Backpacks and Weight · Underwanderer Archive

Testimony

“I always carry too much and then my back pays for it.”

Beyond the pockets of your clothes, a survivor can sling on a backpack. And everything it carries, the backpack included, adds weight. Weight never forbids you from picking anything up, it only slows you down.

The three backpacks

Backpack	Slots	Empty weight	Load modifier
Cloth bag	6	0.2 kg	-10%
Office	18	1.1 kg	0%
Mountain	27	2.4 kg	+20%

The cloth bag weighs almost nothing and holds little, the office one is the middle ground, and the mountain one carries a lot, but you already feel it on your back by itself. Depending on which you choose, you risk more or less on each descent. None replaces the pockets of your clothes; they add to them (see The Survivor’s Inventory).

Three load states

Depending on the total weight you're carrying:

Light: no penalty.
Loaded: from 14 kg. You feel your step get heavier.
Overloaded: from 20 kg. Running stops being an option.

The most anyone has managed to carry is 24 kg. Each step up makes you slower.

Spreading the weight

Spreading it well helps. Distributing between pockets and backpack eases the load by up to 25%, though it doesn't let you carry double; it only makes up a little for packing what you carry properly.

In practice

The long descents of the loop, between forty-five and ninety minutes, are decided here, by how much water you carry and how much room you leave to come back with what you find.
Displacement doesn't take your backpack, but it does take what you left on the floor.
Cans and bottles count the same as everything else. So does what you take from Scrap Piles.
If you have to run, drop whatever isn't essential, starting with the last can.

What people report

Groups argue over the exact figures, some swearing overload starts sooner and others that you can bear more. The archive gives the most repeated measurements, with no guarantee they hold for every body.
Some people talk about other kinds of backpack, bigger or stranger. Nobody has shown one.

Mentioned in

O-002 · ObjectsAntibioticsThey restore 55 health and nothing else. They hide in wall first-aid cabinets, in corridors others have already searched.O-024 · ObjectsBandages and WoundsThe bandage doesn’t heal. It closes the wound on an arm, and the strip of cloth is the only sign that you did it right.O-013 · ObjectsCans, Food and BottlesSix things to eat or drink, with how much hunger and thirst each removes. What is on the shelves, when there is anything.O-005 · ObjectsSurprise BoxesSealed cardboard boxes that promise something and may be empty. If another wanderer got there first, they will already have been opened.O-006 · ObjectsBeds and SheltersA nook with a bed, tape and a can. Sleeping in it sets where you wake when you die, and building it is the closest thing to a home.P-010 · PhenomenaThe Building and the DescentAn office tower going up and a chain of basements that rots the lower you go. Nobody has come back from the bottom with news.O-020 · ObjectsDoor as an ObjectA closed door can be unscrewed and carried with both hands. Behind it stays an empty frame that tells you someone came through here.O-023 · ObjectsThe Fastenings: Screws, Nails and Cable TiesScrews, nails, cable ties and tape: the small things that keep a shelter standing, and the only thing that is truly scarce.O-018 · ObjectsScrap PilesMetal isn't everywhere. It gathers in heaps of six pieces, in corners of warehouses and service areas, and without it you can't put up a single wall.O-010 · ObjectsThe Metal Shelving UnitA tubular wire rack with sixteen fixed slots. What you store is visible on the shelf, and visible to anyone who walks by.O-004 · ObjectsFrame and PanelsCatalog-style improvised structures, with beams from dismantled furniture and seven kinds of panel. This is how you close an opening when there's no door.O-012 · ObjectsThe Survivor’s InventoryWhat you carry is your body, your clothes and their weight, not an endless list. Every pocket comes from your clothing.