There are a lot of systems and mechanics to learn in Bethesda’s new game, and inventory management will affect them all. Learn more in our Starfield: How to Manage Your Inventory guide!
Welcome to the vast and immersive world of Starfield! In this guide, we’ll explore essential tips and strategies to help you effectively manage your inventory in the game. Whether you’re a seasoned space explorer or just starting your journey, understanding how to efficiently organize and utilize your inventory is crucial for success.
Understanding Inventory Basics
Inventory management can be a tricky business in Starfield, and players may find themselves very frustrated trying to balance yourweaponandarmorneeds, along withcraftingmaterials you’re trying to gather and valuable you’re trying to loot. It can be easy to take the path of least resistance and simply ignore gathering resources forcrafting, for example, but the consequences of that is several hours later in the game you’ll find yourself hampered by the lack ofarmororweapon modsat the very least.
It’s much better to set up a system to get a handle on managing your inventory from the beginning, which will set you up for efficiency, much less frustration, and success later on. Before we get into helpful strategies, however, let’s take a look at some inventory basics and the mechanics you have to work with.
Carry Capacity
The first, most fundamentally important element of inventory management is your character’s carry capacity. Meaning, how much weight can they carry before they become encumbered? Becoming encumbered in Starfield means that you cannot run or fast travel. And even walking happens more slowly and uses more oxygen.
Weight in Starfield is determined as mass (or kilograms). You can find the ratio of current inventory vs maximum carry capacity down at the bottom left-hand side of your screen in the Inventory UI. The total kilograms of your current inventory is on the left, with the maximum mass you can carry before becoming encumbered on the right. In the image above you can see we are slightly encumbered with 141 out of 140 kilograms weighing us down.
Starfield provides several ways to increase your carry capacity:
Most of these methods are temporary and will work in a pinch, but upgrading the Weight Liftingskillis the only permanent way to increase your carry capacity. By the time you reach rank 4, you’ll be able to handle up to 100 more kilograms of weight than you were at the beginning.
Efficient Resource Management
Inventory management is rather clunky in Starfield, and can take some time and effort to get used to. Starfield is full of items to collect, and you will quickly fill your backpack with items andweaponsto sell. This is not to mention all of thecraftingresources you can collect while you’re exploring the surface of a new planet. You don’t want to pass up all those resources either because you’re going to need them forresearchprojects, constructingoutposts, and upgrading yourweaponsandarmor. So, how do you manage and balance it all?
When you’re starting out, with few credits and not much storage, the most effective way to start building a stockpile of both is to follow a system of looting, selling, storing,researchingandcrafting, then rinse and repeat. Let’s break it down!
Selling Loot, Buying Resources
So you’ve been to a new planet, shot some pirates, completed a quest or bounty, scanned and looted new resources on the surface, you’ve loaded down yourself and yourcompanionwith full bags and filled up your ship’s cargo hold. The next step is to visit various merchants and vendors to sell off your excessweapons,armor, and miscellaneous items.
Merchants have limited amounts of gold and buy types of items similar to what they sell, meaning thearmorvendors will not buy yourweaponsand sell onlyarmor. The best way to overcome this mechanic is to travel to a few planets with more than one merchant in the city and sell items to them.
Here are the three major hub planets with merchants you can access in the early areas of Starfield:
Each of these cities will have at least a couple of merchants, along with a Trade Authority Kiosk where you can sell all of your collected stuff. Visit them and sell anyweapons,armorand loot you don’t need. Don’t forget to transfer all of the items yourcompanionis holding so you can sell that, too. Thankfully, you don’t have to make separate trips back and forth from your ship in order to sell any items you may not need from your cargo. When selling to a vendor, look down at the bottom – there should be a selection that says ‘Sell From Ship Inventory’
Typically the early vendors only have about 5,000 credits each. Once you’ve sold as much as you can one, move on to another until you’ve depleted their credits. But don’t leave the planet just yet! Once you have some credits in your pocket, be sure to visit the Mineral Merchant. Here, you can stock up on necessarycraftingmaterials such as: Aluminum, Cobalt, Copper, Gold, Iron, Lead, Lithium, Nickel, Platinum, Silver, Titanium, Tungsten, and Uranium. As much as you can buy. Take it back to yourship’scargo and then fly on to the next planet/city in order to sell off any remaining extra loot and buy up morecraftingmaterials.
Using of Purchased Crafting Resources
When you first visit theConstellation’sLodge headquarters, you’ll find a set up of everyresearchandcraftingstation you might need in the basement. This is nice to start out with, but honestly doesn’t have near enough storage and more importantly, that storage isn’t linked to yourship. What you really need to is to start constructingoutposts.
Constructing Outposts
In Starfield,outpostsserve as your safe bases, a home you can design however you want. You can build and placeoutpoststructures on any planet or moon and have as manyoutpostsas you need. Their primary purpose is to produce resources, rest, repair, and refuel before traveling out into space again, but they also play a critical role in inventory management. Once you’ve got anoutpostup and running, you can construct multiple storage crates and start using all of those materials you’ve collected to start seriouslyresearchingandcrafting.
Theoutpostfunction unlocks early on in the game, after you visitConstellationfor the first time. In order to start building one, you need to activate your Scanner while standing on the surface of a planet or moon.
Once you’ve chosen a location, you’ll need to first place down an Outpost Beacon. An Extractor along with an energy source is a great way to start getting small amounts of a resource without too much effort. Next, the most important element is a Transfer Container. This allows the transfer of cargo while on board yourship. Once that is linked up you can start constructing more standard storage containers and then filling them up with all the extracraftingresources you just collected and/or purchased at vendors.
Outpostscan seem overwhelming at first, with all of the different types of habitations and modules you can construct. When you’re first starting out, just take it one step at a time. The Transfer Container and other storage containers are first priority. Then theresearchlab and variouscraftingstations – start making use of them as soon as you can.
Clearing Out Your Inventory
Once you have the basics of an operating outpost, you’re able to now open up some space in your ship’s cargo hold by moving as much of thecraftingmaterials you’ve collected/purchased as possible into storage containers. Stop by theresearchlab station and start whateverresearchprojects that you can.Armorandweapon modificationsshould be the priority, but to unlock most of them you’ll first need to invest in the Spacesuit Design and Weapon Engineeringskillsin theScienceskill tree. If you’re still in the really early game, simply unlock what you can.
Next, you can use yourcraftingstations to potentially create whateverresearchprojects you may have completed. Or create anymodificationsor consumables you need to restock on after your last mission.
When you’re finished, with empty bags and an empty cargo hold, it’s time to head back out. Move on to your next mission quest or the next planet – explore, get into combat, and start looting every valuable thing that isn’t nailed down. Fill up your carry capacity, and start the process again: sell excess loot, buy mineral resources, offload at youroutpostand take care of anyresearchprojects orcraftingyou need.
Inventory Management Summary
Here is a list of tips and tricks for efficient Starfield inventory management:
Effectively managing your inventory in Starfield is essential for a successful journey through the stars. By following these tips and staying organized, you’ll be better equipped to tackle challenges, upgrade your gear, and make the most of your spacefaring adventure. May your inventory always be optimized and your adventures in Starfield be legendary!
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