Starfield – How To Manage Inventory And Encumbrance

Effective inventory management in Starfield requires mastering the game’s encumbrance system. As you explore diverse planets and space stations, you’ll accumulate valuable resources, weapons, and equipment that can quickly overwhelm your carrying capacity.

When dealing with Starfield’s encumbrance mechanics, understanding the four movement types becomes crucial. Walking and jogging—achieved by gently tilting the left control stick—remain available even when you’re severely over-encumbered without draining your stamina reserves. However, running (fully tilting the stick) and sprinting (pressing the stick) will rapidly deplete your stamina bar when carrying excess weight. This creates strategic decisions about movement efficiency versus speed.

One of the most significant penalties for exceeding your carry limit is the inability to fast travel. This forces you to manually navigate to your ship or nearby settlements, which can be particularly challenging on hostile planets. Many players underestimate how quickly miscellaneous items add up, leading to unexpected encumbrance that disrupts exploration plans. A common mistake is hoarding low-value resources early game when storage options are limited.

The Pocketed modification represents one of the most effective early-game solutions for increasing your carrying capacity. This spacesuit enhancement becomes available after completing the Spacesuit Mods 2 research project, providing substantial weight management benefits.

Researching the Pocketed mod requires specific materials: 2x sealant, 1x polytextile, and 1x adhesive. These components are commonly found in industrial outposts and can be purchased from merchants in major settlements. Advanced players should prioritize gathering these materials during early exploration to unlock this capacity boost sooner.

The Pocketed mod significantly enhances your spacesuit’s storage capacity, making it essential for extended planetary expeditions.

Beyond the basic Pocketed mod, advanced players can pursue deeper gear optimization through our Weapons Unlock guide for parallel enhancement strategies. Consider that each spacesuit can only host one weight-increasing modification, so choose your upgrades strategically based on your playstyle and common inventory needs.

Strategic companion utilization provides mobile storage solutions throughout your journey. While you can recruit and develop relationships with multiple companions, only one can actively accompany you at any time. Each has their own carry weight limit that cannot be exceeded.

To access a companion’s inventory, initiate conversation and select the “let’s trade gear” option. This opens their storage capacity, allowing you to transfer excess items. However, companions have fixed weight limits that don’t increase through gameplay, making this a finite solution.

Companions serve as mobile storage units, but their capacity is limited and static throughout the game.

Your spacecraft’s cargo hold offers the most substantial storage solution. Located in the cockpit, a terminal on the left-hand side (facing the pilot’s seat) provides access to your ship’s inventory. Transferring items here is instantaneous and doesn’t require companion management.

Vessels have predetermined cargo limits, but these can be expanded through additional storage modules installed at ship services technicians. This method connects well with strategies from our Class Guide for comprehensive character development. For maximum efficiency, establish a routine of depositing resources at your ship between major exploration segments to maintain mobility.

The ship’s cargo interface provides the most reliable long-term storage solution, accessible from any cockpit terminal.

Creative movement strategies can significantly mitigate encumbrance penalties. Jumping combined with boost pack gliding presents an efficient transportation method, particularly on low-gravity worlds. While jumping consumes stamina, gliding utilizes your jetpack’s fuel reserves instead.

This technique allows you to cover substantial distances while your stamina regenerates during flight. The efficiency varies dramatically based on planetary gravity—what works perfectly on Mars-like worlds may be ineffective on Earth-gravity planets. Advanced players should scan planetary conditions before landing to prepare appropriate movement strategies.

Optimizing this approach requires understanding your boost pack’s fuel consumption rates and regeneration timing. Different pack models offer varied efficiency, with specialized models providing longer glide durations. This mobility method becomes particularly valuable when you’re heavily encumbered and need to return to your ship across difficult terrain.

The Weightlifting skill offers a permanent solution to carry weight limitations, though it requires careful skill point investment consideration. This perk progressively increases your base carrying capacity across four ranks, but doesn’t appear among top-tier skills in most optimization guides.

For players with available skill points, investing in one or two ranks of Weightlifting can provide meaningful quality-of-life improvements. However, this comes at the opportunity cost of not selecting combat, social, or technical skills that might offer more dramatic gameplay advantages.

Advanced players should consider Weightlifting as a secondary priority after securing essential abilities for their chosen specialization. The skill becomes more valuable for players who prefer extensive exploration and resource gathering over focused mission completion. For comprehensive character planning, reference our Complete Guide for balanced skill development approaches.

Alternative solutions often provide better returns on investment—optimizing your storage strategies through ship upgrades and companion use typically outweighs the benefits of Weightlifting investment during early and mid-game progression.

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