"I'm out of inventory space again?!"
Some of the most aggravating moments in any RPG is running out of inventory space. Starfield is no different as there is a whole universe to discover and hoard items from! Here are some tips and tricks.
Understanding every bit of information thrown at you in Starfield is hard, especially when so many of the items have different uses throughout the entire game. It doesn't take long for your initial 135 kg of carrying capacity to be filled up and you have to begin searching for places to shed some items.
Follow this guide on how to better manage some of your items and comment below if you discover more options!
Becoming encumbered in Starfield
When you carry more items than you are capable of holding, you will become Encumbered.
Unlike previous Bethesda games, you will still be allowed to move around freely, however, you will be punished by having your Oxygen level drain quicker than normal.
This causes your CO2 level to rise quicker as well and will force you to stop moving until your O2 level replenishes. Not only will this prevent you from sprinting to your destination quickly, it will also prevent you from Fast Travel altogether.
Managing your inventory is a major part of Starfield, as being encumbered is extremely annoying, especially while far away from your ship or adventuring alone. The only option at this point is to drop your sweet, sweet loot if you have no skills to spend on upgrading your inventory space.
Upgrade your inventory space!
If you haven't spent time checking out the available skills in your skill screen, I recommend heading there now and doing so. There are a few different skills to utilize that will lighten the load and make your Starfield journey smoother.
Spend Some Skill Points
The Weight Lifting skill in the Physical branch is an absolute must-have for any hoarding RPG player like me. Each rank increases your carrying capacity from the base of 135 kg up to an additional 100 kg.
Grab the Spacesuit Design skill in the Science branch to unlock the ability to add mods to your spacesuit and pack for additional carrying capacity and resource weight reduction. You will have to perform some research as well to gain Spacesuit Mods 2 and Pack Mods 2 for the carrying capacity mods to be unlocked.
If you don't mind bringing a travel partner along, make sure to use the Leadership skill in the Social branch to increase your companion's carrying capacity by 50 kg.
We can also add the Payloads skill in the Tech branch to our repertoire as the max level will increase our ship cargo holds by an additional 50%. But we will get to ship cargo more later.
Use the Spacesuit Workbench for Mods
By adding the Pocketed mod to your spacesuit and Extra Capacity to your pack, you will gain 5 kg and 10 kg of carrying capacity respectively for a total of 15 kg. Notice that you will need to complete the research for each after purchasing Spacesuit Design Rank 2 before this is available.
You can also find the Resource Hauler perk on a piece of gear in the wild to reduce the weight of resources by 25%! But be mindful that the weights are altered while wearing the item and will weigh their normal weight when added to your cargo or other storage spaces.
Upgrade your ship's storage!
One of the first places you will discover that items can be stored is your first ship, The Frontier. You will also find that each ship has a different amount of cargo space that can be upgraded in the ship modification system.
There are two original locations that you can store items from your adventures in your ship: the Cargo Hold and the Captain's Locker. The Cargo Hold on The Frontier is able to hold 450 kg and the Captain's Locker can hold 40 kg of items but editing your ship or purchasing other ships will lead to different amounts. You may eventually want to take on the task of building your own cargo ship if you can afford it.
Combining this with the Payloads skill in the Tech branch will add an additional 50% to the cargo carrying capacity of any ship, so the larger your cargo holds, the larger the benefit. This is a massive increase in storage and will allow you to stop forcing your companions to work as your own personal storage containers... maybe.
Outpost building
Increasing your inventory space in Starfield can only get you so far. Another option is to set up Outposts in the early game of a playthrough. If you create a few select Outposts focused on mining the right resources, you will never need to worry about lugging around ungodly amounts yourself. Not to mention, you can also create Cargo Links to send resources from an Outpost to another Outpost for easy access.
Go to a habitable planet of your choosing and make sure it has the resource(s) that you are looking for. Scan the planet to show the resource locations and land in an area with the resource you are targeting. Once you've touched down, survey the planet and make sure you are near an area with that resource so that it can be extracted.
After you find the perfect area, build your Outpost beacon and add a Resource Extractor nearby. Resource Extractors require a power source to operate so add Wind Turbines and/or Solar Panels to get up and running. Then all you have to do is connect a Cargo Link and target the ideal end location (i.e. a home base where you do most of your crafting). Note that you will need Helium to power an Inter-System Cargo Link if you were to send resources between Alpha Centauri and Sol for example.
Adding the Outpost Management (Social branch) and Outpost Engineering (Science branch) skills will make your life a little easier by allowing more modules, better resource production, additional crew and robot assignments to your Outposts to pump up the efficiency.
And if maximizing an Outpost is not your priority and you just want a bit more space to hold items, try the Transfer Container. It allows you to land your ship nearby (much easier with a Landing Pad already built) and transfer all items in the container's inventory to your ship.
Bonus ways to increase your inventory space in Starfield!
It will come as no surprise that there are ways to further enhance your carrying capacity with food, skill books, and Chems just like in the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls series. Here are a few more ways to push the boundaries of your inventory space:
Eat superfoods!
By increasing your nutrition skill, you can enhance the effects of what you eat. Rank 4 increases food effects by 50% and if you research Mixology 1, you'll be able to create Alien Liquor which grants +10 Carry Capacity for 5m allowing for a +15 Carry Capacity when fully upgraded. Alien Liquor only requires Alkanes and Nutrient(s) to create, though it does decrease O2 recovery by 25% for 5m.
Read magazines!
Find and read the skill magazines that increase Carry Capacity by +5:
Freestar Captain's Log 02 can be found in a locker in the crew quarters of the Deserted Mineral Plant on Zamka, a moon of Oliva of Alpha Centauri.
Freestar Captain's Log 03 is found in the Freestar Collective Consulate in Akila City on Akila in the Cheyenne system.
Peak Performance 01 can be found in The Eye satellite near Jemison in the Alpha Centauri system.
Peak Performance 02 can be found inside Deserted UC Listening Post on the moon Piazzi VI-B moon of Piazzi VI in the Piazzi system.
Peak Performance 05 can be found inside the gym area of the Crimson Fleet's Key space station near Suvorov in the Kryx system.
Do drugs!
After completing the mission, "Delivering Devils," you will gain the ability to create Pick-Me-Up, a treatment that is capable of adding +50 Carry Capacity for 15m.
Infinite Storage in the Lodge!
Once you meet everyone in the Lodge for the first time, Noel will take you on a tour of your room which will contain a safe. The safe does not have a cap on how much you can store. Personally, I don't love the idea of using an infinite storage space as it breaks the role-play element of the game for me but who am I to judge! Have at it!
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