Encumbrance has been a staple of Bethesda Game Studios’ games for decades, and it is no different in Starfield. With almost every single object in the world being collectable, it is inevitable that you will exceed your carry weight until you dispose of your inventory somehow. This Starfield guide will help you address your hoarding habits.
Shake It Off
The actual first thing you can do about being encumbered is nothing at all–just roll with it. You cannot ever die directly from being encumbered. All that happens is that your oxygen depletes quicker, and that too only when you run full tilt. And all that really does is cause an accumulation of carbon dioxide, which will only begin depleting your health once at maximum gauge, and also blur your vision. The rapid oxygen depletion when exerting yourself can be micromanaged by strolling or resting, and that cycle itself can help you with the Challenges required to rank up in the Fitness skill, which is simply “Use up all available Oxygen XX times”.
Pack Mule Companions
Use the trade gear function with your companions to hand over stuff that you just do not need conveniently in your own inventory, especially when away from your ship. Unfortunately, their inventory is not considered as a shared pool with your various storage systems when it comes to crafting and research. So be sure to take it all back from them later on when you return to your ship, and then stow it in your Cargo Hold.
Ship’s Hold
Make use of the Cargo Hold and Captain’s Locker on your ship once you are safely back aboard. While they both do have a maximum mass capacity, it is certainly more than what you can carry yourself. Due to item persistence, it is also entirely feasible to simply hoard items in piles all over the deck of your ship. The Payloads skill under the Tech tab can help improve your Cargo Hold capacity but might not be worth the investment in skill points early on.
Trade For Profit
Make use of Kiosks and other Vendors to dispose of as much junk as you can. The value in Credits will come in handy but will also greatly reduce the burden on you and your ship. You should avoid selling crafting resources as far as possible, since you will eventually be researching and building stuff, both of which will require a lot of materials.
The Lodge
Before you have an Outpost of your own, The Lodge will be a frequent stopover for making use of its Workbenches. So why not use its bottomless storage boxes too? This is the ideal location for resources that you will not necessarily use while traveling between worlds. There is a storage box in your room, and another in the basement.
Skill Up
Invest in the Weight Lifting skill, so you can carry successively greater amounts of weight for each rank gained, all the way up to a hundred kilograms with a bonus resistance to being Staggered. This should be a later resort, since skill points are better spent elsewhere such as Security for enhanced lockpicking.
Aid Items
The UC Battlemeal Multipacks are a good emergency stopgap for use in the middle of a firefight, for example, where your weight is limiting your mobility. The ration grants you eight minutes of an additional eight carry capacity, as well as restoring twenty points of health.
Lose The Dead Weight
Break your bad habits. Just cutting adrift the junk entirely is always an option. Simply select the item in your inventory, and then Drop it on the ground.
Those are all the things you can do to stop being perennially encumbered in Starfield.
