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UI / UX ~23 min read 4,494 words

Salt & Steel: Inventory and Stash

Document type: Design Specification — UI/UX
Status: Draft
Last updated: 2026-04
See also: HUD Design | Accessibility | Items and Crafting | Monetization | Economy

Design Philosophy

Salt & Steel's inventory is a cargo manifest and captain's kit — not a spreadsheet, not a generic grid. When the player opens their inventory, they should feel like they are opening a sea chest, laying out the contents on a bunk, looking at what they have to work with. The physical reality of equipment — its weight, its bulk, its history — should be present in the visual design.

This does not mean the inventory is impractical. A cargo manifest is a working document; a sea chest is organized by a person who knows exactly where everything is because their life depends on finding it quickly. Every inventory design decision in Salt & Steel must serve both the aesthetic ("this belongs in the world") and the functional ("I can find what I need in three seconds").

Lessons from PoE's Inventory

PoE's Tetris inventory is one of gaming's most discussed UI systems. The spatial puzzle creates genuine decision-making (what to keep vs. drop) and item identity (shape communicates type at a glance). These are real design achievements Salt & Steel preserves.

What Salt & Steel improves:

  • The "wall of identical icons" problem: PoE's late-game stash is a sea of similar-looking items. Salt & Steel's item visual design must make items individually recognizable at small scale.
  • The trade tab dependency: PoE's Premium tab requirement for trade participation is the most contested monetization decision in the genre. Salt & Steel ships with trade infrastructure that does not require a paid upgrade (see Stash System below).
  • The organization cliff: New players receive minimal storage that quickly becomes inadequate. Salt & Steel's base cargo hold is sized for realistic play at all stages without paid tabs.

Personal Inventory: The Captain's Kit

Grid Layout

The personal inventory is a 12×8 grid (96 cells), displayed as the inside of a sea chest viewed from above. The chest frame is weathered wood and brass fittings — the same aesthetic language as the ship's fixtures. The grid cells are faintly scored into the chest lining (leather, worn smooth).

Why 12×8: PoE's 12×5 creates constant pressure for experienced players carrying multiple weapon sets, full armor sets, and crafting materials simultaneously. At 96 cells vs. PoE's 60, Salt & Steel provides breathing room without eliminating the curation decisions that make inventory meaningful. This also accommodates the additional item categories unique to Salt & Steel (Crew Contracts, Chart Fragments, Ship Components).

Item Sizing:

Item Type Grid Size Rationale
Rings, amulets, small trinkets 1×1 Small personal jewelry
Boots, gloves, belts, helmets 2×2 Personal gear, moderate bulk
Body armor, coats 2×4 Significant bulk, thematic presence
One-handed weapons (cutlass, pistol, knife) 1×3 Holster-sized
Two-handed weapons (musket, boarding axe, harpoon) 2×4 Full weapon bulk
Shields 2×3 Strapped shield
Skill gems / Ability stones 1×1 Small carved stones
Crafting materials (small) 1×1 Stack items
Crafting materials (medium) 1×2 Components
Ship components 2×3 or 3×3 Physical ship parts
Crew Contracts 1×2 A folded piece of parchment
Nautical Charts 2×2 A rolled map section
Trade goods 1×1 to 2×2 Variable by goods type

Spatial Item Identity: As in PoE, item shape communicates type before the player reads the name. A 2×4 silhouette is always a heavy item — body armor or a two-handed weapon. A 1×3 is always a one-handed weapon category. This is maintained consistently so experienced players navigate by silhouette.

Item Stacking: Currency, crafting materials, and consumable items stack within a single grid cell. Stack size is shown as a number overlaid on the item icon. Stack limits are generous (up to 9,999 for common materials) — Salt & Steel does not punish players for having accumulated resources.

Equipment Paper-Doll (The Captain's Profile)

The paper-doll display shows the captain's equipped items as a full-body silhouette portrait, framed as a woodcut illustration style — the kind found in period maritime manuals. The portrait is positioned to the left of the inventory grid when the inventory screen is open.

Equipment Slots:

[Hat/Helmet]
[Amulet]
[Coat/Body Armor]   [Left Hand / Shield]   [Right Hand / Weapon]
[Belt]              [Ring]                 [Ring]
[Boots]             [Gloves]

[Alternate Weapon Set]  [Alt Shield]

Slot Visual Design: Empty slots show their slot type as a faint engraved icon (silhouette of the item type expected). When an item is equipped, the portrait updates to show that item integrated into the captain's look — visual representation of the actual equipped item appearance on the character silhouette. The portrait is a live representation, not a static image.

Stat Summary Panel: Below the paper-doll, a compact stat summary shows the captain's current totals for the most combat-relevant stats:

  • Wound Thresholds (from GURPS HP thresholds)
  • Active Defense ratings (Dodge, Parry, Block)
  • Damage output range (minimum/maximum of equipped weapons)
  • Key resistance values (if applicable)

This summary does NOT attempt to give a single "DPS" number — a lesson from PoE's problematic stat simplification. Instead, it shows the component values that skilled players understand. A future in-game build planner (analogous to PoB but integrated) provides the combined simulation. Here, the component values are honest and clear.

Item Comparison Tooltips

When hovering over an item in inventory or the world, a tooltip appears. When a comparable item type is already equipped, a comparison tooltip shows side-by-side differences.

Tooltip Layout:

+-------------------------------------------+
| [Item Name]                                |
| [Base Type]              [Rarity Badge]    |
+-------------------------------------------+
| [Item Illustration - small woodcut style]  |
+-------------------------------------------+
| DAMAGE / DEFENSE                           |
| [Stats in GURPS terms, not arbitrary nums] |
+-------------------------------------------+
| MODIFIERS (Engravings / Marks)             |
| [Modifier 1] .............. [Tier Pip]     |
| [Modifier 2] .............. [Tier Pip]     |
+-------------------------------------------+
| REQUIREMENTS                               |
| [Attribute requirements, skill needs]      |
+-------------------------------------------+
| [Lore flavor text in italics]              |
+-------------------------------------------+
| [Item level]  [Crafting sockets]           |
+-------------------------------------------+

Comparison Mode: When the player has the same slot equipped, a second tooltip panel appears to the left of the current tooltip, showing the equipped item in the same format. Stat differences are highlighted:

  • Green with an up-arrow: This item is better in this stat.
  • Red with a down-arrow: The equipped item is better.
  • Neutral: Same value.

This eliminates the need to memorize the equipped item's stats before reading a new item's tooltip.

GURPS Stat Presentation: Damage values are shown in GURPS format: sw+1 cut (swing-based, +1 damage, cutting type), thr+2 imp (thrust-based, +2, impaling type). Wound modifiers are shown as multipliers: ×1.5 for cutting (×1.0 for crushing, ×2.0 for impaling), so players understand the actual wound effectiveness against different armor types. This is more information than most ARPGs show, but it is precise and learnable.

Item Rarity Visual Treatment

Item rarity is communicated through multiple channels simultaneously — frame color, particle effect, typography, and illustration density. This is critical for colorblind accessibility (never relying on color alone).

Rarity Name Frame Particle Name Font Illustration
Common Worn Grey, simple wood None Plain serif Simple line art
Uncommon Salvaged Blue-silver, fitted brass Faint shimmer Slightly embellished Moderate detail
Rare Prize Golden, engraved Slow gold motes Embellished serif Full woodcut illustration
Unique Legendary Amber-red, ornate scroll Warm glow pulse Decorative large caps Full color portrait with border
Cursed (any rarity) See below Additional treatment Additional treatment Additional treatment Additional treatment

Colorblind Accessibility: In addition to color, each rarity has a distinct frame shape:

  • Common: Plain rectangular, no adornment.
  • Uncommon: Slightly rounded corners, single border line.
  • Rare: Double border with corner flourishes.
  • Unique: Fully decorated frame with maritime motifs (anchors, compass roses, waves).

Shape and weight of frame differentiate rarity for players who cannot distinguish blue/gold/amber borders.

Cursed Item Visual Treatment

Cursed items have a specific visual treatment that makes them unmistakable:

Tooltip Indicator: A skull-and-compass icon appears prominently in the top-right of the tooltip. The tooltip frame takes on a deep crimson-and-dark-teal color treatment. The item name is shown in a sickly green-gold color (the "cursed artifact" color language from the Creative Identity document).

Inventory Icon: The item icon in the grid shows a faint pulsing crimson aura. A small skull badge appears in the bottom-right corner of the grid cell.

Equipment Effects: If a cursed item is equipped, the paper-doll portrait's corresponding slot shows a crimson tint on the equip location. A status indicator in the buff area (top of screen in combat) shows the curse's active effect.

Interaction Warning: Attempting to equip a cursed item without the required Occultism skill level triggers a confirmation dialog: "This item carries a curse that may harm you. Proceed?" with a brief description of the curse effect. Players with sufficient Occultism skill receive instead: "You sense this curse. You can manage its effects with care." No dialog, just the tooltip information.

Ship Inventory: The Cargo Hold

The cargo hold is accessed from the ship's hull — either from deck (a hatch) or from the harbor manifest interface when docked. It is a separate storage space from the personal inventory, significantly larger, and organized by cargo category.

Visual Representation

Hold Layout View: When the cargo hold is opened, the player sees a cross-section diagram of the ship's hold — a period-accurate rendering of the below-decks storage space, with labeled sections. Items are arranged in this space as illustrated cargo elements.

This is distinct from the grid view of the personal inventory — the hold is organized by cargo category, not by spatial Tetris puzzle. The visual metaphor is a ship's manifest board where the captain tracks what's in each section of the hold.

Hold Sections:

Section Content Type Visual Representation
Armory Weapons, armor, ship weaponry Weapon rack and chest icons
Supply Locker Consumables, provisions, repair materials Barrel and crate icons
Cargo Bay Trade goods, commodities, bulk items Large crate and sack icons
Treasure Room Gold, gems, rare finds, unique items Locked chest icons
Chart Room Maps, navigation charts, quest documents Rolled chart rack icons
Crew Quarters (attached) Crew contracts, crew personal items Crew manifest list

Capacity Bars: Each section shows a capacity bar (current units / max units). Upgrading the ship's hold adds capacity to specific sections. The capacity system is not grid-based but weight/volume categorical — 50 units of trade goods, 20 weapons, etc.

Cargo Categories and Organization

Weapons: Ships can carry significantly more weapons than fit in personal inventory. The armory section shows a list view of stored weapons with compact stat summaries. Players can set up multiple loadout configurations to swap quickly when boarding the ship.

Supplies: Consumables, food rations (for crew morale), repair kits (for naval combat damage repair), and explosive materials (bomb supplies) all live here. Supply quantities are shown as numerical counts, and crew automatically consume supplies during voyages (food and medical supplies).

Trade Goods: Bulk trade commodities don't display as individual items — they display as category stacks. "50 units of Salted Cod," "12 units of Gunpowder," "30 units of Spice." The trading economy deals in commodity stacks. The Cargo Bay section shows a manifest of all trade goods with their estimated market value at the current port (if known).

Treasure: The Treasure Room holds high-value individual items the captain is transporting — unique items, valuable gems, rare quest artifacts. These are grid-displayed like the personal inventory, but only for high-value items. The room has a locked-chest aesthetic: items here are visually presented as secured.

Ship Cargo vs. Personal Inventory Transfer

Transferring items between personal inventory and cargo hold is a simple drag operation (or Ctrl+Click to auto-sort to the appropriate section). The cargo hold can also be accessed remotely via the Ship's Manifest — a menu on the HUD when aboard the ship, showing a summary of what's in the hold without opening the full hold screen.

Stash System: Port Storage

Design Philosophy

The stash is the captain's permanent, account-wide storage, accessible from any port. It represents the captain's holdings — the wealth and materiel accumulated across voyages that persists in the Account Record. The stash is accessed from the Port Authority building in any port, or from the captain's private quarters (if the port has a quarters upgrade).

Critical decision: Salt & Steel ships with a base stash that is fully functional for all content without purchasing additional tabs. The base stash is larger than PoE's four-tab default, and the trade system does not require a premium tab upgrade. Paid stash options provide organization convenience, not access.

Base Stash Configuration (Free)

All captains receive the following stash at account creation:

  1. The General Hold (×2): Two standard stash tabs, each 12×12 (144 cells). General-purpose storage.
  2. The Coin Locker: A dedicated currency stash. Stores up to 9,999 of each currency type in a categorized display. Free to all players. This directly addresses PoE's most criticized stash tab design — currency management is a basic game function and should not be monetized.
  3. The Chart Room: A dedicated nautical chart / Voyage map stash. Free. Stores and organizes exploration charts. This is the Map Tab equivalent that PoE sells; Salt & Steel provides it free because endgame engagement requires organized chart storage.
  4. The Craft Locker: A dedicated crafting materials stash. Free. Organizes the wide variety of crafting components.

Rationale: PoE provides 4 generic stash tabs free. Salt & Steel provides 2 general tabs + 3 specialized tabs (Currency, Charts, Crafting) free. The specialized tabs are provided free because requiring payment for endgame organizational features is a design decision that erodes player trust and creates real gameplay friction. The Coin Locker and Chart Room being free is a public commitment to players that the base game is complete.

Premium Stash Expansions (Paid, Convenience Only)

These are available as cosmetic shop purchases. They provide organization benefits but no power advantage:

Additional General Holds: Additional 12×12 general stash tabs. Purchased individually. These are genuinely additional capacity, not tabs the base game should have included.

The Expedition Log: A specialized tab for Voyage-specific currencies and mechanic items. Indexed display with category filtering. Useful for players who engage heavily with Voyage mechanics. Not required for base play.

The Fleet Registry: A specialized tab for Ship Components, Ship Upgrade materials, and Shipwright receipts. Useful for players pursuing ship upgrades actively.

The Bestiary Record: A specialized tab for creature materials, monster trophies, and rare biological crafting ingredients.

The Crew Manifest: A specialized tab for Crew Contracts and crew-related items, with crew filtering and search tools.

Quad Hold: A 24×24 mega-tab for players who want a large dump tab for rapid loot sorting. This is a premium convenience item — the base stash does not need one to function, but hardcore farmers value them.

Color-Coded Tab Customization: Any tab can be color-coded and renamed. This is a cosmetic feature available to all players. Premium tabs can additionally be given custom artwork frames (maritime illustrations, faction liveries, etc.).

Tab Navigation: Stash tabs are navigated via a horizontal scrollable tab bar at the top of the stash screen. Tabs can be reordered by drag-and-drop. Hovering over a tab shows its name and item count.

Search: A search bar at the top of the stash window highlights matching items across ALL stash tabs simultaneously. Non-matching items dim; matching items glow with a golden highlight. Search works by:

  • Item name
  • Base type
  • Modifier/engraving text
  • Rarity (searching "legendary" highlights all unique items)
  • Item level range (syntax: "ilvl:60-80")
  • Damage type (searching "slashing" highlights all cutting weapons)

When a search finds matches in multiple tabs, small indicator dots appear on the matching tabs in the tab bar, so the player knows to look there even before clicking.

Sort Functions: Each stash tab has a sort button that auto-organizes its contents:

  • By category (groups item types together)
  • By rarity (arranges from common to legendary)
  • By item level (ascending or descending)
  • By size (places large items first to optimize space usage)

Auto-sort never moves items to a different tab — only reorganizes within the current tab.

The Coin Locker (Currency Stash)

Layout: The Coin Locker displays currencies in a numismatic collection style — illustrated coin and material icons arranged in a grid by category, not by pile. Each currency type has its own labeled cell showing the current quantity as a number, not as stacked icons.

Categories:

  • Standard Trade Currencies (Pieces of Eight, Doubloons, Coin of the Realm)
  • Crafting Currencies (Engraver's Ink, Tempering Salts, Binding Wax, Ruin Dust)
  • Special Currencies (Voyage-specific tokens, faction currencies, rare exotic coins)
  • Trade Commodities (separate section showing bulk commodity counts)

Auto-Deposit: A toggle allows currencies picked up during play to automatically deposit to the Coin Locker when the stash is opened. Players can designate specific currencies for auto-deposit vs. keeping in personal inventory.

The Chart Room (Map/Content Stash)

Layout: Nautical charts are stored in the Chart Room as a rolled chart rack display — circular chart icons arranged by tier (sea depth/danger level) in horizontal rows. Each chart type has a count indicator.

Organization:

  • Charts are organized by Tier (Tier 1 = safe, shallow waters → Tier 16 = deep, extreme danger)
  • Within each tier, organized by chart type/region
  • Completed charts are marked with a checkmark badge
  • Charts with applied modifiers show modifier count badges

Chart Browser: A filter/sort panel on the side allows the player to show:

  • Unrun charts of a specific tier
  • Charts with specific modifiers applied
  • Charts meeting minimum modifier investment thresholds
  • Favorite-marked charts

Item Tooltips: Full Specification

Item tooltips are the primary information surface for item evaluation. They must be complete, scannable, and honestly represent the item's mechanical value. This section specifies exactly what appears in each tooltip.

Tooltip Layer Structure (Reading Top to Bottom)

Layer 1 — Identity

  • Item name (procedurally generated for rares; fixed for uniques and crafted items)
  • Base type (the underlying item template: "Naval Officer's Coat," "Boarding Cutlass," "Flintlock Pistol")
  • Rarity badge (Common / Salvaged / Prize / Legendary)
  • Item level (small, bottom of this layer)

Layer 2 — Visual

  • A small woodcut-style illustration of the item. Unique items have a full color portrait. Common items have a simple line illustration. This is the instant visual identifier — the player learns to recognize the art.

Layer 3 — GURPS Stats (Primary Mechanics) For weapons:

  • Damage: Listed as GURPS notation (e.g., sw+2 cut — meaning swing damage plus 2, cutting type)
  • Reach: (e.g., C, 1 — means close combat and 1-yard reach)
  • Parry modifier: (e.g., +1U — gives +1 to parry roll, unbalanced)
  • Weight: (affects fatigue in extended combat)
  • Skill type: (Swordsmanship, Brawling, Musketry, etc.)

For armor:

  • Protection value (DR): How much damage each body location resists
  • Coverage: Which body locations are covered
  • Weight: Encumbrance impact
  • Flexibility modifier: Impact on active defense rolls

For accessories:

  • Relevant attribute modifiers
  • Skill bonuses
  • Resistance bonuses

Why GURPS notation: Showing raw GURPS values rather than invented game-specific numbers keeps the game honest and learnable. A player who knows GURPS reads this immediately. A player who doesn't learn the notation once and can apply it everywhere. Inventing a proprietary notation creates an additional learning burden.

Layer 4 — Modifiers (Engravings and Marks)

Modifiers are the magical/crafted enhancements on an item — analogous to PoE's affixes. Salt & Steel calls them Engravings (permanent magical marks) and Marks (applied through crafting).

Each modifier line shows:

  • The modifier text (descriptive, not just a number): "Your parry rolls with this weapon gain a bonus equal to your Rapier skill divided by 10" rather than "+14% parry."
  • A Tier indicator: A row of pips (●●●○○) showing tier 1–5 relative power. Five filled pips = maximum tier (T5). This allows instant quality assessment without parsing numbers.
  • Prefix/Suffix designation: Small P or S badge indicates whether this is a prefix or suffix modifier, relevant for crafting (each item supports 3 prefixes, 3 suffixes).

Modifier Color Coding:

  • Base item stats: White text
  • Prefixes: Gold text
  • Suffixes: Blue-grey text
  • Curse modifiers: Crimson text
  • Conditional modifiers: Silver-italic text

All colors are also distinguished by icons in the left gutter (star for prefix, wave for suffix, skull for curse) for colorblind accessibility.

Layer 5 — Requirements

  • Minimum attribute requirements (e.g., "Requires: ST 12, Rapier Skill 12+")
  • Skill requirements for safe use (some items have dangerous malfunction risk below skill threshold)
  • Special requirements (e.g., "Requires: Occultism 10 to safely handle curse")

Requirements the player does not currently meet are highlighted in red with an explanatory note: "Your ST (10) is below the requirement. Using this weapon will incur -2 to attack rolls."

Layer 6 — Lore Text

Each unique item and many rare items have a brief lore entry in italics below the mechanical information. This is separated from stats by a decorative divider line (a wave motif).

Lore text is kept to 1–3 sentences — enough to give the item personality without burying the mechanic information. Example: "The blade belonged to Commodore Salazar, whose ship was found drifting without crew. Whatever he met at the edge of the chart, he met it with steel in hand."

Layer 7 — Crafting Information

  • Number of filled/available Engraving slots (shown as a small row of slot icons)
  • Number of filled/available Mark slots
  • Current crafting influences (if any special crafting modifiers are active on the item)
  • "Soulbound" indicator if the item cannot be traded (some progression rewards are account-locked)

Tooltip Interaction Options

Right-clicking an item in inventory opens a context menu:

  • Equip: Equips the item (if requirements met)
  • Compare with Equipped: Forces comparison mode tooltip
  • Send to Stash: Directly deposits to relevant stash section
  • Send to Cargo Hold: Directly deposits to ship's hold
  • Mark as Junk: Flags for bulk vendor sell
  • Mark as Favorite: Locks the item (prevents accidental vendor/drop)
  • Link in Chat: Generates a linked item description in chat
  • Identify: If unidentified (see below)

Unidentified Items

Items found in the world may be unidentified — their modifiers are obscured. Unidentified items display a distinct inked-over visual treatment on the modifier layers of the tooltip:

  • The modifier lines are replaced with a single line of blacked-out text (a row of ink-blot bars)
  • A "UNIDENTIFIED" stamp appears across the modifier layer
  • The item border has a faint sepia tint

Identifying an item requires using an Appraisal Glass (identification item, always stackable in inventory). Upon use, a brief "paper being revealed" animation plays as the modifiers appear.

Item Flow Between Inventory Systems

The three main inventory systems (Personal Inventory, Cargo Hold, Port Stash) are designed to have clear use cases with minimal friction between them.

Personal Inventory: Items the captain is actively using or needs immediate access to. Always available. Always limited by carrying capacity.

Cargo Hold: Items the captain is transporting or keeping for later use. Available when aboard the ship. Much larger capacity.

Port Stash: Items the captain is keeping indefinitely. Available at any port. Account-wide. For long-term holding.

Transfer Flow:

  • From ground → Personal Inventory: Standard loot pickup (spacebar or click)
  • Personal → Cargo: Ctrl+Right-Click when aboard ship, or via hold interface
  • Personal → Stash: Ctrl+Right-Click when at stash terminal
  • Cargo → Stash: Available at port when ship is docked (direct hold-to-stash transfer interface)
  • Stash → Personal: Standard click-drag at stash terminal

Auto-Sort Assist: When opening any inventory interface, an optional auto-sort prompt asks "Would you like to send junk-marked items to vendor?" — a single confirmation handles bulk selling without manual drag-and-drop.

Vendor Interface

NPC Vendor Selling

Vendors are accessed at shops in port. The sell interface shows the player's personal inventory on one side and a sell window on the other. Dragging items to the sell window adds them to the sell pile. The vendor's offer (in appropriate currency) updates in real time as items are added.

Vendor Recipes: Certain item combinations trigger special vendor recipes (analogous to PoE's vendor recipes). The sell interface displays a recipe hint when the current sell pile is close to completing a recipe: "Add 1 more weapon to complete the Tinker's Bundle (yields 1 Tempering Salt)."

Bulk Junk Sell: A "Sell All Junk" button sells all items marked as Junk in a single click, with a confirmation showing total yield before completing.

Buyback: A buyback tab at the vendor shows the last 12 items sold in the current session. Items can be bought back at the sell price. Buyback history clears when the player leaves the port zone.

Player-to-Player Trade

The trade system operates through the Port Notice Board — an in-game trade post accessible in any port. Players list items on the notice board with a price; buyers search and purchase directly. The notice board search engine is available in-game without external tools.

Listing Items: Dragging an item to the notice board list interface opens a pricing dialog. The player sets a price in any accepted currency. Listed items are moved from the player's stash into the listing system (they cannot be used while listed). A listing fee (small coin cost) prevents spam listings.

Finding Items: The notice board search interface filters by item type, base type, modifier (with min/max value inputs), item level range, and price range. Results show matching items from all captains' listings in the current Voyage economy. A "Buy Now" button initiates a direct purchase.

This system does not require a paid tab upgrade. The notice board infrastructure is built into the base game. All captains can list and search. This directly addresses PoE's Premium tab trade dependency.

See also:
HUD Design — inventory as it relates to the in-combat HUD
Items and Crafting — the full item modifier and crafting system
Economy — the trade economy the notice board supports
Monetization — stash tab monetization philosophy
Accessibility — color and contrast standards for item display