How Much Should You Carry?

[DwayneGAnd]

Other than your weapons and armor, you also have to take into consideration the weight of your other items, such as food, water, ammo (in hardcore mode), crafting items (bench or campfire), and miscellaneous items. How much of everything should you actually carry? Cause I often find myself having to drink alcohol or eat brahmin steak in order to get a strength bonus if overencumbered.

 

[FalloutIsMyDrug]

On hardcore I like to carry ~5-10 bottles of water and a handful of steaks at any time. I usually use Sarsaparilla in place of stimpaks, but for whatever reason they decrease hydration on hardcore(in reality sugar/caffeinated beverages still add more water content than is lost).

Keep pre-war money on hand if you want to make a purchase and not lose caps.

Limit the ammo you carry to only weapons that you use. Base the amount of ammo on how often you use that ammo type and the fire rate of the weapons that chamber them. I like to limit myself to a few weapons only. Instead of basing loadouts on weapon types, focus on engagement range(you don't NEED a SMG if you have a shotgun).

I don't craft much, but I would suggest keeping your crafting ingredients at home.

Besides that, regularly deposit you inventory and try to keep your weight low for every time you head out into the Mojave(I try to keep it around 80). Also, be sure to make use of companions as pack mules. I like to loot based on a minimum weight-to-value system(20 caps per pound is decent early on). I almost always employ this rule anyway, but this is especially important on Hardcore.