Standard Loadout

[Professor Dragon]

I'm pretty proud of having finally found Chromite, which has enabled me to make Sturdy Leather, and hence Sturdy Leather backpacks. (Admire them).

That took a while, but the extra slots should make everything so much easier. I just did a large build (by my standards) and it is a perpetual shuffle moving resources.

Now, having got that ulterior motive nicely snuck in, in plain site, here's "Professor Dragon's Standard Loadout."

Discussion point: I am assuming that everyone has their favourite layout?

This is my typical "day to day, ready for anything" kit. The shield tucks in next to the lantern when not in use, and the rest of the space is for food or whatever is needed.

Some points.

• Everything in my Inventory and Hotbar is always in the same position.
  If there is an empty spot, at least I know that something should be there, even if I take a little while to figure out "There should be torches there."
• I reset everything after each "activity" - whatever that may be. 
  For example, I knew that I had left my shears somewhere after doing my reset and finding a gap. I might not have spotted that otherwise.
• Reed baskets are invaluable.
  Use them for overflow when out harvesting. Use them for "special projects" such as a windmill or farm or mine or whatever. You dump all the parts you have in them, and that way if you are interrupted and come back five real weeks later, at least you can see what you were working on - and have at least some of the items at hand.
• Also have a permanent light source (preferably several in a stack) and I find torches handy.
• I'm a "fully equipped" type of person. So there is a full range of tools there.
• Most stacks will go a few below their limit. Eg 60 rather than 64. This lets you clean up without having odd blocks.
• Hotbar Slot 8 is key for me. It always has food ready to go. 
• Hotbar Slot 9 is usually "free" for whatever. It is my "pick up, put down" slot.
• Hotbar Slot 0 is kept for swapping with the offhand.
• Not shown is a raft and oar, which come in for big trips. Also linen and logs. Much bigger trips get a cookpot and storage vessel.
• My main base has organised chests to back this up.
• This loadout always stays, UNLESS I'm doing something super specific such as a large build or mining trip. 
  Then I'll unload all of this into its own chest/reed baskets and put in a the new specific loadout. Any common items go into their same slots.

I probably don't need the spear, but it's a remnant of my early days, and you might always run out of arrows, right?

Professor Dragon.

Edited October 31, 2025 by Professor Dragon

[Maelstrom]

My endgame kit is travelling light compared to that.

Hotbar: falx, bow (if I'm hunter), knife, pickaxe, (propick if I'm mining or prospecting otherwise left home), shovel, axe, stack of ladders, lantern, poultices, food.
Inventory: a chest for extra carry capacity (carryon is a must mod for me), crock of food if I don't have pies in the hotbar and arrows if carrying bow. 

Everything else in inventory is situational, torches and translocator parts if spelunking, gears and wares if visiting traders, shears if tree hunting, etc.  I keep my inventory as empty as possible since the purpose of extended trips away from home is to return with conspicuously copious amounts of resources so pains are made to maximize inventory space and specialize loadout to the intended purpose of the trip.

[Zane Mordien]

3 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

I'm pretty proud of having finally found Chromite, which has enabled me to make Sturdy Leather, and hence Sturdy Leather backpacks. (Admire them).

Check, I have admired them. I still haven't started that process in my current playthrough.

[Shoom]

This is what my inventory usually looks like, minus the steel axe and sheers. 

Numkey 1 is always pickaxe, 2. is self-defense, 3 is whatever tool I'm currently using. 9 is food and 0 is bandages, the rest can be whatever, usually ladders, torches/light source and some type of block.

I always keep clay, flint and sticks with me as you can use them for lots of things.

Spare pickaxe, prospecting pickaxe and flint goes in mining bag to save space, can also chuck main pickaxe in there if a extra slot is needed.

Tools like knives, shovels and axes I make using flint and sticks on the go if needed.

I always try to round up dry grass into bales, the blocks can be useful for navigating, building or blocking as they break quickly, can also be turned into sleeping bags in a emergency.

The spare backpack doesn't see much use, but occasionally I'm far away or deep underground and find loads of cool stuff inside a ruin and those extra few slots can save me from having to make an extra trip.

Oh and of course my gears in case I find a trader selling something cool.

Edited October 31, 2025 by Shoom

[LadyWYT]

The only stuff I'm practically guaranteed to have on me at all times:

1. Knife

2. Sword

3. Bow(or spear, if early game)

Slots 4, 5, and 6 are reserved for food, bandages, or a lantern, and the order of occupation just depends on what I'm doing at the time. Sometimes the bandages and lantern are stowed in the packs.

The remaining slots are typically used for other tools and building blocks, but are otherwise kept empty when possible. In my packs, I usually have a propick for prospecting while I'm out and about(and I almost always forget to actually do this), as well as a handful of rope ladders for exploration and rescue(because let's be real, "I've fallen, and I can't get up!" is NOT something you ever want to say or hear in this game).

As far as actually organizing slots? The hotbar is the only thing that stays anywhere remotely close to consistently organized. Everything else just gets tossed into packs as needed, and tossed into boxes when I return to base.