very deep and flexible inventory system there, where you have a fixed number of slots to hold items and in those slots you can place either single items or containers. Each container has their own item capacity, distribution and type of items that can be stored there.
Note that all my comments are based on memory, as I haven’t played it in a good while. So there might be errors.
The upper part shows the items the character is wearing (head gear, eyes gear, hat/helmet, torso clothes, leg clothes and weapons equipped in each hand -none in the screenshot-). That’s the default JA2 inventory.
Below you see the 1.13 inventory in action, which expands on the original (which allow you to carry four generic big items and some small items IIRC). The first row shows the current holstered item (small arm - knife- or object), holstered big weapon (assault rifle) and vest worn. That particular best allows you to (from lef to right) carry a small item (first aid kit), two very small items in the arms (none in the sshot), a pouch or a small item (empty), two medium pouches or objects (such as antigas masks), etc.
Below that you have three waist slots. The first two are used for pouches in the sshot (and a holster in the first character), which in turn have their own capacity and type of items that can be placed there. The third one is an extension of the backpack.
And finally the back slot, where the backpack is. It can hold four very big objects.
This system also allows you to place smaller items than the one displayed as default. So in a big sized slot you can place several medium items (such as stimulant needles), etc.
Containers (mainly backpacks and bags that are worn on the back, but not vests and pouches) also have to be closed before picking them up, which solves the problem of running around with an immediately accessible container. Closing and opening a container has an action point (AP) cost.
As you can see it’s a quite complex system. It allows a lot of flexibility when gearing your mercs, but not as much as the current DDA inv system (where your only limits are volume and capacity). Here you’re restricted by the amount of slots available. Anyway, I thought it’d be nice to throw this here, as it can give some ideas.
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EDIT: Polished it a bit, but I don’t have the time and will to go through all of it right now. Just imagine that this post, which could be used to kill a hulk with a single smack, is written in exquisite English.
When I move things over from my test-bed into Cata I’ll prototype that and see how easy it is to use.
