I've played this game for awhile and I prefer a bit more "realism" or at least "painful" inventory management, just so you know what angle I'm coming from...
1. I feel the "default" inventory size is ok/decent.
2. I feel the default "encumbrance slots" is a bit generous but only at the start of the game. I like being punished at the beginning and unlocking slots until the end.
3. I like the concept of "pocket mods" as well as perking to carry a bit more (though its a bit weird to perk into anything to magically get a buff... but oh well)
4. I feel the stack sizes of some things are insanely too big (example: iron/clay), and some way too small (example: radiators). But I don't *really* care as it works I guess.
Having stated that, I use mods to "fix" it for my preferences. However:
- I see a LOT of people playing with mega large backpacks (60+ slots). Like, most streamers are making backpacks really big
- I've heard of a few mods that add "weight" considerations
- I've heard of mods that add "backpacks" you can find and equip to increase inventory size.
Take all of the above into account, there's obviously a need/want to adjust inventory size or "ability to carry". The vanilla UI settings for manipulating inventory size are lacking today, which I hope are remedied in some fashion when the game goers gold (so we don't have to use mods for a majority of players). I've played overhaul mods with large backpacks and (when I want to have "fun fun" vs "hardcore survival fun") it feels really nice with a massive backpack. I know why people want this for some game styles.
I personally prefer finding/crafting pockets or larger backpacks vs "having a fixed inventory to start out", as its a crafting and looting game and there's "tiers" of everything else to give a sense of 'progression'. and you can craft clothing (and books etc) so why not craft your backpacks. Or maybe add mods to your backpack to add space or handle stamina loss/weight considerations if these were a thing. It DOES feel weird picking up a 4x4/engines/etc big stuff and put it in your pocket, but if you can do that... weight considerations are kinda out the window. I don't know how fun it would really be to limit the building block carry capacity in a game like this... but anyway...(maybe we shouldn't start a new game with a backpack/inventory at all
I DO feel (and I've posted this before) that IF TFP aren't interested in changing the backpack slot count or adding any new options, what I wish they would do is IF you mod or (in any fashion) increase the slots past the vanilla settings, the UI will "expand" properly to handle it. Given the default icon sizes and how the UI works, I feel that the inventory window would benefit to having a "slider" or "paging" and search feature built into it that shown only when inventory is increased past some value (these sliders/paging are already used for existing UI windows... just not the inventory and recipe lists/windows. This way all the people wanting a "massive" backpack (like 1000 slots? pick a big number!) can have that and the UI will not warp and do weird things, you'll just have to scroll or search a bit to find your items