NPC clothing limitations

[Jinxed44]

So an Npc cant wear a heavy survival suit and backpack at the same time.
Similarly, he or she will straight up strip if you give them an MBR vest (with plates have not tried without), including their backpack again.
(Great for my new character but still, hes a child damn it, he doesn’t need to see that.)
I’m guessing this is due to encumbrance but still feels a bit silly.
I would suggest removing or limiting this action, as it goes against survival instinct.
Fitting the clothing aids a bit but not too much.
(unless I fail to understand something, which is very possible. Use this is the dialogue option I’m using)

[BeerBeer]

I think the enc limit for NPCs is 30 last I checked. You’ll just have to manage, or edit the stats of the items you want your NPCs to wear. We can’t have unlimited enc on NPCs, as then you’d be able to make them practically invulnerable. On the other hand they’d still have carry weight limits. How much enc limit should an NPC have if not 30? I guess that value should be externalized/jsonized (=made free to edit). 30 is plenty but I think it can exclude certain gear.

Removing the plates from the MBR makes a huge difference, so go with that.

Try a slingbag or a messenger bag. Craft a pair of leg pouches for the NPC. MOLLE is superior, but it’s bigger than a backpack. Still, I find slingbag to be plenty for my NPCs.

Were you aware you can manipulate the NPC clothing layers just like your own, and have them remove clothing? You’ll have to “walk” into the NPC, and you’ll get a menu. Choose ‘manage armor’ in it. It’s possible 'e’xamining the NPC brings up the menu as well.

[Jinxed44]

Thats interesting information, and I am genuinely thankful for it.
That said, I feel a combination of suit and backpack arent game breaking.
Similarly, why shouldnt an NPC be able to wear both an armored vest and a coat?
I’m not saying I should be able to put more than one vest on her (which would be odd and cheaty), but rather that the current limitations makes the NPC unable to do what people can easily do in life.

[kevin.granade]

It’s not a matter of what is possible, the npc doesn’t “want” to be encumbered.
Is it a pretty arbitrary limit? Yep, but basically they aren’t smart enough to make good decisions, so we give them a hard limit.

[Coolthulhu]

What Kevin said, but also:

Originally the NPCs were supposed to resist being overencumbered by player who wants to kill them that way or steal their stuff. In retrospect that was a bad idea (player still could do all sorts of trick on the NPC), which is why NPCs nowadays can be freely undressed and dressed up by the player using “sort armor” function on them.
I didn’t remove the limitation function because I wanted to apply it to NPCs changing their own clothing on their own (for example, wild NPCs who don’t have a player babysitting them), but I never got to it.

[Jinxed44]

Thats really interesting!
So there is a lower limit set so that you dont encounter too much armor on randoms?

[evilexecutive]

snip --Wild NPCs who don’t have a player babysitting them

Sensible chuckles