Have you ever accidentally eaten raw meat because it took up an equipment slots where some other item used to be? Have you ever had to manually reload thrown weapon ammo into a slot where you still have said thrown weapon equipped? Isnt it both tedious and dangerous to manually re-equip everything you lost upon death, especially since whatever killed you might still be near you body. To improve QoL as well as the flow of combat, I suggest a more logical way of autofilling the equipment slots.
1- New items should not autofill empty slots as this often leads to unwanted items being accidentally used when they take up a slot that used to be occupied by another item (happens a lot on console since the equipment wheel is only visible when its button is pressed). Theres also times where i end up crafting an item twice because i dont see it in my inventory after the crafting icon disapears, leading me to think i cancelled it somehow, only to find out later that it went to an empty slot in the equipment wheel. This also interferes with my equipment wheel customization, which I have set a specific way so that it becomes muscle memory, but the autofill doesnt take this into consideration and just puts stuff in any availible slot, often putting raw meat where i keep thrown weapons.
2- Slotted stackables should replenish automatically when more of that same item is acquired. Its annoying that stacks of food, healing items, and thrown weapons have to be restocked manually while stuff you dont want takes up slots automatically. It would also be great if, once a stack is depleted, a greyed out icon of the item remains on the slot just as with building parts. This will allow you to craft more (if its hand craftable and the materials are on-hand), as well as autofilling the item once it is reacquired.
3- Lastly, have all slotted items lost upon death auto equip upon retrieval. Using the same method menioned in my previous point, items lost in on death leave a greyed out icon in its place. Attempting to equip/use them in this state will prompt crafting if possible. These marked spots will remain reserved until the original item or replicated version is obtained (you have spares at your base). This is not a limitation however, the player can still equip whatever they please in any of these reserved slots, but doing so forefits the reservation and once the original item is recovered the player must equip it manually. The reasoning behind this mechanic is that you most likely died in a very dangerous place, and inventory management is the last thing you should be doing while surrounded by danger.