Load Bearing Equipment

[Kaos1973]

Have you ever asked yourself “Where does all that equipment fit?”

 

I would like to see a realism mod that accurately reflects what your character is humping around!

 

I propose a Load Bearing Equipment (LBE) mod to accommodate the items and distribute the weight for carriage.

 

At the heart of any such mod is going to be

1. An Encumbrance system, Encumbrance being a combination of bulk and weight in this context.

2. A Weapon Management system.

 

We can graphically show our character physically carrying the desired loads by loading up in 4 tiers on top of each other:

1. In your Pockets – equipped weapon animations. May require more “streamlined” outfits.

2. Slung over shoulder – in game weapon animation

3. Belt Kit or Battle Vests – new wearable items

4. Small or Large Back packs – new wearable items

 

1. The mechanics of an encumbrance system however revolve around

A) Size system and/or a

B) Weight system.

 

A) In order to size our items we need to categorise all game items into size groupings such as:

1. tiny, drugs, stimpaks

2. small, standard weapon magazines, grenades, pocket knife, snack

3. medium, water bottle, drum magazines, large knife, mine, pistol, meal

4. large, SMG, assault rifle, Sleeping bag

5. huge minigun, rocket launcher

*To set a unit of measure lets call it Small Item Count (SIC) 1 SIC being worth 1 small items

 

1 Huge (16 SIC) = 4 Large 1 Large (4 SIC) = 2 Medium

1 Medium (2 SIC) = 2 small 1 small (1 SIC) = 6 tiny

 

B) In order to address weight it is preferable to have a preset weight/penalty scale such as:

 

Weight Carried Penalty* Description

<10lbs +10% Sprint

10-20lbs +5% Fast run

20-35 0% Run

35-50 -25%

50-70 -50% Jog

70-100 -75% Fast shuffle

100-200 -100% No run or jump available

200+ unable to move Stuffed

* To running speed and jumping height

 

The major draw back of this system is if you are required to jump to get out of an area. In this instance I can not think of how the game engine could allow the character to climb over small obsacles that should not stop you (except

~tcl

)

 

2. The Weapon Management System would require the player to nominate a Primary Weapon, a back up weapon and a field knife. These 3 weapons should be displayed all at once using the in game animations when equipped.

 

The system will require using hot keys possibly 1-0 to allocate items placed in pockets, belt or vest only. Access to the back pack should only be possible by un-equipping it and allowing it to fall to the ground where it can be accessed like a container. A container with the options to 1) Open, 2) Take or 3) Leave

 

So therefore our LBE mod needs to resemble something along the lines of:

 

Level 1 - what you expect to carry in your pockets when leaving the house

Small snack, pocket knife, 100 caps,

6 SIC (2 medium + 4 small items)

 

Level 2 – The large primary weapon your character has equipped can be slung external to and not requiring any LBE.

Slung Weapon

 

Level 3 – Used to carry weapons, ammo, grenades and other items required in combat or for quick use

Belt kit - A sturdy belt with suspenders and various pouches.

2 lbs empty weight

16 SIC (8 medium)

Or Assault Vests – Ops Waistcoat, chest webbing call it what you will

2 lbs empty weight

12 SIC (6 medium) can be fitted with additional armor plates +10DR +10 lbs

 

Level 4

Small Pack - A small backpack used for short forays

Sleeping bag, meals for a few days, water bottles, medical kit, extra ammo

4 lbs empty weight

19 SIC (3 large items + 3 Medium items + 3 small items)

Or Large Pack - A large backpack used for serious expeditions

Sleeping bag, meals for a week, medical kit, water bottles

8 lbs empty weight

36 SIC (1 huge item + 5 large items)

 

Comments???