Hauling capacity of bionic pawns/large animals unused due to standard stack size

[Boboid]

For those unaware the carry(hauling) capacity of pawns/animals is affected by their Manipulation and Body size. The default is 75 for humans (and dogs) while larger animals or pawns with higher manipulation (bionics/drugs ect) can(technically) carry more.

The problem is that the vast majority of items only stack to 75 with some rare exceptions like Hay which is not small(Unlike Silver/Uranium/ect which due to their size allow for 750 rather than 75 to be hauled simultaneously).

The result is that large animals such as Elephants who have a whopping 300 potential carry capacity simply can't haul more than 75 of any given item. Which is a real shame given the upkeep involved in keeping a tamed elephant and training it to haul.

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Now a dirty solution to this ( and one that has been modded ) is to simply increase the stack size of most objects - which does work.

However it doesn't really get to the crux of the problem for me - Rimworld has a bunch of great systems but its storage/stockpile system is really lacking. Throwing everything on the floor is simply bonkers, as is only picking up one shirt and moving it from one stockpile to another when you could trivially carry 10 or 30.

Rimworld really desperately needs a storage and hauling solution and it can be as simple as putting things into boxes which hold more than their tile footprint. And allowing pawns to pick up and carry more than one object/stack of things at a time. Even if it requires something like a wheelbarrow to do it.

Given that every object already has a weight it's especially odd that hauling is limited by stack size instead of by weight.

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Anyway I'm getting pretty off topic - The long story short is that large animals and bionic limbs don't (in practice) affect the amount a pawn can haul which in the case of larger animals broadly makes them even less useful than their smaller counterparts before you factor in hauling frequency/food intake ratios.

[freemapa]

I completely agree with this.

The "stack max" on the ground should not be the global "stack max". The global "stack max" should be like... a billion! And then the local "stack max" should depend on the tile.

For instance:

• shelves should hold at least twice the ground's "stack max"
• pawns/animals should hold stacks up to their capacity
• dressers should hold stacks of clothes/leather (interaction could be like with a trader)
• tables should hold stacks of 1 meal per tile

I'm sure there are many more examples.

Boxes I'm not as big a fan of, and would think this is best supported with a mod. But the vanilla game is definitely in need of some attention to the stack system.

[Perq]

While I partially agree, I think that in order to carry something pawn needs to respect both the quantity of items and its weight.
Simply put:
- you cannot carry something if it is too big (a giant block of styrofoam won't be heavy, but it will be too big to carry), even if it isn't too heavy
- you cannot carry something if it is too heavy, while being small (bucket of lead).

IMO pawns can carry way too many bricks at once now...

[Boboid]

If you pre-suppose that all objects are in their most manageable form then the question of size is broadly ignorable but I understand where you're coming from.

In my mind the issue isn't so much the question of realism but rather the fact that the manipulation/body size/weight/hauling interactions are incomplete.

From a mechanical standpoint it's more complicated to implement volume in addition to mass for every object and then balance accordingly. Additionally that doesn't add much to the gameplay in question.

[Sbilko]

I agree with everything written in this post. It is really annoying to have a little pistol take you a whole tile of space, when in real life you could fit up a lot more pistols in the same space. (Consider that two identical synthread jackets appear as 1 trade option in the trade panel; but instead, they have to be stored separate in your stockpile).

It's also very annoying to have all these meat and leathers in my stockpile. I usually just sell the leathers I have in little quantity, since they only take up space and I can't do anything with them.

I think that some sort of boxes (wooden or metallic) should be added to the game, which allow many items to be stored at the same tile, as long as they don't take too much space.

[BoogieMan]

I've long felt that hauling and storage is in dire need of an overhaul. It works alright, but gets less and less efficient the longer the colony exists. Just two changes could improve the system a lot. Stacks of many things being larger, and storage devices that allow more stacks to be stored relative to the floor space the container uses.

[Nameless]

I always have hard time understanding how a pawn can only haul one club at a time but can haul a frigging thrumbo all by themselves.

[Bozobub]

Mighty thews, yet no pockets.  *whisper* "Pockets" are ancient, forbidden tech, my son, and shall not be further spoken of here.